Has Cosmopolitan Las Vegas Lost Its Luster in 2025?

Hey everybody, I'm Josh.

And I'm Rachael.

And we just spent the last 2 nights here at the Cosmopolitan for the first time since MGM took over. And I'll let you know, it did not start off great, but it got better.

That's right. Let's go!

All right, so as I said, we just spent 2 nights here. It was a Friday, Saturday night. It was a busy weekend.

It was a very busy weekend.

Starting off, Check-in. I do really like there is a priority check-in for MGM Gold and above. So we were able to walk in on the side room, get checked in relatively easily.

Yeah, I also think it works for their— I believe it's Marriott is their sister partnership with that. And if you're a specific level with Marriott, you can also check in that.

Yes. Now we never actually seen the lobby get overwhelmed.

No.

Which is something that we had seen before when Cosmo was independent. Independent, there you go. Now when we did check in, it was about 1 o'clock o'clock and our room wasn't ready. So we went to the casino floor, lost a couple hundred bucks, checked about 3 o'clock, room still wasn't ready. It ends up being after 4 o'clock when the room was ready, and they did text us with an automated, like, robot text.

Yeah, Rosie.

AI Rosie. There we go.

Rose.

I think it was Rose. Yeah, so that was a little inconvenient.

I think more—

But I can understand it.

Yeah, I can understand it for a busy weekend, but we've We've never had a problem checking in a little bit early with any MGM property. So I hope it's simply because of the busy weekend and not because of other things.

Yeah, because of staffing issues.

Yeah.

I would hope not. So then when we get to our room, we found a busted old TV.

Yeah.

And so I probably have footage up right now over it. Instantly I called front desk and let them know about the broken TV and they end up sending security up. So we end up having to sit, wait in our room for security, fill out a report.

Incident report.

Yeah! Because I was like, I am not paying for that TV!

Yeah!

So already we're like, oh man! Maybe Cosmo is declining!

But what kind of room did we get?

We were in a 1-bedroom terrace suite!

Yes! We love the balcony room here at the Cosmo! And I think though, this is the first time we've had one with the Japanese soaking tub!

It may not be our favorite bathroom! But this room is awesome! It's really hard to complain about! There is an extra fridge in it! There's tons of space! Tons of storage! Lots of closet space! The— we're just sitting on a giant Couch that's bigger than our couch at home.

Yeah, a living— I would call it a living area with a big TV.

Big TV.

Plenty of seating.

There is a bench that's next to the closet area, which initially throws me off a little bit, but it's good to be able to get ready because the bathroom space is actually kind of small.

It's weird how it's laid out. I think it's big, but it's laid out weird.

Yeah, there's 2 sinks, so there's double vanity, and that's nice, but that space just feels a little tighter than it should be. But it's because the shower is awesome.

Yeah, the shower is nice.

I love the shower. So the shower leads into the Japanese soaking tub, which then has a window to your room.

And a window outside.

Yeah, this is probably not the best room for bros to have a bachelor weekend.

Yeah.

But it is good for a couple.

That's right. It was— I like the setup. I'm with you. I like having the tub and the shower away from the water closet and away from the sink. So you could still get ready while the other person's showering or using the toilet.

And there is a nice desk area. It kind of sits right behind the couch so that you have a workstation space. The bedroom area I thought was very good. It's a king-size bed. It's got reading lights. It's got plenty of outlets.

It's got another TV.

It does have another TV. You just can't watch it in this one. Now, they did not change the TV out while we were here. I know security told me that they would notify facilities about that, but nothing happened. And then you get to the balcony. I love the balcony. I'm sorry. I know some people don't enjoy it as much.

Why are you apologizing?

Well, because I think some people think that it's not enough, but for me, the balcony mid-strip is a trump card for So many things.

Yep, and we did not have a good view.

No, we didn't. But you know what? The Rio looks damn good.

Yeah, the Rio was fun to watch at night especially.

