| The Imperial Palace, Las Vegas |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|12:58 pm] |
There are two hotels that I will categorically never return to. The first is the Pymatuning Fishing Lodge which is somewhere near Linesville, PA and second, The Imperial Palace in Las Vegas, NV. I've stayed at Harrah's properties before. I like them. Paris, Caesar's Palace, Harrah's Marina, Caesar's Atlantic City, even The Flamingo are all places I would stay at again. But The Imperial Palace, not so much.
Before booking a room at the IP, I went by what I knew from my previous visits to the Auto Collections at the IP. It seemed like a brightly lit, clean and friendly place. The front of the hotel has a narrow access to Las Vegas Boulevard ( The Strip ) which is used primarily for a passenger drop off and taxi stand. The pedestrian "entrance" on The Strip is a bar with an escalator going above the passenger drop off area and into the Sports Book. So the hotel itself expands to either side behind The Strip. The theme of the hotel is Japan-ish with lots of eastern looking symbols in neon decorating the ceiling of the passenger drop off area.
Having visited Las Vegas before, I knew that the best way to get to any strip hotel is to approach from any road other than The Strip. So upon leaving the McCarran Rental Car Center, we headed up Paradise, under the airport, up to Flamingo, to Audrie and straight into the Parking Garage at the Imperial Palace. I had never been in the Imperial Palace Self Park structure before. It's narrow with lots of columns right at key intersections. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that they have a lot of fender benders in there. Once parked, we found our way to the front desk which is as close to The Strip as they could put it within the main hotel building so it was a schlep through the casino with bags in tow to get to registration. Not a bad location if you're being dropped off but do most hotel guests take taxis to the hotel? I think it would be better to place the registration desk in the back.
Once registered, it was time to go up the see the room. The hotel elevators are located in two places. One set of three is in the middle of the casino and the main set of four plus two elevators is behind the casino, more toward the self-parking garage. In total, the hotel has nine publicly accessible elevators to the rooms. The front three don't go to all of the floors. This is a huge problem and a deal breaker for the Imperial Palace. The elevators tend to break down as well. There were many annoyed guests waiting to get to and from their rooms.
I had a King Suite with "Luv Tub". The room itself was clean and comfortable but stark. It could have used a little color and maybe a crown molding. The bed board for the bed which is screwed into the wall was not centered with the fabric frame above the bed which gave the impression of carelessness. The room didn't have soap, shampoo or cups and glasses but after a call to housekeeping, that was resolved quickly. The "Luv Tub" is in the bedroom making it possible to fall out of the comfortable bed and walk over to the tub for a soak. The tub is huge. It would take several hours and half of Lake Mead to fill it. It would take several more days to drain it. The drains run a bit slow. The toilet is separated from the bedroom, contained in its own box-like room. The living area of the suite has a wet bar but if you wanted to serve a drink, you have to supply everything except the water. No cups, no 'fridge, just a sink and a table top. There is a narrow balcony but the views from my room weren't worth a visit to see. The balcony is too narrow to place a chair and sit out on comfortably. Overall, the furniture matched. When you sit on a chair or couch, it initially feels hard until whatever air is inside deflates out, then it's more comfortable. I've been is worse rooms but not with Harrah's.
When my brother stayed at Bally's in Las Vegas, I got to see the rooms there. The hallways leading to the rooms at Bally's still smell like the MGM fire of 1981. The rooms aren't much better. There was damaged furniture in the room at Bally's. That was odd to see. I didn't find any of that at the Imperial Palace so I could say that in my rather limited experience, the IP is the second worst room that Harrah's has to offer. It makes you feel cold in 100 degree heat.
I'll continue later if I'm so inclined. |
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| Partial Review |
[Jun. 20th, 2009|11:37 am] |
Maybe I'm in a bad mood because Lady Fortuna has shown me a very cold shoulder the last two days but if you're staying at a hotel, one of the things that you shouldn't take away from your stay is how much time your spent waiting for an elevator. Oh my FSM!! There is one elevator on the fritz at the Imperial Palace and it's causing havoc. I'll post a full rant when I get back but I think it's safe to say that I won't be returning to the Imperial Palace. |
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| Vegas Baby |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|10:52 pm] |
Yay, I'm on my way to Las Vegas to stay at the Imperial Palace until Sunday.
w00t!! King suite with "luv" tub, hubba hubba.
I'm going to play a lot of tournament Texas Hold'em, see Patti LuPone and maybe take some pictures of rocks in the 101 degree heat. |
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| 'Vegas Baby |
[Jan. 28th, 2009|01:48 pm] |
I'm going to Las Vegas for my annual Super Bowl trip. I'm leaving all of this behind:
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| Earbug |
[Feb. 10th, 2008|03:16 am] |
It's such a happy song that I wanted it recorded ( even if it's a horrible production quality ). This is the Wynn Slot Machine at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas hitting a tiny jackpot.
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