A Plunge Pool, a View and a Butler: My Weekend in a Bungalow Suite at Cosmopolitan

Lounge area on the first floor of the suite

TL;DR

Pros: The Bungalow Suite is an extraordinary space for a luxurious, relaxing vacation in, and would also make for a great space to have a small party in, although there is only one bed so guests would have to stay elsewhere. The outdoor spaces would be better utilized in warmer weather. 

 

Cons: The butler service was a letdown and not worth the expense. The views were not as advertised, nor were they as brilliant as less expensive rooms.

Package options

Pre-game Experience

After booking the room, I received an email asking me which of three packages I would like. I discussed it with my new beau as we made plans for the weekend, and we agreed on the Wine & Champagne package. The email also directed us to check in at the Autograph Lounge which, when entering the lobby from the Chelsea Tower parking, is just to the right of the main front desk. We were able to bypass a really extensive line by doing, although there was still small line in the lounge. There was a Starbucks coffee machine in there and we were given complimentary bottles of water.

The Space

The first floor of the Bungalow consists of a bar area, full bathroom, a lounge area with TV and a small outdoor patio. The bathroom has a shower with a large overhead rainfall shower head, a sink and a separate toilet room, as well as a small coat closet. While I realize I more than paid for them, the frugal part of me really appreciated the large and plentiful toiletries.The lounge area was spacious and had plenty of seating on the curvy built-in couches which conveniently had some flat surfaces behind them which I utilized to put drinks on. I was also able to find a power outlet on the floor right next to the chaise-like end of the couch so I could charge my phones while still using them on couch. I will say, though, it wasn't super comfortable and my beau and I struggled to cuddle comfortably while watching TV. The bar area includes a sink, a microwave and a small fridge which was partially stocked, but our butler reassured us that it was not weight sensored so we could move things to make room for leftovers, etc. The first floor patio used to overlook the pool but had since been walled in, so it was a convenient little space for my beau to smoke but that's about all it was good for. Especially given the better outdoor spaces on the third floor… 

 

Second floor (vanity)

The second floor could be considered almost a walk-through master suite. In the area with the stair cases leading to the first and third floors, there was a funky little sofa and a large vanity.

Bedroom with partially obstructed view of Dayclub

On one side of that center room was the bedroom which overlooked the pool area and still retained visibility to the party going on during the day there - and our butler told us they can see in so if we want privacy, best to close the curtains with the iPad that runs the whole place. There was a spacious closet and two luggage racks, and the closet light turns on when the door is opened. A bit hilariously, the TV was mounted on a partial wall which could swing out to provide better visibility or put back to have more space in the room. Behind that swinging TV wall was a small nook with drawers and the safe.

 

Third floor patio with view of Bellagio fountains

Going up one more floor, there wasn't much of an indoor space - although given the cool temperatures around the time of our visit, that became a very important little indoor space for me. It was merely a small tiled area with no furniture, and two doors leading to the outdoor spaces. One space was the rooftop heated plunge pool with whirlpool jets. Again, it used to overlook the main pool but given the time of year and cool temperatures, the main pool had been covered with a tent to keep the warmth in, and that cover largely blocked our view, although a small part of the pool area could be observed at just the right angles between the building and the cover. The other outdoor space was a generous balcony featuring many seating options, a TV, and what I believe to be the most spectacular view in Las Vegas - overlooking the fountains of Bellagio, with many of the Las Vegas icons and lights visible beyond that. The seating included one sizable sofa, two armchairs and a dining set. There was also a counter with a sink, and a large ottoman that could double for a coffee table. Had the weather been warmer, I would have spent much more time up there watching TV and/or reading.

The Butler Experience

Wine & Champagne presentation

As mentioned a few times already, the room came with 24 hour butler service, which was not clearly explained so I got the deets for you here. When checking in, we were asked if we wanted the butler to meet us there in the Autograph Lounge, presumably to escort us through the hotel to our rooms, or if we wanted him to meet us in the room. I felt confident I could navigate the hotel, having stayed there many times before, and didn't really want to wait anymore, so I opted to have him meet us in the room. We were given great directions and were on our way.