Yeah, so I got a couple time-lapse of, of the new light show that they have on the outside of their building. But yeah, this is probably one of the lower views that we've ever had, and it was still great.

We are in the Boulevard Tower, and there was a couple issues though, I would say, with the room in general. Our neighbors last night were very loud. They were having a party next door. That you could hear even with our doors closed. And then I believe it must be the day club or nightclub.

I think it's the day club.

But I'm guessing it was night as well because last night was 11:30 and I could still hear it. You can hear some very bumping music. You can hear the words, so it's not even muffled. You know what they're saying. So yeah, with the balcony you're going to get other noises and you're also going to hear other things when you're facing that direction especially.

I believe that the day club hours was like 11 to 6 is when we were hearing the bump and bass. Seems to Yeah, so taking a nap is not the greatest idea unless you have some white noise. Anyway, I digress. Casino floor. I really enjoy the casino floor at Cosmo. I always have. It is like one long straightaway.

Yep.

And it's got table games that cut it in the middle. Your high limit is pretty much in the middle area.

But it's off by itself.

It is.

So you know you're in high limit when you're in high limit. Absolutely.

So a friend of ours had told us that they thought that the slots had gotten kind of worse. I actually enjoyed them.

Yeah.

I felt like there was a very good variety of old games and new games. We got to play too. That always helps.

Yeah, I did win a couple times this weekend.

Yeah, we weren't just like chucking our money in a shredder. So that was nice to be able to get some wins out of it.

Now I will say the table games here are expensive, but we've seen that at many, many casinos on the Strip. I saw the lowest I saw was $25. So if you want to play table games, mid-strip may not be for you.

Right. Well, this is one of the top-tier luxury hotels in all of Las Vegas. We've said it before, It's been one of our top 3. I think it still is.

I think it still maintains that. Maybe one of the reasons it stays as one of our top 3 is because at one time it was independent. So you don't have to leave the property.

Yeah, and I think that that goes into the next one which is dining. There is everything.

Yeah.

You are covered with casual. You are covered with fine dining. You have basically every type of restaurant. You have Italian, Chinese, sushi, Spanish.

Mediterranean.

Steakhouse.

Steakhouse. You have late-night eats with the Henry, and then you also have a buffet.

Yeah, we were we were talking this morning about how like when we got here, we felt like we really didn't need to leave, and we didn't.

Yeah, except to walk over to the conservatory.

Yeah, because it has all that you can think of. So many bars, so many restaurants. As far as our favorite restaurants, well, we just ate at Eh by Jose Andres, which is a private dining area over at Haleo. Amazing!

Best meal of the year.

Easy best meal of the year.

Oh, we also had a fantastic night at LPM.

We did. We had a great meal at LPM.

The only struggle we've had here at Cosmo is finding decent coffee.

We did.

We did 4 coffee spots, 3 hot, 1 iced, and we're about 50/50.

I'll say I like— I thought District Jonas Vietnamese coffee was awesome.

That was the iced option.

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, we did not The Juice Standard, I think is what it's called. We are not fans of that latte.

And then I think it's Va Bene.

It tasted awful.

That coffee was just not good either. So we struggled with those ones. Milk was decent.

Milk was decent. They do have a Starbucks. The line was atrocious.

Yeah.

As always. Um, but there's other small spots you can grab a coffee, which is nice as well. There were so many options open for early morning breakfast this weekend.

Yeah.

So that was cool.

Right. We, yeah, we ended up, Do you hear those people yelling? Yeah, this is what I'm talking about. Yeah. We ended up having breakfast at Eggslut today as well as District Donuts, but we also saw that Lardo was open, Hattie B's was open, LPM has a brunch, STK has a brunch.

Henry was open and so was Bang Bar.

Yeah, so tons of options.

And the buffet, duh.

