Apartment Complex attempting to be an upscale resort
Written: Feb 17 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Peaceful, with beautiful landscaping. Rooms are nicely decorated and adequately furnished. 2 miles from strip.
Cons: Insufficient hot water!!! No on-site dining! No Airport Shuttle! Slow Check-In Process! Noisy Neighbors!
The Bottom Line: The place is so-so. It looks nice, rooms are comfortable, but the in-room jacuzzi is a joke (no hot water!), no on-site dining. No shuttle service to the airport.
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| gummyroach's Full Review: Westgate Flamingo Bay |
My birthday was over the Presidents' Day weekend, and I decided this year that I would go to Las Vegas just for fun. It was a last minute decision, so I knew that accomodations would probably cost a little bit more than if I had several weeks to prepare.
I was looking for a place that had some room. Food in Las Vegas, while delicious, can be very pricey, depending on where you go. It was for that reason, that I wanted a room with a refridgerator, so I could save some money on food. I had heard that some of the hotels have got hot tubs right in the rooms. I thought why not live it up, so I tried to find a place with all of that.
I looked on-line at HOTELS.COM, and selected condos. It brought up the WESTGATE FLAMINGO BAY "Resort" in Las Vegas. It advertised one and two bedroom condos, complete with a kitchen, washer and dryer, dishwasher, livingroom with fireplace, big tv with DVD player, a dining area, a large bathroom with walk-in shower, and an actual jacuzzi! This sounded perfect!
I wanted to see a couple of shows while I was down there, so I went to http://www.LASVEGAS.COM and bought show tickets for Mystere and Penn & Teller. (Both were excellent shows, I might add!)
The airport in Vegas is a bit strange. After I got off the plane, I had to get on a tram which took me to the main terminal and baggage claim. There was a shuttle bus company outside of door 9, which advertised on-line as going to hotels both on and off the strip. When I got to their counter and told them where I needed to go, they said rather snobby-ish, "We don't go there, sir!" Maybe it's because Westgate Flamingo ISN'T an actual hotel?
The Westgate Flamingo resort is about 2 or 3 miles west of the strip, on Flamingo Road. For some strange reason, this so-called 5 star "resort" did not have a shuttle bus that goes to the airport. I had thought about renting a car, but rental cars were completely booked, as in nothing available. So... I took a cab. The cab ride was about $25 bucks, because the traffic down there was unbelievable! (Getting a cab at the airport is easy. There's a long line, you'd think you were at Disneyland, but the line moves very quickly. Wait time was shorter than 15 minutes.)
When the cab pulled up to the gates of the Westgate Flamingo Bay resort, my first reaction was "Wow! This is really nice!" The pictures of the place that are posted on-line really don't do the place any justice. The place really DOES look beautiful. The landscaping is absolutely gorgeous. There's a guard at the gate. (I later determined that the gate was there to keep people IN!)
The check-in process took forever! At most hotels, check-in is maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Not this place. The girl running the desk obviously didn't know what she was doing. At first, she pulled up the wrong reservation, asked me to confirm my departure date. I explained that I was only staying from February 14th until the 17th. They had me down as staying there an entire week. When I pointed out that I was only staying for 3 nights, she got a little stuffy on me. Made me wait while she chatted with a few people. She returned to the counter and said, "You may leave early, but you must pay for the entire week of your reservation." I told her, "Oh I don't THINK SO!" She got someone else up to the counter, and they discovered we were looking at the wrong reservation. They found mine, and the dates were correct. This was about 30 minutes or so after I walked in. Then... they directed me to another counter, where I would be given a welcome packet.
Now I had read on-line (sadly, AFTER booking) that the place was actually a time share resort, and that they would attempt to set up an appointment with you, try to talk you into taking a tour, bribe you with "free" show or dinner tickets, and try to con you into signing up for a time share. This coirce desk took another 15 minutes before I was finally waited on. I had booked a show that night, and I wanted to get settled in, get cleaned up, then head to the box office and get my tickets. Time was a little short. I thought I had plenty of time, but because of the 45 minute check-in fiasco, I was pressed for time. The gentleman at the desk was extremely courteous, I will give him credit for that. He pulled out a package of brochures, but I stopped him. I told him, "I appreciate all this, but you see, I have already booked some shows this evening, and I'm a little pressed for time." He apologised, and immediately dropped the whole sales pitch thing, and directed me to my room. I was never approached again for any of the timeshare sales presentations and what-not.
My room was 1821, which was right around the corner from the check-in building, so at least I wasn't right smack on the street. My first reaction when entering the room was "WOW!!!! I found paradise!" The place looked beautiful!
