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StumbleMGM responding to online reviewers’ criticism of Aria
Taking comments seriously, MGM making an effort to improve service
A bellman stands in front of Aria. Long waits to check in are among the complaints voiced by online reviewers about the hotel.
Thursday, June 17, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Aria opens its doors to the public
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del.icio.usCityCenter's Aria has opened its doors to the public. Fireworks exploded over the centerpiece of the $8.5 billion CityCenter project, and people eagerly awaited to be the first inside Aria, which is a partnership between MGM Mirage and Dubai World.
Jim Murren
Reviews On TripAdvisor
Of 540 reviews on tripadvisor.com of Aria, 103 rated the hotel “average.” Three hundred twenty-five rated it “excellent” or “above average,” and 112 ranked it as “poor” or “terrible.” A sampling from the “average” reviews:
“Beautiful Hotel, Terrible Service”
I had read the reviews about the terrible check-in process, but figured that since we wouldn’t be checking in until around midnight, this wouldn’t be a problem. I was wrong — even in the middle of the night, the line was a mess, and the staff seemed overwhelmed ... In all, we got a very good deal with our AmEx card (around $80 a night) so I’m satisfied with our stay there, headaches and all. But, I would caution anyone considering paying full-price for the 5-star experience to stay somewhere else. — maureenandmark, June 11
“Okay, I guess”
This place definitely still has a few kinks. Give it a few more months, and I am confident they will have figured it out and it will rock. Until then, well ... um ... maybe just go take in one of their fabulous restaurants. — AnotherHoustonian, May 28
“Not the best — not the worst”
The rooms were nice. Generally functional and felt large. The automation was nice, but several of the lights didn’t work and one of the light fixtures in the bathroom was falling out of the ceiling. After a week, I still hadn’t mastered the remote control and I’m a techie! My roommate decided that it wasn’t worth the effort to try ... Overall, a mixed bag. — Mr_Pher, June 8
“Not a true 5 star hotel, but great value hotel”
Pros: Great value: Got 2 rooms for the Memorial Day weekend (Sat and Sun) at only $115 each night per room (via hotwire) and stunning layout and architecture. Cons: Service, service, service ... Took 30 min just to get to the check-in counter. — orion1111, June 1
“I hope the management is reading these reviews ... nice place, needs work!!”
Incredible modern architecture, amazing rooms — including technology i’ve never seen before. from the touch screen control panel next to the bed, you can control almost everything in the room and your experience. The bed is very comfortable, and rooms are spacious. (But), when we got to our room the linens had a very obvious dirt stain, so I called housekeeping. 5 hours later, after walking around all afternoon and needing a nap, the dirty duvet was still there. — PennAndUCLAGrad, May 3
Sun archives
- CityCenter hotels’ features at your fingertips (4-5-2010)
- Aria, Bellagio coexisting just fine, MGM Mirage says (3-8-2010)
- Interactive signs at Aria will lead to biggest jackpots (2-24-2010)
- High rollers bring baccarat boom to Las Vegas (2-22-2010)
- Will CityCenter change type of tourist in Vegas? (12-18-2009)
- Welcome to CityCenter: New Strip casino opens its doors (12-17-2009)
Shortly after CityCenter’s Aria opened in late December, a rash of bad reviews of the five-star resort went worldwide on Tripadvisor.com.
That travel information website has rapidly become required reading for hotel managers across the country. It ranks hotels according to customer ratings that accompany anonymous reviews and gave Aria a 62 percent satisfaction rating, behind many low-frills properties around town, including The Orleans, the Eastside Cannery and the proudly down-market Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall.
“A train wreck,” one review began. “A disaster of a place,” another said.
Glitches aren’t unusual in the first weeks after a major hotel opens, and customer service gripes are common to the Strip and its massive, corporate-owned hotels. Some managers complain guests have higher expectations for what their smaller bankrolls will buy.
But the Aria postings revealed recurring complaints out of whack with its image as the next evolution in luxury resorts.
Although many Aria customers posted glowing comments about its features, including its dramatic architecture and décor, the website’s volume of strongly worded complaints caught the attention of hotel executives in Las Vegas — including Jim Murren, CEO of CityCenter’s managing partner, MGM Resorts International.
This week, Murren acknowledged that he has been paying attention to online reviews and says his company is working to address the problems they have highlighted.
It’s the latest and possibly best example of the power that this type of Internet site puts in the hands of tourists. It is, after all, a way to send instantaneous feedback and opinions around the globe.
In CityCenter’s case, Tripadvisor users complained about slow check-ins, with some claiming delays of an hour or more to get into their rooms. Guests said room keys and room phones wouldn’t work. Aria’s hotel room technology — remote-control of lighting, curtains, temperature and other features — was confusing and prone to glitches, reviewers complained. The casino? “Too dark.” The food? “Overpriced.” The staff? “Clueless.” Housekeeping? “Abysmal.”
“I think it was a training issue and an educational issue,” Murren said in an interview after MGM’s annual shareholder meeting Tuesday. “We are understanding the building more and understanding where we need to train more and add new staff. They weren’t in the building long before it opened.”
David Schwartz, director of UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research, said complaints on Tripadvisor and Yelp, another website driven by user reviews, were becoming problematic for MGM.
“You’re always going to have some people who are unhappy with anything.” And yet, other hotels in Aria’s league weren’t getting the same volume of complaints, he said.
“It’s good they’re acknowledging it,” Schwartz said. “The question is how do you translate that into doing something about it.”
Murren said the company has retrained employees, especially front-desk clerks, to respond to customer service problems and questions involving the room technology, the largest installation of its kind in the hotel industry.
Calls for service are routed to a dedicated call center where they are handled quickly, he said. As a result, the property’s customer service scores — those on public forums such as Tripadvisor and the company’s internal rankings, based on feedback from surveys and secret shoppers — have gone up in recent weeks, Murren said.
Recent Tripadvisor reviews have been vastly positive with a few misses such as “Beautiful hotel, terrible service” and “Not worth it.”
Besides owning up to service problems, MGM executives say they are busy tweaking other aspects of Aria and CityCenter’s high-end mall, Crystals, in response to customer feedback.