First floor bar area

Entering the room, our butler, Joey, was there preparing the bottles from our wine & champagne package, but stopped what he was doing as we entered to give us a rundown of a few things. He said that we'd have to have housekeeping and to do the spa service (I didn't quite grasp what he said the first time, so I clarified later and it was related to the plunge pool upstairs being a commercially operated pool so it had to be checked/serviced daily), and asked if there was a particular time we wanted to do that. I wasn't in a mental place to make decisions, so he said just to call and schedule it when we knew.

He then took us on a tour of the place, giving us instructions and tips along the way so we knew how everything worked (for example, the lights and shades are controlled on the iPad, and to go out to the plunge pool, you had to hold a button on the wall and push the door open at the same time, and there's a privacy setting if you don't want housekeeping or butlers to enter).

After the tour was complete, I lingered upstairs to take some pictures while Joey busied himself with finishing setting up the bottles for us. Before leaving us upstairs, though, he offered to make dinner reservations for us, which we weren't ready to decide upon yet, and let us know that any time we needed anything, just hit the bowtie on the phone to get a butler.

I didn't make it back downstairs before Joey departed, so we got ourselves settled in a little bit, popped open the bottle of champagne and checked out the restaurant options shown on the TV. We decided we wanted to go to the tapas place, and I realized I still wasn't quite sure what to do with the butler so figured I'd bring him back in to investigate further. It was about 5 pm at this point. So I hit the bowite button and was connected with an operator and requested a butler come to the room. Joey was there in no time, and rang the doorbell before letting himself in and politely checking that he was good to enter. I told him we had decided on the tapas place and wanted him to make a reservation for us, although he wasn't familiar so we had to look it up to get him the actual restaurant name. Once we confirmed the restaurant, he asked what time and I said 6:30 or 7 would be great. He said that we can wait for a phone call to confirm once he gets the reservation.

I then sheepishly admitted I didn't know what butlers could do for us so asked what kinds of things we could ask for, and he explained a bit more that we could have him get things for us or schedule things for us. My beau asked if he could bring us a six pack of Stella Artois, and schedule to have coffee brought in at 8 am, and Joey confirmed yes to both. My beau asked about pricing - especially if it was marked up. Joey said there was a $7 charge per request, so if we want multiple requests, its more cost effective to do them all at once, but that the items we requested would be at cost. He had me sold! We also talked about the spa for massages, and I inquired if we could do a couples' massage which he wasn't sure about, so he said he would check on the pricing and if they could do that. He alluded to some other butler probably being the one who would bring the six pack and that he'd be back bringing coffee in the morning, so I presumed that meant it was the end of his shift and time for the nighttime butler to start.

What followed were a few successive letdowns. First, we got no call confirming the dinner reservation, and the beer took quite a while to get there. Meanwhile, I happened to look at my email and noticed that a massage with couples' massage fee had been booked for us - and at a time that would not work for our plans. But nothing on dinner. I started getting anxious and considered calling to get a status update, but I didn't want to be "that lady". So I refrained, but it started to feel like we were trapped in the room, and I wanted to eat.

Finally, a little after 6:15, the doorbell rang and another butler asked if he could come in. He came bearing both the beer we ordered and good news on dinner when I inquired - indeed we had a reservation at 6:30! I mean, that was good news, but not a lot of notice! He had me sign for the beer - which was much more than the cost of a 6 pack and a $7 fee, it was like a $7 fee plus a few on top of that fee and then other fees and somehow equaled $80 or something ridiculous. He then asked if we wanted him to escort us to the restaurant and I said yes, partially because I wanted to make sure we got there on time and didn't get lost, and partially because, hey, we have a butler, and maybe he can even get us something special if he's escorting us. So he said he'd come back at 6:27 to bring us there, and I went upstairs to change into something a little nicer. When he came back, and he was perfectly on time, as we were walking to the restaurant, I also asked if the massage appointment could be moved to a later time as the time booked conflicted with literally the one plan we had for the weekend - a lunch reservation at Hell's Kitchen.

He walked fast and realized he had to slow down from his normal crazy pace to escort us at a more comfortable pace, and then talked to the hostesses at the restaurant once we arrived. That didn't seem to do much because we still had to then check-in with them, and he left us there. The hostess confirmed we were checked in and indicated to wait for our name to be called. As we returned from dinner, the butler stopped us and advised that there were no other available times for the massage, so I asked him then to just cancel.

