Hotel Review Thread
Since there are so many questions about hotels, I was thinking it would be useful for people to post the hotels they have stayed along with reviews of the rooms, service, restaurants, poker rooms, etc. There are of course tons of sites on the internet with this info, but this will hopefully be poker and food-centric in keeping with the 2+2 demographic.
My experiences as follows:
Cosmopolitan: Rooms are, IMO, the best in Vegas. If at all possible get a fountain view room, they all have balconies and the views are tremendous. Wraparound suites are super sick but pretty expensive. Everything is very modern so if you're into the traditional look this place is not for you.
Restaurants are terrific. Wide range of options. Pricey but not totally outrageous. STK, the steak place, has a club-type vibe and is loud. The buffet is small plates, very unique. Holsteins has amazing burgers. The fish place has a lunch deal that is the best in Vegas, a 3 course meal for 20 bucks. I have not eaten at the other places but have heard from several people that Jaleo (tapas) is excellent. Would like to hear others' opinion of Blue Ribbon, the sushi place.
No poker, table gaming is pretty meh. This is a party spot more than a gambling mecca.
Bellagio: Solid all around. Rooms were getting dated and have been / are being redone - I haven't been in the new ones. The amount of tourists has always annoyed me here for some reason. Always dumb people blocking the walkways and taking pictures and ****. Tons of Eurotrash.
Restaurants seem fine but are overpriced (Yellowtail, Fix). Haven't done Picasso yet, everyone loves it. The snack bar is right next to the poker room and the food is pretty good and fairly quick as long as you don't go at lunch.
Poker room is very nice but floor and staff are terrible. They are condescending and blatantly favor regular players for lists and rulings. If you grease them you can skip lists. Action generally good and has good mid-limit NL holdem.
Wynn/Encore: Very nice hotel. Incredibly clean and well-managed. Have always received exceptional service here - once had them coordinate an in-room birthday meal / dessert / cocktail for my wife and it was perfect.
Much like Bellagio, restaurants are good but significantly overpriced. Their deli next to the poker room has an incredible $15 reuben sandwich that I get at least once a trip.
For some reason their poker room seems to be dying. It caters to nits I think, which drives away action players. Also they don't seem to be as player-friendly as Venetian and Aria.
Venetian: Rooms are enormous and very nice, but too expensive IMO. I have found the service here to be weak. Have had to wait like 30 minutes for bags to show up, was placed in a double beds room after confirming a king, etc.
Restaurant selection is second to none with reasonable prices. I have always loved Delmonico, Emeril's steakhouse. Get the mushrooms. Wow.
Poker room is huge and excellent. Good tournaments and exceptional customer service. Smoking hot drink girls and fast service. Competent dealers.
Only negative is that this whole casino smells like Vanilla ****. I hate it.
Aria: Have not stayed here but I'm sure the rooms are nice. Only ate at the buffet and it was awful.
Poker room is great. Best drink service in Vegas, good service, competent floor, good tournaments, really hot cocktail girls.
Mandalay Bay: I don't usually like pools but this place has the best pool I've been to in Vegas. Really fun spot. Anyway, rooms are surprisingly nice and there are lots of fun food/party options.
Poker room is small and poorly run. Only 1-2 nl I think.
MGM: Rooms are getting old, think they are being redone. Craftsteak is nice for steak. OK service generally.
Poker room is big but in a horrible spot with annoying noises all the time. They might be moving it?
Mirage: Rooms are meh. Pool is meh. Restaurants are meh, though BLT Burger is awesome. This whole place is meh. Including their meh poker room.
I think those are the only places I've stayed. Would love for others to share their opinions and experiences.
I actually like PH even though it's kind of a maze. Plus the location is Great if you play at the Aria.
The rooms are fine as well.
Never stayed at MB and haven't been in the casino in over a decade.
I like both places. Both are on the same level, think ph is better if you are going to do a bunch of casino hopping, mb is better if most are your time is spent in one casino. Ph has older rooms but the 20 dollar trick works to get you large square footage.
If you were told that Elvis is alive and lives on Mars with Bigfoot, would you be waiting for him to release a new album?
Planet Hollywood is ok. My impression is that it is a younger crowd there, my daughter thought there was 'low class' people there. I guess the 'club crowd' types were aggressively bugging her. Mandalay Bay I also like although it is far from everything else. The pool at Mandalay is excellent but it isn't really pool season for another month or so.
I have a room booked at Mandalay Bay and one at PH for 5 nights. The PH room is 1/10 the price of the MB one and I’ll be there for a volleyball tourney at MB and poker. I liked the idea of being closer to the better poker rooms at PH and still being a quick Uber or tram trip to MB for the tournament.
I’ve been told PH is disgusting and not worth the headache of staying there. Is that generally true these days? Haven’t been to Vegas in 20 years so I welcome any advice.
I think you need to share the price difference on this one.
MB is nicer, but I don't mind PH at all. Very different styles. I also never went to PH for the pool and agree it's a very different vibe between the two. However, an easy walk from PH to Aria, Cosmo (for food/drink options), Bellagio, Horseshoe, and CP is a plus if that's going to be a big part of your trip.
I agree with borg23 that PH is a bit of a maze, but the time from your room to the strip is really quick.