“We’ve had every type of comment (on CityCenter), from overwhelmingly positive to negative — that it was too architectural, too urban, not themed enough or vibrant enough from an entertainment perspective,” Murren said. “We take them all seriously.”
Aria is adding lighting in the casino, a process that will continue over the next few months, Murren said. The austere-looking high-limit slot area is getting a face-lift, with cozier décor and seating. The property will revamp its buffet to appeal to value customers instead of the gourmet crowd.
The company will add seating in the mall as well as banners and other artwork to liven up its bare, white walls. Some customers didn’t like the minimalist look and expected public benches.
Management is contemplating adding parking spaces in Aria’s garage after hearing complaints from customers who were frustrated by not being able to park in the garage’s large, striped areas between parking spaces, which were intended to make it easier for people exiting and entering cars.
Signage at CityCenter also has been problematic, Murren said. The property will add larger signs to ease people through the 67-acre complex.
Shrubbery will be added, which will help soften the hard architectural lines.
Building on CityCenter’s urban design, executives are working on implementing a farmers market that will enable employees and customers to buy fresh food. The lack of a grocery at CityCenter has drawn complaints from condominium buyers who said the complex has fallen short of the promised urban, live-work environment.
CityCenter has improved wireless service to eliminate “dead zones,” Murren said.
It intends to offer daily tours of its $40 million art collection, a unique element that has not been used to its advantage, he said. It’s a challenge, though, as the effort to find knowledgeable staff will take time and money, he added. In the meantime, the resort’s iPhone app will include information on the artists and their works.
Schwartz said it’s too early to tell whether the design will develop a big following.
“In ’95 you might have thought that building a Paris-themed hotel wouldn’t work” given that themed properties were relatively new to Las Vegas at the time.
“The place has to find its footing and its audience, which is really a challenge, especially right now,” Schwartz said.
To that end, the company will soon air a second television ad for Aria that will showcase more specific features than a pre-opening spot that featured a piano solo and streetscape views and close-ups of wide-eyed visitors. The tagline in the previous ad, “Words will fail you,” underscores the difficulty of explaining a high-concept property in a town that’s having difficulty making money even by appealing to visitors’ baser instincts.
“It’s very hard to get people to stay at a new spot when they can stay at an established resort and pay less than they ever have. And know what they’re getting,” Murren said.
Which is all the more reason why executives are closely watching what customers are saying online.
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RE: Interpretation:
Local media provides a free property promo piece stating product and service will get better as the property and staff gets the kinks out.
Each and every new Vegas mega-resort goes through a five year process after the opening bells of ironing out the kinks, which is expensive tweaking. A project the scale of City Center will require even more revision, based on early returns and feedback.
City Center should be thankful the State of Nevada legislature provided funding for those expensive revisions, indirectly, with tax abatements over the first few years for going green in construction.
Perhaps the Sun came come up with another article, such as opportunity costs lost, as the abatement money might have been better invested somewhere else.
Interesting the majority of County Commissioners oppose public financing for a new arena, when big abatements are ongoing to support the oversupply of gaming.
I was not surprised by the initial bad reviews I was reading about City Center because MGM Grand has one of the notoriously worst check ins of all stip hotel casinos. And where did most of Aria's senoir employees come from?
Front desk at MGM is known for two things: long lines and the inability of the (usually unfriendly) staff to give upgrades (even with a substantial tip). The later applies to all MGM strip properties and the employees always say that policy comes down from the top.
I'm booked at MGM twice in the fall at a casino rate so even with the new resort fee and taxes I'll only end up paying fifty a night. Why would I want to stay at an unknown place that's not well reviewed for double the money?
In that sense MGM lost out because every high end gaming customer already knows Wynn and the Venetian or Signature Suites or TheHotel as known quantities. Echelon got a late start so they bailed.. wise move.
Aria will have the added task of searching out customers and trying to prove their product is at least comparable to the already established high end hotels. The only way to succeed is to top the rest.
So basically, Murren thinks that visitor expectations were wrong, not that his vision of what would sell was.
Adding lighting? Opps, so much for "Green" (LEED) but they got the label and the property tax abatement.
One of the big problems I saw when I visited was it was dificult to walk directly into the casino from the street. I bet they're losin' a LOT of walk-thru business due to this problem.
I was there two days ago and the customer service was horrible. Had to wait in lines everywhere i went, not due to volumes of people, but do to lack of staff. Overpriced, bad service and unionized employees. Not a formula that works for my entertainment needs.
To go to Vegas and pay those kind of prices for a room no matter how great the service is that is used only for sleeping, tells me that the people that do this are a few sandwiches short of a picnic. I'll continue using off strip casinos and use the savings to entertain myself.
The Power of the People! I knew TripAdvisor was good; I did not know that it was that good! Glad to know that our comments come in handy to the brass.
Maybe what the brass ought to do is go undercover and be a guest in their own hotels and casinos. That way they can really judge if their retraining, instructions and remodeling are working and not just rely on the reports of subordinates. It seems to work for the brass on the television show. Why not for MGM?
I'm a local and when I have visitors I tell them to stay at Golden Nugget or 4 Queens. The strip is over HYPED and over priced!!
agree with chazbean. The Strip is there to look at, Downtown is for FUN.
I have been to city center twice. The first time I self parked and spent 20 minutes trying to find the mall. When I did it was nearly empty.
The second time I valeted my ride. When I went back to retrieve my vehicle I went back to the same spot I dropped it off. I held up my ticket and a valet simply pointed to the other side of the drive, nearly a city block away. I walked to the other side of the drive and found the hidden window to turn in my ticket. I stepped out to the drive not knowing that cars are returned at yet another hidden spot behind the front drive.
WTF!!!
The 'glory' days for MGM are over, and are long gone. This article and the many comments on Trip Advisor prove the point that top management is inferior and their inexperience and lack of knowledge has permeated all through the ranks. Aria has turned out to be a total failure professionally, and financially. MacBeath and Murren...the M&M Boys need hotel / casino schooling or to be replaced...overpaid and not caring...this is a shame for the shareholders of the stock. An absolute hospitality industry tragedy in modern times.
I will patronize The Orleans, Golden Nugget, ANYTIME before I would set foot into this train wreck of a resort. City Center is doomed to failure precisely in line with Sandy_astroglide's comment above. Murren's vision is sooo out of touch with what Las Vegas is all about. He needs to pick the whole thing up and drop it in Atlantic City or some East Coast City which he yearns to replicate so badly out here. City Center will fail and eventually be parceled off to other operators.
