MGM Grand — Hotel in Paradise

If Honey Boo Boo partnered with MMA Wrestling to offer a hotel with the panache of a Greyhound bus station - this is the vibe.

Customer service at the check in desk or via phone or app was atrocious at every turn here - although they did cancel the last days of my reservation for me, only charging (gouging) for one night because I decided to leave the property altogether.

Of note on a positive side: the bell desk service & bellhops were excellent!! The room was a studio king - it was comfortable, clean, updated & fine (except for the travel time to reach it). The bartender Richard at the small side Whisky Bar was awesome. And, inexplicably, there are 2 Michelin starred restaurants here. I already checked out & moved, but returned for a reservation at L’Atelier by Joel Robuchon - which I will review separately - I didn’t want to step foot in MGM Grand ever again, but I’m glad I did for the astounding experience I enjoyed with French gastronomy!!!

Upon arrival, I had the app that provided a digital key - so once I found the guest elevators, I headed right for my floor. I was in a hurry to change to get to a 9:30 show already booked at Bellagio. Not realizing my digital key was needed to click my floor, another man clicked for his floor, above mine. He exits & I tap my key to the pad but the elevator doesn’t move. The light turned green, no movement. I finally tapped Lobby & tried another lift - no luck. I head back to the check in desk area & get in line. Bear in mind, I’m on 21 hours of travel from North Carolina at this point. I’m exhausted beyond words. The desk attendant points out that my room is in the “studio tower” only accessed by a different elevator bank at the farthest point across the casino from where we are 😂 I’m talking, caddycorner across this huge property just to get to the corridor - then down to the end of a huge room corridor to get to the elevators - then doubling back for the entire length of the corridor to get to my room. My room was next to the construction wall where, without that, I could have accessed my room from a central bank of elevators.

I didn’t have the stamina nor time to get to this room & change if I actually plan to see my show! I located a casino level bathroom & omg changed in a handicap stall. I bell checked my bags & oh - proceeded to fall into the Uber trap where they send you on another wild goose chase of labyrinthine miles to find the ride share location. (Just take cabs if you are in any sort of time restricted hurry! You get to walk right out the hotel door & there is a cab waiting!)

Upon returning, which is when Richard helped me so nicely at the bar, I went to get my bags & request assistance getting to my room. The casino floor is all carpeted - it’s like pulling a rolling suitcase through quicksand!!! I was still exhausted. The bell hop was such a gem & when he realized where my room was & how far I had to walk to get there he told me to call first thing in the morning to switch rooms.

I did! I called at 10am & was told to call back at 12 noon (checkout was at 11) I started looking at new hotel options then, but also had a sinking feeling that if I stayed past 11am then they were locking me into staying at their property. I called back at 10:45 to request a room switch again - this time I was told the hotel was full & there were no rooms to switch to.

I explained the previous conversation & that I now want to cancel this reservation entirely. They said I’d need to come talk to guest services in person by 12.

Once I was in line, several people around me were all complaining about the customer service, too. I’ve talked to people in other casinos that also left MGM Grand this week. “Know...

We have been staying at the MGM Grand for many 20+ years! We have watched it slowly decline, from poor customer service to outdated room decor/quality!

We have an incredible host, and the MGM has been good to us.

However, this past weekend was NOT a great experience! The first room (27-003) we were given was beautiful, but after we flushed the toilet, the smell of sewer/sulfur was horrible!

While my hubs went to the desk to get keys for another room, I began taking pictures of the "refreshed" room. I noticed many "not so great" areas that should otherwise be amazing, since the rooms have all been (supposedly) renovated/refreshed.

They removed the huge jacuzzi tub (in suites) and replaced them with a (would be) beautiful oversized shower (at least 5ft X 7ft!) ... but... It's a HUGE miss to have only one (junky little) single shower head with poor water pressure! You have to step away from the shower water to get soap/shampoo from the ledge/bench! A missed (design) opportunity to elevate the customer experience. A sad miss!!!

They left the landline phone jacks (all should've been removed) - some have "dummy" cover plates, and some do not. Some plate covers are white, while some are the icky yellow-beige (dirty looking)!

I can't imagine the regular room (remodel) issues... when this room is a suite!

