“One of the Best Nights of Sleep Ever” — A New Fine Hotels + Resorts Favorite: The Palazzo (Review)

Once upon a time, before Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Rewards teamed up, several MGM Resorts hotels were bookable through American Express’ Fine Hotels + Resorts program.

But when Hyatt and MGM ended their relationship, and the Lion moved in with the Marriotts, MGM Resorts properties started disappearing from the FHR program.

For those of us who loved using FHR credits and benefits at places such as Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, and Delano were no longer an option.

That magnified the opportunity for us to try other resorts. My family recently stayed somewhere we can’t wait to visit again: The Palazzo at The Venetian.

Booking The Palazzo Through Amex FHR

I’ve written that Las Vegas is becoming “a second home” for my family and me because airfares from Sin City are occasionally cheaper than from the airports in our real home city, Los Angeles. (That takes into account flying to/from Vegas, staying overnight, meals, ground transportation, etc.)

We needed a place to stay while flying home from our annual summer visit to the Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, area.

My The Platinum Card® from American Express‘s annual $200 credit for prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts bookings was still available. So, we found a great deal at Palazzo: it was something like $179 for the night (plus resort fees).

For all that, we’d get the full complement of FHR benefits:

• 12:00 PM check-in (when available)
• Room upgrade (when available)
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• Daily breakfast credit for two people
  • ($60 total per room, each day after the first night)
• Minimum $100 resort credit per stay
  • (Generally valid toward food and beverage purchases at eligible restaurants and bars or spa purchases — it varies by property, as does the credit amount. You’re given a list of participating restaurants during checkin.)
• Guaranteed 4:00 PM checkout

While at Fargo Hector International Airport (FAR), I thought, Hmmm, I haven’t gotten any trip reminders from Amex yet.

Well, it turns out I forgot to book the room weeks earlier.

I jumped on my Amex app, saw rooms still available, and booked a Luxury King Suite for about $350. For the remaining $150 (after the eventual $200 credit), I applied 15,000 Membership Rewards® points. Was that the great redemption in the world? No. But was I out of pocket for the booking? No.

Where is The Palazzo?

You’ll find The Palazzo at The Venetian Resort. The Palazzo’s address is 3325 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109. It’s east of TI (Treasure Island). Wynn Las Vegas and Encore are across the street to the north.

Check In

We arrived around 11:00 PM and there wasn’t much of a line. The front desk agent welcomed us and provided the property’s FHR welcome letter explaining the benefits and where they can be used. (The letter needs to be updated, as Grand Lux Cafe in Palazzo, Starbucks, Capri, and Spritz are also now eligible for the breakfast credit.)

This was a pleasant surprise: the WiFi is included in the resort fee, so they added an extra $5 to our $60 breakfast credit!

The agent said we were upgraded to a Grand King Suite. This was our first time to The Palazzo, and we were unfamiliar with the hotel. I was like, “Cool, thanks.” Frankly, we didn’t need a huge room. We were there to sleep, spend some time at the pool the next morning and afternoon, and then head to the airport for our 7:30 PM flight (thank you, guaranteed late checkout!).

Palazzo Grand King Suite

I will not lie: I love upgrades when my wife and daughter are along. They get such a kick out of it!

Our daughter helped guide us to our hotel room (that’s one of her “jobs”).

I noticed a big, empty space coming up around the corner (I couldn’t see the room door.) Turns out, that’s because there was a big room there: ours!

We opened the doors and entered our 1,250-square-foot Grand King Suite.

It was a very nice upgrade. (I later went down to the front desk and thanked the front desk agent.)

First, there’s a guest bathroom and separate sitting area for any final looks before heading out of the room.

Compared to the other Grand Kings on The Palazzo’s site, I think we got a suite that hasn’t yet been refurbished. The living room furniture looked a little old.

The carpet was tired.

Those are our only two “complaints” about the room. But we still loved it.

Here’s the king bedroom.

The bed was very comfortable; in fact, my wife said it was one of the best nights of sleep she ever had.

In addition to cable, the TVs have Netflix and YouTube.

You’ll find a little makeup prep area across from the primary closet.

Here’s the main bathroom.

Check out this shower!

Breakfast and Resort Credits

Here’s where we hit a snag.

We were hungry after we settled into our room. It was after midnight. We enjoyed a lake day in Minnesota before traveling to Vegas that night.

But we still felt peckish.

There isn’t a whole lot open late night at The Palazzo. Grand Lux Café is, however, so we settled on that. (Yes, we’re the jerks with a kid wandering around a Vegas hotel late at night.)

Mrs. Carley ordered a Thai chicken dish, I enjoyed a turkey burger, and our kiddo ate some fries and pasta.

I tried charging the bill to our room. But the server informed me that our account wasn’t set up to accept room charges. That seems incredibly stupid, considering that the whole point of putting down a credit card — especially for a Fine Hotels + Resorts stay that requires you to charge purchases to your room to get credit — is to make room charges.

He tried calling the front desk. I tried calling the front desk. We both were put on hold forever. Finally, I gave up and paid the bill with my American Express® Gold Card because it earns 4X Membership Rewards® points at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X. Includes takeout and delivery in the U.S.)

I checked with my friendly front desk agent. No, room charging privileges were not enabled. Lame.

He said I could go back to Grand Lux in the morning, have them re-charge my room, then refund my Amex Gold card.

I decided to see how much we’d spend the next day on breakfast and at the pool.

We brunched at Capri, the pool restaurant.

The Eggs Benedict was fantastic. Mrs. Carley enjoyed the turkey wrap and fries. Just to ensure we’d use all of our $65 breakfast credit, we ordered a couple of Old Fashioneds. 😉

We spent several hours at The Palazzo’s main pool. During the morning through maybe 1:00 PM, the entire area was shaded by the Palazzo’s building itself.

But then the sun came out — and the place looked completely different. And it got Vegas hot.

Depending on where you sit outside, you can enjoy gazing at other hotels such as Wynn, Encore, Venetian, TI, and (trigger warning for some) Trump.

We used our $100 resort credit on soft drinks, adult drinks, and these amazing cheeseburger sliders. (Enjoying food at the pool is one of my favorite luxuries!) A lady named Zen served us and she was fantastic.

There is also a smaller pool which was cooler in temperature — but rather welcome considering the heat!

Final Approach

With the Grand Lux meal, resort fees, taxes, gratuities, and exceeding our credits, we spent about $230 out of pocket. (Nice places in Vegas aren’t cheap. I don’t foresee that changing.)

The service was fantastic. The food and beverage were great, too. We certainly won’t expect the Grand King Suite upgrade every time, but we loved it for our initial stay.

We look forward to being back!

Have you stayed at The Palazzo? Have you used Fine Hotels + Resorts (or something similar)?