I actually read this as a positive article, and expect that Aria (and other hotels) have learned to listen to these online customer comments. It would appear that the most serious complaint, namely long check-in lines, can be quite easily rectified. I expect that a follow-up article in a couple of months will show that the glitches have been fixed.
I've visited every building in City Center, walked through every one, and saw no compelling reason to stop walking or ever return. Even the Imperial Palace has a cool car collection that makes me return.
CityCenter is an amazing property that experienced a some service failures at launch - like any and all businesses do. The primary difference is that guests (and some non-guests with an axe to grind) now have the un-vetted, anonymous Internet on which to rant. We have no idea what other newly launched Las Vegas properties would have suffered in years past had Yelp and Trip Advisor been around then. In my opinion, anonymous, unvetted review sites such as those (and, frankly, similar to these comments) encourage people to say things in the dark they do not have the guts to say in the light.
That said, management is looking reviews "smartly" by examining overall review trends rather than specific comments. This way they can address commonly reported issues without hearing specific, individual-driven complaints.
The great thing about businesses is that not all of them are built, designed, or price-pointed with "YOU" in mind. That way, you are free to visit those that are, while others may visit CityCenter. It's silly to take it personally or to attack CityCenter just because you don't get it.
Chunky says:
This is what you get when you have non-hospitality background CEOs building resorts and casinos based on their personal fantasy as an "Urban planner" and their childhood memories of living in urban cities and traveling the world!
Here we are six months later having the same problems we had during pre-opening employee "play-days".
At least when we found out a sushi dinner for two there cost $395 it was on the company's dime.
The current lack of vision, direction and leadership post-CityCenter has employees and executives fighting like cats and dogs amongst themselves because no one knows what is going one or who is in charge.
Social media and review sites will tell them what their clients think but they could save a lot of those negative reviews by listening to their own employees.
Send Jim Murren back to Wall Street to play Monopoly with his fat paycheck and find a CEO that understands hospitality and gaming.
That's what Chunky thinks!
Oh, and by the way...for those of you who are commenting that this is to be expected as the norm for when a new Las Vegas property opens...not true at all...never has been true...come on, stop the alibis...did you hear such comments when the Bellagio opened, or the Venetian, or the Palazzo, or the Wynn...none of the MGM boys and girls have been in the hotel business before...There is NO excuse for Mediocrity!
Armchair CEOs said Wynn was crazy to give up casino floor space for his fountain and that Adelson's attempt to bring the splendor of Venice to the desert was doomed to failure.
The vision and architecture of CC is perfect for Vegas since none of it belongs here. Vegas is supposed to be a fantasy in the desert...someplace to see and do it all, from Lake Como and The Grand Canal to the Manhattan skyline.
Grandma and Grandpa are not staying at Aria... get a clue.
If you're not going to consider grandma and grandpa, you might as well close up shop now. Most casinos anywhere made their money one social security/pension dollar at a time.
A casino/hotel should not be intimidating to its guests. The reason there are not specialty casinos is because a gaming operation depends on ALL types of customers and turns away NONE to survive. By essentially turning away senior citizens.. they're not going to make the rest up on twenty-somethings and conventioners.. especially when Murren brought nothing new to the table. He'll go away when Kerkorian decides to piece it out.
What happened to 3 quarter slots - could only find 5 quarter machines that didn't payout in Aria. Plus it's about a 500 yard walk from the strip! Give me the Flamingo anyday!
MGM can make whatever marginal improvements they want but it won't change the fact that Aria and the whole City Center project was a colossal mistake.
"The property will revamp its buffet to appeal to value customers instead of the gourmet crowd."
I interpret this to mean: "We're spending too much on our buffet, so we're going to cut costs by cutting back on the quality of the food."
Are you serious? You obviously don't work specifically in the industry or have never opened a new business before in your life. The Venetian and the Bellagio opened prior to 2000, the year TripAdvisor was created. Even then, the proliferation of the blogosphere and constant connectivity is a phenomenon of the past 10 years. TripAdvisor has been criticized for allowing reviews to be posted by anyone about any hotel, without needing supporting evidence. I wouldn't be suprised if some of the chronic haters that post here aren't help add to the negative feedback. While there is no excuse for mediocrity, mistakes happen, policies are fixed, training methods are tweaked, and Vegas survives.
Stayed at Aria twice,once in April and again this month, June,on the 10th and 11th.Waited 20 minutes in April to be checked in,and after not being satisfied with where our proposed room was, we were upgraded to a city(strip)view on the 36th floor.Waited 10 minutes to be checked in on June 10th and were again upgraded to city view without having to ask.
The rooms are very nice,and are the quietest rooms we've ever stayed in.We had neighbors,but really couldn't hear them or their comings and goings,and thats important to us.And the room technology is not that hard to operate.If you can operate a TV remote, then you'll have no problem.
Restaurants are pricey, and with the exception of the buffet, offer little value.
Casino is nice,table limits reasonable depending on the hour of the day,machines tight,as are nearly all machines on the strip.
Pool area is very nice, and we didn't have trouble located chaise lounges despite arriving at noon one day and 1pm on the other.
We enjoyed our stay,and won't hesitate to return to Aria on our next visit to Las Vegas.
Having worked for MGM/Mirage and other hospitality companies (Hyatt, Marriott, Gaylord), I cannot for the life of me figure out why Murren is trying to remake the company as a hotel specialist. Of their four divisions (Casino, F&B and Retail are the others), Hotels was consistently their worst. It had the highest revenues, because the casinos comped rooms. Without the casino, there was no reason to stay at any of their properties, the service and value were just awful.
you can never be sure with check-in for vegas hotels, we recently checked in at the flamingo no line worth talking about, went up stairs and came back down 30mins later and the line was out the door
I would stay at the Imperial Palace any day over the CityCenter!
Wow, I see the same bloggers here that are so negative in almost all the Vegas casinos but I suspect that most of them, myself included, never or seldom visits these casinos. We are the biggest and most negative bashers but most likely patronize less compared to out-of-towners because we like to go to the station casinos closest to our homes. I'd say give these guys a break and if we are not helping to the economic recovery, it is better for us to just shut up.
