I stayed at the Vdara Resort for the first time on our most recent trip to Las Vegas in early October, 2023, to see a bunch of concerts. The room prices were reasonable, and the location of the Vdara compared to the Dolby Theater and the Sphere were key to my decision as to where to stay this time. While the room was large, and the location excellent, our room was in poor shape and in desperate need of updating.

The Location

Vdara’s location is supremely excellent, almost in the exact center of the strip. You can get anywhere you need to with a no more than 25 minute walk. The Vdara is adjacent to the Aria resort, where most of the amenities are. You need to walk about 100 feet outside to get to Aria. The Park MGM is a short, indoor walk from there, so getting to the Dolby Theater for the Lady Gaga show was super easy. Additionally, the Bellagio is an enclosed walkway away too, so you don’t even have to mess up your hair or get sweaty if you’re going to a fancy dinner at Bellagio.

The Amenities

Vdara doesn’t have much going on amenity-wise. There’s only one lobby bar/restaurant, as well as a Starbuck’s and a “Marketplace” where you can grab food and go. There is no casino in this hotel. There is a Spa that I didn’t visit. We did hang out at the pool quite a bit, though. It’s a nice set up, with an oval pool, that is basically a massive plunge pool, as it doesn’t really get more than about four feet deep. There are a ton of umbrellas everywhere, and you don’t need to get reserved seating to have an umbrella. They cover most of the seating, so if you’re looking for some shade, it’s pretty easy to find. The issue with the pool is, when we were there, it only opened at 11am, which is pretty dang late. Pools at other resorts including Aria were open at either 9 or 10am. Considering that one of our top priorities for the few days we were there was to sit and relax by the pool, the fact that it only opened at 11am was a total bummer.

One day we rented a “Deck Cabana” so that we could use the extra space to do some work, and have some more cushiony loungers since we planned on spending most of the day by the pool. It was about $200 to rent on a weekday and included were sodas, water bottles and a fruit plate. You would think that since the pool only opened at 11, that the fruit plates would’ve been good to go when we arrived, but we had to wait almost an hour for it. Speaking of waiting, our cabana server completely ditched us for over 45 minutes after we arrived so we were without drinks or food for a long time. After we complained to her (and she actually argued with us!) service did become a bit more frequent. I would note that service at the rest of the pool when we hung out there the previous day, was excellent – kind, frequent, and we rarely had to wait for anything.

The cabana itself was pretty basic, and in need of updating. I didn’t even take a photo of it, it was so unimpressive. The loungers and umbrellas were not set up before we got there, so we did some shifting around ourselves. The cushions of the loungers also had some bird poop on them. I’m not really sure what they were doing to prepare the pool that day, but clearly it wasn’t cleaning and setting up cabanas that were booked in advance. While $200 is really cheap for a cabana, I really can’t say it was super worth it in the end – especially since they didn’t even open until 11.

The Room

The rooms at Vdara are all quite large, and I’m pretty sure they’re all suites that include a kitchenette. There are a bunch of different layouts for the rooms, and ours was big and open after you walked through the kitchenette. The problem with a big, open room is that it’s far more obvious what is in need of repair. There were several very large stains on the carpet in the middle of the room. The sleeper sofa was worn, saggy, and the cushions were not soft at all. In fact, you could feel the sleeper mattress contraption underneath the cushions when you sat in it. A lot of the woodwork was either worn, stained, nicked or scratched, and since all of the wood is dark, it was super obvious.

The bathroom was large and nice, but also in need of updating. They favored more counter space instead of having two sinks, which I fully support. There was a large soaking tub, and a small-ish shower. The shower was pretty sad looking though, with a leaky shower head and cracked grout and mold starting in the corners.

This was a “stay well” suite, which I’m not even sure what that means since most of the “stay well” things in the room were not functional including the iPad, the shower infusion, and other weird knick-knacks around the room.

The best part about the room was a view. We had a gorgeous view of the Bellagio fountains, and we could even see the Sphere in the distance. The upgrade for the view was actually only about $15 a night, so I would say that was totally worth it. The room, overall, though, needs upgrading really badly.

The Recommendation

If location and a cheap view are the only things that matter to you, I would be OK recommending the Vdara, but pretty weakly. Those are the only positives that this resort has going for it. The pool is pretty average and strangely opens very late. There are no restaurants apart from the lobby bar with limited food options here. The room is extremely tired and in need of massive gutting. I’m really hopeful that MGM Resorts will overhaul this resort soon. My overall recommendation is to skip this resort in favor of any one of the resorts it connects to – either Bellagio, Aria, or Park MGM.