Welcome to my travel blog where I will share tips, tours and encounters …
Las Vegas Deals and Fiasco…
If you are looking for good deals when you visit Las Vegas, you might want to consider staying off the Strip at hotel casinos such as those in Jean or Primm. Gold Strike and Whiskey Pete’s, are two I have stayed at and enjoy. Jean and Primm are about 30 miles south of Las Vegas, if you are coming from or on your way to southern California. You can get great discounts when booking with online vendors such as Travelworm (www.travelworm.com).
Imagine $19 a night. Harrah’s in Laughlin (an hour and a half south of Vegas) is also a good bet… I paid $29 a night around Christmas and New Year’s time 2005. Mesquite, approximately one hour north of Las Vegas, on the way to Utah, offers $25+ at the Virgin River Sunday through Thursday. I prefer the Oasis and the Casablanca, but these are higher priced.
For hotel casinos right in Las Vegas, you might consider the Santa Fe Hotel, or some of the downtown hotels. Check out travel coupon books and the Internet for savings.
During the summer months (May through September) when temperatures climb to 110 degrees and soaring, you might want to stay in cooler Mt. Charleston, camp out in Lee Canyon or Lake Mead and avoid visiting hot as hades places such as Valley of Fire and Death Valley.
Recently, I stayed at the Fiesta Hotel on Rancho and Lake Mead Boulevard, a venue, which is part of the Station casino hotel chain, the same one that owns the Santa Fe. What a difference, however. Not only was the quality not there, but there were numerous fiascoes. I booked my stay through Travelworm (which offers a 2% discount if you become a member, just sign-up online at their website). Since I am a travel writer and have stayed at numerous other hotel casinos before, I figured the service would be the same as I’d experienced before. Boy, was I in for a shock. I was treated so badly that I thought I should warn other intrepid travelers looking for a good deal. Below is the list of my grievances:
1. The first night, I was given a smoking room despite my request for a nonsmoking room. And the smoking rooms are on the lower floors. Since smoke travels upward, this doesn’t make a lot of sense and is unhealthy especially with the new report that claims without a shadow of a doubt that secondhand smoke is lethal.
Upon arrival, I was not told beforehand, but I had to put down a $50 deposit.
They wanted to charge me $4.95 a day for various services that they would not let me use. I was not informed about this service charge upfront (I found out when I looked at my bill). Since I complained, they reversed three of the charges, but still charged me for one day of services that I did not receive.
The hallways were quite warm. Ok, it was 110 degrees outside, but come on, the air conditioning service should have been turned on and cool in the common areas. The air conditioning in the room was too loud and either too hot or too cold…
Unlike all the other hotels, none of the rooms offer coffee service.
Before this trip, I had eaten at their café, and received terrible service, On Friday evenings, they advertise on their billboard that they offer a free taco dinner. If you consider one tiny taco dinner, then I guess you’re okay. But for most of us, one small taco does not suffice. If you want to eat or drink anything else, you will be nickel and dimed… drinks, more tacos, chips and salsa, all cost $2-3 each. Plus, I was told by a number of employees that there was no free taco dinner…apparently, they did not read the billboard.
Consistently across the board bad service is appalling and management does not seem to care. I called the manager several times and did not receive one reply to my requests for him to call me back. I finally had to go downstairs to the front desk and speak with him.
In Jean, Primm, Laughlin, Mesquite and the Santa Fe, I experienced great service, rates and rooms. With the exception that in Laughlin on Christmas Day, I decided to venture outside of Harrah’s to check out a few other hotels with similar or less expensive rates. Imagine my chagrin when I was told by the River Palm managers that I could not check-in because I did not have a credit card with me. On Christmas Day, fa la la la la. I rushed back to Harrah’s where they do not require a deposit, a credit card or any other requirement. In fact, at Harrah’s, I was given a gold and silver chain welcoming me aboard.
Stay tuned for my chocolate tour of Las Vegas.. yummy!
