MB Penthouse Lounge question

Mike, its been two years since I last stayed at MB, but all the times I have stayed there in the last seven years, you had to be coded by a host for access to the VIP checkin (which also has a small lounge area inside it), but as long as you were booked in one of the three PH level floors, you had access to the sky lounge. You have to use your room key to enter the lounge. But as I said, its been a couple years, so maybe it has changed.

Also, FWIW, the sky lounge is a great view and has a friendly staff. During the week, the hours are limited. There might have been some weekdays it wasn't open at all during my last trip there (can't recall for sure). But on the weekends, it was open most of the day. If you stay on a PH floor, you also have access to the high limit room elevator, which is infinitely faster than waiting at the main elevator banks (its in the rear of the high limit room). To me, that's a much better benefit than the sky lounge!

 

Mike just curious how this worked out for you?

 

Mike, we are planning to stay in a sky 1 BR penthouse suite in June - if all works out. I remember when I booked it I was offered the VIP check in. This page lists the benefits. I don't know if the VIP lounge would be the same as the Sky Lounge? It almost sounds worth
the $150 since it includes transportation and early check in and late check out.

https://mandalaybay.mgmresorts.com/en/hotel/mandalay-bay-vip-arrival-experience.html

 

The two lounges are not the same, this I know. The Sky Lounge is only accessible with a code, given by hosts.

 

I'm toying with the same adder myself. I just don't like that I have to pay it upfront, and have to eat the $150 if I end up canceling my trip.

I wish they would just add it to the room, and I could pay it off with points or my resort credit.

I'd end up paying $60 round trip with tips for cabs to and from the airport. My host usually gets me early/late check in. But, I do like that I can ride in a nice car (maybe even a limo or SUV), and get greeted at the door. Which would make me feel fancy!

 

Same situation for me, the non-refundable means why book it ages in advance, a few days before the trip should be plenty when I know its 100% happening? I'd like to be able to pay with points, but I suppose I'll just use the points on something else and it all comes out in the wash the same at the end? I'm certainly not very adept at getting the best bang for my buck out of trips, but I'll have multiple things on my bill that a host could wipe - if they can't move on the VIP add-on, they can probably move on something else and I'll call it even.

 

I hear you on the Why Bother side of booking in advance. I think the only risk to waiting, is that they might only have so many cars to send out for this experience each day, and they might simply tell you the upgrade is not available on your dates.

Lets face it, there are like 4,000 rooms at MB/Four Seasons/Delano. They have to have some cars set aside of actual big players, and not the common folk that pay for the VIP experience. IE, there could be thousands of people each day that may want to book this too. Its on their website, and open to nearly everyone.

It only takes 15 mins to get to the airport from MB. Plus 15 mins to get back. Plus the 30 minute wait for the pickup, load and unload people time. That means they have 1 car of the fleet dedicated to a VIP upgrader every hour. And since 12 hours of the day are wasted on late at night or super early AM. That gives you 6 clients per day, considering those same 6 will hog a ride back on checkout sooner or later.

Even if they put aside 4 cars per day for the program, that is still only 2 dozen people that could book per day. And if you are late with the booking, and your arrival overlaps someone else's, that could screw you too!

Even if just 1% of people want to do this, out of the 4,000 rooms they have to stay in. That is still 40 people, and I doubt they have that many cars open.

 

I agree with your outlook/maths. I guess for me personally I'm not burning $150 on a non-refund and I'm ok with waiting until I know I'm 100% to travel - if they are sold out, it isn't really a big deal. In a vacuum, I do think its a decent offer and if it wasn't for covid, I'd book up now and grab it. There's also a non-zero that somewhere else actually comes through with a free stay offer.

There are also quite a few people that think it is very poor value (which ofc is in the eye of the beholder, no judgment there) but perhaps it isn't that popular, and even stuff plastered on websites is often not well understood or taken up (perhaps the MGM Prima deal years ago is a classic example of that)

 

Very true! I am struggling with the value side myself.

