NV Las Vegas Rio West of Strip

[andyrewne]

Just got back from 4 nights in the Rio. Here are the goods and the bads

The Good

Big room, two sinks - one in bathroom & one where the ladies put their makeup on. Our room had a chair/ottoman and also a hide-a-bed couch that were very nice. We never used the hide-a-bed, but it could come in handy.

Newly redecorated rooms in the older Ipanema tower (older shorter tower with only 20 floors) where we stayed. The newer,taller tower has older rooms, if that makes sense.

The pools are excellent. We were there at a relatively slow time (Aug 1 - 5), but plenty of room around the pools and easy to find an open lounge chair. Just watch out for the pricey $16 margarita.

Shuttle from the Rio to Harrah's on the Strip runs every 15 minutes like clockwork. I was afraid we'd waste a lot of time waiting, but I don't think we ever waited more than 15 minutes even if the shuttle filled up before we got on, becuase the next one would soon follow. (However, if the hotel is full, you may need to wait for a little bit)

The hotel is right near the Gold Coast and the Palms, so you can walk to those hotels if you want. The Gold Coast has more reasonably priced meals.

The cigarette smoke in the casino wasn't too bad - even in the evenings when the place was packed. The place must have a decent exhaust system.

The Bad

Construction is going on in the Ipanema tower (older,shorter tower) One afternoon I napped with the sounds of a distant jackhammer. It wasn't too loud, but I could hear it. One full wing on our floor (the 11th) was closed to renovation and it looked completely gutted. It should be nice one this is complete.

Our view was of the airconditioning units and parking lot. Way out in the distance we could see some mountains but that was about it. If you have a choice, ask for pool view or strip view.

We had a burned out lightbulb in our bathroom and had to ask 3 times before anybody replaced it. It wasn't a big deal, but I was put out by the fact that 2 employees promised to fix it right away and then did nothing.

This is little, but the TV was at a right angle to the bed, so it wasn't too convenient to lay in bed and watch TV. I couldn't figure that out.

Finally, we booked through priceline, but had we waited a bit, we could have gotten a better deal through the hotel itself (by only a few bucks). Keep that in mind for future bids.

[bubbatrout]

Thanks for your review. We were there in February and walked into the room assigned to us by the airport check in employees, it was looking out to garbage dumpsters! I called the front desk and asked to be moved to the strip view that I had paid for and it was done. Maybe the tv set up was different in your room but the cabinet it was had a shelf that the tv sat on and it was able to be pulled out and angled so that you could see it from the bed.

[luckylassy]

I stayed here, booking with a vacation package through cheaptickets.com. Room came to about $45/night. We also asked to stay in the Ipanema tower. The guy at check in was very accomodating and even gave us extra coupons for other events. We had a great sized room which was very comfortable. The view was of the back of the hotel (no strip), but it didn't bother us. Shuttle was great and worth using. It will take just as much time to take a taxi. The only glitches during my stay were:

(1) the room safe was locked upon arrival (we very much needed it). We immediately asked for it to be fixed. We waited 2 hours for security to come. They never did. We waited 2 other times, and they still didn't show. On the second day, sick of waiting, we physically went to the front desk. They offered to change our room, which was nice, but a pain so we declined the change. After another 2 hour wait, it was finally fixed.

(2) the internet in the lobby is a joke. lets just say that the machine ate my $20 and i didn' t even get to check my email. Do yourself a favor and just pay for internet in your room. The machines in the lobby are owned by and independent company, which means I will never get my money back.

Overall, I had a great stay and the room was a great value. I hope to stay there again in October. Wasn't thrilled with the casino itself, though, but I won't count that against them at all.

Tips - eat breakfast at the Gold Coast buffet. It is much cheaper.