Elara, a Hilton Grand Vacation Hotel-Center Strip

Here are the pros/cons as I experienced it when I went there for a business trip. I did not have a car so I can't talk about parking rates: Pros: 1. Very accessible from the Strip through the Miracle Mile shopping mall. The nice thing about this is that it also gives you some nice options for shopping and eating (Chick Fil A, Chipotle, and sit down restaurants) as the hotel itself does not have a restaurant (only a Starbucks, a bar, and a gift shop). 2. Location on the Strip is right in the middle - you're opposite the Bellagio. If you head North, you'll get to Paris Paris, Venetian, Treasure Island. If you head South, you get to MGM Grand, Luxor, etc. 3. Rooms are huge - I had the smallest (one bedroom studio) room but it had two rooms with floor to ceiling picture windows - one in the living room, one in the bedroom. The living room sectional has a pull out bed. 4. Very good room amenities - beyond the in room safe and the TVs in each room, there was a jacuzzi tub in the bedroom and a well stocked kitchen with a microwave and full size fridge, dishwasher. 5. Views are decent - my room on the 29th floor looked out over the airport runway so I could see planes takeoff and land. My direct view was of the Marriott Vacation Club across the street but I could also see a little bit of the MGM Grand. 6. They have a pretty slick elevator system where you enter your floor and you're pointed to the elevator that is pre-programmed to take you to your floor. There's also a security guard who ensures that only guests can access the elevators. 7. No casino/slot machines so you get a break from the incessant lights, noises, and cigarette smoke at the typical LV strip hotel/resort. Cons: 1. They charge a resort fee but it isn't a resort. It's a hotel and like a lot of hotels, there's a fairly basic pool by Las Vegas Strip standards and I assume a fitness room. But it's nothing like what you would get at MGM, Mandalay Bay, Venetian, etc. If you can get equivalent prices to those resorts, I would take those any day over this hotel. 2. I got what appeared to be a disabled room with a shower that was walk in with no lip. I'm not against that per se but would have liked to be told that on check in. 3. There are no restaurants - there's a Starbucks and you get a card for 2 free coffees on check in and there's a bar. But if you walk out the door, you have all the restaurants of the Miracle Mile so this wasn't really an issue. Read less

I'm actually quite surprised by so many positive reviews on this page. Although this place seems nice enough, having a good pool, decent rooms, just about every hotel on the strip has the same benefits for around the same price with dramatically better customer service. It seems to me that this property has a really poor culture from management of only caring about, "the owners". Basically, any time I had a question the response was, "we really prioritize the owners". Want to check in a bit early? "Sorry, we're full, can only help the owners". Someone shouting in the room next door at 4am and hear the TV blaring like a cheap motel? "Sorry, we can't change your room, we only help owners change rooms since we're full". By the way, be aware I was told that all rooms have adjoining doors. Want to check out at a reasonable time, since this hotel sets 10am? "Sorry, late check-out is full, we've already allocated it to the owners". This place doesn't want guests, they want "owners" for time-shares. They also do a cheap scam where they say you're getting a "welcome gift". Your gift is a chance to sit with a sales person to listen to a pitch for a time share, I discovered. Read less