This used to be a decent place to stay
Written: Jul 30 '02 (Updated Jul 31 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Not too expensive for strip hotel
Cons: Corporate bureaucracy, the clientele, quality
The Bottom Line: The Monte Carlo has found new and interesting ways to let guests know they don't matter. Instead of adapting to compete with newer better casinos they got purchased by them.
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| daperlman's Full Review: Monte Carlo Resort And Casino |
Old Vegas, New Vegas
This is probably my 20th trip to Vegas counting back to my first magical trip in the Summer of 96. I fell in love with Vegas right then. Partly due to the enormous hotels and shows, but mostly because of the attention to detail and customer service. The idea is that a place like the Monte Carlo (or any other strip casino) can count on you playing with a few hundred or more each day. Therefore things like drinks, sundries, and even the room were heavily discounted or free to guests who gambled there. That was then.
Now 1 of, or a combination of 3 corporations (Circus Circus, MGM, and Park-Place)run this and every other casino. They are all publicly held so they are squeezing the payroll, tightly regulating comps, and slowly stripping casinos of their own identities. The Majority of MC is owned by Circus Circus, part of the Club One comp system.
Like being nickel and dimed...
Don't bother pulling your club one player card unless you plan to bet $25 and up every single time. This is not anything new, but typically someone takes the card and watches your bets...noting a $25 or more bet. Well these people take your card look at your bet and stop looking if that or the next bet is not $25 or more. I made bets for more and less then $25, but poof none appear on the card. As a result I lost money, paid for my room, and my meals, but this is just the start of the MC's Nickel and Dime it's customer policy.
Forgot a lighter or cigar cutter, no problem just pick them up in the convenience store located next to the casino. For just $50 dollars you'll be smoking cigars in style. With these prices, let's hope you brought toiletries with you. You will be happy to find a four dollar 20 oz. bottle of Aquafina waiting for you, after losing a few grand in the casino. Sure all mini bars are a little over-priced but the MC mini-bar goes above and beyond the call of price gauging to say up yours for staying here. If you feel like catching a game in the sports book better have a ticket for a game that is on when you order the drink. Yeah that's right if you buy a bet for $200 on a 1:00 game and it is 5:00...sorry you no longer qualify for free drinks in the "luxurious" sports book. The MC sports book contains 8 32" TV's for stuff besides horses, they look like they are about 20 years old. Pretty classy huh?
The Room
You are probably aware that the Monte Carlo has been around for a while. Therefore it isn't going to compare to newer rooms on the strip. However the space you get is very reasonable.
The shower just plain sucks. I stayed in 2 different rooms one had a shower with an ancient knock off of the shower massage and one had a cheapo showerhead mounted 4 feet off the ground. Thumbs down on the shoddy water pressure and crappy soap. Oh yeah and the towels are big enough for an emaciated 12 year girl.
The rooms I stayed in were slightly different as well. The first room looked as if it hadn't been renovated for a long time. It was the kind of room that has a door opening to the next (adjacent) room. Of course the jerk next to me opened his at 5am while screaming in Japanese (all this when I had to wake for 7am round of golf). After screaming at him, security finally shut him up. The next room I stayed in did not have a view of the pool as did the first, but it looked much newer. Again good size. Neither room had high speed access and such old wiring that dial-up access was quite painful. Both rooms had a poor excuse for a TV (18") with 20 actual channels and 4 that ran off of the MC CPU network ... rotating specials and show times. One the custom channels had an "illegal operation" message that froze it for 3 days. It figures that this hotel would run windows 98.
The Food
Andres an overpriced average French place, if you would like good French food try Drai's
Blackstone's Steakhouse has average steak at reasonable prices, not memorable.
The Brewpub has crappy bar food and above average privately brewed beer. The highlight is the obscenely large glass tube of beer. They try to make this a hip place and make you take your baseball hats off after 10pm when a band strikes up cover tunes.
A terrible buffet for an average price can be had, I would recommend the Frontier buffet over this one any day
I actually rather enjoyed the Eggs Benedict and coffee at the Cafe. Of course the service was atrocious.
Places I haven't tried but hear good things about: Dragon Noodle (Chinese), Market City Cafe (Italian)
Food court contains McDonald's, Nathan's Hot Dogs and Sbarro's pizza.
Other Amenities
For 17 bones you can take part in the MC's mediocre health club, which does contain, to their credit, a steam room. This pool is pretty good except for the clientele. Although I would prefer a younger crowd, I enjoyed the "lazy river" hooch and wave pool. Be prepared to pay 6 dollars for a frozen drink while baking at the pool. Expect to find middle-aged, middle class nobodies at this hotel. The standard act at MC is Magician Lance Burton. The Houdini Lounge has some good lounge acts.
Location
The MC is located on the south end of the strip next to New York, New York. Not the best part of the strip but a free tram goes from the MC to Bellagio till 2am. A cab ride anywhere on the strip is no more than $5 and $10 to go downtown. Oddly enough, this place has a miserable single file cab line that backs guests up back into the hotel.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
daperlman
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Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
Mission: Find recipe for Nabisco Space Foodsticks. Foil conspiracy responsible for disappearance of Foodsticks.
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