maintrainstation

Very nice

I miss the Stardust, the first casino I ever went into in 1990 on an overnight bus trip, and the first place I ever actually stayed in LV in 2001. I miss the Stardust sign, seeing Wayne Newton on the marquee, or Don Rickles, or Steve and Eydie who brought the house down on the closing weekend. And especially being the fictional home of Cristal Connors and Nomi Malone in the movie "Showgirls." I hope and hope that Echelon will have a musical stage version of "Showgirls" (please, with Elizabeth Berkley in the role of Cristal) when it opens.

I think the rooms at this off-strip property are closer to the strip than many of the rooms at on-strip resorts. Since this place is no longer trying to get upscale prices for the midlevel accomodations, this place can be quite convenient and comfortable for the price. In many ways the place is spiffed up, with a nice pool area and a comfortable bed. But it's still lipstick on the San Remo (the former incarnation of the property.) In my room, the TV reception was terrible, and clock-radio had to be close to 20 years old! I thought it was a riot that I landed a room in the "Ocean View" tower, in the middle of the desert.

Rooms are well appointed but small. The casino is cramped and stuffy. But the drink service is awesome...actually too good considering the lack of bathrooms nearby. You get an idea of why Harrah's has been so successful because there are plenty of low/mid level rollers who are having the time of their lives here because they're getting comped. There's a fun vibe in a place where people are losing but still feel like they're coming out ahead of the game.

The Rio has nice big comfortable rooms and a big fun casino although drink service didn't seem to be as good as other Harrah's properties. Every Vegas newbie should make the trip to see the Carnival show in the casino. On the downside, slots are tight, table minimums can be surprisingly high, and there aren't enough places to grab good cheap eats. (Maybe walk to the Palms which has a food court.)

On nights when something is happening, this place is outrageously expensive. On slow nights, you can get a real bargain on one of their mod sophisto rooms, but the place will be real dull. This is the one big casino resort that is walking distance to the froot loop, but it's too far to walk to and from the strip.

I stayed here prior to the beginning of CityCenter construction, which with the 24 hour construction going on next door, this place can no longer be described as "sleepy." But it's dull, and friends who have visited the hotel more recently than I have complained that the furnishings are no longer all that great and the prices are too high for what you get. Maybe the winter 2008 fire will expedite room remodeling on the property.

My room probably looked great when this place opened, but I was really disappointed for 2007. Except for the fancy bathrooms, I preferred the rooms in the Stardust tower that I got on closing weekend in Oct '06. The slots gobbled my money real fast which didn't inspire me to bet minimum $15 a hand those nights at the tables.

Now that I've stayed here in May 2008 just for the sake of saying that I've stayed here, I can now assure everyone who asks me that if it's north of Sahara Avenue, it doesn't qualify as being the "strip." The rooms are very standard at best, and you're not close to much...the best thing being the "Luv-It Frozen Custard" stand. If you can spend a few more bucks, stay further south on the strip. If you can't, stay on Fremont Street.

I still find the lowrise hotel buildings very charming with their balconies and dating back to the 50's and 60's. The Island tower might be worth $10 a nigh extra if you want to take a bath for two as those rooms have big tubs, and mirrors over the beds! But the strip tower (is it the Tiffany?) has really ugly furnishings and no big tub, no mirrors, no balconies. I think the only thing the LV Trop has going for it is anything that remains that is tacky. I hope they keep up the maintenance on the pool area, which of course is this place's one strong point.

It's nice, it's central, it's got a great pool, but I'm never excited about being here. People seem to be having much more fun at the stifling, confining casino at Harrah's than here. The "deluxe" rooms that have not yet been remodeled are still in good shape, are fairly big and can be a pretty good value. Try walking from one end of the floor to the other with the 4 adjoined towers. I counted 156 rooms on one floor. Bring water, you also need to walk back.