Artisan Hotel Las Vegas

Eewwwww......... We should have known something was amiss when none of the taxi drivers had ever heard of this place.

This is a Clarion hotel affiliate but it is most definitely a poor reflection upon the chain. We booked it because it was listed as a "boutique" hotel. Usually "boutique" hotels offer extra amenities, special services......anything.....something that would make it special and memorable. This hotel was memorable but for the wrong reasons.

The prominent decor is framed artwork and statues......kind of odd I know but the pics on the website made it look sort of "wild and alive". There are paintings hanging EVERYWHERE.....on the ceiling, walls....anyplace with enough room to hang one. Statues were everywhere and reflected everything from art deco design to Egyptian to classical. But the overall atmosphere was one of dark, dank, depression. The ceilings were black, the walls were either black or wallpapered in something close to black. The floors were black tile intermixed with brown/beige. An oversized fountain that didn't fit with the rest of the hodge-podge furnishings dominated half of the small, cramped lobby.

The lobby decor reminded me of Miss Haversham's aged, musty, cobwebbed covered furnishings straight out of "David Copperfield" (except without the cobwebs) The daily free wine tasting at 1630 was nonexistant (perhaps this was due to the wedding party who dominated the scene, but they were away from the lobby area well before the appointed happy hour).

There were no ice machines or vending machines on premises but a coke from the bar could be purchased for $6.00 if you were so inclined.

The location of the hotel was over a mile from The Strip, in an industrial area full of warehouses and electrical towers. There was no place to walk so taxis were mandatory unless you rented a car. It cost $30 for a taxi from the airport to the hotel....perhaps the fee was higher as he had to stop once to call his dispatchers for directions and finally had to look it up in a book. From the hotel to the MGM Grand, where we went to see Tom Jones in concert, the fee was $23 and then of course we had to return at the end of the evening. All told we spent over $85 on taxis for a one night stay!

There were no coffee makers in the rooms and when asked about it, we were told that it was a fire hazard.....excuse me?? Every other hotel in the world has a coffee maker!! If we wanted coffee, we had to wait until the dining room opened at 0700 in the morning.

We considered eating dinner at the hotel before the concert but were told that "they MIGHT be able to find us a table back in the corner so as not to disturb the wedding party". We rolled our eyes and headed to the Strip.

Our room was the "regulation black" of course and the miniature lamps on the small bedside tables carried the power of at least 40 watts each. We felt so claustrophobic that we threw open the shutters on the window only to find that it opened a full three inches. It was a small room that was overcrowed with "period" furniture. The only redeeming features of the entire place was the flat screen TV hanging on the wall and the two free bottles of water on the table next to the ice bucket for which there was no ice.

All and all a very depressing tone set for Mark's 50th birthday celebration. (I've heard of using black on a 50th birthday but this was overkill.) Needless to say, I do not recommend this poor excuse for a hotel and hope my review spread around the world and helps to put them out of business.