I found that looks are deceiving though. As I tried to shut the front door, it felt extremely tight. Only way it would shut is to slam it. Not good! (All during my stay, I could hear doors slamming all hours of the day and night! Also, it's very close to, if not directly under, the flight path for the airport, so all hours of the day and night, I could hear jets flying overhead. Teriffic... ) The bedroom door dragged on the carpet when I attempted to close it, making it equally difficult. The kitchen was nice, but upon close inspection, the "quality cabinets" were anything but. They are laminated, made to look like genuine oak or cherry. The cabinets contained dishes, cookware, and a handful of kitchen appliances. Not bad. The ice maker in the fridge had been shut off, so there was no ice waiting for me. Not a huge deal, but it would have been nice. I turned it on. There is a full-sized washer and dryer off of the kitchen, which I thought was great. The living room area looked really nice. The place has tile floor throughout, which contributed to the noise factor. (The bedroom is carpeted, and there is an area rug in the living room) The place echoed. The fireplace was really nice. At first glance, it looks like marble. But... upon closer inspection, it feels like styrofoam! It's FAKE! The tv in the living room is in a weird place. It's above the fireplace, but it's up too high, so you have to strain your neck, looking up at it. The picture quality on the tv was pathetic! Very grainy. There's a small stereo in the glass shelves to the left of the fireplace. This stereo is about as cheap as they come. Probably not worth more than 30 dollars. They put the speakers one on top of the other. Whoever came up with that idea obviously doesn't know that the left speaker goes on the left of the listener, and the right speaker goes on the right. Not a big deal, but I notice things like that. The DVD player was every bit as cheap as the stereo. Looked like it was the cheapest unit that Walmart sold. It had a remote control slightly larger than a credit card. Getting the dvd player to respond to the remote was a joke. I had to unplug the power to the dvd player a few times to get it to finally respond. It played my dvd's well though. It took me a few minutes to find the power switch to the fireplace. It is located in the cubby hole where the tv sits, hidden on the wall. I might add that the whole electrical system in the place was a bit odd! Light switches for the bedroom were located outside, in the hall! Who does that??!!? Who designed that place?
The bedroom was really nice. There is a huge mirror that goes the whole length of the wall where the headboard for the bed is. It goes from floor to ceiling. The jacuzzi is in the bedroom, and it has full length mirrors all the way around it. It's nice, but only if you don't mind seeing yourself while you take a bath. No thanks! The jacuzzi tub could probably accomodate 2 adults. It holds about 80 gallons, has adjustable jets. Here's the catch, though; The water heater in the place, while it looked large, never had enough hot water to make the jacuzzi anything but lukewarm! That was a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT! What I did was turn on the hot water, let it run until it started getting cold, then I'd shut it off, wait about 30 minutes, then run some more hot water until it got cold, and repeated the process. Talk about ridiculous!
The bathroom has his and her sinks, a toidy that sounds like a jet taking off when you flush it, and a large, glass-enclosed walk-in shower. It looked really nice. The shower had one of the cheapest Moen Shower Heads you can get. I'm talking Home Depot Special, probably bought it for 7 bucks. Very poor water pressure. I practically had to run around in the shower just to get wet. Pathetic!
The bathroom had a holder mounted on the wall for a blowdryer, but... the blowdryer was missing. Figures. Oh well, shaggy, Shy Boy/Emo/hippy hair would have to suffice.
The bed was HUGE! King-sized, and VERY comfortable! Lots of pillows. They got that part right! (Speaking of pillows, if you wanted to put your feet up while watching the tv in the front room, grab a spare pillow out of the closet next to the door. Put it on the coffee table (EVERYTHING is granite), then take your shoes off and put your feet on the pillow)
There were no draperies in the place. (Something else that could have possibly cut down on the noise levels!) They had venetian blinds. They were ok, but.... they didn't block out the bright porch lights at night.
There is a Smith's Food & Drug shopping center about 3 blocks up the street. This is where a rental car would have been nice, if you plan on buying more groceries than you can carry. I miscalculated, and so I "Borrowed" a shopping cart and wheeled my groceries clear from Smiths, down the street 3 blocks. I ditched the cart at the bus stop. (I know, I know! SHAME on me! But it turns out that this is how many people at the resort buy their groceries.) They do have a shuttle bus that supposedly takes you from the resort to the store, but it only runs once a day, very early in the morning when the typical tourist is still asleep.
They have shuttles that go to and from the strip, which is rather convenient. But they're not always dependable, and their hours of operation are limited. The city buses, if you are that brave and daring, run MUCH more frequently, and you can buy a 24 hr bus pass for about 3 bucks. The downside to using public transportation is that some of the people who ride that thing are downright scary.
So.... there you have it. I know I've written a novel, but hopefully I've provided enough details about the place that it will aid you in your decision-making.
Yes, the place looks and feels nice. I would recommend it for families, or for business travelers. I would NOT recommend it for anyone expecting to use the in-room jacuzzi, because there isn't enough hot water to make it even worth bothering with. Probably not the ideal place for a honeymoon. Definately rent a car, unless you don't mind a lot of walking, or wish to use the shuttle or public tranportation.
This is NOT a 5-star resort by any shape or form. What it is, is an updated apartment complex that they've masqueraded with fake decor to make it look really upscale. As for a time-share? Pssshyeah..... are you kidding me?
Would I stay there again? Probably not.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
gummyroach
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Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 1 member
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