I felt quite burned by the cost of the 6 pack and the time it took to get, and the fact that the massage had been booked without my consent, so I decided I was probably pretty close to done using this butler service. I mean, I guess the assumption is people booking this room have money to burn so it would be fine, but to me, the room was one thing but the service was just not worth it. I knew the coffee was still scheduled for the morning and decided to let that be, but dreading seeing how much that was going to set me back.

Indeed, very timely, Joey came just before 8 am, and let himself in while we were still in bed. He set up the coffee pot with the requested creamer and sugars and the works, along with that lovely bill. I think it was about $40. We mulled about and I checked my email and saw one massage appointment was cancelled but nothing on the second or the couples' massage fee.

So, later that morning, since we had our lunch reservation at 11:45 at Hell's Kitchen, I used the bowtie to call and first ask about canceling the other massage - to which the operator thankfully said she had noticed that and had already confirmed both were cancelled - and then to confirm that they could come do the housekeeping and spa maintenance around that time since we'd be leaving for lunch.

As we walked down the hall leaving for lunch, the housekeeper asked if she could go in now and I confirmed yes we were out for a while.

We didn't realize the butler would bring coffee the second morning, but he did, and just in time because my beau was about to call for it anyways.

So on the butler thing, I would say, things were not very clear, I was not happy with the speed or communication and feel quite burned by what I was told and what actually happened. If you don't care about wasting hundreds of dollars, it was convenient to have someone to go get things - I imagined sending them off to get my frozen Baja Blast with tequila at the Taco Bell Cantina across the street and getting a pie from Secret Pizza so we don't have to stand around and wait for it - but to me it just wasn't worth it.

Experiencing the Amenities

I've already put some commentary into my description of the space, so here I'll just do some highlights and lowlights. 

Bathtub filing from ceiling

Detail of bathtub

On the plus side, I fell in love with the bathtub in the master bathroom - and I am a self-proclaimed connoisseur of bathtubs. It was the perfect shape, and very easy to move around and get comfortable in, even for someone of my (larger) size. While my beau didn't join me, it seemed like there was plenty of room for two to sit on opposing sides and intermingling legs, and that would be very comfortable, even with the water running since the water filled from the ceiling in the center of the tub. The only drawback was that I never got the jets to work, I ended up turning on the steamer by accident trying to get the jets going - steamer was cool but was unequivocally not the jets I was hoping for.

Massive shower

I also thoroughly enjoyed the shower in the master bathroom. Again, with room enough for two (or more, my goodness), it had not one but two massive rainfall shower heads, and then a handheld sprayer in the middle, along with a spacious bench, and a steamer/sauna feature. I turned it all on and had a glorious shower, even using the bench to shave my legs not because I really needed to shave but because I wanted to see how comfortable it was to do so, and it was absolutely perfection. The water was plenty hot and I had to turn it down from scorching, and eventually made the water cool as the steamer warmed up my body. I think it is probably the closest thing to a perfect dream bathroom that I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing or even seeing.

Plunge pool with obstructed view

On the downside, I guess the plunge pool is really just a heated pool and not really a hot tub per se. The timer only went up to 30 minutes and anyone who knows me well knows I can spend hours and hours in a hot tub or bath, so a 30 minute timer meant I had the leave the relative warmth to brave the cold and wind to turn it back on again. And when my beau joined me, he pointed out that it really wasn't that hot - it was warm enough to be comfortable but it was so cold outside that the relative warmth wasn't enough to keep all of our bodies warm when parts were sticking out. The view was very boring, I wish we could have been more a part of the party at the Marquee Dayclub like the website advertised. Not a single person seemed to have spotted us, given the large tent that blocked 95% of the view, and more importantly, we couldn't watch unless we were at just the right angle, but we were subjected to the music in the tub and in the room.

View of TV and fountains from couch

The other upstairs outdoor space was quite nice, as I mentioned earlier, I would have spent more time there had it not been so cold. But given that the bungalows are all on the 17th floor, we couldn't see the new Sphere like I could from my favorite (much more affordable) rooms with the fountain view. Additionally, the furniture wasn't oriented to view the fountains so I had to move things around to get the right view. It was cool that there was a TV out there.

Watching TV in bed was very comfortable, and I liked the ability to turn everything off with one button so I didn't feel bad leaving stuff on all night or running up and down the stairs to turn things off.

We were also warned that music from Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub can be heard from inside of the Bungalow, which was absolutely true during the Dayclub - the TV couldn't drown out the sound, but thankfully we really couldn't hear the Nightclub when we wanted to sleep. See the "IMPORTANT NOTE" at the bottom of this post for all the warnings that came with this room.

