My husband and I just came back from a 5-night stay at the Rio in Las Vegas. This was our 3rd year in a row that we went to Las Vegas but the first time we stayed at the Rio. We found it last year because we ate at the seafood buffet, which is advertised in all the brochures. We also went last year to see what is known as “The best free show in town” called “Masquerade Village Show in the Sky.” The Rio is a new hotel and is owned by Harrah’s.

Location:

Where is it? Rio is not on the Strip, Las Vegas Boulevard, where the well known hotels are: Paris, Bellagio, MGM, New York, New York, The Luxor as well as the older ones such as Tropicana. It is located at 3700 W Flamingo Road, which is not walking distance from the strip. It is about a 10-minute drive with traffic and lights, which you will almost always find. We rented a car for the 2nd year not just because of the location but also because we went out of the area several times. You do not have to have a car. There are shuttle buses from the Rio to the Strip day and night and, of course, taxis. There is also a bus that runs the length of the Strip once you get there.

Finances and Promotions:

~Naturally the price will vary depending on the season and the nights. We paid the following: Wednesday and Thursday nights cost $64.31; Friday was $140.61; Saturday night was $173.31; and Sunday was $75.21 which comes to $514.75 for 5 nights at an average of $102.95 per night.

~One promotion that was going on when we went was a voucher for two to see Ronn Lucas who is a nationally renowned comedian and ventriloquist. He was fabulous and I hope to be able to review some of the less expensive shows in town at some point. His will be on the top of my list.

~Another promotion that you will see in either a brochure or on the streets is one free breakfast buffet at the Rio with the purchase of one. The breakfast buffet is $8.99 and is very good especially as a two for one. There are many buffets in Las Vegas and what distinguishes this one from others is that not only can you have eggs cooked to order (which is common) but you can have freshly made pancakes.

~I urge you to go to Harrah’s and outside on the left if you are facing it you will see a court with vendors. People will be giving out coupons and you are apt to find this coupon being given out here. In fact we had just eaten a buffet elsewhere and found a $3.00 coupon off each meal being given out so try to get these discounts early in your stay!

~Another promotion is the Rewards card, which every hotel gives you if you sign up for it. You put it in the slot machine and you rack up points, very slowly! Different hotels give you different things for the points but the Rio was giving $100 to be used after spending $50.00 in the machines. It sounds like a great deal. The problem with this one is that you will get the voucher for $100 in the mail and it has to be used within 9 months. Unless Las Vegas is a place you are going to twice a year, that promotion has little value.

~There is plenty of free parking. We always found a space in the lot, which abuts the building, but there is other parking if that is full. There is also valet parking.

The Room:

~The Rio is gorgeous. From a distance it is lit up in purplish/red and blue and it is quite pretty close up as well. The Rio, unlike The Bellagio, for example, is what I call a glitzy hotel. The colors are bold, bright and splashy and the room was similar, although not as glitzy as it could have been!

~We stayed on the 27th floor and if you stay here ask for the highest room you can get. One wall is a window with a view that, although it doesn’t match my own view of the Atlantic Ocean, offers a view of the Las Vegas Strip and the mountains in the background. Keep the curtains open at night. You can’t be seen (and if someone has binoculars that’s their problem) and it is worth the view as you go to sleep. All 2,563 rooms are suites.

~There are a couple of minor discrepancies I want to mention. The first is that we did not have a drip coffeemaker in our room which expedia.com lists as something we should have had. In addition, you may think a suite is two rooms, or at least a room, such as the Venations’ suites, which have a couple of steps down to the living room. The Rio's suites are very, very large rooms with a couch and coffee table on one side rather than being two individual rooms.

~Expedia lists this hotel as “Premium: (from the website)
World-class lodging for the most discriminating traveler; these hotels pride themselves on meticulous personal service, numerous amenities, elegant décor, and the highest standards of comfort; among the finest hotels in the world."

~The room was very, very pretty. The curtains matched the bedspread, which matched the area on the wall behind the beds. We also had a table and two chairs and nightstand. There was a 32-inch television with a side table and lamp next to the couch. It was large enough for me to get up in the morning, turn on the couch lamp and read and not disturb my husband. I can assure you that these beds were queen-sized (2 of them) by anyone’s standards. King-sized beds are available also and we were in a non-smoking room. There is a separate area where the closet is which also housed a refrigerator (Which was too cold and my Diet Cokes froze.) and 4-draw chest. I felt that, although these 4 draws were adequate for us, there was room for a separate dresser in the bedroom and I was surprised not to find one. You’ll also find an iron and board, hairdryer and shampoos/conditioners and soaps. Extra pillows were in the closet. There was a sink in this area as well as in the separate room that housed the toilet and tub/shower.

~There were two other unusual findings. There were only two small wastebaskets in this very, very large area. I would have expected to find an additional one in the bedroom/living room area, rather than just in the “dressing room” and bathroom areas. The other unusual finding was a very pretty mirror in the bedroom. What was unusual about it was the glass window on the top of it that looked into the shower. I can't figure out the purpose of that. My husband thought it funny that he could watch TV while showering.

~There was a free safe in the room and a bar. We were clearly warned that if anything in the bar was touched even if it was put back we would be charged for it. Needless to say I never opened it!

Customer Service:

~We had very little interaction with customer service other than at check in, which was simple, although we did wait about 10 minutes because of the line. Check out was simple also. You can check out electronically, however that wasn’t working Monday morning so we had no option but a human check out process.

