Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas Rating: 5.0 Pearls

The Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada

The pool

Drive up to the portico of the Four Seasons, past the trickling fountain and the manicured gardens, and Vegas glitz may not come to mind. Same goes when you walk by the fireplace and elegant Asian art in the wood-paneled lobby. The sedate pool could just as easily be at a Florida or Southern California resort.

That not-in-Vegas vibe, of course, is what the 424-room Four Seasons is going for. But as soon as you want the very-in-Vegas vibe, the sister property Mandalay Bay is right there, with the shows, the bars, the slot machines, and the crowded pools. The Four Seasons is actually within the Mandalay Bay hotel, but you'd never know it. The lobby and entrance are separate, and the rooms occupy their own floors. It's a quiet refuge -- but one that's steps away for the very hubbub that guests are seeking to avoid.

Since it's a Four Seasons, what the hotel is also offering is classic luxury and a doting staff. On that count, the Four Seasons gets mixed marks. The service is indeed top-notch: housekeeping comes twice a day, pool attendents swing by with fresh towels. But by the standard of rooms at the other hotels in this luxury category -- Wynn, Encore, Palazzo, Bellagio -- the Four Seasons disappoints. The rooms feel more dated, less sumptous. The Trump, another luxury property without a casino, has far bigger and newer rooms. And travelers who want to be in Mandalay Bay can find larger, more modern suites at THEHotel, the other hotel to share the complex.

The front desk

The doting service at the Four Seasons is in the stratosphere where only a handful of hotels reside -- the doormen that never let a guest touch a door, the nightly turndown service with slippers placed besides the bed, the cookies and milk sent up for visiting kids, attendents that bring water and towels to sweating pool guests and gym users. With just over 400 rooms, the Four Seasons is better equipped to deliver this kind of service than is a 2,000-plus-room luxury hotel like the Encore. And deliver they do. The staff is top-notch, receptive to guest needs, and attentive to any complaint.

View on a Larger Map

The Four Seasons is located within the Mandalay Bay hotel (the rooms are on the 35th to 39th floors), but the hotel has its own entrance and driveway. The Mandalay Bay complex, which also includes THEhotel, is on the southernmost end of the Strip, the densely-packed three-and-a-half-mile-long stretch of hotel-casinos. (The immediate neighborhood amounts to vacant lots, rundown motels, and strip malls.)

Most Las Vegas visitors want to explore all of the big properties along the Strip. A free tram connects the Mandalay with the Luxor and Excalibur, two Strip hotels directly to the north. It runs Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. The hotel provides free car service to the Strip, though some travelers report that the service isn't always available.

Cabs are easy to find at virtually any time of day or night. A generally less expensive option for traveling along the Strip is the Deuce, a double-decker bus that runs up and down the Strip 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and costs $3. There's also a monorail, which stops at MGM Grand, Bally's/Paris, Flamingo/Caesars Palace, Harrah's/Imperial Palace, the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Hilton, and the Sahara. A single ride ticket is $5; a one-day pass is $13. If you're traveling with at least one other person, a cab is often the least-expensive option.

For a Strip hotel, the Four Seasons is especially close to McCarran International Airport. A cab could run as little as $10.

The Standard Room

While the Four Seasons is, in many ways, the epitome of luxury, the rooms are disappointing for a top-drawer luxury hotel in Vegas. Yes, the floor-to-ceiling windows afford guests sweeping views of Vegas -- and help make the 500-square-foot standard rooms feel even bigger then they are. The pillow-top mattress is supremely comfortable. The marble-heavy bathroom has a separate shower and deep tub. And yet, by the standards of other luxury hotels, such as the Wynn, Palazzo, Encore and Trump, the rooms fall a bit short. Compared to the cool modern stylings at some luxury competitors, the rooms at the Four Seasons can feel dated and dowdy. And where's the flat-screen TV in the bathroom? The chic rooms at Mandalay Bay sister property THEhotel are 725-square-foot suites with a separate living room.

I stayed in a standard room with a King bed, a desk with two chairs, an armchair with an ottoman, and a flat-screen TV and iPod docking station. The king bed was amazingly comfortable. It had a thick pillow-top mattress and a heavy duvet, plus four pillows, two firm and two soft. The bathroom, with a separate room for the toilet and a single sink, comes stocked with l'Occitane toiletries. Wired or wireless internet is available for $14.99 a day; in-movies start at $14.99 each, and the guests can pick up DVDs to play on the rooom's DVD player from the concierge.

