Marriott Suites Las Vegas Rating: 3.5 Pearls

Off the Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada

Airline pilots checking-in

This 278-room hotel is strictly business. The Las Vegas Convention Center is the only nearby attraction (if you consider 3.2 million square feet of meeting space an attraction). No parties or gambling can be found on-site -- for frivolity you'll have to take a seven-minute cab ride to the casino-hotels of the Strip. And the small pool barely qualifies as a swimming hole. But what the Marriott does best is cater to business travelers, with a three-minute walk to the convention site, a 24-hour business center, a well-equipped fitness center and a restaurant that, while no standout, offers healthy entrees -- something frequent hotel diners may appreciate.

A better suite option next to the convention center is the Renaissance, which has more spacious rooms. Marriott devotees who don't need to be so close to the convention center might prefer the Marriott Grand Chateau, which is located right behind the Strip's busiest section and offers large apartments with fully equipped kitchens and in-room Jacuzzis.

Room service

Since this is a business-oriented hotel, you can expect a hotel staff that's crisply professional -- and this one meets that standard. Everything from check-in to calling a cab is done promptly and politely, and business travelers' needs are met with a myriad of services, from free copies and faxes to providing a notary public. The doormen never fail to offer pleasantries, and room service comes quickly. My breakfast server was particularly chipper, which is nice to encounter first thing in the morning. Express checkout is available on the room TV or over the phone.

With no concierge, the hotel isn't as equipped to please leisure tourists. But the front desk can help guests with show tickets, dinner reservations, and tours.

View on a Larger Map

Located on the wide and lightly traveled Convention Center Drive, this hotel was built to be handy to the Las Vegas Convention Center, which is just a three-minute walk away. What else is around? An excellent Italian restaurant Piero's is on one side, and a decrepit casino-hotel called Greek Isles is on the other. That's about it. The Las Vegas Strip is a 15-minute walk that's bearable only when the sun's gone down. By cab, it takes about seven minutes.

The hotel is a $12 cab ride from the McCarran airport. Free parking is available on the property.

Most Las Vegas visitors want to explore all of the big properties along the densely packed three-and-a-half mile long stretch of hotel-casinos known as the Strip. Cabs are easy to find at virtually any time of day or night. A generally less expensive option 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 to ride. There's also a monorail system, 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 along the Strip with at least one other person, a cab is often the least expensive option.

Large living area at the King Suite

At 380 square feet, these are tiny suites -- the average standard single room in Vegas is about the same size. The suite, called a guest room, comes with a full-size sofa bed in the living room, as well as a coffee table, bureau, a work desk, and a wet bar. Some suites have French doors that separate the bedroom from the living room, adding a sense of privacy. While there's not much space, the suites can fit up to four people, provided two of them are kids. For large business groups, the hotel has a hospitality suite/boardroom, which at 740 square feet comes with a conference table and a full living room.

The suites have a modern, middle-of-the-road aesthetic: red and yellow walls, dark wood laminate, black-and-white landscape photos, and gingham sofas. The king-size bed is very comfortable and plush, with soft sheets, a down-filled duvet, seven down pillows, and a pillow-top mattress.

The technology in the room doesn't keep pace with the modern-day business clientele. There are two old, box-set TVs in each room, which have premium cable like HBO and pay-per-view current movie releases. The room has no Wi-Fi, only hard-wired Internet for $12.95 per day (noon-to-noon). The Ethernet cable is in the closet, and the jack is on the work desk. Guests with iPods won't find a music player to hook up to.

The bathroom is strangely laid out, with the sink in a separate room from the tub/shower and toilet. What's odd is that it's not possible to sit on the toilet without fully closing the door to the sink area.

The wet bar includes a coffeemaker with Pure Elevation coffee packets and organic tea bags, and a minibar with moderately priced refreshments, including a liter of Fiji water for $6, a can of Pepsi for $2.75, a nip of Grey Goose for $9 and a Snickers bar for $2.50. Another perk is the empty mini-fridge, nice for guests who want to store their own food and drink.