This is (Grandma & Grampa) talking so pay attention. In other words sit down and shut up.
We go to Vegas (4) times a year from Palm Springs Ca. We stay at the "Palazzo". We ask for(Suite) rooms at the top and facing the Strip. (non-smoking). That is one of the reason we have lived long enough to become Grandma & Grandpa.
We have had offers to stay at the "Wynn". We found it too hard to travel inside the casino to the front door. I am partially Handicapped. There is no place foe me to sit in that long walk to the front door. Later I have read where Mr. Steve Wynn does not want players like (Grandma & Grampa) playing there anyway. So needless to say after being diss'ed by Mr. Steve Wynn we have found we do not need his attention as well.
Grandma & Grandpa wobbled our way over to the "City Center". We were impressed by the size of the property. Oh! Oh! how do we get to the casino door? It looks like a mighty "Furr Piece".
We arrived very tired and bewildered. It was immense in size.
When we entered we were greeted by a very informative "Greeter". He saw that we were impressed by the huge "Silver Sculpture". He explained how it was created. I left very impressed. Off to see the casino we went. It was a dark and dreary abyiss. very few souls around. The walk thru the prominade was really nice and impressive. We dropped a "Sawbuck" or two and then moved on to repeat the process. Ho-Hum! we best be gettin on before dusk. We are not sure how safe it is out here on the Vegas Strip at night fall. Oh! Oh! we have to walk back to the sidewalk again. Hadn't counted on this (alzheimers) Ya know. We found it best to take a shuttle back to our room at the "Palazzo". That room at the top of the "Palazzo" was getting to look better and better. We best rest up a while before going down for vittles. That Ladies & Gentlemen was our experience of "City Walk". I say overall it is "fair to middlin" Thank you "Palazzo". Don't forget to leave the Lite on for us.
Grandma & Grandpa
This is the first I've heard of City Center since it opened and maybe now I know why. MGM/Mirage was not ready. The saying "First impression are a lasting impression" if this holds true, City Center missed the boat. The only way Las Vegas can be successful it through repeat business, the only way you get repeat businsess is through great customer service. Even if people get a bargin at an upscale resort, they expect the same kind of service one would get if you pay $300 a night. I find that many employees at these resort feel what they do is a job, but its actually more than a job, its your livelihood, so you have to provide the same customer service you would expect if you were staying at a resort. The employees is the first line of bring back repeat customers, bring people back is job security.
This story suggests customer return rates are dismal -- information the author unfortunately omitted.
Perhaps occupancy rates are dismal as well?
However, the reason seems clear. Those that experience the property are left with the perception they didn't receive what they paid for -- once that happens, it not only becomes nearly impossible to get their return patronage but the initial patronage from those such perceptions/experiences are shared with.
Is there a loyalty type program offered that grants incentives for repeat patronage?
Establishing a loyal customer base is extremely vital in such a competitive environment - particularly on properties commanding higher market prices.
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If anyone is looking for AMAZING hotel rates in Las Vegas, I highly suggest looking at American Express Travel. I am in no way affiliated with Amex, nor do I even have an Amex card. However, today I was looking for rates at the new Aria Hotel and found that the lowest rate offered on the Aria Hotel's website for my dates of travel was $717 (for a 3 night stay; including taxes). This floored me, considering just 3 weeks ago my buddy booked with the Aria for 3 nights at a total of $450. So, after searching the internet I came across the American Express Travel website and ended up booking (on a Visa card) my 3 night stay for a total of $480 (including all taxes and fees). Moral of this story: DO NOT book directly with the Aria, or even through Orbitz/Expedia/Tripadvisor. They all may claim to have the lowest rates, but they are without a doubt NOT the lowest rates. Again, I have no vested interest in Amex and am just like all of you (except I have tons of mounting debt due to various student loans).
give them some time, opening in a recession is not typical for this industry
How about that lovely stench that is outside by the tram... NASTY! What a great first impression as you exit the tram from Bellagio... Welcome to Stinky-ville! We spent $10B in search of the nastiest smell on Planet Earth.
My family is a resident and frequent the strip to play and shop. We, however, have no intention to visit CC/Aria/Crystals. The casino is not inviting at all, from their pictures and videos. The casino, for the $$$ spent, looks like another M Resort or Red Rock Resort! Las Vegas is a "themed" playground...why have abstract (UGLY)looking buildings jammed in that location....its out of place! Visitors can go to other places in the country with better looking buildings, to gawk at buildings. This is not what people come here for.
Crystals is not unique, in my opinion. The same high end shops are in the Venetian, Palazzo and Forum (my favorite) @ Caesars Palace. These are the best shopping places on the strip. We love these places and so do our guests.....throw in the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood and you have the complete shopping excursion!
To us the Palazzo offers the most comfortable gaming environment...nice lighting, excellent surroundings too. The MGM properties such as MGM Grand, Mirage especially have very dark general and playing areas.....turns players away.
Who needs the overpriced, ugly looking CC? We have no intention on setting foot in it.
I always recommend the Orleans to my out-of-town visitors - for the money you can't beat it - and besides having rooms that are very nice indeed they also have a very nice selection of reasonably priced places to eat - the gambling aint half bad there either :) So if you want to get some value for your hard-earned buck try the Orleans (and NO, I don't work there :)
The only thing I find more obnoxious than the chronic, freebie-seeking, whining hotel guest? Is the whining, sniveling, frequent-flyer bawler at an airport ticket counter!
If something is dirty or broken that's one thing...call the desk and take a pill.
After all the casinos that MGM Mirage owns....how can they possibly insult our intelligence with a "Tweeking" excuse. I've had the experience of working with a team of people that were organized with a check list of everything that was needed to have a grand opening be a success. They are using the Tweeking excuse becuase they didin't want to spend the extra money and they were lacking the ability to think of everthing.......even though they think they have all of the answers. Since the place is such a looser......what trick do they have up their sleeves to get back some of their losses? I can just imagine.
City Center is a complete disaster for the city an ugly monstrosity that does not belong in the middle of the strip. Muren is just another arrogant, ignorarant executive that doesn't get it and never will. How come the Golden Nugget and South Point aren't knocking at his door for advice? Now that the Big K has more vested interest in the M Resort........I'm sure that it will go down the tube with extra tight machines and crappy service. Ever since MGM bought the Bellagio........it changed dramatically and they.