And the buffet. Yeah, now I will say I feel like the buffet has taken a hit over the last couple years. It used to be something that people would always rank the Wicked Spoon buffet in the same category as like Bacchanal and Wynn. I don't think it's talked about that way anymore. We're not big buffet people, but we don't hear the same quality standards talked about.

No, and oddly enough, for 9 o'clock, I think it was about 9 o'clock when we wandered that way, it wasn't that busy.

No, there was not a lot of people there, which is probably not a great sign.

Not a great sign, especially for a busy weekend.

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As far as the pool, they do have 2 pool options here at Cosmo: the Boulevard Pool and Chelsea Tower Pool. I'm not sure about the Chelsea Tower Pool, but currently we are here in December and the Boulevard Pool is turned into an ice rink, so the pool is not available. We have done the pool here before though, and we really enjoyed it.

Yeah, the nice thing about it before— I can't, I can't vouch for it right now— but before, if you would get a daybed or a cabana, your spend that you put towards food and drink actually goes towards the cabana or daybed rental.

That would be an interesting thing to note, especially now with the MGM takeover, because there is not an MGM property that does that.

Yeah, so if you know if that stuck around, make sure to leave a comment down below and let us know what you think. Yeah, but the pool area is nice. Um, I wouldn't say that it's one of the best ones, but it's up on like, I think it's the 4th floor.

Yeah, it was a nice— it's a nice level. You can see parts of the Vegas Strip from it. And it's adultish. I would call it more adultish.

I would say so, yeah.

Not as kid-friendly. There's nothing extreme. It kind of does, if I remember correctly, kind of, you walk in ankle-deep water to then more chest-deeper, higher water. So it's kind of interesting that way. It's not crazy, but it's not so minimalistic. So I liked it. We tried, guys. But we did not do good at hitting the gym this time.

No, we were out partying too much.

We were at some late nights.

So no gym. If you know what the gym's like, let us know. Let us know what, what size dumbbells they got.

Yes, please.

I like to make sure I mention that.

Yeah, and if hopefully on our next stay we can hit the gym.

Yes, we will. We were terrible on this stay. Yeah, if we get a free invite back. By the way, this was a casino comp offer.

Nightclub, we kind of touched on already. Marquee has a day club and nightclub and it is booming and usually busy.

Yeah, it's usually very busy, very popular. We're too old for that stuff though.

And it's just never been an interest. I don't need to go. And I will tell you, the other place that seemed booming and hopping was Click.

Holy cow.

Dang, that thing was loud.

Click is like a nightclub bar downstairs. You don't even know it's there. Well, you know it's there because it's really freaking loud.

Yeah.

Um, but it's just outside of the high-limit slots area. We did not go in there, but it was very loud, very crowded, very fun sounding.

Yeah.

If that's your vibe. Speaking of vibes, What'd you think?

Wow, busy. Coming from Wynn where it was a lot calmer vibe, this vibe was busy. And it's not a busy like Bellagio where people are just constantly moving through to go see the fountains or the Conservatory. This is busy by people drinking, eating, gambling, partying. It was— it's insane.

Yeah. I think that that was the biggest difference. Over at Bellagio, you just have a stream of people walking through, interrupting a lot of— changing up the vibe of what you have there. Whereas this, everybody that was here was being here. Yeah, it's not just on their way to somewhere else. So, but it was, it was a fun vibe. We enjoyed it. Can it get to be a bit much?

Sure. I also like the part of what we discussed a little bit earlier is that at one time this was independent, so you don't have to leave. So you're talking a wide variety of clubs, bars, and nightlife to entertain you as you're going throughout the stay here.

As far as shows, they don't have any available anymore. They do have now and then occasional comedians or concerts, but they used to have— it was the sister show of Absinthe, and it was called Opium. Opium? Opium? Opium? One of those! But it was like a spaceship-style version and it is not going anymore! So if you want a show, you will actually have to go somewhere else unless you can find a concert here during your stay!