Because of the gold coating on the hotel's exterior, an unusual green glow is cast into the room. The same is true at Mandalay Bay and THEhotel. My main complaint, however, was the noise. Because of a gap under the door, I could hear guests talking in the hallways. And I could hear the guests in the room next to me through the connecting doors. When I spoke with the management when I was checking out, they were genuinely apologetic. If I had been staying another night, they said they would have offered me another room, or inserted foam between the connecting doors. And to be fair, I didn't find any other complaints about noise online.

The Four Seasons also offers 86 suites, including the Sunset Suite, which features great views of the Las Vegas Strip and the airport.

The gym

The pool at Four Seasons is not especially large and, at three and half feet, not very deep, but it is far more serene than any of the other pools on the Mandalay property, which are all open to Four Seasons guests. Surrounded by palm trees and arbors for shade, the pool area also has two whirlpools and a kids-only wading pool. Except for the faint thumping of music from the Moorea adult pool at Mandalay, it’s a tranquil setting.

What makes the Four Seasons' pool truly memorable is the service. The pool attendent that greets you at the entrance covers your lounge chair with a towel and fetches cold water, fresh fruit, and towels -- and refreshes them throughout your stay. The drink service is quick, and, with salads and sandwiches available from the nearby Verandah restaurant, guests can be served a full meal poolside.

Unlike many Vegas hotels, the Four Seasons doesn't charge extra for use of the fitness center and spa facilities, including the steam room, showers, and Zen relaxation lounges. The fitness center was among the best I saw in Las Vegas: no wait for the free weights and strength-training machines, while the windows made the room lighter than many other hotel gyms. The staff brings exercisers water and clean towels. Chilled Gatorade is also available. The extensive spa services include body treatments (the desert oasis body treatment is $250 for 80 minutes), facials (starting at $85), and western and eastern massages, from Swedish to Balinese ($155 for 50 minutes and up).

The business center offers a wide variety of services, from Internet access ($14.99 a day) to computer use, to translation services.

The pool at Mandalay Bay

Four Seasons offers families a nice mix: quiet lodgings with a staff that bends over backwards to welcome kids (from childproofing the room to spelling out your kid's name in sponge letters in the bathroom), and the lively diversions of Mandalay Bay right on the property. Cribs and rollaway beds are free, and housekeeping can drop off playpens and highchairs. If a guest orders a crib, the hotel will cover the wall sockets and add bumpers to any sharp corners too. The staff can provide coloring books, crayons, toys, games and movies, as well as arrange for a babysitter. The extensive offerings on the children's menu are broken out into "kids" and "young adults" sections, so your 14-year-old can have a veggie buritto for breakfast instead of Cheerios.

The pool may be a bit sedate for children, but no matter: Four Seasons guests can swim at Mandalay Bay's 11-acre pool complex, which includes a wave pool and a lazy river ride. Plus, Mandalay Bay is host to a shark-filled aquarium and regular performances of The Lion King.

For $50 per pet, guests can bring pets that weigh less than 25 pounds. There is a max of two pets per room. The hotel will supply a bed, bottled Evian water in a bowl, and -- for a fee -- pet sitters (you can't leave a pet alone in your room). This is the Four Seasons after all. Sitters cost $88 for a four hour minimum, and then an additional $18 after that.

Immaculate pretty much describes the Four Seasons. The attentive hotel staff is on top of any errant cups or used towels, and I never saw dirty glasses left in the lobby, or really any sign of use. The spa and fitness center were also kept incredibly clean.

Sliders at the Charlie Palmer Steak

Guests at Four Seasons can chose from two fine restaurants in the hotel, or walk over to one of the 23 next door at Mandalay Bay. Charlie Palmer Steak, which serves steaks and seafood in a quiet and clubby atmosphere, can frequently be found on one of the many best Vegas steakhouse lists. Click here for recent diner reviews (mostly glowing).

The Verandah is a low key café with outdoor seating by the pool. The food is very good, if a bit pricey (this is the Four Seasons]. Wait staff was on top of their game, shuffling umbrellas, without being prompted, to make sure guests were kept cool. Click here for customer reviews.