ARIA Resort & Casino — Hotel in Paradise

I'm really shocked this is rated a 5 star hotel. That this is a 5 star hotel tells me 5 stars is meaningless, especially given the way they handled damage to my belongings and "moved" us to a new room on our last night. The quotations around moved explained below. We stayed here in early July 2025. The hotel hallway to the room is dingy with outdated, brown, tan, and grey-toned wall paper, that is peeling at any given location you might direct your eyes to. The room furniture follows this similarly with chipped corners and other extensive signs of wear and tear. The mini bar and snack bar was 60% stocked. The shower ceiling had black mold-like stains and caked dust was noticeable in certain harder-to-reach areas and corners. If you are going to be taken seriously as a "5- star" hotel these things should not be noticeable. On our second night we noticed a small wet spot in our room and thought maybe we dripped a bit getting out of the shower so we dried it up and went out on our day on the strip and elsewhere. When we returned to our room that wet spot became a small puddle. That puddle got to my work bag and completely soaked it and the contents in it. Luckily my electronics were not inside, but the bag was ruined. In order to get a reimbursement they have put me through all sorts of hoops. They took over 1 week to get back to me, and that was after I had to make 3 follow-up calls. They want me to send the damaged bag plus receipt and then they would CONSIDER a reimbursement. I don't have my receipt but this bag is actually registered to me and the price of it is easy to find online. I didn't find this reasonable. I expected a quick, reasonable form of compensation that is "5-star" appropriate. I expect this scrutiny from a smaller name, 3-star or even 4-star hotel, but not a place like this. The room change itself was rather annoying too. When I informed the staff of what happened, they agreed to change rooms and remove resort fees for the first 2 nights. I thought OK, fine. They gave me a new key to the new room and told me my old key will not work anymore, but gave me a new key to the old room that would work. They did not offer bell service or other assistance. I intentionally did not ask for assistance because a "5-star" hotel should know to offer this after a guest is put out of a room. I also made clear that we have a baby under 1 year old, but they didn't seem to get the hint maybe I could use assistance. When we moved our room by ourselves I needed to make a few trips to get the rest of our belongings. Again, we have a baby and quite a few things to move including a crib. On my second trip back the key didn't work. I had to go back down to the front desk where they explained to me they gave me a one-time use key for the old room. At this point I'm not surprised at their lack of intuition that maybe I need to make more than one trip, so I just asked for 2 more one-time use keys so I can finish moving. Again, there was no offer for bell service or other assistance. After all of this I was pretty livid. I went down again after we were done moving and demanded a refund on the room, and not just the resort fees. I didn't make a fuss about any other charges, just the room-related expenses and my damaged bag. Back to the bag. After we moved I escorted a security official to the room to make a report and show him the water damage and my damaged bag. I was told I would get a follow-up call in one week. As I mentioned earlier, it took more than one week. I received a call on week 2 after my 3rd time contacting Aria directly. Overall it was one of the most disappointing hotel experiences I have ever had let alone at a "5-star" hotel. The restaurants were very good though, and we visit Vegas frequently and will likely continue to visit the restaurants. However, I will certainly avoid Aria, and likely any other MGM resort for hotel stays. I think I've seen and experienced enough from their hotels to know it's just not worth it, isn't what it used to be, and never will be...

This was our first time staying at the Aria. We’ve previously stayed at The Cosmopolitan before it became part of MGM, and we absolutely loved it—especially the perks and personal touches it offered before the merger. We chose Aria for this trip because of its world-renowned reputation and the perks we were offered ahead of our stay. We’ve played in the casino before and always admired the property, so we had high expectations.

We opted for mobile check-in since our flight was scheduled to arrive late—we landed around midnight. To ensure everything went smoothly, we even called ahead and asked the front desk to note our late arrival. The staff over the phone was friendly and helpful, but we weren’t made aware that checking in online would place a hold on our card for incidentals. That should have been communicated more clearly.

Upon arrival, we were immediately struck by how beautiful the lobby is—truly stunning. Unfortunately, that sense of awe was quickly overshadowed by an unpleasant interaction with the staff member who checked us in. She was not welcoming at all, and her cold demeanor left us feeling like a burden rather than a valued guest.

When we got to our room, it wasn’t as high up as we expected—months prior, we had requested an upper-level room. The room itself was nice, but definitely hadn’t been deep cleaned in some time. There was noticeable dust on the shelves, tabletops, and vents, and the shower grout was cracked. What surprised us most was the lack of a second fridge. We couldn’t keep any of our drinks or food cold, which was incredibly inconvenient. Having to pay $17+ for a bottle of water in-room felt like an unreasonable upsell rather than a luxury service.

While these issues were frustrating, what truly prompted me to write this review was the complete lack of compassion and urgency shown during a medical situation involving my father.

