5 Days at the Rio in Las Vegas

“Hello?”

“Hello?” I responded, incredulous. “Isn’t this housekeeping?”

“No.”

“I called housekeeping.”

“You dialed the wrong number” came the reply.

“I didn’t DIAL at all, I pushed the ‘Housekeeping’ button.”

“You DIALED the wrong number, I’m a GUEST of the hotel“.

UGH.

Wake someone up at 1AM because the phone doesn’t work. Housekeeping’s response (when I finally managed to contact them) to the problem? Switch the bedside phone for the desk phone.

Few of us were thrilled to hear that Affiliate Summit West ‘09 was being held at the Rio, primarily because it’s located off the Las Vegas Strip, but I discovered many MORE reasons not to book the Rio in future.

The biggest problem was attending an Internet marketing conference and not having an Internet connection faster than 2Kbps for 5 days. I moved to another room where I was told I could pick up wireless, but couldn’t get the service and Lodgenet’s ethernet connection was no faster. In effect, I paid $35 ($12.95 twice, $9.95 once) and never had service.

I got a telephone message from the front desk that my new room was ready more than 12 hours AFTER I’d moved into the new room.

My friend Colin was locked out of his room when the battery died on the lockset. He was kept waiting half an hour for a repairman and then the guy made small talk for a few minutes before starting to work on the problem.

No power outlet within 6 feet of the desk (and the useless Internet cable) for the laptop in the first room. The second room had a power outlet in the lamp.

The TV would only turn on in AUX mode, so it needed to be reprogrammed by the housekeeping staff before I could watch it.

A guest services book printed only in Spanish.

All the GFI plugs had to be reset before bathroom appliances could be used.

Lousy service at the Shutter’s bar. We waited for 15 minutes, had our presence acknowledged, watched as a woman seated 2 seats down from us got served and then waited for another 5 minutes before someone finally came to take our order. When the bartender came, he said “<i>the other bartender would like to know what you want to drink</i>”. Huh? Weird.

Elevator buttons that would stick, causing the elevator to stop at that floor without being called. I fixed those that I came across.

Garbage and spent food trays linger in hallways for days.

Bathroom supplies are scant. Just soap, shampoo and body lotion. No shoe cloth, no shower cap and no conditioner.

NO bottle opener.

Rio claims to be an environmentally friendly hotel, yet towels that are hung to dry and intended for re-use are replaced daily.

No in-room coffee maker, kettle and therefore no complimentary coffee or tea. Apparently, that’s only available to Diamond Club members (or those paying MORE than $159 a night. By the way, a conference rate of $159.00 seems like a rip-off when suites at the Rio are available for $100.00 per night from Sunday to Thursday in January.

The Rio wasn’t all bad, however.

For the most part, staff is friendly and competent. The food at Gaylord’s, the onsite Indian restaurant was so good, we ate there twice. Food portions at American Grill are large, if not particularly tasty. Best of all was the security guard who helped me locate my missing jacket and the bartender at the Voodoo who bought my drinks.

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Bellagio Conservatory: Christmas 2007

I love Vegas.

And I was fortunate to get there for the 3rd… hmmm, maybe the 4th time this year to speak at Anik Singal’s PPC Classroom Live event being held at the West Casaurina – just a little east of Bally’s on the north side of Flamingo Road.

On Sunday morning I took a brisk walk down the Strip for exercise and ended up stopping to watch the fountains at the Bellagio. I then took a walk through the hotel to see what they had cooked up for the Christmas display in the Conservatory.

The Conservatory is a 13,573-square-foot area adjacent to the hotel’s lobby, which houses horitcultural displays that get changed out 5 times a year – for Christmas, Chinese New Year, Spring, Summer and Fall.

It apparently takes 100 people, working 24 hours a day, 1 week to complete a new display — that typically includes approximately 40 trees, 1,500 shrubs and 10,000 blooming plants.

The displays are always spectacular and this year’s Christmas display was no different.

I especially loved the nut-covered reindeer as well as the penguins at play and decorating their Christmas tree. The ornament garlands and mirrored bows were strikingly beautiful and the various water features were fun to watch as always.

I’ve uploaded my photos of this year’s Christmas display at the Bellagio Conservatory and botanical gardens to Flickr.

The Conservatory is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and admission is free.

I recommend that you visit fairly early in the day, before the throngs of people show up… perhaps between 8 and 9 a.m.

Holiday Inn Express – Raising The Bar

On our recent road trip we stayed at three Holiday Inn Express Hotels, Whitefish Montana, Coeur D’Alane Idaho and Downtown Spokane Washington. The one that stood out in terms of service was the hotel in Coeur D’Alene.

Check-in was fast and friendly and we were given complimentary water. Shortly after we arrived in the room the desk called to see if everything was to our satisfaction. Whenever we encountered a staff member we were greeted in a friendly manner. The hotel is clean and I noticed staff cleaning the parking lot and windows around the hotel.

We noticed that they hold a movie night on Mondays and show films in the lobby.

Better yet, the evening we were there, they had a Manager’s Reception with a Free B.B.Q. dinner that included beer, wine, and soft drinks.

Holiday Inn used to have the Motto “No Surprises”, well we where pleasantly surprised by the level of service provided here.

A Room with a View at the Banff Park Lodge

When checking into the Banff Park Lodge, I specifically asked the girl at the front desk in which direction the room faced. She pointed to the west. Being somewhat claustrophobic and knowing that the west-facing rooms had unobstructed views, I was relieved.

I knew she had misled us however as we toted our baggage southwards down the first hall and then made an abrubt right turn to end up at a north-facing room. My fears were realized when I went to the window to see that the view was almost completely obliterated by a wall, as shown in the photograph at the top left.

I promptly phoned the desk to request a room change and was informed that there were no rooms available and that we could change to another room in the morning.

“The sign outside indicates that there are still vacancies”, I asserted, to which she responded that the currently available rooms were allocated to a group arriving the following day.

“I’m here now and would like a room with a view, you can give them this room”, I told her. She responded that she would see what she could do and would call me back in 5 minutes. Having heard nothing by fifteen minutes later, I went to the front desk to see how the matter was progressing.

The nasty little fraulein rolled her eyes when she saw Ed and I approach the desk. She had a list of room numbers written down on a sheet of paper and it was obvious that their reservation system was a nightmare. We however stood patiently waiting until they sorted things out and finally got a room with a south-facing view towards Rundle mountain.

The point is – don’t accept the room with the bad view or take front desk clerks at face value. They will lie to you, and if you’re lucky enough to catch them, you will eventually get the room that you want.

Technorati Tags: Banff Park Lodge, hotel room, view, front desk

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