I’m “live-blogging” my spontaneous road trip to Las Vegas.
I have to admit, the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas at $23/night (about $25 including tax) was far better than I thought it would be. I’m not about to start shifting to budget hotels for family vacations or business trips, but this property was actually just fine and proved to be an easy way to rack up cheap World of Hyatt (soon to be Marriott Bonvoy) points.
Excalibur Hotel In Las Vegas…The Best $23 I Ever Spent?
I arrived at 2:45 am so there was no line to check-in, however the following afternoon I noticed a very large line to check-in. I can only imagine it is far, far worse on weekends. There is a MGM elite check-in line on the far right side, which did not have a long line.
The rooms are very bare-bones in the sense that there is not even water bottles or a refrigerator. But the beds were comfortable (enough) and the sheets appeared clean (I did look, though I did not bring a back light along).
I actually really liked the bathroom because the shower had a steam bath feature that worked really well. The hotel spa has no sauna or steam room (not that you really need it during summer in Las Vegas…) and there were also individual toiletries rather than large bottles subject to tampering (through I brought my own anyway).
There is no Globalist breakfast benefit at this hotel, but the hotel has a daily buffet from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm (I love the late hour it extends to) for $29.
The property has four pools, one of which were closed, but Augustine greatly enjoyed swimming in the (relative) cool of the morning (and dragged me in with him).
While the gym equipment is not brand new, it is serviceable.
There are also shows and of course the casino, but I was not interested….
I’ll write up a formal review tomorrow, but the takeaway is that this hotel (even if you throw in the $35/night resort fee) is one of the few “good deals” left in Vegas. When I was kid, you went to Vegas for cheap food and cheap hotels. Not anymore, in most cases. But I thought this hotel would simply be a place to lay my head and it was actually more than that.
That’s $23 very well spent.
So was it 23 a night? 25 a night? Or 60 a night?
$23 night, $25 with taxes.
I don’t pay resort fees because I have MGM Gold status, but if you get stuck with a resort fee, it is $35 more.
Excalibur was built as a sister property to Circus-Circus so it was on the low-end/budget conscious spectrum when it opened but was pretty impressive when it opened as the worlds largest hotel/casino. Luxor came next followed by Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo (now Park MGM) and in the early 2000s all the properties were sold to MGM; then sold off the Circus-Circus property. MGM has invested little infrastructure to these properties, other than standard renovations of rooms and changing out restaurants etc. They just kind of lumber on, although Mandalay Bay still retains a more upscale feel and has one of the better pool complexes on the strip (wave pool, slides, lazy river, etc).
There is a reason you can get rooms cheap at Excalibur and Luxor and if you prefer a less rowdy/redneck/trashy crowd don’t stay at these properties. I usually opt for the flagship MGM properties (MGM, Bellagio), but the quality and attention to detail has become a thing of the past and basically it comes down to revenue and how these properties can extract as much revenue with as little capital expenditure as possible. The cost-cutting is obvious and unless you are staying at Wynn or Resorts World, the MGM properties are no longer the gold standard they used to be.
Any update on getting your qualifying nights? From the post yesterday you said there was an issue at check in with being marked a no show.
Overall it disappoints me seeing what Vegas has become with a lower clientele and the out of control pricing and fees. As a gambler I don’t pay for rooms or fees, at least in physical cash to the hotel, though there are definitely some trips it would have been cheaper.
But it’s certainly better than mid to late 2020 when it looked like LA (not in a good way) every weekend. Everyone sick of being locked down in CA came on weekends for the cheap rooms, brought their own food and partied 10 deep in the rooms. Unfortunately it introduced Vegas to a younger customer that still comes back often and is what you are seeing at Excalibur.
The first night did not post.
*Sigh*
I filed a missing night claim, but I am afraid this is going to be a time-consuming battle.
Matthew, not sure I understand. Did they deny the first night simply because you checked in after midnight? Flights are delayed all the time (although I realize you drove, presumably this would make no difference to the hotel).
