In June of 2005 I gave THE Hotel a well deserved 5 stars. I've since returned in January & June of this year (2008).
How has THE Hotel aged? See: Keith Richards.
THE Hotel is literally falling apart:
* our room rattled like an old Buick
* the floor-to-ceiling art pieces are punctured with kick-holes
* both the flatscreen & DVD player required a smack from an engineer to restore basic functions
* we were forced into a smoking room due to issues with the reservation system
Service has declined as well - the staff at THE Hotel don't get around as well as they used to:
* the line to check-in was 15 people deep (2:00pm, Saturday)
* the line to check-out was 50 people deep (11:00am, Monday)
* wait-time for a drink at the Mandalay Beach exceeded 30 minutes
With these wait time, THE Hotel felt more like a ball game than a posh Vegas hotel.
I will inevitably return to Vegas but next time I will seek-out one of the many hotel/condos that are going-up:
* same minimalist décor
* same lack of obnoxious casino at your front door
* same proximity to Vegas hot spots
But with solid execution. I'd recommend that you do the same.