Marriott Resort Slated for Las Vegas Strip
This week, Marriott released details and a name for the long awaited “Project Blue,” it will be known as “The Drew”. This project was initially started as a “Fontainebleau” but was halted years ago and had been sold prior to completion. The Drew will be a casino and resort featuring a JW Marriott as well as a Marriott Edition Hotel. Once the development is complete, the hotels will be managed by Marriott International.
Las Vegas Strip’s First Marriott
What I find really interesting about this is the decision to open two Marriott hotels as opposed to one. Currently, the only Marriott affiliated hotel on the Strip is The Cosmopolitan which is a member of the Autograph Collection.
There are some valuable benefits for Marriott Elites with these hotels being actual Marriott’s as opposed to the partner type of relationship the Cosmo has. However, the fine print for elite membership rewards states that resorts are excluded from many of the benefits, such as free breakfast or points in lieu of. Another great thing about the hotels being Marriott hotels that spending on the Marriott Chase cards should count as bonus spend.
Things I Need to Know
- Will the casino be affiliated with another casino brand? The Cosmopolitan’s casino program is Identity Rewards. It would be nice if there were multiple Identity casinos like there are with MLife and Total Rewards. Though Marriott hotels with casinos seem to be all over the place with many different casino brands.
- Will the hotels be different categories? I have never stayed at an “Edition” brand property before and I was surprised to see that they’re not all Category 9. In fact the Miami property is Category 5. Although, everything in Vegas tends to be more expensive so, we’ll have to wait and see.
Conclusion
Any opportunity to use points in Las Vegas is welcome. The Drew is expected to open by the end of 2020. The location of the project is great because it’s easily accessible by the Las Vegas Monorail. It will also have direct access to the convention center. There are so many unknown details at this point, I’m looking forward to learning more over the next year or two.
HT: TravelZork
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And isn’t W part of the JW Marriott brand? They have a W about a block away at the SLS property.
W and JW Marriott are two separate brands. With that said, the W at SLS is leaving the brand. https://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/w-las-vegas-leaving-strip/
[…] Las Vegas Strip’s First Marriott Resort: “The Drew” Slated to Open in 2020. I Have Questions by Miles to Memories – Marriott released details and a name for the long awaited “Project Blue,” it will be known as “The Drew”. […]
Miami Edition is Tier 5, the top tier for Ritz Carlton properties and costs 70000 points a night. It’s not a Category 5 Marriott hotel which costs 25000 points per night.
The Fontainebleau shell is hideous. It’s also estimated that it was $2B short of being a hotel even with that hideous shell.
Marriott has its work cut out for itself to make something good here.
Not going to be easy at all. But I hope they succeed.
Also, there’s another “Marriott” just off the strip. The Westin Las Vegas is closer to most things on the Strip than this new hotel will be, given its northern location.