Vegas, Vegas, Vegas: Review of Three Mirage Suites

If I could live, sleep, and breathe Vegas I would. Well, at least for four days - after that I need a little Vegas respite before I am ready to go again. I used to vacation there as a child in the 90's when it was "family friendly", I went there for my 21st birthday (and hit a Royal Flush on video poker that night), and I even got married there a few years ago. You either love or hate Vegas, and I am all about the "Vegas Love". This summer I had the chance to visit Vegas twice. Once for several days in June with my whole family, and once for one night in July to meet up with some girlfriends who were also in Vegas. Both were different, yet fantastic trips, and I stayed at the Mirage both times. Throughout the two trips I was able to see or stay in three different Mirage suites, so I thought it might be helpful for others to see a side-by-side comparison of the three different options.

I am a huge fan of suites when traveling with my family since they just provide so much more room. It can get a little bit claustrophobic to be right on top of each other and each others' stuff for several days, so having that extra space to spread out is almost essential for us. Since we do have a young child, I strongly prefer having a suite that has two actually separate rooms. The rooms that call themselves suites, but are really just one large room, are better than nothing, but they don't allow you to put your kiddo to sleep in one room while you head to the other room. Everyone has to play the "quiet game" when a kid is sleeping and all you have is one room. It's not a very fun game.

Mirage Hotel:

Before I get into the nitty-gritty about the actual suites, I want to share why we selected the Mirage for both trips this summer when there are tons of great hotel choices in Vegas. I have stayed at many different Vegas hotels, but the Mirage is actually one of my favorites due in large part to its location and price point. It is in a prime mid-Strip spot where you can actually comfortably walk to several other hotels that you would likely want to visit. Even with a toddler we walked to The Venetian, Treasure Island, and the Bellagio. Many other hotels were also within walking distance, but that is all we did on this trip. When we went to the South end of the strip to MGM, Mandalay Bay, etc we just took a 5-10 minute cab ride.

While the Mirage is certainly a modern and up-to-date hotel, the prices to stay there are often extremely reasonable, even for suites. I also really like the Player's Club system, now called MLife, that all of the MGM casinos utilize. A couple years ago we were getting free rooms, free limos, etc. for my husband's "level of play" (i.e., how much he gambled). However, as the economy has come back some, and MGM has tweaked their comp system some, those free offers have tightened up a bit. We have now gone back to primarily just booking and paying for our own rooms and then having some food/drinks taken off the bill at the end due to the "level of play" using "Express Comps". With the reasonable Mirage prices, it is just easier to select the room we want and pay for it ourselves without feeling like he has to spend a certain amount of time gambling (as we all know who comes out ahead in the end at the tables!).

We also enjoy some of the attractions at the Mirage like the Siegfried and Roy tigers and dolphins, the Love Cirque du Soleil show, the adult pools, the large aquarium in the lobby, and the regular pool with the big waterfalls. I don't like that the Mirage doesn't have a food court where we can grab a quick and inexpensive snack or meal, but otherwise it meets our needs very well. I'll go into more details on the Mirage amenities in a separate post, but I wanted to give some context as to why we decided to stay there.

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The Mirage Suite:

On our "family trip" to Las Vegas in June the three of us stayed in the Mirage Suite. It is just over 800 square feet, has a large entryway, a "sitting area", and two bathrooms. It is the smallest (and least expensive) available suite, so it is not the one I would have normally selected for a trip with Little C. However, it is what was included in the package I bought via the Daily Getaways, so we made it work. I tried to pay for an upgrade to a larger suite, but they were totally full that week, so no dice on the upgrade.

What I did love about the suite is that it had two bathrooms. That really helped a bunch! Both had showers, and one of them had a deep tub that our daughter thought was great for "swimming". The large entry-way also provided for a great place to store some of our stuff, like the big stroller. All of the suites are located on high private floors that you need a keycard to access, so it is a little bit calmer than some of the floors with regular rooms. That said, suites are also likely locations for large gatherings and parties, so there was a night or two where a room down the hall was a bit rowdy.

All in all this suite is perfectly fine, and is much better than a regular room, but it would not be my first choice if we returned with our kiddo simply due to the lack of a true second room.

Tower One-Bedroom Suite:

The Tower One-Bedroom Suites are located on the 26th, 27th or 28th floor, and are just over 1,250 square feet. They include a wet bar, a living area, a dining table, a separate king bedroom, and a ridiculously large bathroom. This is typically the second cheapest available suite, behind the Mirage Suite. I absolutely loved this suite, but felt ridiculous having all this space just for me. It really has that Vegas "wow factor" when you walk in. I booked it for one night for my "girls' trip" thinking we might want to hang out in there, but in the end my friends also had been upgraded to the same suite so we didn't really use mine.

The bedroom has a TV that comes up from the dresser in front of the bed. Again, even just looking back at these pictures I feel silly with all the space I had for just me. It was a great deal though, I think I paid less than $200 for the night in this huge suite!

The bathroom had four separate areas including: one big closet, a separate room for the toilets, an area with a seat where you could do your make-up, and then the main area with the shower and huge bathtub. The bathroom even has its own TV! The bathroom area alone was several times the size of the apartment in which I lived in Brooklyn!

This was by far my favorite of the three suites I visited. It is often a reasonable additional charge from the regular room, it is huge, and it just makes you feel like a rock star when you are in the room. There are also two-bedroom Tower Suites available that would provide an additional bedroom, if needed. I would return to this suite in a heartbeat.

Penthouse Suite:

During our big family Vegas trip, my parents spent one night at the Mirage and we paid to have them upgraded to the Penthouse Suite. I love to surprise family members with stuff like that, plus they were watching our daughter some for us so I thought it would be nice for them to have the extra room. I believe I paid $100 extra to upgrade from a regular room to the penthouse suite for the night. I have found that Vegas is great about reasonable up-charges if they have suites that are available. Always inquire at check-in. Of course, if you want to avoid the full up-charge you can always use the "$20 dollar trick": wait patiently in line if there is one, smile genuinely, and hand your ID and credit card to the host with a twenty folded neatly and sandwiched in between. No guarantees, but at worst, you've made someone's day. ;)

The name of the suite makes it sound the most impressive, but the decor of the suite felt a little bit dated for me. It may just be personal preference, but I liked the Tower Suite a bit better. However, this suite was nothing to sneeze at. The Penthouse Suites are located on the top two floors of the resort, and are the same size as the Tower Suites at just over 1,250 square feet. The only real distinguishing difference I could identify was the decor. My parents loved the room, which was the point. My mom even said she didn't want to close her eyes at night because she wanted to just keep staring out the window at the Strip.

Vegas suites are just so fun, and are often relatively affordable to obtain. I'd love to hear your thoughts on these or other Vegas suites you have stayed in!