Another warning was that outside food and beverage is strictly not permitted on the property, which the butler almost immediately refuted and proved to be inaccurate from my experience also, so don't worry about that one.

Conclusion

I love the Cosmopolitan and despite some setbacks, it will still remain my favorite hotel in Las Vegas. I will likely not book this room again in the foreseeable future, but I am glad I did it this one time. The only caveat to that statement is that I will be forever reminiscing and pining for that freaking bathtub and shower - they truly were the stars of the show and made my weekend, as weird as that may sound - at least until I can build my dream house to include a bathroom with those dimensions and amenities almost to a tee. I often joke that I don't care to travel as much these days because my home amenities are so luxurious, and this is one example where that proves to be false, at least when it comes to the master bathroom. If you are going to Vegas to go out and do things, I don't think the room is worth it - this is a really a room you want to be spending your time in, not out.

The butler service was a fun but very expensive bit of an experience, and I guess on the whole I liked it, but in all the ways that I am spendy, I am also frugal when it comes to excessive fees and I felt like they went too far with this one for me to fully enjoy and appreciate it.

Appendix

Is that a thing one does for blog posts? I'm going with it; here are details of the package options and the warnings.

Package A:

LIQUOR PACKAGE
Your choice of two (2) of the following bottles:
- 1 Bottle of Vodka
- 1 Bottle of Bourbon
- 1 Bottle of Whiskey
- 1 Bottle of Tequila

Package B:
WINE & CHAMPAGNE PACKAGE
The Wine & Champagne Package includes all three of the below:
- 1 bottle of Champagne
- 1 bottle of White Wine
- 1 bottle of Cabernet

Package C:
SOFT BEVERAGE PACKAGE
Includes the below, non-alcoholic beverages
- 8 Sodas
- Freshly tapped coconuts
- 10 Fiji Waters
- 2 Fresh Juices


IMPORTANT NOTE:
-Bungalow Suites are located next to the Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub, and please note that everyone must be 21 or older to be in the room

-Bungalow Suites do not offer direct access to Marquee Nightclub or Dayclub

-Music from Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub can be heard from inside of the Bungalow during Marquee’s business hours. Please visit their website for current hours of operation

-Incidental deposit of $1,000 per night will be collected at check-in. Any unused portion is refunded at check out

-Outside food and beverage is prohibited in all rooms and suites

-Limit of 10 people inside the Bungalow at a time; Maximum 3 guests for sleeping

-The suite will be provided with Butler Service, and outside food and beverage is strictly not permitted on the property - we would be most happy to provide you with a menu to order appetizers and beverages upon request.

-Please understand there are no exceptions to these guidelines

Japan Guide: Where to Stay

Where to Stay - Tokyo

Capsule Hotels are great - read more about my experiences here:

Capsule Hotel - Brilliant or Terrifying?

Capsule Hotel: Bather Tested, Claustrophobic Approved!

Of major importance is to note that most capsule hotels are only for men, so if you are a woman or will be traveling with women, make sure to find accommodations that allow women. A lot of people have a visceral reaction to the idea of capsule hotels, but I would challenge you to at least try it for a night as part of your Japanese experience - you will likely be pleasantly surprised!

Whether or not you stay in a capsule hotel or a traditional hotel, location is also key in Japan. I would also recommend staying fairly close to the train stations, especially those for the JR line. You'll know they are JR line stations if you look for public transit directions on google and they have a line that starts with "J", like "JK" for example. This will allow you to easily access the rest of Tokyo easily, and you won't have to drag your bags too far to get to your hotel.

The Akihabara District is popular with gamers and fans of nerdy things like Anime, Pokemon, etc. We really liked our hotel here, the Remm Akihabara hotel. It was right next to the station, near food and a convenience store, and easy to find.

The Shibuya District is the high fashion district, with artists on the streets just about every night, trying to be discovered, and infamous for its "Shibuya Scramble" - one of the busier pedestrian crossings you'll see.

Shinjuku is another vibrant area with lots of shopping and food.