They have absolutly no clue how much they have really lost by not getting the clientel that has been encouraged to go elsewhere.
The entire point of the article here is addressing the problem areas and choke points in customer service.That speaks volumes previous generations of managerial styles would not have even considered public acknowledgment of private concerns related to service, illustrating a major shift in the calcified dogma "Top down" only style of communication that by nature is an impediment to positive solutions.Social media and the interment is a valuable tool in the crafting of impressions as well as harvesting valuable critiques.Good going MGM.
RPJ :
once again your commenting really exposes the fact that your real name is probably Jim Murren posting here...
Oh, say it isn't so. Shill? Smoke 'n mirros? Oh, really now, His Godship's (Murren) advertising figgies can surely make something up to offset that bad image. Otherwise, he will succumb to the fizzy dizzies and have to lie down for a spell. . .
The exterior needs to be inviting and the staff need to be friendly and efficient. It also helps if the customer feels valued and that they are receiving a fair shake for their hard earned money. Having tight slot machines, few reasonably priced table games, high priced food and drinks does not bode well for an experience worth repeating. Customers have way too many choices for eating, drinking and gambling. Your casino needs to offer something "special" in order to draw in new customers and make them want to tell their friends and others about the place.
"In the meantime, the resort's iPhone app will include information on the artists and their works"....I just searched las vegas city center in the app store and got "no matches" for that search. I searched "city center" too, with no app for a las vegas city center. Another MGM oops?
Its pretty incredible when 8.5 billon can be spent and management still cant seem to get it right. Mr. Murren is right about a shake down process in a new building. Some, hard to assess factors will only show up after the opening. However lighting levels, design, logistics and guest flow patterns should have been addressed in the planning stages. Staff training costs money - clearly MGM needed to buy a few more statues to afford that.
"The place has to find its footing and its audience, which is really a challenge, especially right now," Schwartz said"
The above statement is all that needed to be written,nothing else
Literally 96% of Tourists dont have the discretionary income to enjoy any of CC venues
peace out
"So basically, Murren thinks that visitor expectations were wrong, not that his vision of what would sell was."
By sandy_astroglide
Personally, I think you nailed it. Good post sandy_astroglide
to "grandma and grandpa" above:
You just confirmed how pleasant and wonderful it is to be @ the Palazzo!
I had earlier written about it above..... I am a resident of Las Vegas and Henderson, but will be forever a tourist at heart.
I share your sentiments about Wynn and Encore....my family does not enjoy those 2 properties at all for the very same reasons you mentioned. There is nothing in Wynn and Encore (very hard to navigate) that you wont find at the Venetian, Palazzo or Caesars Palace....these 3 provide for a very leisurely, relaxing, and enjoyable stay. And, NO, I do not work for either the Las Vegas Sands or Harrah's Entertainment.
tn330; outlandish themes that dominated vegas in the 1990s are gone, the last few hotels to open here ie the palms, wynn don't have themes, if they do they are very subtle like back in the days of the desert inn, flamingo, dunes and sands
visually city center is a very impressive resort, in 20-30 years people will be questioning why people were mad enough to build disneyesque castle, a fake eiffel tower and a cartoon manhattan skyline but they won't question something like cc. the problem with cc is that the casino is simply too far from the strip
The one thing City Center had in its favor was the high unemployment rate. They had a large labor pool to select from, so in theory, their customer service should have been great from the get-go. It's got to be an upper level management problem.
Blog comments have to be taken with a grain of salt. Yes there's lots of axe grinding going on, but there are also a lot of shills posting as well. I'm kind of surprised MGM made an issue of it with their stockholders. They must have done some analysis that indicated that the blog posts were reasonably legitimate, and needed to be addressed.
In response to skerlahdee above:
You're absolutely right. They had the chance to hire the best of the best, however it should be plain by now that corporations such as MGM are rampant with nepetism, hiring friends and family, and going for "sexy" over qualified. You may be waited on by a fat girl at Disney World but your service experience is going to be far and away superior to anything you'll find in Las Vegas. MGM should be able to recruit from all over the world but they don't want people who are too talented as much of their management is inept and threatened by anyone with skills and a brain.
Vegas is still a small town operating like a small town. They can add all the signs and bushes they want to this place but it's still going to be a giant cold complex of unattractive buildings.
On another note, the Sun and other papers have been very quiet about the three elephants in MGM's living room - Veer Towers and the Harmon. Are they going to never open? Will they always be dark and will we all just pretend that they're not there? Hm.
Oh and I should mention that the photo above sums it all up. Bright, beautiful day and no one in sight except two employees.
It looks like a scene from Soylent Green.
If they were really paying attention to TripAdvisor, they wouldn't have built CityCenter in the first place. There are alot of people wishing for more themed casinos like Bellagio and Paris. Even the people who are over themes didn't want anything like Aria.
And they aren't paying enough attention. The complaint about the buffet wasn't that it too high end. It was that it wasn't a good quality high end buffet. People didn't want to pay Wynn prices for an average buffet experience. If anything needs to be more value oriented, it needs to be some of the other dining outlets.
If they really cared about what people were saying online, they would start ditching the resort fees!
What is truly amazing is that they staffed the casino with all the rude and ignorant employees that were once Mirage employees. The Casino Manager obviously owed some people huge favors to place the people he did in the positions they currently hold. No experience in customer service, and they boast 5 star service? Please..the place is very dirty on the inside, service is horrible and the rumor going around is that the person in charge of the casino was a pit clerk at the Golden Nugget downtown ! Great job MGM Mirage...this management will be your downfall....you turned over a multi billion dollar resort to people that shouldn't be in charge of a Wal Mart.
But there is a theme to City Center! It's Wall Steet Suit's (Murren) Opus to Excess, Failure and Disconnection from Reality.
The 1000 lb gorilla lurking behind all this is MGM's masssive debt and in the next five years I predict you will see one or two major properties sold to cover this problem to avoid BK.
No need to return for me. I walked thru CCenter, really like the modern thing... but the *feel* is dry and city-like. I felt like something hit me. Then went next door to Bellagio to recharge my energy.
