ShopEatSleep

If you’ve been following my Twitter and Facebook page feeds, then you already know that I recently spent a weekend in Las Vegas with Lindsay of LAist, Esther of estarLA and Caroline of Caroline on Crack, and that we stayed at the Aria Hotel & Casino. The property was a breath of fresh air in many ways, and not just because of the vanilla scent that’s pumped in. Aria seems to attract a more mature, yet still hip, clientele, which makes getting around a lot more pleasant than it is at many other hotels in the area (i.e., the douchey factor is a lot lower). The decor is modern but low-key (The Cosmopolitan it is not), but there’s still a nightclub and a daytime pool club for partying types. All this made for a relaxing and fun stay.

We stayed in one of the Aria’s Sky Suites, which range in price from $700 to $7,500 per night depending on size and season. Ours was a two-bedroom suite, complete with living room, dining room, wet bar and two full bathrooms (and a half bath — that’s three toilets!). Our suite had tons of room for the four of us to spread out, and the beds were super comfortable (I even ordered a couple of pillows for myself when I got home). The bathrooms had two sinks, a self-cleaning jet tub, a sauna shower, a walk-in closet, and a Toto toilet with a heated seat and cleaning functions. And housekeeping puts a little pack of *six* different flavored chocolates on your nightstand every night at turndown. There’s also a special snack station with pastries, fruit, cheese, crackers, wine, sodas, coffee and tea just for Sky Suite guests (though no one ever checked our credentials).

My only real complaint: the lights and curtains are controlled electronically, either through buttons on the wall or via the computer system accessed through the televisions. The whole system was confusing, and we’re technologically advanced people! Also, every time housekeeping came in, they would leave this awful music playing through this system, so whenever we came back to the suite, we would be greeted by cheesy smooth jazz or fake reggae.

Here’s a video of our first look at the suite:

We also checked out the Spa at Aria. The space is large, with men’s, women’s and co-ed areas. Make sure to check out the Ganbanyoku heated-stone bed room but skip the Shio salt room. The co-ed outdoor infinity pool is nice, but make sure to go early because it overlooks the Liquid Pool Lounge, where the daytime club scene and its accompanying loud music takes place. There are also some indoor pools and spa tubs, as well as two saunas: a eucalyptus steam-heat room and a dry-heat room. You’ll find snacks and drinks in multiple places, and there are roomy showers and fully stocked vanities so you can clean up afterward. A day pass costs $30 and gets you access to everything but doesn’t include treatments.

For high-end shoppers, there’s the adjacent Crystals mall, which is part of CityCenter, where the Aria, Vdara Hotel, Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Veer Towers also reside. Crystals is filled with stores such as Prada, Louis Vuitton and Tom Ford, so not exactly in my price range, though it’s all nice to look at.

We stopped by the Aria’s main nightclub, HAZE, just to see, you know. It wasn’t really any of our scenes, but it seemed like people were having a good time dancing and drinking. There was an especially boisterous bachelorette party in the corner when we were there. In retrospect, we should have gone to one of the other hotel lounges when we heard the 80s music coming out of it — that was definitely more our speed.

All in all, I enjoyed my stay at the Aria and at CityCenter. If you take advantage of the property’s amenities, there’s little reason to leave the property when you’re just in Vegas for a weekend. Next time, I’ll check out Vdara or the Mandarin Oriental.

Stay tuned for food posts from the Aria!

Note: This stay was hosted.