We later moved to a new room (22-003) - a much better, refreshed room (same tiny shower-head issue)! However, the bathroom lights went out on Thursday (discovered at 2 am) and were not fixed until Friday night; this was after the maintenance man closed the ticket... after they reset the breaker (Friday afternoon), but didn't check to see IF it was even the breaker (which it was not). When I called to demand that the issue be addressed, they sent an electrician to fix it. It was a GFCI outlet that was bad! The issue was resolved in 15 minutes! Sergio was the tech - he was GREAT!!

We had access to the mini-bar when we got to the room, but when the light issue happened, it must have caused the mini-bar door to lock... I called the desk, and they tried to reset it, but when it didn't work, they said they were sending a technician. He never came, and we never got access (even after two more follow-up calls).

They DID add current plugs to accommodate USB, USB-C, and multiple electronic devices, which was much needed, along with a phone charger built into the clock!

Friday night, the elevator stopped on a "locked" 4th floor (under construction) (see the picture below). You never know when some crazy (or drunk) individual will decide to "check out" the construction zone - this is NOT safe!!

The VIP lounge was remodeled years ago, but there's STILL always a line to get coffee/tea; it's not user-friendly and does not "flow" at all. I grabbed a few pieces of chocolate as we were walking out, but it was old (see pic), so I let them know!

The rooms are pretty, and the remodel theme is so much nicer, but it's a little "lipstick-on-a-pig" situation.

The Casino has many wonderful gaming areas, and the machine offerings are AMAZING!! It's a GREAT place to gamble; there's something to offer EVERYONE, no matter what you spend on your bets!!

NEW this year!!! They have "LIVE streaming" gambling, it's cool to watch... tucked back by the KA theater! Please, go check it out; it's cool! (see the picture below)

It's still a great place to stay AND play, they really need to...

TLDR: some pools were closed even though website said they were open, dirty rooms, loud construction in the morning.

We were here for my spring break (I’m a teacher) because my husband and I wanted warm weather to relax with lots of pool time, good food, and things to walk around to. When looking for hotels, our priority was pools. MGM Grand has a great pool complex featuring a lazy river which was the selling point. I checked the hotel’s websites to confirm ALL the pools would be open since that was why we were booking at this property. We’ve stayed here before but in the winter, so it being the second week of April and 90 degrees, we were excited to see the website had hours for the entire week, including the weekdays we would be here for. The first day we were there, we find out that “because it’s not peak season,” there are some pool closures including the lazy river which is only open Friday-Sunday. It feels dramatic but we were pretty bummed out since the entire reason we booked the property was for the pool complex and nowhere on the website did they mention closures. We would have stayed somewhere else. The pools that were open were very busy and lots of families were also sad to hear specifically the lazy river was closed.

The room we stayed in was one of the “recently renovated staywell rooms.” It looked nice walking in but, as other people mentioned, not cleaned super well. There was a crushed up M&M under the window, a huge dust bunny under the credenza, dust on the surfaces, cereal?? under one of the chairs.

There also was construction?? happening to a room near us. It started Thursday at 9am. Normally that time wouldn’t be too early, but this is Vegas so it was a little surprising since many guests are out late. My husband was coming down with a cold and hadn’t slept well so was trying to get some more rest before we left. No luck there.

Tuesday early afternoon, after the pool security told us about the closures I called the lobby to confirm it and the person I spoke to was less than helpful. I brought up that was the whole reason we stayed and they just said “yeah it’s not peak season yet.” Then why doesn’t the website say that? It’s mid-April and 90+ degrees. After the call, I emailed concierge while we were out sharing our disappointment about the pool closures and asking for recommendations on things we could do (an employee suggested we do that). No one has responded as of Saturday. I realize I should have called again, but it’s hard to find a quiet spot for a phone call when you aren’t in your room, and we had decided to make the most of our trip even with the main reason we were there being closed.

We would have also brought this all up at check out, but the lines to check out with a person were so long we would have been waiting an hour. I HATE complaining to staff because like… they don’t deserve to hear all that and it’s not their fault, so the fact I was considering it is kind of crazy. I’m the pretty typical “no no no it’s totally fine! Don’t worry about us!”

After getting home, we likely won’t ever stay at an MGM property again. My husband didn’t even want to gamble at their properties. Next time we’ll stay in a more central spot on the strip with better...