Room Service With Cigars at Aria’s Las Vegas Suites
Lounging in your hotel suite high above the Las Vegas Strip, you hear a knock at the door. A butler enters the room pushing a cart filled with high-end cigars that have been specially selected just for you.
No, you’re not dreaming. Cigar room service is now a reality at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, but only if you're staying in one of the hotel’s ultra-luxury Sky Villas. The top-tier accommodations are part of the resort’s Sky Suites concept—a VIP hotel within a hotel—that offers guests unique perks such as luxury airport transportation, a personal concierge, a private entrance, private elevator and pool as well as preferred dining reservations.
Aria, which opened its doors at the end of 2009, recently renovated more than 400 of its Sky Suites and seven of its Sky Villas. Premium cigar room service is one of the new perks of the Sky Villas.
“All 17 of the Sky Villas now offer cigar cart service," Aria’s cigar specialist Ricardo Smenner tells Cigar Aficionado. Along with the cigar service, these elite penthouses provide guests with expanded benefits, like airport transportation in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, daily gift surprises from butlers, a 24-hour-a-day concierge team, bespoke chocolates and baked goods—and of course, opulent surroundings and floor-to-ceiling views of Sin City.
To take advantage of the cigar service, a Sky Villa guest simply needs to call the concierge and request his or her favorite cigar. Regardless of the time of day or night, Smenner and his team will put together a cart full of decadent smoking options.
“It’s a 24-hour service,” Smenner says. “We have a large inventory on hand, so we typically have what the guest is looking for. If not, we can usually find it. We get to know each guest, and once we identify the cigar brand they prefer, the tobacco blend, the body, I customize a cigar cart for them with additional options that are similar to what they smoke.”
Smenner says Aria has been building its cigar collection. Its humidor houses highly-rated classics such as Fuente Fuente OpusX Reserva d’Chateau and Padrón Serie 1926 80 Years, along with rare cigars such as My Father Garcia & Garcia, Davidoff Oro Blanco and Casa Fuente. Soon, Smenner says, Aria will also have the Romeo y Julieta Bed of Roses Humidor with limited-edition smokes inside, of which only 100 were produced.
Cigar requests are handled by Smenner and a team of 25 butlers with cigar training. “Each butler knows the blends and the tasting notes of the cigars in our collection,” he says.
That training extends to pairing suggestions, allowing butlers to suggest and provide high-end spirits to complement a guest’s cigar.
“Based on the client’s taste, we can customize that pairing, if, for example, they prefer rum, Scotch or Bourbon.” He says that some of the pairing options include Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel Bourbon, Ron Zacapa XO and versions of spirits he claims can’t be found anywhere else, such as special WhistlePig and Macallan spirits bottled just for MGM.
When a butler arrives at the guest’s room, he showcases his cigars from a rolling serving cart. The guests make their selections, and the butler performs a cut-and-light ceremony, gently toasting the foot of the cigar before handing a lit cedar spill to the guest for the final light and first puff.
For each cigar experience, guests are provided a range of luxury cigar accessories, including a lead crystal Baccarat Havana Ashtray and S.T. Dupont Double Blade MaxiJet Cigar Cutter, which features both guillotine and V-cut blades. A punch cutter is also available for guests who prefer it.
So how much does it cost to stay in a Sky Villa? According to Aria, the recently renovated two-bedroom Sky Villas, ranging in size from 2,100 to 3,500 square feet, start around $6,500 a night. The Villas go up in price based on availability, room size and other factors.
Kicking back with a cigar in a Sky Villa isn’t as simple as taking out your credit card, however. In order to book a Villa, customers have to wait for an invitation.
“Villas are invite only,” Smenner confirms. “Guests are invited to stay at a Villa based on a selection process proprietary to MGM hotels.”
Note: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that the program was only available in seven villas. And cigar smoking is not allowed in the Sky Suites.