Now with that being said, Super Frico is kind of dinner and a show!

Sure!

That can be considered!

And Barbershop does have music! It is speakeasies! Speakeasies is the big thing here! We intended to go to multiple speakeasies and each of them had giant lines this weekend.

I said we tried to go to all of them.

Yeah, it's true. But we didn't go. Yeah, but we didn't do them because I don't know, we didn't want to wait in line. Yeah, but we have done multiple before. So we did Chandelier Bar for the first time.

Yeah, we had the Verbena. If you haven't had it, it's a secret menu item. Secret but not so secret.

It's not secret. No, we were looking at the menu and the bartender said you got to get the Verbena. Yeah, like there's no secret about this. Don't, don't let anyone fool you.

Yeah.

Uh, but it's one where you have to like eat this flower and it like numbs your mouth and changes the taste of the drink.

The flower itself is disgusting.

Yeah.

But it did change the flavor of the drink.

And I will say the Chandelier Bar, it, it is beautiful. It has probably become one of the better iconic like lobby just off the casino floor bars that you can go to in Las Vegas right now. There are 3 levels.

That's what I was gonna say. I love the fact that there's 3 levels. So if you're up grabbing a bite to eat, you can You can sneak right in there, go to the middle level, or if you're right off the casino floor, you can go in.

Yeah, there's also Vesper, which is over by the lobby, which I just thought it was a little too dark. Yeah, not too inviting, and that's even during the daytime.

Yeah, I did notice at the Chandelier Bar, for those who are curious, they do have tabletop gaming, um, at the bar, at least on the first level.

Yes. Um, as far as more speakeasies other than the Barbershop, which has music, we have been to the Ski Lodge. Ski Lodge, which is over by Super Frico and has food from Super Frico. And that's really cool. It just gives you a very mountain ski lodge vibe. And then we've also done Ghost Donkey, which we have really enjoyed.

Which is one we really wanted to get back to.

We did. It's just, it's tiny.

Yep.

There, I can't imagine that they get more than 20 people in there. So if you want to go there, go there early or Just prepare to wait in line.

I will say that if you've stayed at Cosmo prior to the MGM merger, one of the differences I noticed— the biggest difference— was normally at all the entrances there were security guards previously. They are no longer there. So I don't think that changed how safe I felt in the Cosmo. It's just a noticeable change because it used to be very obvious that there were security guards at every entrance As far as location, I would actually say Cosmo, it's the ideal location. It's ideal, yeah.

If you are staying in Las Vegas for the first time or for the 50th time. You are within walking distance to almost everything. Mid-Strip, a lot of times people look at, you know, Flamingo, Caesars, Bellagio. What I like about Cosmo is you have, or you have an exit right to the sidewalk. It's not like Bellagio where you're freaking half a mile off the street.

Even Caesars is that way.

Right. So it's easy to get around. It's easy to navigate. It's easy to get out to the Strip or into your room. And that's the reason why we actually picked the Boulevard Tower. We like being able to come straight in from the Strip, be in our room within 5 minutes. Also, the hallways are super short.

Yeah, very nice.

Which, if you've ever stayed at like Aria, you can end up just walking for miles before you get to your room. That doesn't happen at Boulevard ever. There's CVS or Walgreens just across the street.

Yeah, I was like, it's really close.

Yeah, there's one over by Planet Hollywood, there's one down by Paris, there's one over by Park MGM. You are within a couple blocks at most walking distance to any place to get your goods.

Yep.

Hopefully this helps you decide if Cosmo is right for you in 2025.

I think it still ranks right up there with one of our favorite hotels to stay at in Las Vegas.

I would say so also, and especially coming from Wynn, which is our number one favorite. I was a little nervous that this would be a downgrade, but I'm happy with it.

I am too.

Yeah, I would say that it's still a top 3 hotel for us. If you're enjoying our videos, don't forget to hit that like and subscribe.

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Later.