I don't think the staff is the problem at the CC. Lack of staff maybe or it could be that everyone that works for the MGM in a tipping position has lost 50% of their income. That means that the staff at the MGM is starving, Mandalay Bay is starving! Why? Cannabalism!! You cannot take your player base from one property to the next and think they will all succeed. Or is it, you just want CC to succeed for your Middle East inverstors! Go to Macau!
Golden Nugget forever!!! Very good service - always enjoyed staying there.
bape702 - those tripadvisor reviews have GOT to be shills. A whole bunch of 5 star reviews written by people posting their FIRST review..conveniently mentioning disputing the many complaints. I usually throw out the worst and best reviews anyway.
I went to City Center back in March to play in Aria's poker room. I left after a half hour of hanging around because the desk person was not around to seat me. I walked through the mall and thought who could afford this stuff. Granted, it was a weekday afternoon and there was no one there to buy anything. Let me know, have any of these overpiced high end shops gone out of business yet?
Can you spell B-U-S-T???? His Godship never listens. He needs to move to Dubai where he can have his many wives. . .and all the decadence her desires. We really don't need any more of his nonesense.
Next??
So many of the things MGM tried to sell as features that upscale client was a load of crap. Because wealthy people don't sit in malls, or prefer white walls? Trendy people don't like to see when they gamble because they are so cool they have to wear shades?
COme on this was like watching HGTV where the designers come in and design a house or living space that is totally ill conceived but feeds their ego. Then they spend half the episode trying to convince you why you have to be more cool or something to comprehend their advanced vision.
MGM has played it this same way, doing a lot of stuff that makes no sense while trying to convince everyone that it's them not MGM and if you don't like it you must be uncool or not rich enough! Apparently MGM never bothered to learn basic principles like give the customer what they want, everyone deserves quality service regardless of what level they can afford, you never know if that poor person you just blew off is friends with lots of wealthy people or maybe they are wealthy but cheap, or when they are in better financial situations they will remember who treated them with respect and who did not.
Everyone deserves your very best. I came into Aria once in old jeans and a cheap watch to meet a friend and was snubbed, I noticed people giving me the once over before deciding what I was worth and how much attention I would get. One was too obvious about checking my shoes and watch and totally blew me off. The next day I came back and valeted my mom's Porsche (I can't afford one I admit it), wore my $2500.00 watch and $1200.00 dress shoes. Suddenly I was a king and treated completely different. I did not spend any more or less than the day before but the service was completely changed because they saw better shoes and a pricey watch. In the future I'll be spending nothing with Aria to match the lack of service they treated me too.
Many complaints on the Trip Advisor is about the housekeeping. It is the management to blame for this.
Over a year ago I knew someone working at another 5 star that applied there. They wanted to work at the latest and greatest place and were excited about the chance for a job there. After maybe 2 interviews they were offered a full time job that paid more than $1/hr less. They still accepted the job. There was also some question about a laps in health insurance. Before the start date they got a phone call saying the job changed from full time to on-call. So my friend said no.
Knowing another person that quit a 5 star that took a full time housekeeping job there for less money. They said the training was not a few weeks but only about 2 days. A lot of their problems came from lack of training. The 2 days is only about long enough to cover employment policies, safety, and building layout. There were no room standards. No one knew how many towels, glasses, pens, etc to leave and where. No requirements about what was unacceptable such as hairs, water spots, dust, etc. That person said many of those housekeepers would have been fired if they performed the poor work at other top hotels. Everyone did it there own way. Which gave inconstant results from room to room. Many of the housekeepers had 0 hotel experience there. Which makes no since because there were at least 10 applicant to every job. The requirement should have been minimum 1-2 years experience working at a large 4-5 star in the department you applied for. How can they expect a person with no experience to be the best possible worker for the job? A few weeks after they opened that person was cut back to on-call and go almost no hours so they moved on.
IMO what happened is on paper they wanted a 5 star hotel. Building the city center almost bankrupted MGM. By the time it was done they had to cut corners with the staff. By reducing the amount of workers, training, and pay. But now they have 3 star service.
I looked forward to City Center as much as anyone. Everything we saw and heard just served to raise our level of anticipation, until we just couldn't wait to see it and experience it. Now we've gotten to see it close up, take it for a test drive, and it just doesn't work right. City Center is a vaginaplasty gone horribly awry.
I have always loved City Center and what it means for Las Vegas I make no apology. The people fortunate enough to be selected for service there are poised to be part of something greater than themselves. The transformation of our city into more than just an echo of surfeit to place of substance. And No I do not work there although I should but that is a horse of a different color.
I checked out CC after it opened. I didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would. Actually there were things about it I did like.
However, I had 2 drinks at a bar (Aria), that were CC specials and made with top shelf alcohol...the drinks were served in small PLASIC CUPS!! The drink was good, I did have a second one.
Sorry, but I have been to many 5 star hotels (ie Ritz Carlton at Laguan Nigel and Half Moon Bay). They would NEVER serve $10.00+ plus drink in a SMALL PLASTIC CUP!
Needless to say I don't plan on returning and can only imagine how everything else is.
Let me say that I hope CC is successful for the near and long term future. There's a lot riding on this project not just for MGM but for the city.
Like any new hotel of this size there are glitches and bugs that have to be worked out. Hopefully CC management is addressing some of those issues as noted by the story.
I do think that Mr. Murren is completely out of touch with reality in his perceptions. He's the same guy that said locals will come to CC for dining, shopping, and gaming. Come on now. Here's the article if you don't remember:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec...
Part of the problem with Aria (and MGM) is they continue to offer sucker 6/5 blackjack at the lower limits. Knowledgeable players are tired and fed up with this nonsense and are going to not play these rip off games. To add insult to this, if you want to play double deck blackjack, the table minimums are $50 to $100. That is going to discourage many people from even playing at Aria. So if they get people to book rooms in the place, those guests might wander off the property in the hopes of getting better games at another casino.
