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 hav
MGM renovated their rooms one year ago, so I find it hard to believe that any of the funiture would be old.
Aria is getting their rooms renovated sometime this year apparently, so hopefully Vdara is next after that. I will be staying there myself in a few weeks actually, hopefully I will have more luck with my room.
Not so much the furniture, but rather the dark walls and rugs made the place feel old, compared to the more "modern" rooms that often are much brighter.
Swedish!
Does anyone know if Vdara has ever done a room refresh since they opened? I'm guessing no, but the signs were starting to show pre-covid and I did see that Wynn has just started on their Encore room refresh which was delayed by a year. (Encore obviously not on the same tier as Vdara but they did open relatively close to each other)
Checked my records from renting a privately held Vdara unit three months per year for years, MGM did a substantial 'fresh up' back in 2016.
It included reveneering of all wood finishes, full paintjob, cleaning and sealing of wallpaper, descaling of bathroom fixtures ... and that was that. AFAIK little has happened since.
Obv ten years later ramshackled doesn't describe the state of the units.
Still love the place though. At least at the right price.
Anybody have experience with Caesars Palace "room type assigned on arrival"?
Going for 4 nights M-F and got comp + resort fee for this. Could have gotten the same comp rate at Horseshoe, PH, Flamingo, but CP seemed like the best of that group by far, unless I'm running a risk of getting some old unrefurbished-for-decades room. Should I be concerned?
It's been a while. Does the $20 trick work or help in these situations?
Thanks!
Anybody have experience with Caesars Palace "room type assigned on arrival"?Going for 4 nights M-F and got comp + resort fee for this. Could have gotten the same comp rate at Horseshoe, PH, Flamingo, but CP seemed like the best of that group by far, unless I'm running a risk of getting some old unrefurbished-for-decades room. Should I be concerned?It's been a while. Does the
No experience with that descriptor there, but I mean, the standard rooms at Caesars are pretty good so it can’t go that badly wrong?
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I thought the oldest towers at CP were pretty ragged/rundown?
If you're Diamond or higher you can prob sweet-talk the front desk person in Diamond check-in to get your preference.
Personally, I'd rather be at Horseshoe because they pretty much all have a fridge and Caesars Palace do not, ESPECIALLY during WSOP.
Just returned home after 8 nights at the Horseshoe.
Tbh I was a little worried about staying there as I am quite Princessy about hotels and have only stayed at V P Vdara, Cosmo and Wynn on previous trips.
But I’ve got to say, I was very happy with the value for money of the stay.
Pros
Primarily, the room itself is large, has everything you need, was very clean and was cleaned/refreshed every day without fail. It was also quiet and the bed was comfortable. The pillows weren’t great but I had everything I needed to sleep well. And it had an empty fridge which allowed me to store water, cokes, fruit, yoghurt etc.
The fitness center is good enough for a fitness fanatic like me to get what I needed, when I needed. It was never too busy
The pool is fine. It isn’t picturesque but it’s large and there was always a choice of loungers, even on Saturday afternoon. The music was good (for me) but the vibe wasn’t ever awesome.
The convenience for the wsop was incredible. Heading back to the room on breaks for a snack - one time I showered and changed as it was freezing in Horseshoe. Gym on dinner breaks etc. Super convenient
Cons
The casino environment is dirty and lower class. It’s no ghetto but it’s grimy and old fashioned and something to endure not enjoy. All casinos (other than Park and Vdara) are smoky but this one felt super super smoky. I felt dirty walking through it
The food options are grim. I wouldn’t eat again at Guy Fieri if it was free. I walked in and out of Jack Binons - maybe it tastes good but the vibe wasn’t ever awesome off. And nothing else caught my fancy at all
Paris food options are better. Although not awesome. I had two average/disappointing meals at Cafe Americano. I had a good but not incredible steak at Gordon Ramsey. The best by far was at Martha Stewart, where I had what I thought was my best meal of the trip
I also played all my cash games at the Horseshoe poker room which was both a pro and con. There were no good players there- almost totally recs even at 3/5, so there was a lot of value in the games. But the dealers were 80% clueless (really) and I thought the floor was almost totally incompetent.
So….the verdict - I got exactly what I was hoping for when I booked it. A decent and comfortable room and property in a super convenient location for a poker trip.
I wouldn’t go there with my partner but as a place to stay solo for wsop it was everything I needed. I saved more than a $1k buy in by staying there over Vdara and that was worth it IMO
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I also played all my cash games at the Horseshoe poker room which was both a pro and con. There were no good players there- almost totally recs even at 3/5, so there was a lot of value in the games. But the dealers were 80% clueless (really) and I thought the floor was almost totally incompetent.