What about the rest of the nights? Surely you don’t need to physically stay the five nights for the credit? If I traveled to Vegas, would likely stay at higher end MGM properties. So I’m curious how it works now.
Yes, they denied the first night precisely because they claimed I checked in after midnight. The other nights posted.
Declaring you a no-show at midnight is BS, especially in Vegas, where people are driving and flying in at all hours of the day. I would take this fight to both MGM and Hyatt if they persist in denying you the first night. Doesn’t a credit card guarantee hold the room for you until 6 am the next day? At least that’s the way I always understood it.
I still don’t get it: you paid for that night, in fact got a room, slept in it, but they won’t credit it?
I guess it all boils down to this: if you hadn’t booke the first night, could you have checked in and used the room when you arrived at 2.45am?
If the answer from the hotel is “no, you need to book & pay for this night if you wish to check in before noon (or whatever the check-in time is)”, then I don’t think they have a leg to stand on.
It really is a paradox how Vegas became trashier and more expensive at the same time.
I’ve stayed at Excalibur many times, but I prefer Luxor, which is usually just a few dollars more expensive. Both provide excellent value for what you pay.
I do prefer Luxor, though I’ve got to stay the steam bath feature on the shower was not bad at all.
Even I had stayed at Excalibur no matter resort tower or royal tower 10+ times since last year, this is the first time I have ever seen a steam shower feature + build in area to sit inside the shower, don’t count this as a normal feature in all rooms.
I avoid Vegas but back when I used to go, say 15+ years ago, I avoided Excalibur back then except to walk through. I can’t imagine it got any better. Back in the day it was nice to stay at Bellagio for $99 with no resort fees even for me (while I gambled, it certainly wasn’t something that would get me any kind of comped room).
I do thing it is terribly stupid to take a kid there and I say that as a non-parent. For all of the money you are spending beyond the hotel room, I would think you could find a Hyatt close to where you live and come out ahead.
If staying for one night, I 100% agree. But getting five nights at $25/night is different…that helps me put a dent in my 60.
This looks a bit better than the Motel 6.
“though I did not bring a back light along”
A black light would have worked better anyway…
“it introduced Vegas to a younger customer that still comes back often”
That happened long before, once MTV decided to do a season of The Real World there in the early 2000s…
That steam shower is definitely a suite feature. I’d venture a guess that your room is or was at one point an optional connector room to was a suite. I’ve never seen that feature in a standard Vegas room, much less at Excalibur.
You mentioned the room was bare boned because of the missing in room free water or a fridge. Have you never been to Las Vegas? NO hotel, including Wynn, provides these at any price point. The lack of amenities has nothing to do with the room being bare bones. It’s just a Vegas thing
Fair enough. I am certainly not a regular Vegas guest, though when I stayed at the Wynn there was water in the room.
Yes, Wynn offers water but charges $25 a bottle if you dare take it.
If you tell them you have medicines that need refrigeration, they’ll comp you a mini fridge. At least at MGM properties (of which Excalibur is a part of). Otherwise there’s a fee per night.
There are a bunch of little tricks like that.
In fact, with Gold Status, Matthew likely has a bunch of comped room nights at many MGM hotels, if he chooses his dates around when those comps are available. Vdara is probably the nicest of them all, but you can get a few free nights in a row with most MGM statuses if you take the time to peruse the calendar.
I’ve never really done this MGM mattress run game to any extent and certainly never gamble, so thus far I do not have comps.
At $23/night, the last thing they want is to make it easier for you to not visit their bars and restaurants.
FWIW, I received two free bottles of water during checkin but maybe that’s because I used the MGM status lane? I have both MGM & Hyatt status and stayed several times this year. It makes sense to not have water bottles in the room due to the quantity of non-status room stays.
I used my MGM status and received no water, though I saw the (closed at 2am) MGM elite check-in desk and a big basket of snacks on a shelf.
It’s none of my business where Matthew or anybody else vacations. But why Las Vegas if you’re not interested in the gambling or the shows? Just curious.
Maybe you should read the introductory post to this series.
https://liveandletsfly.com/road-trip-las-vegas/