It has been over a decade since a new resort has come to the Las Vegas Strip. In early July, we had the opportunity to stay at the three-week old Resorts World.

We used to be frequent visitors to Las Vegas, which was just over three hours from our home in Big Bear Lake. We eloped at the Aria and even my Swedish step kids have been to “Sin City” several times. It was our home away from home. However, a move to Colorado and covid meant that nearly two years have elapsed since our last visit.

This was a spur of the moment idea, as we decided to trade one of our planned nights in Palm Springs for the opportunity to stay at the Conrad in Resorts World.

We were expecting the property to be busy, but we walked into the lobby to find it dead. The lobby is both serene and whimsical. In particular, I liked the pink elephant artwork behind reception.

Reception is where we encountered our first disappointment with the level of service. My husband waited several minutes without being acknowledged, as staff chatted amongst themselves, clearly having seen him. Throughout our stay we encountered slow waits at the valet and the phone line to call to have our vehicle pulled up for us, was not working.

In fact, their system for calling staff simply didn’t work. It relies on leaving messages on a phone line, rather than speaking with a live operator. We left many messages and never received replies. It was frustrating.

The employee at reception gave us bottles of branded water and escorted us to the elevator bank. This was a nice touch, although his attitude was aloof, rather than welcoming. We felt a bit odd at tipping the guy for showing us the elevators, especially as his service at check-in was less than stellar, but did it out of expectation.

Here is the big mirror by the elevators, perfect for vacation snaps.

And the hallway.

Our room was well appointed and comfortable. I like the fragrance of the bath products called Mojave Ghost. I also loved the plush hotel robes. Hotel robes are one of my favorite ammenities.

The room had a few problems, the biggest being that we could not connect to the internet. It was like we were in a dead zone of the hotel. Although we had two queen beds, we were not give enough towels for everyone, the body wash dispenser in the shower had not been refilled, and several items were missing from our mini-bar, although we were not charged. Normally, we would just call the front desk for help, but as mentioned above, their system for calling employees was also broken.

We had views facing the Stratosphere and Circus Circus, so not lovely, but also, technically a “strip view.”

Since we only had one evening, our main goal was to hit the pool complex. The pool area was nice, with separate sections for young children and adults. The adult area had a cool infinity pool, unfortunately, the view from the infinity pool was a dusty construction zone. When the construction is complete, it might be an awesome view. The main pool is a long, rectangular shape, making it easy to find sun beds just a few steps from the water. It also featured lounge chairs in the water, which I very much enjoyed.

The pool was good, but we were again, disappointed in the lack of service. There was no poolside cocktail service, walk-up bar only. Also, we were out for a few hours and saw no employees cleaning up the piles of trash and used towels that had been abandoned by people finished with their pool day. The area was a mess and kind of gross. Even the kids commented on the lack of cleanliness.

Later in the evening, we briefly stepped inside the shopping/dining part of Resorts World, as my husband had to hunt for an ATM. We only scratched the surface regarding the things to see and I was very impressed with this portion of the resort. Whether or not I ever stay here again, I will certainly return to dine, shop, and play! The enormous globe with projections was mesmerizing.

I loved the whimsy of the casual eatery “Sun’s Out Bun’s Out”, which had egg shaped chairs!

We didn’t have a chance to visit it, but Resorts World also has a large food hall with stalls featuring fancy asian street food. I want to go back with an empty stomach.

My husband did speak with the manager to express our disappointment at check-out. I kept thinking that the problems were from lack of staff due to covid, but the manager confirmed that it was new hotel teething issues.

We felt liked we had made a very bad choice leaving the magnificent Waldorf Astoria in Palm Springs for the Conrad in Vegas. We are very loyal to the Hilton Brand, spending many weeks ( if not months) a year on Hilton properties, and left the Conrad feeling even more disappointed that the manager acknowledged the many problems, but didn’t offer any apology or compensation. Something small on his part, even a warmly expressed apology, would have gone a long way.

I think my husband summed it up best when he stated that the Conrad is a convention hotel. It’s located directly across from the convention center and would be a perfectly adequate hotel if you came for business. It reminded me of The Palms. It’s a trendy, mid-range hotel on the strip. The Conrad is pitched as a luxury hotel, but the true high-end property at Resorts World is Crockfords, which we didn’t realize until we had already booked the Conrad. We might be enticed to stay at Crockfords, but we would likely wait a year or so, to allow them to settle in.