Please check out my blog about Las Vegas:
http://jimmyhoofa-lv.blogspot.com/
"This is the end result of all the bright lights... and the comp trips, of all the champagne... and free hotel suites, and all the broads and all the booze. It's all been arranged just for us to get your money. That's the truth about Las Vegas. We're the only winners. The players don't stand a chance. "
-- Sam "Ace" Rothstein, Casino, 1997
We went to City Center within a week of it's opening (walked over from our room at the Imperial Palace). I really don't have anything against it, It's not my thing ($$$), but if there are others who can afford all of the high end rooms, shops and dining, I say, enjoy. We went to the sports book at Aria (very nice). there was an employee stationed near the entrance to inform all who came that way to watch your step, there was a step up near the entry. This was repeated upon exit. No doubt, a few people had tripped on the step and the quick solution was to station an employee to warn the customers. Outside near the waterfall area, there were curbs at the base of columns that I noticed a few people tripping over (no "watch your step" informant there). Simple design flaws that will no doubt be addressed if they haven't already.
Carbonware, I guarantee thay I will be driving a Porsche long before I wear $1200 shoes. In fact, I had a Porsche when I was 20. A week after I bought it, My parents borrowed it to take on a trip to Las Vegas! Not sure if they got the red carpet treatment, but Dad really enjoyed it!
Try as they might, mgm is trying to hang with the new leaders in world of gaming lvs sands but can not. just like their out of date leader bobby baldwin who is a loser trying to hang with young poker players so is his company.
If the Aria is short on help, why don't they just hire all the card passers that are in front of their resort?
This whole project is a seven out.
im sure the early trip advisor reviews were correct about all the "issues" at cc. I was reading along and laughing at the reviews. Suddenly you see a bunch of new people putting 100% positive reviews so you know they have company people trying to stuff the ballot box. Damn shame for everyone, this whole 8 billion dollar disaster.
hey consult guy, yeah blame unions for stupid overlords. guess idiots are everywhere
We have enjoyed ourselves at MGM Grand because of the excellent service from all of the employees. The rooms were clean, the food was great and the waitresses served drinks promptly at the slots.
There are no problems that City Center can't fix.
How would Hunter Thompson value the experience at City Center? Seems to be a perfect place to simmer below the racket of tensioned leisure travelers.
Hey vegas98765, you are sooo contradicting yourself. You claim they don't have the ability to think of everything themselves, but then you complain that they use "tweaking" as an excuse.
So if your assessment is correct that they were unable to think of everything, then it seems very logical that "tweaking" be used to correct things that arise that they had not originally thought up!
Stop hating.
(and yes, I created an account just to make this reply)
In response to skerlahdee, I'm quite certain they'll disregard the "off the wall" positive posts, as well as the "off the wall" negative posts, and focus on the the majority of middle ground criticisms that have a great number of repeats. He even listed the things they would work at correcting.
Oh my gosh, you people, hey Phillyguy. . .you don't think WalMart is a billion dollar corporation?
How are they going to fix the valet situation? I will not go to the Aria because I am not walking a city block to pick up my car in 100 degree heat. It's the same setup to catch a taxi too.
STUPID STUPID DESIGN. And it makes for a terrible final impression when you leave the hotel.
I visited Las Vegas two weeks ago and checked out CityCenter. I love Las Vegas and visit yearly but don't care if I ever return there. I was expecting to be wowed by The Crystals but felt like I was in an air terminal building. It is vast expanses of white walls. The three story wood tiered Restaurant was the only visually interesting thing there. I found the Casino to be too dark and the entire project too cold and too lacking in Landsacaping in its design. I also checked out The Mandarin Oriental Skybar. I had a $20.00 Cocktail.... Ridiculous but they do have a nice view of the Strip. It was a pleasure to get back to Bellagio afterward.
I went to City Center about 6 and 12 weeks after it opened. For one it opened too soon. Drywall dust at the crystals, broken windows all over, blue painters tape all over the floor and walls pinpointing flaws that need to be fixed, fire alarm going off in one of the buildings, a sea of construction workers blocking the road, parking garages and driveways closed.
It was a pita to navigate. The driveway laked clear signs. In place of signs they had people giving directions in the street. No public parking at the time so we had to park next door and take the tram. You go from the Bellagio to it's roof top for a view of the equipment and duct work. You want to go to one building but the tram didn't go there. So we had to go all thru on casino, take the tram to another building, walk thru that building or cut across the street. The intent was to get you to flow thru every one of their properties but it just pissed me off.
On top of that we had no idea what building was what. Some signage above the doors and sidewalk level would be great. A small map with the names of the buildings, parking lots, and tram stops would have been too easy.
In front it seemed like a game of up and down the stairs to go over the different streets. Why they didn't just keep the sidewalk at one level above the street, but that would have made walking down the strip too easy. If I remember right it was only stairs, no escalators or elevators. I think you had to go in the building to get that. Even the sidewalk seemed uneven, pitched, and high trip edges.
The first time after walking thru the maze looking for the casino we found out it was in one of the buildings that seemed a block away from the strip and decided it was not worth the trouble.
The mall seemed empty and a lot of walking to go nowhere.
I can't complain about the buffet. I was thinking about going again but did not want to go thru the trouble of driving, taking the tram, and then walking all over for it. Now it seems like they will cheapen the buffet in quality, I guess I wont be going.
Whoever came up with the valet area must have been high or it was a last minute addition. You leave your car on one side and have to get on the other side. Also it is uncovered so if it rains your are wet. Not very people oriented.
A smile and a thank you can bring back paying customers. I noticed that many service industry people no longer smile nor say thank you to their patrons. SAD and DISGUSTING!!!!
I was there in April and think the biggest flaw of it all is the casino is tucked WAY in the back. When I opened the door to go in, I was expecting to see the casino, but was duped into cold, white walls and shops that even the richest people think is overpriced. Has anyone purchased anything from the Porsche store there? Have you seen the prices? The lowest priced item was $100 and I believe that was a pen. I did notice a LOT of foreigners, so perhaps Aria is targeting the strong EURO customers whose dollar goes farther in America. Of course, the Euro has fallen here lately, which does not bode well for this property. An earlier comment noted there isn't any type of sundries store or coffee shop to get an affordable bite to eat before heading to the airport. It's obvious Aria is targeting bigger fish than I, as my $1,000 gambling allowance is chump change. I much prefer Planet Hollywood where I can buy a bottle of Gin & Tonic for the room at the ABC Store and use the in-room coffee maker in the morning. Heck, PH even gave us a fifth of Gin last time we stayed there.