I would just recommend that wherever you are looking, look for pictures to make sure you're comfortable with what you're getting. Rooms are very small typically. I prefer to use Travelocity to book hotels, it has treated me well. I don't care for hotel breakfasts here (usually fish or unappetizing sausages and seaweed wraps or whatever). We like picking up breakfast (and sometimes dessert or nightcaps) at local Family Marts or 7 Elevens, they're virtually everywhere and a lot of the food is labeled in English. Look for unique Kit Kat flavors there, too! There are also McDonald's and Burger Kings around, so breakfast is pretty easy.

Where to Stay - elsewhere

I want to put in a plug for one of the most amazing experiences we had in Japan that most people aren't really aware of. We stayed on the island of Miyajima,

just off the shore of Hiroshima. You'll take a ferry from Hiroshima to get there, and will immediately be greeted by the deer who often walk into the ferry station to look for snacks in newcomers' bags. We had booked a pretty neat room at Miyajima Grand Arimoto, and our room included a private onsen (hot spring bath). The food was incredible in Miyajima, and while it had some touristy parts of it, it felt like it catered to Japanese tourists rather than tourists from outside the country. Miyajima is one of my happiest places on this Earth, and I hope more people will get to experience its magic and beauty. Read more about my Miyajima experience here. 

More Japan Guide

Getting There / What To Bring 
Training It - The Best Way to Get Around in Japan (Trains) 
Where to Stay
Eating Out
Things To Do 
Key Phrases

Ayer's Rock aka Uluru - Aussie Adventure Part 2

We saw the giant rock from the airplane.  In a vast, otherwise flat desert of the Outback, Uluru, and it's cousin Kata Tjuta  ("many heads"), are the only distinguishing features of the land.  This was one of the tiniest airports we've ever traveled through - a single runway, gate and baggage claim.  A shuttle picked up most of the airplane passengers, bringing us to the Ayer's Rock Resort where it seems the only hotels in the area are.  It was almost like a little community; different hotels at the resort obviously offered different amenities, but there was a town center where activities took place and there were shops and restaurants to mingle at.  Most of the hotels also had their own restaurants, and you could take a shuttle around the place to get from one hotel to the next, but the town center was an easy walk and had a lot to offer. 

We checked into the Desert Gardens hotel and got to our room on the second floor of a two-floor building with a view of Uluru.  Our room had a wide balcony, but we never really took advantage of it - the room was so spacious and comfortable, it was an oasis from our outdoor adventures.  I knew the Aboriginee dance demonstration was happening at the town center, but knew it was going to be tight to get there.  We did end up wandering down and caught just the last minute of it. 

Nerd Alert:  It was here, at Ayer's Rock Resort, where we

caught our first Kangaskhan in Pokemon Go.  I had noticed him on the radar as we were taking the resort shuttle to dinner, so we decided to do a big loop and get out at the stop nearest him to catch him.  And we did!  If you care but aren't aware, Kangaskhan is a Pokemon that is unique to Australia, so there's no way to get him in America.  The first one we caught was weak, but we ended up catching dozens others throughout our time in Australia, and got a few good ones to flaunt back home. 

Anyways, we had dinner at one of the other hotels that night; it was mediocre, but satisfied our hunger.  We called it an early night since the next morning would be another adventure! 

The next morning, after a hurried shopping trip in the town center for hats and water (how did we not think of that before?) we were picked up in the lobby for our camel train excursion.  The shuttle brought us to the camel farm, where our camels were all lined up and ready to be mounted.  First, we had to store all of our bags, and bring only water bottles and cameras in bags they provided to us that would go around our shoulders.  Then, we each got a sheep skin to sit on.  Finally, they lined us up in front of our respective camels, and helped as each guest mounted the camel and "hung on for dear life" as they put it, as the camel stood up so they could adjust the straps for our feet.  My camel's name was Spinifex, or Spinney for short, and Jaiman rode Khan.  As our camels carried us over small ridges through the desert, we were told anecdotes about our camels.  For example, all of these camels were wild before being tamed.  There are estimates as high as a million for the number of wild camels in Australia, but they're hard to track because they move so much.  Also, Khan wouldn't follow any other camel except Spinney.  The cameleers learned this when, on a tour one day, Khan had laid down and refused to get up, and they ended up needing to get another camel to bring the guest back to the farm.  Since Khan's face was roughly at my rear the whole way, it was easy to get to know his personality.  He was chill, and lazy.  He didn't want to do anything, and everything he did was begrudgingly.  But he did like pets, so I patted his head and told him he was doing good, even if he was veering off course and trying to stop the train.  Silly Khan.  We toured through the desert, with great views of Kata Tjuta and Uluru in the background.  I was a little disappointed we didn't get closer, so for that reason alone I might not recommend this tour to others planning a trip to Ayer's Rock.  But if you think the idea of riding a camel for the sake of riding it, then I would definitely recommend this excursion.  The ride itself was slow going and easy, and not nearly as rough as I expected it to be.  I was also worried about the wind whipping sand into my face, and bugs, but neither of these were a problem for us.  It was a very pleasant ride, with no reason to stress. 

