Our take on the Trump International Las Vegas at CES

I was lucky enough to tag along with a friend to CES recently and stay in her one bedroom suite at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. I had extremely high expectations, as I think most people do, having been a fan of The Apprentice. My expectations were exceeded and yet, I found myself mentally noting quirky issues that I might have let slide at other properties. I was more fascinated with my hotel than the electronics at CES.

First, the one bedroom upgrade was reasonable for my hostess, so be sure to inquire the next time you are in town. Let them know you are a reader of my blog. The lobby has got some of the trademark Donald bling – crystal chandeliers and a piano bar, nice touches. It is refreshing to walk through a hotel in Vegas without wading through a casino, especially on a business trip when you are trying to get in and out quickly. It was also smoke free, a plus. The location is nice – you are walking distance, literally right across the street from the Fashion Show Mall where there are a number of restaurants as well as a food court. It’s convenient for going to the Strip. We walked home from the Mirage one night and it took less than ten minutes.

The room was furnished tastefully with a great view of the strip. It has two bathrooms. The master has a Jacuzzi tub and a shower with two jets and the second bath has a shower, making it ideally for two people to comfortably share a room. There’s a cool mirror with a television in the master. Incidentally I saw the company at CES. MBQuart was showing “Hidden Reflections” for consumers. You can get the same mirror with a television LCD screen and a waterproof remote control in your bathroom for only $700.00! Check them out.

Speaking of the bathrooms, another odd thing was that the second smaller bath didn’t have a towel bar for a hand towel. There’s just one rack on the outside shower door for a bath towel. So not only did I have to keep getting a hand towel from the master bath, but it kept ending up on the floor because there was nowhere to hang it. Weird. Don’t the designers wash their hands – how did they miss that? Is it cost savings? Can you say punch list? Also, they cleaned the room and never put a trash can back in the master bath during our entire stay.

There’s a pull out sofa in each standard room in the hotel, so we were surprised that we still had to ask for an extra comforter when we got to the room. Then we asked for some more hangers. The first person from Housekeeping didn’t have change, and he hadn’t gotten the message to bring the hangers. Then he went to go get them and another person arrived with the hangers pretty quickly. We still didn’t have change and now we had two people to tip. After they left we noticed we had no shampoo in either bathroom. It’s one thing when housekeepers deliberately leave burned out light bulbs to have a reason to service a room but shampoo? That seemed ridiculous. They must have a strict shampoo policy because even when we specifically requested bottles for each bathroom we still only received one bottle after the next cleaning.

The bathrobes in the room are one of the softest plushest robes we ever wore.

The first day I returned to the room after lunch. There were no signs of anything different so I almost jumped when a man from housekeeping walked out of the master bathroom a few minutes later. They might want to leave the door open or put a sign on the door if the supply cart is not going to remain outside the door.

The gym was furnished with top of the line equipment and outside there was a heated lap pool and two Jacuzzis. When we checked in, we asked what time the Jacuzzi was open until and we were told 5pm. We were shocked. Why is the Jacuzzi closed at night at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas? The next day in the gym they told me it actually closes at 4:30pm. This seems bizarre. What’s worse is the young guy who checked us in said (kind of flippantly to be honest) that we could use the Jacuzzi in our room. We’re in Vegas, dude – we don’t want to sit in our Jacuzzi in our room, we’re at your hotel - that’s the whole point.

When I went to the gym I couldn’t figure out how to change the television stations but there was no attendant. I called the hotel with my cell phone and got transferred to voicemail. Ten minutes later I called again and spoke to a concierge. Kevin quickly arrived from the spa and demonstrated the trick – you have to tap the TV with your fingernails, your fingers may not do it. My friend told me she couldn’t figure it out either and had to ask for help. Maybe a sign by the equipment would help let guests figure it out without making them feel stupid.

The Wolfgang Puck gourmet coffee offering in the room didn’t include decaf. It also would have been nice to find a tea option. However we were happily surprised to find complementary water bottles on a daily basis, a nice simple touch.

I think someone told us our model room was supposed to be for sale at some point. It was nice to find a water pitcher, blender, and a martini set in the kitchen along with a microwave and full refrigerator and oven although we weren’t able to take advantage of it all.

The black out shades would not come together all the way so the first morning I woke to a sliver of sunlight. The next few days I tried many different ways of keeping them closed – piling the couch cushions against them, etc. but I never could figure out how to keep the light out. Annoying.

The most surprising issue of all? Our cell phones didn't work very well in the room. In the elevator, another guest told us that the tint on the windows was cancelling out cell service. Hope they figure that one out pretty soon.

All and all we would recommend the hotel for a nice modest room in Vegas. Hopefully Bill, Donald and the Trump Organization can use the feedback to make some adjustments to take the hotel to the next level. Check out my quickie video for the tour. Peace!