Pause to give a description of the hotel room. The West Wing is an ultra modern interior hotel rooms on the west side of the MGM Grand. MGM was for years the biggest hotel in the world, though I think it's been knocked down to second or third now. Still, it's a vast, cavernous place. As little intimate as a sports arena. The anonymous hotel guests tend to get rooms far from the elevators, and it's a hike. In fact, my room was almost exactly 1/2 between one elevator bank and the other. As you walk down the hall from the old wing to the west wing, the decor flips. The old wing is lighter, mostly whites and washed out browns. The west wing is dark, hues of greens and blues. It's a stark transformation as you walk down the hallway, and it gives you a distinct tunnel effect as you head towards the room.

You walk immediately into the bathroom. There's no door or any separation at all from the entry to the loo. The water closet is contained behind a frosted glass door which is not opaque, and there's a phone next to the toilet. (I'm not sure how a toilet telephone is part of the ultra modern aesthetic.) The shower is behind another frosted glass door, though neither door closes firmly leaving full view cracks to peer through. There isn't even an illusion of privacy. The shower is a stand-up, decorated with dark tile and it's quite spacious. The vanity is narrow, glass and there's a TV embedded in the mirror.

In the room itself, the proportion in all wrong. It gives the impression very much of a studio apartment rather than a hotel room. The bed isn't particularly soft, the sheets and blanket not particularly buoyant. There are mirrors in every corner, and a mirrored-door on the closet. A glass-top desk and a weak tiny rattan chair make up the rest. The free-standing lamp is a touch-lamp but unfortunately, mine doesn't work. Tap once, and it rotates through its settings finally coming to a stop randomly at whatever setting it sees fit. It took me five minutes to turn it off (yes, I could have unplugged it, I suppose.) Behind the bed was a small window with a view of an alley. You'd think with a west-facing view, you would see the Strip, but no. On the eighth floor, you aren't high enough to have a view over the casino building, so all you get is a view of nothing.

Flip off the lights, and the room glows green from the exterior lights of the building. it's neither subtle nor terribly dark.