Elara By Hilton Grand Vacations

We have stayed here three times while visiting Las Vegas, and we love it. We opt for the one bedroom. It is very spacious, and we’ve always had a good view from our room. There is a kitchen with a full sized fridge, which is great if you’re staying for 4-5 days. The first thing we do when we arrive is place a Prime Now order for snacks and water. You must be in your room when your food arrives because you will need to go downstairs and accept the food yourself, the hotel will not accept it for you. The bedroom comes with a jacuzzi tub, but we’ve never used it. The bathroom is large, so we don’t have any trouble tripping over each other when we’re getting ready. The living room has a large wraparound couch with a pull out bed, but my favorite feature is the electric window shade that doubles as a TV projector screen. It was perfect when we had friends (staying elsewhere) come by to watch a football game with us. There was plenty of space for everyone, and you could see the game from anywhere in the room. My MIL has come to Vegas with us a couple times, and she books her room here as well. For her, it’s nice to have the amenities of home and the space to lounge around and relax when she doesn’t want to be out and about all day every day. The location is perfect for us. You’re right on the strip, but not in a crowded casino when you go downstairs. It’s connected to the Miracle Mile shops, which also connects with Planet Hollywood casino. Right now, the pool is open with limited hours (12-6, I think). They are only allowing ~200 people in the pool area, so there may be a line if you want to lounge by the pool for part of the day. It was way too crowded for my preference when we walked by on July 4th.

So, we came to the hotel as a free 4-day, 3-night stay with the stipulation that we had to attend a time share talk. The hotel is new and is regarded as an excellent property along the strip. Everyone at the hotel was fantastic. Check in and out was easy, and you had to swipe your room keys at the security desk before heading to the elevator. The hotel is also connected to the mall.

I booked a 3 bedroom suite for 3 nights for my partner who was having a get together with his brothers, a bonding trip that was very important given they’ve never tried doing anything together at all. Prior to arrival I’ve called several times just to get a recording which was understandable since they were re-opening the hotel that same day. When I finally did get to talk to a live person, she did confirm that the hotel only had 6 suites with the red windows and that we were reserved to have one of them which is definitely what I wanted and excited to share with my partner who was already at the airport with his brothers. I used my grand vacation ownership points for this and with my gold honors status figured that they would take care of my guests. Surprisingly when I followed to meet them on the last day, they were not placed in that room but stuck on the back end with 3 connecting rooms and a living room smaller than one in a junior suite. The master bedroom was tiny with a very slim closet, no mirrors except in the bathroom - I was the one surprised and embarrassed to see the room. 1 toilet would not flush, the projector emitted a small screen and thinking it just needed to be fixed, we were told that because the room was ‘smaller’ than everything in the hotel, that was all were getting - totally useless so you might as well just use the regular TV. Tried calling the desk multiple times, gave up after maybe 5 minutes at least of waiting for an answer. When I approached the desk to ask, I was told that my guests should have checked in earlier, really? And I found out that they gave the guest in front of them the suite we asked for. Basically, no regard for your honor status and that you are a grand vacation owner. I find it hard to believe that 6 owners would reserve the same suite on the same day and would think this would be controlled on the reservation page. When I asked if they could at least give us a couple bottles of water, we were lectured about having to pay a resort fee and unfortunately we didn’t so basically we can’t get one ‘but’ she’s willing to make a 1 time exception. No apologies, no thanks for being an owner and spending all this money for HOA and monthly fees. Very disappointed and still upset that I can’t even provide accommodations properly because the hotel staff decided that our reservation wasn’t as important unless we come early. If first come first serve is the basis of room placements then what is the point of being an owner and paying all these fees. Bottomline, if treated this way, there’s no point for anyone to sign up for ownership. Once they get you locked in a contract, you get the worse suite because they will try to impress other guests to sign up for ownership and give them the suite that they feature.