text: I WAS really stoked to go stay at the BellagionnChristmas Day my fam and I fly in and get this amazing cab chick from Bulgaria who navigates the most awful Vegas traffic I have ever sat in she totally rocked We arrive at the reception desk the lobby is super crowded but the Christmas decorations are all out and looking beautifulnWe wait at the desk for a while There is no obvious line or an employee directing people Once we made it to a receptionist we were told that we could not have a bed room as we had reserved OVER THE PHONE through the Bellagio And this was at pm not at night No apologies no rate adjustments nothing see my review on the Pan Pacific Seattle for how this could have been handlednStrike one nWe make our way through herds of people standing around gawking randomly stopping traffic flow and being general pains We get to the room and it smells like a cat pissed in there I am serious Now I have been to Vegas about once a year for the past years and I have never had a hotel room that smelled like cat pee Oh wait did anyone see that CSI episodenStrike twonWe settle in and I zip down the hall to hit up the vending machine it is almost worth adding another star just for having vending machines since so few hotels have them now and get back to my room and I am locked out My key stopped working And no I did not have it near my phone or anything magnetic And when I took it to the front desk was there any sympathy or apology NopenStrike threenThen the bathroom sink started gurgling I finally figured out that the noise happened any time our next door neighbors ran their water so luckily it was not nonstop but really You could hear it even with the bathroom door closednStrike fournnWhere the hell was my Diamond service Where was my Diamond room Should not the cheaper rooms still be awesomennAnd all of this was within the first night I am not going to bother dissecting the rest of the stay read my review on the Spa if you would like other than mentioning that we had a nonsmoking room that smelled VERY strongly of smoke starting the second day I preferred the smell of cat piss I think which I am guessing is the result of an overworked ventilation system I have never seen Vegas this crowded even in the summer and the casino floor was choked with people and cigarettecigar smoke I have generally found that the upscale hotels do a pretty good job of clearing the air so was surprised our room was so bad Anyway let us just say that for my money I will be staying at the VENETIAN from now on been there twice and LOVED itnnOn the positive side I would like to mentionn The bathroom was really nice other than the gurgling with a HUGE tubn The pool was beautiful too cold to try out this time though I find it oddly placed near the hotels largest restaurantn The hotel staff by our room housekeeping and room service were amazingnnThe only reliably phenomenal thing Bellagio has going O YOU MUST SEE IT