I am going to start with my bad reviews to get them over with, so here are my (very long, sorry), reviews of Mandalay Bay:
Welcome Bag Deliveries:
We dropped off bags at Mandalay Bay and Excalibur. It was incredibly difficult to drop them off at MB – you have to go underground to this bell desk storage area, and it took over an hour to get 5 bags located with their rooms, and then it was a $2.50 per bag charge. On the good side, though, the guests actually DID receive them, which is more than I can say for Excalibur. The process there was super easy and only took about 5 minutes…but no one got them. Only one of my BM’s ended up getting hers because she asked about it at check-OUT. I do NOT recommend dropping off bags to any of the hotels…it was a horrible process (which is why we ended up giving the MGM and Luxor bags to the guests themselves).
Mandalay Bay Guest Services: D
This was the absolute worst part of our trip. We had the Vista Suite booked for 10 months, and specifically booked it for the day before the wedding so we could set up everything. We even confirmed the reservation 2 days beforehand. Yet at check-in on Saturday, we were very rudely informed that we were not getting the suite, or ANY suite for that matter. I have read of MB trying to give other brides the Media Suite, but I have never read of them simply denying our reservation altogether and putting us into a standard room. We talked to the manager on duty, and all she eventually offered us was a sky-view suite (which is MUCH smaller) for no charge for Saturday night, and said that HOPEFULLY we would get a Vista suite, or a “comparable” suite on Sunday afternoon. FI spent 45 minutes arguing with them (while I stood there and cried) about the fact that it was our wedding reception and we HAD to have a suite, and that we had no way to check in and set up everything the next day when we would be on our strip tour and ya know, GETTING MARRIED. No matter how many times we asked, we were never even given a reason why our reservation was not being honored, and they were very cold and inconsiderate about the whole thing. They did absolutely nothing to make up for it, except to comp the first night in the other room, although everyone, including my BM who is a GM at a hotel, strongly believes we should have been comped our entire stay. Oh, and we were still charged the resort fee for both nights. Ridiculous.
We then had to spend our entire rehearsal dinner rounding up a team of people (family members, boyfriends of BMs) who could change all their plans for the next day to be able to move everything into the suite once we got it and set up everything for us. Luckily, we are blessed, because we had several people offer to help since neither FI or me or any of the wedding party could do any of it.
SO, on Sunday morning, my FI went straight down to the front desk at 9 AM to see if any suites had opened up yet. They offered him a media suite at that point, but he did not take it (for several reasons). After that, my Godmother took over calling the front desk every hour, and by about noon, we were finally given keys to a Vista Suite. Sadly, the bad review doesn’t end there.
My Godmother made it very clear to the front desk that even after we got the Suite, we would not be leaving the room we were in until later afternoon after we were all finished getting ready. They said it was fine. Well, about 10 minutes after were assigned to the Vista, we tried to order room service for lunch. Room service rudely told us we could not order anything because “no one is assigned to that room” and hung up. Then about 2 minutes later, we got a phone call, and someone very rudely told us “to get out of the room right now”. My Godmother (and I) were beyond PISSED at this point. We had 3 Glamsquad guys, 4 BMs, my Godmother, myself, and an entire reception-full of stuff in the sky-view room…and THEY HADN”T EVEN SENT UP THE BELLMAN YET TO MOVE OUR STUFF. Yet we were told to LEAVE the room after only 10 minutes. My Godmother called the front desk and had some words with them, and after that room service called back to take our order…to which my Godmother responded “we don’t need your food, thank you” (BEST MOMENT EVER!)
2 of my BM’s then went downstairs to get us sandwiches at one of the quick-eat places (I don’t know the name). When they ordered 7 sandwiches, they were told “sorry we don’t have any bread, you’ll have to order burgers.” OMFG. So they spent $150 on cheeseburgers, and guess what? The people in line behind them ordered sandwiches. Basically the front line people were too lazy to make 7 sandwiches, and instead wanted the kitchen to do it so they said they had to get burgers. HOLY COW.
My final complaint: After our reception, we really wanted to go to Mix. We walked all the way to the front entrance to be told “sorry, we’re done for the night.” UM, seriously, what nightclub in VEGAS closes before midnight???? Are you kidding me? Apparently it’s not as awesome as they make it out to be. We went to Eye Candy and had a blast, luckily.
I had such high expectations of a place as big and reputable as Mandalay Bay…and they failed on every level (except for the bellmen, which I will rate separately). I will never stay here again. And ALL of our guests who stayed there had similar reviews. Everyone was treated rudely by the front-desk staff. We were so turned off by the whole experience that my husband and I wouldn’t even go back there to eat or anything during our honeymoon. The only reason they are not getting an F grade is because we did eventually get the Vista Suite.
Mandalay Bay Bellmen: A+
These guys were the only good service MB had to offer. They were great. Helped unpack our car, moved 3 carts worth of stuff into the first room, then moved it all again the next day, and then moved it all again at check-out, and they were all very polite and nice. One of them even insisted on helping me hang up my wedding gown and veil since I was too short to reach the top of the door.
MB Accommodations: A
The rooms themselves were very nice, especially the sky-view suite as it was newer and in the “penthouse” tower, but the view was awful The Vista suite was exactly as it appeared in videos and photos, and it very easily fit our 50 guests plus the DJ. 60 would fit FINE in there. The furniture was a little worn…but when you’ve got 50 people and dim lighting, no one will notice a thing, trust me. And the view was AMAZING.