9/29-10/4/02: Stayed at the Rio for $59 through internet email offer. Was a great room with L-shaped couch, 32" tv, dressing area, refrig, 2 sinks, small table w/2 chairs. Room clean and spacious. Valet service speedy and respectful. We ordered room service (about $30 apiece for 2 steaks). It was delivered within a half hour. Fantastic meal - order potato instead of rice (unless you like bland-tasting rice pilaf). Prime rib and filet were excellent and served hot. Waiter set the table for us including table cloth and plate setting and placed the cloth napkins in each of our laps and said to call when finished and he would return to pick up. We did and he did. Husband had salad and I had french onion soup - yummy. Great service reflected in our $10 tip.

There's an Outback Steakhouse across the street also.

Craps and blackjack minimums $10 + so we went across the street to the Gold Coast and did okay. We don't do slots. All American Bar & Grill served us two delicious 1/2 lb hamburgers with the fixings & fries and even though $7.99 sounds steep, I'd go back and pay it again. I heard the lines for the Carnival Buffet and Village Seafood Buffet were long & up to two hour waits so we didn't even try. We did go to the Buzio Seafood restaurant & the salmon was good but I didn't care for the shrimp scampi linguini (shrimp was okay but even adding salt & pepper didn't improve the blandness of the linguini). The Ipaneda Bar had two-person music which I did enjoy but the waitress was too busy flirting and talking to the bartender to be concerned about returning quickly with our drinks. Her terrible service was reflected in our leaving NO tip.

Being we like to play craps with low minimum bets with multiple odds, we'll probably stay at a strip or downtown hotel next trip. Or we may do the same and rent a car ($99 weekly Avis deal) and stay again at the Rio.

Welcome to TalkVegas, BabeFrank ..and thanks for reminding me I've never stayed at the Rio<g>. I always talk myself out of it for the reason you mentioned ...much better gambling across the street. Your room service steak sounds like a really good reason to try it sometime. $59 is the best rate I've heard about.

Did you wander across the street to the Palm?

Sounds like you recreived better rates and service than most of us have received at the RIO - especially during the past few years. I really enjoyed their mini-suites but have found the rest of it lacking (other than the Parade in the Sky). You can always cross the street one way to the Palms or the other way to the Gold Coast- both the RIO and Gold Coast have shuttles to mid strip. Enjoyed your report and welcome aboard. Wendell

No, we didn't go to the Palms because of the minimum bets we heard were comparable to the Rio.

Thanks for the welcome.

We did well shooting craps at a couple mini-craps tables - one at the Imperial and the other at Casino Royale. We also did well at Fitzgeralds and the Tropicana. I made a guy a lot of money at the Fitzgeralds shooting craps and he gave me two $25 chips to "go have lunch on me." That was really a surprise!

Being we had a car (we like the ability to chose when and where we go), we hit the northern strip, then the southern strip the next day, downtown on Wednesday when it rained most of the day, Palace Station, Sahara, Circus Circus, Slots O Fun, and Westward Ho (some were repeats), and the Trop on the last day.

The best craps, due to the low minimum, multiple odds up to 100x, was the Casino Royale and Imperial Palace.

I noticed the Rio does still have special offers on their website as low as $39, depending on when you go, of course. I wouldn't mind staying there again.

From my original posting on the Rio stay, here's how the going2vegas visitor tip board "censored and altered" my comments. Do they get a kickback from what they have on their board, does anyone know? It just seems odd that they'd leave out the negative and only pout in the positive is this is supposed to be a visitor tip section??

"Stayed at the Rio for $59 through internet email offer. Was a great room with L-shaped couch, 32" tv, dressing area, refrig, 2 sinks, small table w/2 chairs. Room clean and spacious. All American Bar & Grill served us two delicious 1/2 lb hamburgers with the fixings & fries and even though $7.99 sounds steep, I'd go back and pay it again. The Ipaneda Bar had two-person music which I did enjoy."

I guess censorship is in, although I don't think I made any terribly offensive remarks, do you?

Frank,
There was nothing wrong with your post. We like to hear the neg. as well as the pos. That way we can make our own decision. Like weather or not to order rice. one thing I found about the Rio even though I like the rooms, I won't stay there again because there comps suck.
Welcome and thanks for your post.

My latest response to the going2vegas site:

How about the fact it was others staying at the hotel who told us about the long wait lines?

How about the fact it took the waitress 15 minutes to get us a drink in an almost empty bar?

Your customer service response clearly turns me off to your site which I already posted on other sites about how your site censors negative and only posts positive.

Your kickbacks must really be worthy.

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Parkansky [mailto:keithp@execpc.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2002 2:42 PM
To: mnicks@mho.com
Subject: Re: Going_To_Vegas_Site

Other sites welcome trip reports.
Our board is for TIPS.

The fact that you "heard" buffet
lines were long is not a tip.
The fact that you think a waitress
is flirty is not a tip.
The fact that a room service waiter
set the table is not a tip. It's
their job.

We ask very clearly that you not
post trip reports. If you don't
want to honor our request then
please don't visit the site.
--
Keith Parkansky
keithp@execpc.com

bebefrank,
Welcome to TalkVegas!
Thanks for the great trip report. I personally like hearing the negatives as well as the positives of any trip to Las Vegas.
Craps isn't my game, but the green chip "thank you" was a class act! The fact that it happened inside the Fitz is amazing!
In the other sites defence, if they ask that you not visit, I'd honor thier request! LOL

Again Welcome to TalkVegas!!!

Babefrank,

Thanks for the report. I, also, used to stay at the Rio alot. Left because they didn't seem interested in mid-level players.

Welcome to TalkVegas. We occasionally sensor things that don't fit into our guidelines or might be offensive. We certainly don't censor reports of bad service or other experiences. That's a big part of what this is about. Helping others to avoid problems.

Now, I've got to ask about your screen name. Is your name Frank and you're a babe? Or maybe Frank and his babe went to Vegas?

Sounds like a good deal on your car also.

Babefrank,

We also have stayed at the Rio and I agree that if you can get an excellent price, it is worth walking next door to gamble. I agree that the bell hops/valet/room service folks are very pleasant there and the rooms are so nice.

We stayed at Rio in June (on a weekend) at $49 per night due to a quick sale by www.hoteldiscount.com and we happened to check prices at the right time.

Then we stayed there in September for FREE from an offer they sent via email (2 nights).

Funny thing is, I don't think we've run over $100 through the slots in the past year!

Otherwise, we recently started staying at Gold Coast and love it there. Their rooms are cheap, always clean, so close to the casino, and the casino hosts are polite. The employees are nicer than anywhere else we've stayed. It's the first place we've made "friends" with some of the employees. Plus we can't hear a thing going on in the rooms around us. That is most important when we need sleep at odd hours. The rooms are nothing to write home about which might turn off some people, especially the first time visitor looking for the Vegas they see in ads.

As far as craps, Gold Coast has $2 minimums at most times. Even at its highest, the minimums are $5 on late Fri or Sat nights. We never saw the Rio tables less than $10 during our stays, although I know they used to be $5 at off times. Good luck on your next trip!

Staying at the RIO to enjoy their mini-suites is not a bad idea (IF you have decent rates) and walking across the street to the Gold Coast or Palmsfor other activites is not a bad idea at all. The Cortez restaurant in the Gold Coast is an excellent restaurant and employees are definately friendly. The Gold Coast is where we are having our annual Thanksgiving meet next month - so was glad to hear of the glowing report. Wendell