Night 2 of the trip was spent at the Tropicana in a Paradise Tower room on a $40 rate off an email offer from them. The valet is always fast at the Trop and there was only a 2 minute wait at the front desk. Unlike the previous day at the Tuscany, when I arrived to check-in at 1:00 PM my room was ready to go without a hint of charging me for it! That is one trend I really hope doesn't catch on. The Paradise Tower is the one closest to the Strip and has been recently remodeled as part of the Tropicana's $250M expansion and refurb. I was on the 17th floor with a nice view of Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay. The rooms are brand-spankin' new and the remodel was well done. The orange and ratan look isn't something I would put in my house but works well with the "south Beach" theme they are going with. One interesting thing about this remodel that is different with most others is that it appears that they went as far as to have ripped down walls to rebuild the bath, bringing it up to the standard of new rooms. There was a nice sized flat screen TV with high-def programming and the best feature was large day bed by the window which was perfect to hang out on.
The public areas of the place were somewhat torn up during my stay. They are adding to the front of the building, pushing it out closer to the Strip and the main entrance is a construction zone. One thing that you notice immediately when you walk in the front door is how bright the casino pit now looks. It used to be kind of dark and dingy. Large parts of slot area are still a work in progress and walled off. The pool area, once the best in Vegas, was also supposedly redone but it didn't seem that much different from my stay last summer. Lastly, they are touting a remodel of the Island Tower to be done this summer, which is way overdue. Those rooms were looking rather tired a year ago.
The changes extend to the restaurants as well. The buffet looked closed for the long-term, which isn't a huge loss, while the Steakhouse should be re-opened shortly. They also have closed their 24 hour coffee shop and replaced it was a snack bar, the South Beach Cafe. I ate lunch there and while it certainly wasn't a bad sandwich; it's pricey, the menu is limited and it just doesn't offer what the classic Vegas coffee shop used to. Another Vegas casual dining travesty!
Considering what I paid for the room, I couldn't have been happier with it. $40 for a fresh, new room in a very good south Strip location is hard to beat. I love the fact that the new owners are dumping money into the place, trying to compete with the big boys all around them. Fresh blood is just what the Strip needs to keep the MGM and Harrah's on their toes. The room was well done and the casino looks much improved. They have a huge property to work with that was stolen out of BK so will be interesting to see what the final product becomes. But for right now, if you are willing to deal with a little construction, you will be hard pressed to find a better deal for a nice room on the Strip.
Visit VegasCasinoInfo.com for the complete guide to Las Vegas Hotels and Casinos. Property maps of every major casino, 100s of pictures and a ton of other info all without annoying ads!
No comments:
Post a Comment