Bellagio Hotel & Casino — Attraction in Paradise

Full disclosure, I have never, EVER written a review but feel compelled to given my experience recently at the Bellagio on July 26, 2024.

For my mom's 60th birthday, I purchased a two-bedroom penthouse for her for just one night. The plan was for her, my wife and 2 siblings to fly in just for the day of her 60th and leave the next day. One of the things my mom and late stepfather wanted to do before he passed was stay in a suite at the Bellagio as they both loved the Bellagio Fountains. They unfortunately never got to.

So, for my mom's birthday I wanted to take her there. Obviously, the cost of a penthouse is nothing to sneeze at, and, frankly, my family and I work very, very hard for our money.

We PAID for an 11:00 a.m. check-in. I noted that we needed an early check-in - which, again, we paid for - in order for my wife, who had our second child ten months ago to pump breast milk, as well as for my siblings, who are Type 1 diabetics, to keep their insulin in a refrigerator.

Upon arriving at about noon, we were informed that the room was not going to be ready until about 3:00 pm - standard check in time - but that getting the room cleaned was a "top priority". We were more than gracious for the opportunity to stay at the Bellagio and said that would be fine, but we did ask for a place for my wife to pump. We were met with nothing but callus and cold looks and remarks from staff as well as the manager, and were told that she would need to pump in the lobby in front of the thousands of guests! We pleaded with them: Is there any way we could have any room, and we were again met with at best, ambivalence (at best)

So, my wife pumped in the lobby. After pumping, while we waited for our room, we walked by probably 100 different office rooms, none of which were in use.

At 3:30, I then went back up to the front desk and politely pointed out that though this was a' "top priority" here it was 3:30 and the room still wasn't ready. The staff member then candidly admitted that they still hadnt started cleaning the room!

This was disappointing, to say the least. At no point did I ever yell, swear or anything of the like. I was trying like hell to stay upbeat for my recently widowed, kind, lovely, generous mother.

Finally, at 6:00 p.m., they got us into our room.

I asked if there is any way to get some sort of refund given that 1) we got into the room nearly seven hours later than we were supposed to even though we paid for an early check in, 2) that my wife had to pump in the middle of the lobby without anyone even trying accomodate a nursing mother, 3) normal check-in was at 3:00, and it was closer to 6:00 and we were only there for 1 night for my mom's bday.

We were initially told they would grant us a $100.00 meal credit. I explained that I found that unsatisfactory at which point they agreed to give us back $600.00 of the $2,400.00 we spent on the room. At the time, I did not feel like haggling or negotiating as i wanted to celebrate my mother's bday and said in effect "okay, we'll talk about it another time, but, yeah, that would be great - thanks"

The next morning, when we were about to leave, I decided to go to the front desk to check out and confirm that, indeed, the credit was applied. It was not. Upon getting to the front desk, the staff member informed me that she saw me talking with the manager yesterday, and there were no notes in the file, so the manager must not have wanted to give me back the $600.00 back

At this point, I was incredulous - still not yelling or swearing - and explained that after all the indignities, you're now calling me a liar? Upon speaking with another manager and after considerable effort, they did agree to provide me the same $600.00 they did before.

This is a first-world problem - no question about it - and I recognize that I am very fortunate to be in a position to even get to go to a two-bedroom penthouse at the Bellagio, but our experience was absolutely awful.

I will never, ever stay at the Bellagio for the rest of my life and hope Danny Ocean takes every...

TLDR: The worst part about Vegas was the Bellagio. The service was awful, the room was an oven and wasn’t even cleaned, the room service was barely edible, and the staff besides a couple employees seemed too busy to help.

I don’t like to read bad reviews for places. I like to assume a bad experience is a mutual thing because most customers or guest do not give you a chance to fix it and just go online later to complain. I tried a couple times to talk to the staff about issues and they looked annoyed that I tried.

When we went to check into the hotel, I did the in person check in because I had questions since I’ve never been in Vegas. The person checking me in rushed through one of my questions before ushering me away. There was a small line, but more than enough staff checking people in (think like 10 stations but 4 families in line). I thought maybe the person was having a bad day or something and decided to just go to my room, which they barely told me how to get too. After asking a couple of staff along the way I found the elevator to my room.

The room itself seemed as if someone literally just left it. The bed was half made and someone else’s name was on the tv with the welcome sign. Upon investigation there was even a dent in the wall and the bathtub had hair in it. I found actual snot caked onto sink top that blended into the design. When we called the desk thinking that maybe they gave us the wrong room. They informed us that in fact we were given the right room and hung up on my wife before she could ask any more questions. Like how to work the ac so I played around with the setting thinking I was successful but the room never cooled down, leaving it to the point where neither my wife or myself could sleep through any of the nights without needing to take at least 1-2 showers and drink 3-4 bottles of water. At this point I thought maybe the room will be chilled tomorrow because I just set it. Spoiler alert it never cooled down.

