Hilton Grand Vacations on the Las Vegas Strip: Review — Roaming Cactus - Travel

Overview

We had a fun time on this trip, in no small part thanks to the clean, quiet, luxury of the Hilton Grand Vacations on the Las Vegas Strip. The hotel was clean, quiet, and comfortable. While in the past, the hotel had seemed very far away from all of the action on the strip, with the opening of Hilton Resorts World nearby, Grand Vacations no longer felt as disconnected.

Booking

This is going to be a tale, so buckle up. In December of 2019, I got a call from Hilton Grand Vacations. They said, “we see you’ve been a Hilton member for a couple of years and we’d like to invite you to stay with us at one of our resort properties at a steep discount. We’ll give you points, too. As long as you attend our 2-hour timeshare presentation.” Thus began our foray and exploration of the timeshare world.

It was only $250 for 3 days and 2 nights on Halloween weekend at the Elara in Las Vegas, NV scheduled for October… 2020. It was a no brainer. Since we weren’t arriving on Friday or Saturday, it was extra cheap. Vegas was one of the cities they were offering, and we do love visiting Vegas. The Elara seemed like a nice hotel we had not stay at before.

In April of 2020 we called them up to reschedule to the following year - Halloween 2021. We forked over an addition ~$100 so we could arrive on a Friday in order to still enjoy Halloween night (Sunday) without having to travel the very next day. Still a great deal.

As it happened, Halloween 2021 was still looking really covidy for our taste, so we rescheduled again - this time for Halloween 2022, arriving Saturday (no extra $$ since we already forked over the extra cash necessary to arrive on a Friday or Saturday). At this point, businesses weren’t as accommodating with covid and they were starting to enforce the 1-year expiration date attached to reservations of this nature. After some back and forth (and adding the personal touch of anecdotes of Vegas Halloween marriage and thus the importance of celebrating our anniversary there), they made it happen.

The first reschedule was pretty easy, each one after got a bit tougher incrementally necessitating the explanation of covid + the precedent of flexibility + a lil personal touch.

This is where it gets interesting (as if it wasn’t titillating already): the booking for Halloween 2022 wasn’t actually a booking - it was only a reservation. I had reserved the dates, but I had neglected to actually book the hotel. Yes, they’re two separate steps. No, they did not instigate the booking conversation. I discovered this, thankfully, a week before. I thought, “you know, I haven’t seen a confirmation number, I should scour my email and call them.” They informed me Elara was not booked, and there was no availability for the following weekend. They did however have availability at the Trump. We politely declined and opted to bail on the anniversary idea (now on the bucket list) and bump it out to Martin Luther King weekend - January 13-16, 2023 at the Hilton Grand Vacations on the Las Vegas Strip.

With confirmation numbers in tow, we confidently traveled to Vegas and stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations on the Las Vegas Strip, Friday through Monday for $350 total.

All that being said, I achieved Hilton Diamond status through having the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire card. When I signed up for the card I received 150,000 bonus points after meeting the $3,000/3 months spending requirement. Since becoming a Hilton Honors Diamond member, my upgrade conversion rate is hovering around 9 out of 10 stays.

Location

Since the strip has grown to the north in recent years, the Grand Vacations no longer feels as isolated as it once did. This is primarily due to the opening of Hilton Resorts World nearby. Resorts World is quick outdoor walk away. We made the walk down to Resorts World to enjoy a couple ice cream cones from Craig’s Vegan. Resorts World also had several, fun-looking establishments for bar goers that had all sorts of drinking games (i.e. giant beer pong). That wasn’t in the cards for us this trip!

Room

We stayed in a one bedroom suite. Originally booked for a king studio, my Hilton Honors Diamond status (unrelated to the timeshare nature of this booking) afforded us this sweet upgrade to the one bedroom suite.

The room was admittedly, amazing. It was on the 36 floor in Tower 2.

Rundown:

TVs (2)
Jacuzzi tub - we went to Lush and bought some bath bombs and enjoyed that jacuzzi every night
Rain shower + wall mounted shower heads for that full body clean
King bed
View of the north strip and mountains - it was inspirational
Full kitchen including a full set of utensils
Functional ice machine in a full fridge
Dishwasher
Washer / dryer - yes we did laundry, twice
Dining table

Hilton Grand Vacations on the Las Vegas Strip One Bedroom Suite

Hilton Grand Vacations on the Boulevard One Bedroom Suite — Hilton Grand Vacations on the Las Vegas Strip One Bedroom Suite

Dining

We did not experience any of the dining services at the hotel; there is a bar. We ordered UberEats, GrubHub, and made some of our appetizers and snacks. We did sample the refreshments at the timeshare meeting. There was

Chips
Coffee
Water in tiny bottles
Pop
Bananas, apples, oranges

There was a market next to the pool. It reminded me of the campus market from undergrad: it had a lot of processed snack-food in single serving containers. Similar selection to 7/11, but 7/11 has more variety of goods and serving sizes. Ultimately, good in a pinch, but my body is a snob and struggles to digest processed snack foods so I generally avoid them.

Pool & Spa

There was a nice pool and probably a spa. We didn’t get the privilege of enjoying it mainly because of its operating hours. It’s open from 10a - 6p. We aren’t mid-day pool people mainly because we prefer an adults only experience and 10a-6p are prime time operating hours for families with kids, and that is not us.

Gym

It was a nice gym even though it was quaint, it had enough equipment and was easy to find and navigate. There were multiple treadmills, ellipticals, and stationary bikes (including one Peloton). Additionally, there were a few weight machines, kettle bells, and yoga mats for use.

Service

The service was good. We were warmly received and acknowledged for being a Hilton Honors Diamond member. We used valet on the last day (we flew in to Las Vegas, but decided to drive back to California), who were fast and professional.

Pros

Location - nice property in a good location that’s delightfully quiet due to lack of casino.
The property is easier to navigate compared to most Vegas hotels. It’s simple to navigate from your room to the entrance. Likewise, the area to meet Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, UberEats drivers is clearly marked out front.
The elevators never had a line. This is not something that happens very often in Las Vegas. They did get full, occasionally, but most of the time we had them to ourselves.
The gym was nice and clean. Smaller but with enough equipment (and my favorite, filtered water).
There were very straightforward instruction on the television for connecting our phones for streaming, thanks to a QR code. Though we usually use our Roku (which can sometimes be an adventure), we didn’t have to bother with it this time.
Room size and price is great compared to other properties on the strip.

Cons

Location - far from the heart of the strip. We were perfectly fine walking at least one way. Though, the walk may be too much for some. It is a quick Uber or Lyft ride back the property from most locations on the strip.
Pool & Spa - had weird hours that made it difficult for us to enjoy.