So about the problem I referenced we had with Aria.

Let me say this: the hotel itself is fine. It’s clean, comfy, the pools are nice – I don’t really have much of a complaint about the bricks and mortar. There are better and more impressive/stunning hotels on the strip, but there’s nothing wrong with Aria.

Unfortunately, those things don’t make up for a management team that doesn’t communicate and doesn’t problem solve. I don’t like broad statements like that because it’s not fair to all the employees we didn’t interact with – but what choice do I have? Isn’t that the beauty of the corporate structure? It’s always out of their hands and someone else’s fault.

Here’s what happened – and I won’t go into too much detail because the police are now currently involved – but my friend got more than she bargained for when the hotel sent up a birthday package. Nice gesture – except for when the delivery boy shut the door behind him and began kissing her neck.

I like to give hotels the opportunity to problem solve – things will happen, it’s how management deals with them that truly defines a hotel. When my friend came and told us what happened, we went directly to the front desk to report it, and an hour later we found ourselves in the bowels of the Aria, sitting on a hard bench that was equipped with handcuffs. At first it was reasonable – we filled out forms and told the story – but then as our “claim was being processed” they made us remain in that room (complete with a two-way mirror).

It was as if we were prisoners – and we sat on that bench for over an hour.

I started to get a little frustrated. Not only did I feel like they should “release” us and let us go enjoy our vacation (and then follow up with us when they knew what was happening), I felt like the obvious things were not being addressed, and we were just sitting there on that damn bench, and every few minutes someone would tell us it would only be a few more minutes.

An example of an obvious thing: they had no intention of relocating us until I suggested it might be a good idea for security purposes, considering the employee we were filing a complaint against obviously knew what room we were in. This was my idea – not theirs – they were ready to ship us back to the same room. (One of the security guards even downplayed their responsibility by telling me “it wasn’t one of her staff.” Aria security apparently separates themselves from the rest of the Aria staff…good to know.)

They did worse than send us back to the same room, though – they moved us to a room with the same layout but less square footage – and upon our complaint they told us there was no way they could guarantee that any other room they put us in would be any bigger (two different employees said that to us, including Reginald at the front desk). When we suggested they give us a second room as a solution, they offered it at a discount: $195/night.

One of two things was happening (or both?): Aria was admitting complete incompetence by telling us they did not know (and could not find out) the layouts of their rooms, or they were blowing a gigantic cloud of smoke right up Wake and Wander’s ass.

Look, I am typically a pretty calm person, but hearing a supposed manager or security official spout off scripted responses and tell me there’s nothing they can do with little to no empathy whatsoever makes me boil. Between that night and the next day, we spend about eight hours of our trip dealing with this issue – and not once was any attempt made on the hotel’s part to reach out to us – we had to continually call to find out what the heck was going on with the “investigation.”

Not one manager reached out to us about the situation without us putting a call into them.

I was fed up and beyond the point of courtesy, and I asked them very directly what they were going to do for us to make this right, to make us happy, to make us want to come back here, to make up for all the time we wasted dealing with this issue because the employee that they hired felt up a woman on the job.

The final and only offer: a $50 food and beverage credit.

FYI: Drinks downstairs at the Deuce restaurant are $26 each… so a molestation case is worth about two drinks to Aria.

I was more offended than anything – we were only trying to get what we felt was fair – but Patricia Wagner, a manager we dealt with, didn’t want to hear it, referring to our problem as a “claim” and insinuating that we were using it to try and get free stuff.

I’m glad she did not say that directly to me (she said it to my friend on the phone). I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels and dealt with a lot of problems. I’ve dealt with the staffs of luxury hotels and of run-down motels. The thing that separates a great hotel from an expensive one is the appreciation of a customer’s business and the willingness to admit when something is not right.

Patricia Wagner decided on Saturday that a molestation case – albeit still “under investigation” – was worth two drinks at the bar and a call back from her when she’s not busy.

We paid hundreds of dollars to stay and have fun at Aria. We dined at the restaurants, we gambled at the tables, we drank by the pool, we spent a lot of our hard-earned money – do I need to tell you where you can stick that two-drink credit, Patricia?

A piece of advice for Aria and other hotel managers reading this: Had you shown up in person and spoke with us and apologized and asked us what would make up for this awful incident, given the fact that you believe it’s not representative of what Aria is all about, we would have accepted a reasonable compensation (for the hours we spent dealing with it) and moved on with our weekend. Instead, we had to call the police to come the next day so you would take us seriously. Nice work, standing applause.

I encourage anyone reading this to reach out to me for the details if you are going to Vegas – I can pass on more specifics of the incident. And in the future keep in mind that there are plenty of hotels in Vegas – no reason to waste your money on a hotel that participates in this sort of nonsense (it’s an MGM property FYI).