That night since we were new to the area and had no idea where to eat, we did room service. The food came on time, but when I asked the guy what to do with it after he shrugged and walked away. The main food was okay at best, but the sides were dry and inedible. The dessert cheese cake was also so dry that we didn’t even finish it.

The next day when the room was still an oven I decided to talk to the staff because at this point from all the dryness and over heating I was starting to feel sick and so was my wife. The guy I talked to, said they would send someone to check on the room, I waited and no one came. It was a this point I realized the pattern. The staff at Bellagio were so busy from their fame that they didn’t care anymore about customer service. The sad part is I picked this hotel over others in the area because it was ranked highly for being clean and great staff. Sadly I didn’t get to experience either.

We ended up going to a local grocery store to get some supplies to help us survive the night. A 12 pack of Gatorade, some snacks for nutrition, etc. the 12 pack was on the 2nd day and we finished it by the the third night leaving me on the the third night to get up at 3 am and go down to the lobby to grab my wife and I beverage because we are dying of dehydration.

I would strongly advise any of my friends to avoid the Bellagio. With room being so hot and dry, by the second day, the last Vegas strip felt more comfortable than our room. I repeat, the outside heat, was more doable than spending a night in our room. The third day was so bad we couldn’t leave the room until 3pm from heat/ sleep exhaustion.

Maybe if it was just me I wouldn’t be writing this, but spending all this money and doing all this research just to have my wife feel like crap and like she can’t enjoy her vacation was the worst part. Maybe I had string of bad luck and unhelpful staff, maybe all of this was just a coincidence. Yet, I am left with the feeling that the Bellagio wanted us to have a bad experience and when given the opportunity to fix it...

BEWARE Marriott Bonvoy Elite Members! This is not the place to stop if you want quality service and you’re not coming to Las Vegas for a Vegas experience. My husband and I were passing through Las Vegas on our way to another destination. We thought it would be nice to stay at the Bellagio when we spotted the affiliation through the Marriott Bonvoy App. We desired valet parking due to a 2nd vehicle strapped into the bed of our truck; we wanted our vehicles watched and protected.

From the moment we pulled up the valet experience was a disaster. I get it. You have mindless people walking everywhere: staring at the fountain show, looking down at their phones, taking pictures in the middle of the street where people are driving, certainly not ideal.

We waited for a bellhop for what seemed like FOREVER. We had a beach cart in the truck so we eventually threw our bags in our own beach cart.

You can’t complete a mobile check-in from the Marriott Bonvoy App nor will your Marriott Bonvoy confirmation be found on the MGM mobile check-in. You will wait in a long line awaiting check-in.

The room and hotel amenities are wonderful. I can’t say enough about the spa, gym, food, and decor of this hotel. I’ve stayed before, but with groups for carefully curated high end events. I don’t gamble, but enjoy Cirque shows and The Bellagio is home to “O”. I’ve seen it twice; over a 20-year span. Quite a successful and wonderful show; highly recommend seeing it.

There wasn’t a coffee machine in the room. We did not have a regular room either. We had a King Suite, on the 27th floor, with 3 bathrooms and a living room with full bar. The suite was magical! We ordered room service and our meals were delicious. We were happy and content, but wanted coffee available in our room for the morning.

We called down for a coffee machine to be brought to the room. Daniel, in house keeping said, “Only the penthouses have coffee machines. It’s a fire hazard to keep coffee machines in the room”. This is a lie. Every hotel room can have a coffee machine. The fire marshall didn’t pick The Bellagio out and tell them individually that they can’t have coffee machines in any rooms other than their penthouses. This is policy, and that’s fine, just say it. This escalated to speaking with Arthur at the front desk, who was even more insulting. I just hung up. Arthur sent a $54 carafe of coffee to my room via room service. I declined it, when the woman asked me to sign the room service bill for the carafe 😳

First of all, do only the super wealthy that spend 30k a night, know how to safely use a coffee machine? Also, when was the last time you saw one of those old school glass canister coffee machines that burnt the bottom of the canister if you didn’t shut the coffee machine off yourself? Ummm, like 20 years ago in a hotel environment, unless I’m at an Air B&B or local beach dive motel. All the hotels have had single serve and self-shut off coffee machines for over a decade. We went downstairs and got the coffee machine we used for camping from out of the car we valeted; lucky we had it. I guess only the super wealthy deserve not to pay $15 a coffee at The Bellagio 😞

Lastly, I feel bad for the guys in valet and what AI and self-service may have done to affect their income potential via tips. However, if you’re gonna be mean to people just find another job. Valet had our car parked in the front due to the size and the other vehicle we were carrying. We could see it. So we asked for help & wanted to give a cash tip, because we paid the valet fee as part of our folio inside the hotel. The self check out feature is the only way to request the car, pay, and tip. But we had already paid and wanted to give a cash tip. Talking with Valet was useless. They were mean and made us wait for a car we could’ve picked up on our own....