Cab to and from the airport, is only like $22. Figure in tip, that is $30 each way.

I hear there are only drinks in the VIP lounge. No snacks or such. That still saves me maybe $50 on a trip, if the wife and I can keep grabbing bottle drinks for the road and the room. My kids can drink their weight in juice if I let them.

Since there is no booze in VIP, does anyone know if I can bring a kid in with me?

I will surely use either the early check in or late check out. Maybe even both. A host can usually tidy that up for free if I ask. It is the easiest thing they can do for you. But, for me anyway, it is just a request and not guaranteed. With this, you are paying for both. Which can be huge when traveling with kids, and not having to check in luggage and wander for hours when the room is not ready yet, or when your flight out is later.

Just looking at those 3 things, and the fact I'm going to give the limo driver a tip as well. It seems to be worth it.

Add in the fact I wont tell my wife I paid $150 to do it, and she thinks I am whale enough to get a limo/fancy SUV to and from the airport. PLUS the curbside greet is really cool, talking to others that did this upgrade. They actually have your room keys in hand, no checkin, and escort you straight to your room.

That's some cool shit for $150. I think i just talked myself into it!

 

The short version - howver bad it turns out to actually be...... I'm going to do poorer value things with $150 at some point during a trip so I'm not going to worry too much about whether I'm paying a little over or a little under on the VIP pack. I can't really see me yelling out in a gin-infused stupor "hop dem hardways fiddy each!" and as the dice are in the air...... "geee I think I overspent on the limo"

Cabs I still hate with a passion. Ofc there are good guys, but the last 2 trips have been somewhat typical.... get a royal longhaul and then (once the bags are out of the car) $20 to the bellhop and "I got my ass longhauled, here's twenty, tidy things up. Give this cabbie what he deserves and the rest is for you." Everyone seems to be happy in that arrangement, possibly apart from the cabbie But then, if they never lose, they keep long-hauling. I used to hate it so much that I started renting a car from the airport, which avoids the cab drivers ofc AND gets you pretty quick kknowledge of the surface streets. But nowadays I am usually enjoying a few extra drinks on the flight and driving is not an option. Ride-share isn't straightforward (I don't think) for International with no data roaming, if I am out of the range of wi-fi then it is a mess.

When I took the girls, I had the limo driver meet&greet with their names on the board, they loved it, worth the cost of the ride right there. We would have needed 2 cabs as a family anyway with the luggage.

On flight timings, I arrive late evening and depart late evening, so I won't get any value from early check in. While late checkout helps a bit, unless a host comps me a 6pm checkout, I'll likely use myvegas to bag a room for that extra day and that's one extra day of golf+pool time with no hassle. SO in that regard, early/late checkout likely zero value to me personally.

I see the lounge as a bit like being a member of a gym You are paying to have the facility there, whether you use it or not. I'm certainly not going to be lounging around in it soaking up "a bit more value" - just grab a coffee and a water and go.

So $50ish for no-cabs, $10/day for coffee+water+? Improved arrival/check-in experience worth $X and on a week visit.... I don't need a calculator to figure out it isn't going to be terrible to run $150 on this.

 

This is exactly me. I know people that prefer the savings and riding in an Uber/Lyft. But, that's just not me. I just don't like the idea of tossing all my bags, and my 2 young kids, into some random Dude's Toyota Tercel. And this is coming from a guy that once got long hauled from the airport, to Paris, via I-15!

MB Checkout time is 11AM. Keeping the room for 4 more hours is HUGE for us, when we have a later flight out. That allows us nearly an extra day of pool/gambling time.

At the end of the day, with the help of these boards, I was able to reach out to a host and see if it was worth me paying for the experience. Or, me just pandering to get them to comp me all this stuff. The answer was, he would just arrange for the car to/from the airport, code me for the VIP lounge and just make sure my checkout for 3PM goes in. IE, free since I asked!

At the end of the day, asking is always free!