"It's obvious Aria is targeting bigger fish than I"
And that sums it up, dude.
"City Center is a flop. Its sad because Las Vegas did need it to be a hit, but City Center lacks any sense in its design, ease of finding things, getting around, etc. And I have nothing nice to say about the gambling or the casino there. Completely dull and pointless."
100% incorrect. Sorry you don't get it.
"Environprotector," you are incorrect. When do lies like yours get erased from these inane, anonymous commments anyway?
The "Yelp" Aria Resort page is pitiful to see.
A sprinkling of positive comments, but mostly complaints.
The good news for management is that the complaints had a pattern, so hopefully they can turn the public opinion around over time.
The other good news is that it not as bad as the Sahara "Yelp" pages, boy they are downright depressing.
Still, for Aria to have this kind of bad press early on is not great to see.
These guys are going global as hoteliers, so for goodness sake have it together.
RPJ :
Dude! it is soo obvious from your comments that you are a City Center Shill , or Jim Murren himself! get off your high horse insulting otheres with comments like "Not getting it" people "get it", and they hate it. The truth of the matter is that City Center NEVER should have been built in Las Vegas. The corporate takeover here NEVER should have been allowed to create the cornering of the marketplace such as Harrahs and MGM has done. The city has been ruined, the gambling sux, the rooms are way too expensive, the food and comps sux, If you are so special, why don't you just jet off to Monte Carlo or some place where everyone "gets it" because Las Vegas doesn't need this type of viewpoint.
The biggest mistake with the city center (not counting those who say it should not have been built at all) was building the entire complex at once.
If it was built in stages with one building opening at a time every year or two it would have gave the MGM time to correct or put on hold due to market conditions. It could have reviled the design complaints with the 1st building and gave them a chance to change the others to come. Also dumping a ton of condos on the market at the same time does not help the property value. Should have been build some condos, sell them, build more, etc. Plus having an opening event every year or two would have helped to create more excitement and traffic.
After you subtract overhead I wonder if the Boardwalk Casino which was most likely paid for was more proffitable?
You read some of the recent AAA reviews and it sounds like they are still trying to get the place working with all the automation in the rooms.
3 of 5 TV's didn't work.
They got mad when we unpluged a TV to get it to turn off.
Lights would strobe.
Only 1/3 light worked.
2 phones didn't work.
Spa tub would randomly come on and not turn off.
Hung up on when called VIP services.
Workers fixing room 3 of 4 days we were there.
*
Lights turn on in the middle of the night.
*
Housekeeping forgot to clean our room.
*
Housekeeping stole our money when when someone was in the tub and privacy light was on, security did nothing
*
Still under construction.
Alarm and strobe lights flashing (fire alarm) at night, was told latter it was a safety test.
*
Housekeeping stole $200 from my room.
Don't bother with the privacy lights, as no one pays any attention to them.
Yet oddly enough, every time I left the room with the privacy light on, someone was in there. Which I find to be rather funny since the majority of reviews I have read are about not being able to get housekeeping in their rooms! I couldn't keep them OUT!
*
Very dirty room, carpet had stains and smelled like urine.
*
Showed up at 6 p.m. and was told that my room, which had been confirmed at the time of booking and earlier that day would not be ready until 11 p.m. or midnight.
Found dirty toilet that contained fecal matter.
*
Room safe malfunctioned 4 days in a row.
Call the front desk to try to get something resolved, be prepared to stay on hold at least 15 minutes.
We had the service room light on all day and were out of the room all day, when we returned to the room at 6:00 pm to shower and get ready for dinner and the rest of the evening our room had not been serviced. We were out of all toiletries. After waiting so far for 45 minutes, room service still has not brought toiletries.
*
We often had to call down 2-3 times for what we needed.
*
The rooms are very High Tech and still have multiple problems to be worked out.
*
The first room the remote didn't work all the lights the next room everything worked but it took hours waiting for the new keys.
If someone hits the wrong button all the lights go out and the curtains close
The people I delt with were friendly but not very well trained.
*
Resort still has issues, including forcing my wife to walk down 51 floors in emergency stairway due to malfunctioning alarm system.
*
Used mouthwash in bathroom(already opened.
*
There were left over plates on the table from the previous guest on the table when we checked in.
We had to call house keeping, bell desk and front desk too many times to get things straight! I've never had this many problems with hotels before.
*
Checked in our room at 7:30 pm, room was dirty and not cleaned until 11:30 pm.
To sum up the complaints:
Fire alarm system problems.
Automation control problems and or too difficult to operate for some guests.
Rooms not cleaned.
Rooms not ready for check-in.
Items stolen with no resolve.
Poor training.
Not enough staff to check in people, clean rooms, etc.
If these complaints happened at some of the other hotels a lot of people would be looking for a new job.
How does a global major operator, MGM Resorts International completely blow their early opening period and get reviews like this?
Was the company overall too stressed on all fronts to get the training and systems ready and right?
What could have been the root cause of this?
How does it happen?
the place is haunted.
CityCenter.... A perfect example of why Bigger is not necessarily better.
We have traveled to LV about 3-4 times a year over the past two decades. We also read and post at TripAdvisor. We noticed that the Tropicana how has at least one employee monitor the reviews and respond to complaints. If MGM can learn from this lesson, it will go a long way towards convincing people like myself to stay at their hotel. We try to stay at new places, but only after the bugs have been ironed out.
We have seen the overall quality of customer service in LV decline steeply over the years. Luxor used to be a great place to stay and play; now, it is a dump. Management is entirely responsibe, as it made a decision to cater to a low-class party crowd that can't afford Mandalay Bay. I won't stay there even for free.
We find that we get the best for our money, and the best (but different) experiences at Orleans and the Wynn. We are not high rollers, but at both places, we get the impression that our business is appreciated, and that's what really counts.
It always puzzles me that two people can check into a hotel on the same day and have two completely different experiences. However, it is a good lesson for management - a new arrival encounters about four employees in the first minutes (valet, bellman, check-in, host, etc.). If any one of those encounters is bad, that will likely sour the guest FOR THE ENTIRE STAY. The employees at the Wynn (and all top-notch hotels) really seem to understand that. Also, if there is a problem, the guest wants to know that management cares enough to respond.