While dining at Salt & Ivy, my father suffered a medical episode and urgently needed a wheelchair. The hostess offered to call security, but to protect my father’s dignity, I chose to go to the concierge desk myself. A gentleman there directed me to the bell desk and told me I could get a wheelchair free of charge—no problem.

But when I arrived at the bell desk, I was greeted by Annette, who responded to my urgent request with a sassy and dismissive attitude. She informed me, bluntly, that I could “rent one.” I had no choice but to agree and filled out the rental form, but was visibly struggling with emotions. I asked her for help, and she was hesitant at best. Only after I paid the $43.36 rental fee did she finally show any urgency and provide the wheelchair.

Not once did anyone ask if my father needed additional medical assistance. Why couldn’t the concierge call ahead and have a wheelchair brought directly to the restaurant? Where was the empathy?

Later, I returned to the concierge with my husband and the receipt to express my concerns. We spoke with Julie, who was the only staff member that showed any warmth or understanding. She called the site manager, Bobby, who eventually came over. When I explained what happened, his response was to laugh and say, “Well, you accepted the agreement when you paid for the rental.” I told him I trusted the original information I was given—that the wheelchair would be complimentary. His reaction was both dismissive and offensive. Health concerns are no laughing matter.

He offered to waive one night of resort fees—saying it was comparable to the rental cost. It felt like a weak gesture and a missed opportunity to show real care.

At no point did anyone ask how my father was doing. The overall tone of our experience was cold and transactional. In a place that should pride itself on hospitality, we were left feeling like just another number. I sincerely hope Aria takes a hard look at its customer service training, especially around empathy and compassion.

We will not be returning to Aria, and sadly, we cannot recommend...

Overall, I would give the Aria 6/10. It’s not a 5-star hotel and doesn’t provide 5-star service.

o Poor housekeeping: on day 2 I returned to my room at 4pm finding that the room hadn’t been serviced. I called Housekeeping and they arranged for it to be done but when I returned later that evening the bins weren’t emptied, drinking glasses weren’t cleaned, etc. I complained at Reception and they took notes to inform Housekeeping and it subsequently improved. But on day 5 the room was again only partly serviced with uncleaned drinking glasses, unemptied bins, etc. Even the cotton buds left in the bathroom bin by the previous guest were still there on day 5. o The Patisserie: terrible service with long queues due to just two tills and too many staff hanging around just chatting and doing everything slowly. At 8pm one evening I was the only one in the queue yet it took me 10 minutes not to be served. No evidence of any proactive management; staff just left to bumble around as they choose. On payment, the first thing you see is the expectation of a tip with no No Tip option for simply fulfilling a counter order. o A/C in room 30-123: clatters every time the a/c stops or starts so I had to switch it off each night to stop being woken. o Room noise: a lot of street noise as the windows aren't sound-proofed. o Poker room: I played the $200 Daily tournament a couple of times - on one day an IT guy sat at an adjacent poker table with a hand-held vacuum cleaner and cleaned a server while the tournament was running. Seriously? o Rude and aggressive staff: after checking out I went to Lost & Found as I had lost a blue Travel Neck Pillow after checking in. Daniel, a guy wth the manners of a rattlesnake, accompanied by a female assistant, advised me that he had two recorded, belonging to a couple, and another blue one, that sounded like mine, that was found in a different room to mine. I asked to view that pillow as it may have been taken by someone else and left in that room - naturally it wouldn’t be lost if it was in my room. He became increasingly aggressive during our conversation concluding with shouting and throwing his spectacles on the desk, so I left. Totally unacceptable behaviour. I witnessed other examples of rude pool and Casino staff. o Punitive surcharges: on top of the "resort fee" + "tourist fee" + taxes ++++, a $20 fee if the room safe is left locked after departure, despite it being effortless for Aria to simply reset it with the master code; charging if the refrigerator is used for anything other than their stock. These fees betray a culture of Aria screwing their customers for every $ they can rather than giving them a 5-star service and experience that they have already paid handsomely for.

I booked three shows in advance for this visit but one was cancelled due to “you may have heard that business is slow in Vegas this year”. It clearly is, with far less people at shows and around generally than my previous three visits. It can only get worse as they're turning their customers off and away when we pay for what they market as a 5-star hotel, but provide such rude & aggressive staff, poor service and a fixation on inventing all kinds of bizarre excuses to prise every last $ out of their guests. Social media and elsewhere are full of stories of Vegas price gouging now being the norm that is affecting footfall. Even my taxi driver on the way to the airport said things have changed for the worse across Vegas. Staff generally seem angry and stressed underneath the superficial "Have a nice day" clichés, not realising that it's their bad vibes and poor customer service that is helping drive custom away. But they don't care as I was waiting to share my experiences with Aria via a feedback survey but they've not been in touch (unlike the airline and other service providers have), so I've resorted to leaving them here. People come back to what was a great experience; they don’t come back to a place that feels like...