As part of a promotion from Marriott Vacation Club that we got during our stay at Marriott MountainSide in Park City, We had a stay that we needed to use before the end of the year. While I am far from a timeshare person, the promotional rate was $199 for a 4 day/3 night stay at a variety of resorts and all you had to do was listen to a 90 minute timeshare pitch. Since it was December, we wanted somewhere warm and decided to head to Las Vegas as Mrs. ATX Jetsetter had never been as an adult.
Booking
Since this was a Marriott Vacation Club promo we had to call in to book. Fortunately they had wide open availability for multiple locations on the dates we wanted. We considered Boston and San Diego before settling on Las Vegas as my wife had never been.
Location
Marriott has a couple of properties near the Las Vegas strip. The Marriott Grand Chateau is conveniently located one block east of Las Vegas Boulevard on Harmon Boulevard. Since the hotel is a block off of the strip and doesn’t have a casino, there is very little in the way of foot traffic through the hotel which is nice. It is also one block from the massive Aria complex and City Center shops.
Parking
Though we didn’t rent a car for this trip, one of the perks of staying at a Vacation Club property is complimentary parking, which is huge in Las Vegas. Though this makes sense as the majority of the guests are “owners” of the property.
Lobby/Check-In
We arrived at the hotel just after noon and headed for reception. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a room ready for us. Check in was fast though we had to head over to a concierge desk to get the time for our 90 minute timeshare pitch. Once that was complete we headed up to our “studio” room located on the 19th floor. As this property is part of Marriott Grand Vacations it can be combined with the adjoining 1BR suite to make a 2 BR suite.
Room
The décor in the room was a little tired but overall, the room was in good condition. There was a king-sized bed and a pull-out sofa located in the main living area. There was also a small table with chairs by the window that overlooked the backside of some of the hotels along the strip and the airport.
Next to this was a small wardrobe and a kitchenette. During our stay we only used the refrigerator to hold beverages but, the adjoining one bedroom had a full kitchen should folks want to stay longer term. This is a timeshare property after all. There was a small bathroom located near the hallway that was clean but unremarkable.
Amenities
The Grand Chateau is definitely geared more towards families than your typical Vegas traveler, so don’t expect a casino, shows, or storefronts. However, they didn’t have a couple of amenities available during our stay. The one we used the most was the café located in the lobby. As our gift for attending the timeshare pitch we got a $100 Marriott gift card which we mainly used here.
Up on the roof was a pool deck and bar area that had some great views out over the strip as it was located up on the 38th floor. Because of the weather on this trip, we only went up to check it out and snap some pictures before leaving. There were folks in both pools even though it was 60 degrees outside. They clearly weren’t from Texas.
Timeshare Pitch
As part of our rate, we were “asked” to attend a 90 minute presentation on the benefits of being an Owner within the Marriott Vacation Club. While our presenter was very nice and outlined all of the “benefits” of membership, we knew going in that we weren’t going to buy. He didn’t push us at all and after 90 minutes we were out of there and went about the rest of our vacation.
Summary
All in all, the hotel was ok and in a good location. We stayed here because we had credits expiring at the end of the year from a previous trip to Park City. Otherwise, we would have likely stayed at one of the newer, on-strip hotels. It would be better suited to a family with kids or a larger group than a couple of newlyweds, but I would stay here again if the price was right.
