The 2011 Romance List
Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, United States of America
Las Vegas is sexy. There’s a sense of youthful abandon in the desert air and the omnipresent sparkling pulse of light and life is mesmerising and, in a way, romantic. Forget gambling; the real Vegas is about hiring a limo to cruise the Strip, pillow-fighting in a suite overlooking the city, and ordering oysters and Veuve Cliquot at 4am just because you can. The new Mandarin Oriental understands this and has delivered possibly the most romantic and stylish hotel that Sin City has yet seen. The hotel has brought to the desert the awardwinning service and the rich and seductive colours that have made their Asian properties such standouts over the years.
As a result, the hotel is awash with sunshine yellow, bright turquoise and fuchsia red. If money is no object, go for a Strip View Suite and we will bet big that you will never leave the room, apart, perhaps, from a visit to the Mandarin Bar on the 23rd floor for views and vodka martinis. In the bar there is not a gaming machine in sight, probably because even hard-core pokie players would find it difficult to tear themselves away from the multi-coloured cityscape vista twinkling on the other side of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Review from Matthew Brace [Meet our Romance List Panel]
Why you'll love it
Vegas’s hotels have been known for ostentation and opulence; the Mandarin Oriental now offers something new and much rarer: sheer class.