Scott Dec 18th 2005 6:02PM

Just returned from a magnificent three day stay at the SkyLofts. I don't know why this "hotel within a hotel" has not received more press coverage than it has, because it is simply the best luxury hotel deal going.

The experience begins at the airport where a chauffeur picks you up in a splendid (if a bit over-the-top) Maybach sedan. We were greeted curbside at the MGM Grand by our cincierge, taken past the registration desk, and up a separate elevator to the SkyLofts floor. We were registered in the suite itself and given an extensive, but overly long, tour of the loft - deluxe automatic coffee/espresso/capucinno maker with Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, the remote control that controlled everything from the television to the drapes, and the "business center" complete with personalized stationery and business cards.

And that was only the first floor.

The tour of the second floor included our bedroom - magnificently comfortable and luxe, through and through - and then the bathroom. What can be said about the master bath other than that it was perfection itself. An "infinity" tub which recycled spillover water back into the "champagne-bubble" water jets so that the tub was always full exactly to the brim. A shower which was larger than some New York apartments and included steam functions, body wash jets, and two overhead "rainfall" shower heads. There were no fewer than two televisions in the bathroom alone - one enormous plasma screen on the wall and another (oh the luxury of it) mounted in the mirror itself. Unless you're a hopeless television addict, the bathroom units seemed a bit excessive, but hey, this is Vegas.

Service was as close to perfect as it could get. Yes, there were occassional minor snafus such as room service dishes lingering a few hours too many on the expansive dinnner-for-six dining room table, or the case of the missing turn-down service on our second night. But these were made up for with grave apologies and personalized, almost clairvoyant service the rest of the time.

To those who like to indulge themselves, the SkyLofts are a bargain par excellence. While easily some of the most expensive hotel rooms in Vegas, they seem a bargain when one considers everything you get for the cost. Moreover, a hotel of similar quality in New York, for example, would many times as much. If all you're looking for is good dining, entertainment, and a hotel room worth remembering, my advice would be to skip New York and dive into the pure decadence of Vegas and the SkyLofts. You won't be disappointed.