~Under this category I will mention housekeeping which was wonderful. We always found extra soap and shampoo and in spite of not needing a new towel every day, we got clean ones daily. (There was a notice, which I am seeing more and more frequently) that in order to conserve water, if you don’t need your linens and towels washed daily, put a sign up and they will be washed every other day.) This really is irony to me, though. In a city that must use more electricity and water than I can fathom, saving water is not something I would put on the top of their conservation concerns!

~One morning the shower was lukewarm but it never happened again!

Other amenities:

~It was too cool to swim but we walked around and saw the gorgeous pools, which include a waterfall and real sand. In fact in one wing of the hotel as you pass the doors to the outside you will see sand.

~You will find a spa and fitness center that is really nice. I did not use it and there is an extra charge to but if I had really wanted to and had time, I would have treated myself - it really did look wonderful.

~You’ll find several lounges including the Voodoo Lounge, which is 50 floors high. You’ll find several stores, including one which sells only children’s items and one which sells beautiful copies of designer jewelry. The Rio is not a shopping Mecca, though. If you are looking for that, you can go to Caesars Palace, which is a shopping Mecca!

~There are only a few restaurants that you would consider a food court in the traditional sense. You’ll find a pretzel stand and a couple of ice cream stores. There is no real food court like you will find in other hotels including the Excalibur where we stood in line for Krispy Kreme donuts.

Food and Entertainment:

~I mentioned earlier Rio's well-known "Masquerade Village Show in the Sky.” I can describe this as a carnival in the sky meaning that elaborate boats run on tracks on the ceiling with dancers in it and cages come down from the ceiling with dancers in it. There are jugglers on stages that come up from the casino area as well as a really well done show on a stage that appears from the floor. The dancers throw colored beads to the spectators and you would think they were made of gold the way people grab for them, including me! The hours of this show were slightly different this year than last. In general, they ran 5:30, 6:30, 7:00 - 10:00pm. Last year they were on the hour every hour from 4:00pm - 10:pm.

~The Rio has one of the nicest casinos around, in my opinion. It is beautiful, very, very large and has a huge variety of gambling options including the new interactive slot machines, which are very cute. There is no where, however where there is no smoking on the casino floor. Unlike the Gold Coast, which has non-smoking rows, smoking is everywhere at the Rio except at the show we saw (Ronn Lucas).

~Some of the food I had at the Rio included sandwiches at Toscano’s Deli & Market which were delicious. I had a veggie and chees sub and my husband had a salad and pizza. The prices were reasonable (In the $5.00 range for my sandwich.) Be very specific, though. If I hadn’t asked, I would have been given whatever kind of bread the cashier decided to put down and my cheese would have been grilled when I wanted it cold. In fact I said I wanted it cold, but the first time around it was grilled.

~I mentioned breakfast earlier that we had breakfast at the Rio, the Carnival World Buffet. You will also find a Mexican, Italian and Brazilian restaurant as well as the very popular seafood buffet, which I recommended when I went last year and based on the line, it still appears to be as good as it was, although it is one of the more expensive buffets – in the $22-24 range.

My final thoughts:

The Rio is a Zagat Award-winning hotel and one I absolutely recommend. I would go back there next year. I would not go back to The Luxor. I would love to stay at the super expensive Bellagio, but that will have to wait. If you are looking for a fun hotel with a great casino and super large rooms, give the Rio a try. This is not a hotel I would recommend if you have children, although there were many there, unless it is warm and they can play in the pools. Hotels such as Excalibur and Circus Circus are more children friendly in my opinion.

There is one last issue I want to mention and will be sending this to the Rio. I have stayed in Mexico and been asked every 5 minutes while walking on the beach if I want to see a time-share. I could avoid these marketing people, however, since they couldn’t come within the boundaries the hotels put up. I am interrupted at home by telemarketers and deal with it. I don’t have to fly across the country and spend over $100 a night plus the money I gave to the casino to be asked about 300 times in 5 days if I wanted to see a timeshare. You will find this at Harrah’s also, leading me to believe that they own this timeshare. I must have gone into 30 hotels over 5 days and the Rio and Harrah’s were the only two with marketing people selling time-shares. I will not name it because I don’t want to give them the plug. I mentioned how annoying this was to the people approaching me. They, of course, just smiled and said that they were doing their jobs and that the hotel was paying $15,000 a day for them to be there. I have no problem with them setting up a booth at the check-in desk and/or one at the front door. I do have a problem with not being able to cross the casino or even move around without being approached and asked yet again if I had nothing to do the next day because if I (Actually not just I, my husband had to be free also - I asked) were free I could get free tickets to a show.

I must add this caveat to this review and hope the Rio takes heed. Before making a reservation at this fabulous hotel, see if they are still paying to have the marketing people stationed throughout the casino and first floor. If they are and you don’t mind, then go for it. But be forewarned. It is more than annoying and I won’t go back unless they are not there.

For more Las Vegas reviews:

Red Rock Canyon

Eating Our Way Through Las Vegas Buffets

The Rio Hotel and Casino

The Fremont Experience (Downtown Las Vegas)

The Strip - 2 Low Budget Shows

Valley of Fire
Tropicana Casino

The Luxor




The Rio Hotel and Casino


Recommended: Yes