When we got back to the farm, the cameleers worked with each camel to get them to lie down, and then help the guests off their rides.  My camel, Spinney, was not having it, and started nipping at the cameleers.  Another came to assist, and he was still being a big jerk.  Once they finally got him down, they said I couldn't take anymore pictures with him since he was being such an ass.  But that was fine, once Jaiman was down, we posed behind Khan, who was my buddy anyways.  We collected our belongings, and were invited to visit the other animals on the farm - an emu, a kangaroo, a baby camel and a water buffalo.  The baby camel was fun to see, but I was most excited about the water buffalo, mostly because of that darn Veggie Tales song that, if you know it, will now get stuck in your head.  You're welcome. 

I bought some postcards and a shirt that said, "HUMP DAAAY!" with a camel on it, because it was, in fact, Hump Day, and we rode camels.  Let's face it, that shirt was made for me on this exact day. 

Since the camel train didn't exactly take us to Uluru, we decided that we should take another excursion to actually go to the rock.  So after grabbing a bite to eat (I had an Outback Pizza with kangaroo and emu on it!) we headed to the tour area and booked ourselves on a hop on hop off shuttle.  Since we didn't really plan this, we had no idea what we were doing, and I think we ended up confusing the tour.  But really, if you call yourselves a hop on hop off, then we should be able to do whatever we want, right?  Well, what I found was that at Ayer's Rock, they really tried to take care of their guests by making sure they had everyone, which is nice in a way, but challenging when you aren't aware. 

So we were somehow scheduled for a pickup at our hotel.  It would give us enough time to see the Bush Yarn I wanted to attend at the Town Center, except that I had misread the schedule and realized that it wasn't happening that day.  So we decided to hop on the shuttle earlier and at the closest hotel rather than walk all the way back to ours and have to wait.  The driver then asked us what drop off points we wanted and when we wanted to be picked up at, and we had no idea, so he gave us a suggestion, but it was, like, 5 hours of hiking.  We were done well before that, and waited at the pick up point, hoping they'd still pick us up even though they made it sound like they weren't going to.  Just after I had given up on being picked up, the shuttle came.  Apparently, he was late because he had been looking for us back at our hotel, not realizing we had caught an earlier shuttle.  I was so grateful to be picked up, I didn't even argue my point about it being a hop on hop off tour. 

The actual hike around Uluru produced some really interesting views; the rock changes as you go around it.  We didn't do the whole circumference - that was over 10 km - but we walked from the drop off point our driver had suggested to the pick up point.  There were parts of the rock that were considered sacred by the natives, and therefore were not supposed to be photographed.  The signs clearly marked where you could start taking pictures again and where you had to stop.  There were also plaques that talked about the different features of the rock, why it was sacred, etc.  It was a very hot and sunny day, and there was very little shade.  I had completely failed to bring sunscreen somehow, and since I'd already spent a few hours in the morning in the sun riding a camel, I was getting worried about sunburn.  I tried covering my shoulders with the shirt I had bought at the camel farm, and kept my hat pulled tightly over my face and neck.  The bugs were awful here - flies and little gnats kept getting in our faces.  I had bought a cheap fly net the night before, and relented pretty quickly, putting that on.  It didn't stop the flies from getting on my net and irritating me that way, but much better than having them on my face.  There wasn't much shade at the pickup point (read: practically none), so when we realized we still had close to an hour before the pick up time I was hoping to catch, we decided to venture on to the gorge which was supposed to be scenic.  The gorge was, as promised, pretty neat to see, but we were watching our time and so had to head back shortly after arriving.  At this point, we were nearly out of water (again, bad planning on our part), and I wanted to get out of the sun as much as possible, feeling my skin bake. 

