Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino - Las Vegas, NV

With so many hotels on the Las Vegas strip, it can be a daunting task to choose one. Two years ago, we stayed at the MGM Grand because they were offering great pricing at the time. However, after all the walking on that trip, I knew I'd want to stay somewhere more central for this year's trip. The main reason we choose the Planet Hollywood was because of it's location (near center of the strip) plus it seemed to be a place we visited a lot during our last trip.

Booking it
Planet Hollywood Resort is a Starwood Hotel, and lucky for me I had a Starwood Preferred Guest account since my last visit to a Sheraton. However, the Planet Hollywood website had no spot on the form for a Starwoord Preferred Guest number. I went to the Starwood website in an attempt to book and the price was higher than that found on Planet Hollywood's website. I didn't have the energy to call, so I just went ahead and booked through Planet Hollywood's "Drinks are on Us" advertisement. Even though I didn't book through Starwood, and I never gave my Starwood number, my Starwood Preferred Guest account does show my stay and my points! It might have been linked to my credit card.

The Price
I was shocked to find out how high the price was at MGM considering that last visit we got a great deal there. Planet Hollywood was much more reasonable. It cost us around $700 (pretax) for the four night stay. In all my comparison shopping, this was in line with or cheaper than the other hotels on the strip. With the Drinks are on Us campaign we were also given one free 5th of alcohol each day. We are not big drinkers, so we just took these home with us as was suggested by other couples staying at the hotel.

Please note: the campaign advertising has since changed to say one bottle PER STAY instead of PER DAY. Please be aware which deal you are getting when you book.

Checking in
Check in was easy and fast. Even though there was a bit of a line when we arrived, it moved fast and when it got to us there were no hold ups. If I would have had my Starwood Preferred Guest card I could have gone into a much shorter line. We arrived at the hotel around 11, which is 4 hours before standard check in time. Even so, the room was ready to go with no delays.

The Room
Located on the 29th floor, our Hollywood Hip room was a good size for us. The bathroom had a stand up shower, separate toilet room and a soaking tub. I made use of that soaking tub on day one to relieve my achy feet! The shower was about standard.

The rest of the room contained a King size bed, a small sitting area and table, a desk, and a nice television. The bed was comfortable, but noticeably not as comfortable as the one at the MGM! Still, it did the job and we slept well.

Our view was of the back side of the hotel. We did not feel like paying the upgrade money to face the strip since we knew we wouldn't be in the room that much. We had a nice view of the mountains and otherwise just saw cars driving by. I would love to be in a room that faces the Bellagio Fountains, but since that is only a quick walk across the street it isn't entirely necessary.

The Restaurants
The reason we liked the Planet Hollywood on our last trip was because of the restaurants. Cheeseburger Las Vegas was the first stop on our agenda because we remembered how good it was last trip. They didn't disappoint and it's a great way to get a smaller meal in Vegas since most are huge! Earl of Sandwich was another great place for a smaller meal and we had a late night soup and salad there one night. Planet Daillies had great breakfast and they were reasonably priced so we stopped in there twice. All of these options were a nice change from the MGM which seemed to mostly offer fancy or expensive restaurants.

Getting around the Hotel
It took us the whole trip before we finally knew the shortcuts through the Planet Hollywood and the attached Miracle Mile Shops. A lot of things looked the same and the circular design made us walk way out of our way most of the time when we were just trying to find our room. It was like being lost in a mall sometimes! But we figured it out eventually by looking for landmarks like the crazy decor hanging from the ceiling.

The Location
We picked this hotel because of all the great reasons above, but the number one reason I wanted to stay there was because of the location. First of all, the Bellagio Fountains are my favorite part of Las Vegas and the Planet Hollywood is right across the street. We could walk across to see the fountains any time we wanted to. So even though we didn't have a room with a view of them, they were easy enough to walk to and we did so many times.

The location is also great because it is centralized. When we stayed at the MGM we often found things were so far away that we had to take the monorail, a taxi, or else walk a long way. The Planet Hollywood was close enough that we could walk North one day and South the next without wearing ourselves out too much. Even so, everything in Vegas is still quite a distance so our feet still got tired, but at least we were closer to the action.

Transportation
One thing I missed at the Planet Hollywood was the monorail. The monorail stops at the MGM, Bally's, Harrah's and so on down the strip, but there is no stop at the Planet Hollywood. We managed to walk to Bally's to catch the monorail, but it was quite a long walk just to get there and would have been nice to have a pickup from our own hotel. We still managed to make use of the monorail one day when we traveled to the very North end of the strip, but otherwise we didn't find it that convenient.

Right at the corner of the Paris Hotel and the Planet Hollywood Hotel is a free shuttle to the Rio. This bus comes every 30 minutes starting at 10 AM and made it quick and easy to get to the Rio, which is off the main strip. We had to go to the Rio multiple days to watch the World Series of Poker Main Event (the reason for our trip) so this was a great find! The Rio shuttle also has a pickup location by Harrah's so either way it's a good deal.

Sales People
The one major negative point about the Planet Hollywood Resort is the sales people. They will harass you around every turn! Every time we walked through the hotel lobby or the mall, we had people bugging us about their new Westgate area, and they wouldn't take "not interested" for an answer. There are sales people at every hotel on the strip, but I noticed it was worse at the Planet Hollywood. They offer you freebies first and then say "which 90 minute presentation will you attend". Um, none! They act like they are just comping your for staying at the hotel, but once they hook you they tell the truth that you have to attend a presentation.

After a 10-15 minute talk with one sales person, we told him NO we could not attend, forget it. It was very hard to get him to let us walk away, but I was not willing to give up 90 minutes of my vacation just for a free dinner and some gambling money. After that conversation, we knew just to say NO to everyone who started talking to us, but some were more persistence than others saying they could offer us free nights, etc. That was a major turn off. Don't they realize that MOST visitors are not ready to book their next vacation today? Don't they realize that MOST visitors likely can't afford one of your special fancy timeshare rooms? After awhile we just acted deaf and blind and walked past these people as if they didn't exist. It may seem rude but I'd rather not be harassed every time I walk through my hotel.

Checking Out
We packed up and were out of our room right around 11, just in time for check out. They did not leave any messages or notes like some hotels do, so we figured there was no rush. Checking out was a breeze. They printed off our room charges, we checked it over, and that was it. We were able to leave our bags with the Bell Desk since our flight wasn't leaving for another 7 hours. The Bell Desk also took the painting we had purchased and our carry-ons with no problem.

For who?
When I booked, a coworker told me it would be a good hotel for us as we are a younger couple. There did seem to be more younger couples than older, but it wasn't necessarily only for younger couples. I saw many people of all shapes and sizes going through the hotel. Rather than saying it's for "young couples", I'd rather say it's for anyone who enjoys the trendier side of Vegas. Like I stated earlier, you feel like you are in a mall most of the time and not so much in a big, fancy, elaborate hotel - which was nice for us and helped us relax.

Overall
I highly recommend the Planet Hollywood Resort and will definitely stay there again in the future! Although the Bellagio is a place we'd love to stay, the price is just a bit too high for us. The MGM was a bit more comfortable, but for price, location, and restaurants the Planet Hollywood cannot be beat. Look for deals and enjoy!!