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Hotel Review: Excalibur {Las Vegas, NV}

Everywhere you look online you will find reviews of the Excalibur that talk about how family friendly the property is and how it's a great location to stay with your kids.

Before we booked our stay I had read mixed reviews from other travel bloggers but I figured with all of the reviews about how family friendly it is, it really couldn't be that bad.

From the outside of the building, the hotel looks like a Disney castle. My kids had seen it a couple of times as we drove past and they always had all sorts of questions. They wanted to know if it was a real castle and if a princess lived there.

On the day we were scheduled to check in, my friend offered to watch the kiddos so I could go scope the place out for myself. My youngest, A, ended up tagging along with me and I was really glad the other two had stayed with my friend.

Upon arrival there was the option to valet but there wasn't an obvious place to pull the car over so I could go check in. At the time of our stay, valet parking and self parking were free but I know that will be changing shortly. Here is a link to information about the current parking situation at MGM properties in Las Vegas.

When we entered the hotel, the doorman was wearing a black t-shirt that said "Doorman" on the back. It almost felt like a sketchy nightclub. Once I got inside, I asked an employee where the check in desk was (it's tucked off towards the back of the hotel). She asked if I was single and when I told her no, she told me that was too bad since they had specials to offer to single ladies.


Once again, we booked our stay through the Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society's MGM Royal Offers page. Booking through this offer gave us a $40 resort credit. The desk agent helping me check in could tell that I had booked under some sort of promotion but she couldn't tell what the benefits were. She suggested I talk to someone at the Mlife desk. I ended up spending an hour at the Mlife desk trying to get it figured out. The manager over there ended up giving me $40 worth of comp certificates to spend that I opted to spend at one of the Starbucks on property. Upon check out it turned out that everything was there and if I would have dinned at a restaurant on property (but not the food court) the credit would have come off automatically.


After getting our keys, we wandered through the very smoky casino to find our bank of elevators. The hallway to the room was long and quite dark. I suppose it may have felt more like an old castle that way but all it did was make me feel uneasy.


We had been assigned a standard room (number 25265) despite our matched Platinum status from Hyatt and our attempt at using the $20 trick.


Here is the view of the room upon entry. Really, the room isn't bad. The hotel is undergoing some upgrades and I believe this is one of the room that has been refreshed. From what it sounded like at check in, the hotel is under new management and complimentary upgrades have been harder to come by since the change.


The bed looked decent enough and when I sat on it, it felt comfortable. I do hate it when they only leave three pillows on a king bed though...


This older flat screen TV was positioned directly across from the bed and there was a small sitting area next to it.


After our view at the Mandalay Bay, I was pretty disappointed when I looked out the window to see the pool complex, the self parking garage area, and I-15. The front desk agent had informed me that I had a room with a view (this just wasn't the kind of view I was expecting).


The bathroom was a good size and had lots of counter space. It was honestly almost as big as the bedroom portion of the room.


There was a basic walk in shower with a standard shower head. My kids are always a little disappointed when they see a hotel room without a bathtub.

Really, when it came down to it, the room wasn't terrible. It was basic and standard but when you are only paying $30 a night (plus resort fee), you really can't expect too much.

The couple of things that really bothered me about this property and ultimately lead me to spend most of our time remaining in Vegas at my friends house were:

- The hotel didn't feel safe. The security was obvious on the floor of the casino. Most of the other casinos I've walked through on the strip have pretty toned down security. The only way you can tell them apart from people visiting the hotel is they might have an earbud in. At the Excalibur, I saw a few who were less obvious but I also saw a few who were in gear similar to a police officer. Most of the employees I ran into also looked like they could double as a bouncer at a nightclub.

- Smoking was intense! I get it, a lot of people smoke while they are in Vegas. I can accept that but when I leave the hotel feeling sick after being there a couple of hours, there is something wrong with the situation. I don't know if it is a problem with the ventilation or what but the smell wasn't nearly as strong over at the Mandalay Bay. We were assigned a non-smoking room and while I didn't smell anything off in the room, it was obvious that people were smoking just down the hall from us. I wouldn't suggest you stay at the Excalibur if you or anyone in your family has breathing problems.

Next time we are in Vegas, I fully plan on spending a little bit more and staying at a nicer place. There aren't as many reviews that talk about how family friendly the Mandalay Bay is but I would rate it much higher on my scale than the Excalibur.

Erica

Hi, my name is Erica! After having three kids in three years you can usually find me in yoga pants with dark circles under my eyes and a Diet Dr. Pepper in hand. If you ever see me at the airport, I'm probably running around with a kid on my back in the Ergo while pushing another in the stroller. At times our house feels crazy and chaotic and I often struggle to keep dirty dishes out of the sink.

My friends all know that I'm the one they can turn to if they have any questions about traveling with their kids and I LOVE being that person!

There are a lot of things I want to do with my life but one of my favorite things is to help people find the courage and resources to make their travel dreams come true. I am super excited to have you along for our adventures and I hope you will come to think of me as your travel savvy friend because there is nothing I would love more!

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