I feel like I have to interject here. I stay at Horseshoe a lot, mostly because I get great or comped room prices. Since I stay there so often, it's almost always where I play poker. Their dealers are usually pretty good, they seldom have a rookie there. My guess is all their reg dealers were sent to the WSOP, and the temp hires were put in the Horseshoe room for the Series.
So….the verdict - I got exactly what I was hoping for when I booked it. A decent and comfortable room and property in a super convenient location for a poker trip.
I can't disagree with this verdict. It's "good enough".
And for me, it's cheap enough. I'm Diamond in the CET loyalty program, which means parking is free (I always drive to Vegas) and no resort fees. Many of my visits are completely free. If I want to stay in a nicer place in the MGM system, it's probably Park MGM or nicer. If my room rate was $0, it would add up to $75 a night. Plus, there's no poker there. Bottom line, it's a big pile of money extra to stay somewhere with convenient poker that I like (Venetian) and I don't think it even comes with a fridge.
The Horseshoes Poker Room non-seasonal dealing staff is only maybe 40 people for a 24 hr period (for the most part the dealers are pretty good at basic nlh). What likely happened is that they brought in seasonal dealers to horseshoe room and mixed them with the regular staff because of demand (and yea some of them are totally lost). Horseshoe barely gets 8 tables on a good day outside of series. I don't think they send any of their day to day staff into Paris for the series cash games, I have a buddy who deals there and I saw him in the rotation. Another reason they don't send the regular staff into Paris is because of all of the PLO/Big O/Mix that happens in Paris cash room, those regular staff dealers deal almost zero Hi-Lo/Pot Limit/Limit games outside of the summer, they designate temp staff that knows these games for the Paris cash rotations.
My Review of the Rio is “stay elsewhere”.
I stayed at Fontainebleu recently for the second time. I really like it. obviously they don't have a poker room but Wynn and Venetian are pretty close and Zoox goes between FB and Wynn for free (when you can get a ride).
the casino is clean and pretty quiet but comfortable. it's not a zoo or crazy like V/P W/E, and that is part of the allure for a boring guy like me.
I loved my room. it was a working trip and the wifi worked perfectly. I've stayed at some other places where the wifi was virtually unusable (notably Park & Palms).
no kiosk or online checkin but lots of registration staff and the line goes quick.
pool is great, fitness center is best one I've seen at a hotel. even the public restrooms are gorgeous.
they have a bunch of great high-end restaurants, probably some of the best on Strip. Miami Slice was $10 for a good slice of pizza. probably no other reasonable affordable options.
it's a luxury resort and really specialize in service. if you want a nice hotel it's my favorite on the Strip. everybody there seemed to be happy and also love FB. really designed for rich people and those willing to spend money but I'm glad they seem to be generous with hotel offers.
the only negatives are 1) high prices but that keeps out the annoying riffraff and at least they don't nickel and dime you to death, 2) location, but I don't mind the location; especially if you have a car. 3) quieter/calmer casino, but again that's an attraction
yeah I like the FB vibe a lot also, but def not a fan of the location, esp as someone who likes to walk the strip. They gave me an offer a couple years ago of $150 play, $150 credit and free room, now for that I will put up with the location.
Stayed 8 nights earlier this month in a Bordeaux Tower room at Paris. Eh. Really enjoyed having the fridge for sure. One small table with 80% of it taken up with stupid ass minifridge, and I needed to do some work on it, fun feeling like you're playing Operation plugging your laptop in behind the 24 oz FIJI bottle that will be $59.99 if its weight shifts.
Had an accessible shower and it was dark AF in there, and water got on bathroom floor a lot. Also would never really get super cool in the room, wife and I both prefer cold room for sleep. Pool was fine. Location is good. I really like the breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi, we had that multiple times, and an easy enough walk to Venetian for other tourneys, Bouchon, etc.
Paid $560 all in for the 8 nights, for that price, fine for what it was.
Definitely the food and not the service. Google photos are pretty good for searching, but apparently we don't take pics of bad food. Don't get me wrong, when it's good it's a lovely place to eat outside. We almost always choose the Henry which is basically right across the street or Ocean Prime if we want to eat outside in the morning. That is a bit pricey, though.
If you've read my posts, I am a cosmo fan. It doesn't have to have a poker room because of the nearby options. Obviously if you like playing at the Wynn or Venetian it's not really an option. I enjoy the FB review. It's just not for me.