My learning and suggestion from all this is, hike Uluru early in the day, bring lots of water and sunscreen and hats and a fly net, and be more prepared than us.  All in all, we survived and even enjoyed ourselves, but we felt the pain of being so ill-prepared.  Back at the resort, we picked up some food to go, and put our feet up in our hotel room with dinner and drinks, watching the sunset over Uluru.  As much as Ayer's Rock Resort was overpriced and felt gimicky, I couldn't get over the feeling that this was a lot like glamping - like, luxury in the middle of the desert.  I think people honeymoon here, or at least take fabulous vacations here.  As far as hotel stays, this was my favorite of the whole trip. 

The next morning, we did some final shopping in the town center, and then boarded the shuttle back to the airport to fly to our next destination - Melbourne! 

Capsule Hotel - Brilliant or Terrifying?

A lot of people said I was crazy when I told them I'd be staying in a capsule hotel as part of my life list achieving trip to Japan. Now that I've done it, I can authoritatively say that it is awesome, and incredibly practical, and not weird or scary at all. Where else can you walk around with no shoes, in your pjs, and have draft beer served to you for less than $2 a glass? Add to that the fact that you can do your laundry in this place and have a reasonably priced meal (my meal was 600 yen, which is less than $6) served to you while watching TV, charging your phone and/or working on your laptop. And when you're done lounging around, you tuck yourself into your very own cozy little bed. 

Consider this: if you're staying in a hotel with friends or several adult family members, you're sharing one bathroom and maybe sharing beds. You fight over the few plugs, and maybe someone wants to watch TV while someone else wants quiet to read. Not to call anyone out or anything, but my sister has to fall asleep with the TV on, but that's too much stimulation for me so I usually have to wait until she's asleep so I can turn it off, or for the sleep timer to kill it (unless I'm completely exhausted, in which case I could fall asleep at a rock concert). I think capsule hotels are ideal for this type of travel, because there are dozens of (really high tech) toilets and showers to share, you have a general hang out place to eat, unwind and recharge, and your own private space for watching TV or reading or whatever else.

I think capsules are only weird because they are novel; the idea of sleeping in something like a drawer conjures notions of coffins and dead bodies at the morgue. But not once did I feel like I was in a tight enclosure or suffocating or anything like that. I didn't panic when I woke up, and I didn't smack into a wall or bang my head on the ceiling. Even though the pjs provided didn't fit, I felt perfectly sized for the capsule; if anything, I felt I had more room than needed (at least in width).

One of the few drawbacks I see are that you don't have a permanent place to lay your things out. Even if you are staying multiple nights, your capsule assignment changes everyday. In retrospect, that's not necessarily a bad thing; it forces you to pack lightly and stay organized. But still, I know I like to spread out when I travel, so I consider it a drawback.

I did think it was a little odd that the hallway lights were never turned off or even dimmed, and the curtain in the capsule helped significantly, but did not make the capsule completely dark.  Maybe that's by design, I can't say for sure, but if you need absolute dark to sleep, you may have trouble in a capsule.

For those who are taller than me, a capsule may be a little cramped. When I was laying down stretched out, my feet could graze the dividing curtain. I generally sleep in my side with my legs bent, so it wasn't a problem for me. But I would definitely caution anyone taller than 5' 8", especially if you sleep on your back.

The only major drawback I see is that there is no space to cuddle up with a significant other. The chairs in the lounge are all individual seats, and even if you could squeeze into a cuddly position, it wouldn't feel appropriate. I imagine a world where capsule hotels are the norm, and in that world, there would be specialized floors, like double-wide capsules on coed floors, and that would solve the problem instantly.

All in all, I think if I were traveling with a group of friends, and capsule hotels were an option, I would strongly advocate for them over traditional hotels. They are super practical, very inexpensive, and I am absolutely in love with the casual lounge concept. I can honestly say I didn't really want to leave, and I would recommend a stay at my capsule hotel to anyone who is not afraid of challenging the norm.

If I've persuaded you to try out capsule hotels, please note that most capsule hotels are for men only.  The one I found that had just one floor for women is called Shinjuku Kuyakushomae Capsule Hotel.  Perhaps because there is just one floor for women, it seemed to sell out in advance, so be sure to book early if you are a woman.  The hotel had free cancellation on Travelocity, so it doesn't hurt to book it that way even if you're not perfectly clear on your travel plans, as long as you cancel with two days notice if your plans don't work out. 

2019 Update: Comparing and Contrasting Capsule Hotels




Here are some additional pictures from the capsule hotel!