Well-equipped Fitness Center

True to its nothing-but-business bent, this Marriott has all the services a business traveler needs. The 24-hour business center is equipped with two PCs, two printers, a fax/copy machine. Guests are entitled to 20 free printouts and 20 free copies per stay. Mailing services are available on weekdays. Guests can book any of the six meeting rooms, and a notary public is on call Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Internet fees, however, are annoying. In the business center, 15 minutes online costs $2.95, 25 cents per minute thereafter. Access to wireless in the lobby costs the same amount. The rooms do not have Wi-Fi, just hard-wired Internet, which runs $12.95 for 24 hours.

The 24-hour fitness center impressively crams a lot of top-of-the-line equipment into a small room. The free gym has LifeFitness ellipticals, Star Trac treadmills, and exercise bikes, all with individual TV screens. StairMasters, free weights, medicine balls and a universal multi-gym station are also available.

The small oval pool and Jacuzzi, however, seem to be an afterthought in this business-oriented hotel. The setting, facing the wide and empty Convention Center Drive, is drab, with no pool scene to speak of. In fact, I didn't saw a single guest use the pool the night I was there.

Pull-out sofa at the King Suite

This is not a family hotel in any obvious way: The pool is small and lacks a lifeguard, few kid-friendly activities or distractions are provided, and a great majority of the guests are business travelers. But if you're thinking of bringing your kids along on a work trip, this isn't the worst you can do. For one, the hotel's mature vibe and distance from the Strip means you'll keep your kids away from risque shows and rowdy revelers.

To give the parents privacy, families should ask for a suite with French doors separating the bedroom from the living room. which are available at no extra cost. The hotel doesn't provide rollaway beds, but the sofas pull out to create a full-size bed. Cribs are free.

The kids' menu includes chicken fingers, cheeseburgers, and mac 'n' cheese (average price: $6). Even kids have low-fat and carb-conscious options, like the breadless cheeseburger. For entertainment, in-room movies include kids' choices, including current animated flicks from Disney and Pixar.

The hotel is neither new nor spiffy, but it's well-maintained and kept dirt free. Some appliances, such as the old box-set TVs, are begging to be replaced.

Pasta dish at Windows Grill

The hotel restaurant, Windows Grill, caters to the predominantly business traveler crowd with standard American fare, and a couple of surprising nuances. Not only does the restaurant have a kids' menu, but it also serves healthy food options labeled "low cholesterol," "low fat," or "carb conscious." Most establishments in Vegas, where the expectation is that diners are in town to gorge, don't even bother with healthy eating. I tried the low-cholesterol penne primavera ($18.95), which was satisfying but suspiciously still very oily.

The atmosphere around the bar and restaurant is casual, with business travelers and conferencegoers winding down the day with a drink and perhaps a 16-ounce certified Angus rib-eye ($33) (obviously not one of the healthy options). The bar carries a respectable wine list with vintages from around the world, including Champagne.

In-room dining is available from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., with choices like a BLT, shrimp cocktail, and a Reuben sandwich (average price of entrees: $12). For breakfast, pickings range from fresh-squeezed OJ ($3) to omelets ($16). Healthy options include Special K cereal and fresh fruit. The blueberry muffins, baked in-house, were among the best I'd ever tasted

Right next door is the family-style Italian restaurant Piero's, a Vegas institution that claims to have hosted celebrities from Wayne Newton to Keith Richards. Don't be intimidated by Piero's white-tablecloth service and $40 entrees -- this homey Italian haunt has friendly servers and dishes large enough to share. For more information, check out the reviews at UrbanSpoon.

If you're feeling adventurous, take a five-minute walk west on Convention Center Drive to an Ethiopian restaurant called Meskerem, located in a mostly empty shopping complex. Soccer fans gather around the bar in the middle of an afternoon, cheering a game broadcast on a large-screen TV. The smell of pungent coffee wafts through the air, and the server walks around, showing a handful of customers a pot roasting fresh coffee beans. Meals are meant to be eaten with your hands, though utensils are available for the uninitiated or squeamish. My order of goat stew and collard greens was hearty and satisfying, full of flavor and spice. I liked it, but I'm not sure it's for everyone.