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showp...
Maybe the rooms are a bit dated and the casino floor/restaurants aren't great, but considering the proximity to everything else, it's a big win.
Not sure how that works for you with your tournament or what you want out of the hotel you're staying in, but I wouldn't call the place disgusting.
Unless your standards are sky high, Planet Hollywood is a perfectly fine hotel.
I have never heard PH called disgusting. Who is telling you this?
PH is nothing home to write about but the only disgusting thing about is ,is how far parking is from the hotel.
main reason why I rarely stay at Bellagio its so hard to get in and out of it and parking garage so far from rooms.
I like both places. Both are on the same level, think ph is better if you are going to do a bunch of casino hopping, mb is better if most are your time is spent in one casino. Ph has older rooms but the 20 dollar trick works to get you large square footage.
PHo is actually newer than MB. It's probably not remodeled as often though because CET is cheap.
stayed at PH this past fall. Was totally fine. Great location.
pool at PH felt a little bit gross
I had no issues at PH either time I stayed there. That portion of the Strip is ideal for anyone who wants to (is willing to) walk to most of their venues. Yes, you can get a 20 minute exit time at a lot of Vegas hotels .. and then you have it down to 12 minutes the day you leave!
I would expect a lot of hotel pools to vary during the week and lean to the questionable side of what people might expect from a 'resort'.
I had recently heard a story about someone booking a room at Bally's? but being told their room was in the hotel behind it .. which was very bad.
I think there's a lot of potential issues 'per room' in these very large hotels and you just need to be willing to stand up for yourself. I had a buddy who changed rooms 3 times before he was happy with it and the front desk was more than responsive 'that day' to his requests. Yes, took a ton of time out of his day, but eventually he got into a room that was agreeable to his party. GL
Be careful when draining the bathtub at Planet Hollywood. Sometimes it will back up into the shower and leave a black filmy mess. Drain it slowly a little at a time.
Walked through Fountain Blu. Hotel looks nice. Beautiful lobby bar in the middle of the casino for people watching. A lot of good looking lounges. They had high end food court which looked really nice and had a lot of seating.
However, the hotel is not walkable to the rest of the strip, imo. No poker room and it was not very busy in the hotel. I don’t see myself ever staying there.
Walked through Fountain Blu. Hotel looks nice. Beautiful lobby bar in the middle of the casino for people watching. A lot of good looking lounges. They had high end food court which looked really nice and had a lot of seating.
However, the hotel is not walkable to the rest of the strip, imo. No poker room and it was not very busy in the hotel. I don’t see myself ever staying there.
thank you for your service
Fountain Blu. It needed the money.
This most recent trip I stayed at the Wynn Tower Suites. I've stayed there a number of times. The Wynn does have one of the best poker rooms. They have almond/soy lattes. Very annoying that Aria does not. But Aria has more PLO games.
The prices at Wynn are high for everything. An almond milk latte from their coffee shop is $9.50. At one point I was going to order room service and the same latte was $18 (with Almond milk). It feels like the price of everything is 20 - 30% more than other hotels like Aria or Bellagio.
I did have some great meals. The best was at Delilah. We sat at the bar and had the Beef Wellington, Carrot Souffle and Broccolini. 10/10, very memorable.
There were a few times where tables limits were raised pretty high. I was trying to find a $25 minimum roulette game and on Sat night there were no tables under $50.
Rooms were nice, service was good. Would always come back but not when I am being budget minded.
Asking for a friend....
Horseshoe or PH for 9 days in June. Travelling solo, playing wsop events. Wants decent quiet room, good gym, pool he can relax at for an hour or two, fridge in room.
worst scenario for him would be really noisy room.
Price is a wash. His assumption is PH is a little better but not enough to cancel out the opportunity for easier return to room on breaks
thanks
I can't speak for the gym or pools, but I'm staying at PH just to save money on cheaper/smaller meals.
If your friend doesn't care about that, then I would go with Horseshoe and just pray the elevators are not more crowded than last year now that Paris has taken over the 2nd Jubilee tower that Bally's use to have.
Horseshoe or PH for 9 days in June. Travelling solo, playing wsop events. Wants decent quiet room, good gym, pool he can relax at for an hour or two, fridge in room. Worst scenario for him would be really noisy room.
Never stayed at PH, but I have stayed at Horseshoe many times now and can easily recommend it.
- Rooms are large and always in decent shape. Never experienced any significant noise from other rooms.
- Gym is not gigantic but absolutely decent with a nice selection of machines + free weights.
- Only one pool, but reasonably big and has a 'deep' end that is hardly ever crowded where one can do laps.
- There is an empty mini fridge in room free of charge.
Sounds like your friend is gonna play WSOP, so the convenience of being able to be back at the room in 10 minutes would make this an easy choice for me.
I can't speak for the gym or pools, but I'm staying at PH just to save money on cheaper/smaller meals.
If your friend doesn't care about that, then I would go with Horseshoe and just pray the elevators are not more crowded than last year now that Paris has taken over the 2nd Jubilee tower that Bally's use to have.
The comment about meals is that ..there’s a wsop tax on food at Horseshoe or is it always more expensive food wise
