I have travelled far and wide in my 53 years, visiting by my own count 37 states and have taken hundreds of trips lasting less than a day to a couple of weeks.
I have stayed in all manner of hotels and motels of varying quality from the beautiful Broadmoor Hotel at the foot of the rockies and the elegant Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to “no tell” motel rat traps I normally wouldn’t bed down at with a $5 whore but was forced by circumstances to stay.
But the exquisite torture inflicted on me by the Tropicana Hotel in Vegas was without a doubt the most cruel and unusual application of “hospitality” I have ever experienced. Old and smelly, with a disinterested almost catatonic staff along with amenities so niggardly they were damn near invisible, the “Trop” as they call it in Vegas contributed in no small way in making my first trip to Vegas the nightmare it turned out to be.
Blogworld was great. Don’t get me wrong. But nothing ruins a trip more than aggravation. And boy did I get a bellyfull in Vegas.
The flight out and back was uneventful. No complaints about US Airways which was very efficient – especially the electronic check in that had me in and out in less than 5 minutes both ways. Baggage was no problem and was delivered in a timely fashion.
But my troubles started with trying to get an airport cab – along with about 1000 other people. Walking a good 15 minutes from the gate to the baggage claim for starters, they herded us into an impossibly long queue – a couple of city blocks it seemed like – all to wait for 18 cabs at a time to pull up to a number corresponding to a customer.
Now I’ve flown into O’Hare during the busiest times of the year and I can tell you I’ve never waited in line more than 5 minutes or so for a cab. But this was a Thursday morning in November and there were literally hundreds of people waiting in line to get a cab.
It wasn’t that there weren’t enough cabs. It was the god-awful system they used. Only 18 cabs could pull up to the curb at a time and load up which means if there were 3 or 4 hundred people ahead of you, there was quite a wait.
It took me 20 minutes to get a cab.
Off to the Trop for a quick shower and a run out to the Convention center where the panels and seminars had already started. Or so I thought. What I didn’t count on was staying at a hotel where the guests were secondary to the schedule.
Check in time at the Trop was noon. Okay, I’ve been to dozens of hotels that if you get there a little early (it was 11:15 AM) the registration clerk would simply say something like “Let me call and make sure your room is ready” and if it wasn’t, they’d get it ready right quick and within a few minutes you’d have your room.
Imagine my surprise when the clerk informed me that “Check in is at noon,” and then turned away as if I had Ebola. I must have looked ridiculous standing there waiting because when she glanced up from her uber-important paperwork, the look on her face was one of mild amusement – like my boyhood friend Jim used to look when he would use a magnifying glass to set fire to a grasshopper back in the day.
“Is there anything I can do for you,” she said.
“Yes. I need to check in to my room.”
Like a broken record. “Check in is at noon, sir.”
“I see. My room isn’t ready yet?”
“Check in is at noon, sir.” As if her answer explained the mysteries of the universe.
“What do I do? What about my bags? I’ve got a meeting to get to.”
“Check in is at noon, sir. You can leave the bags with the doorman.”
And that, my friends, was that. At least at a flop house, the clerk will suggest you have a nice time when getting screwed. These people at the Trop gave you the shaft without benefit of a wrap around.
After dropping a couple of hundred at their rather indifferent casino, noontime arrives at which point I am charged an additional $6 bucks a night “resort fee” (snort) – as if I’m staying at the International on Maui.
The room is small, dark, and musky – as if the carpet had gotten wet and caught a bad case of mold. The room had torn coverings on the furniture, the lumpiest bed in Christendom, a clock radio showing the wrong time (it was 20 minutes off), and drapes that didn’t draw all the way closed.
I quickly got out of my clothes to jump in the shower when I first realized only cold water was coming out of the bathtub faucet. I turned the cold water all the way off leaving only the hot water on – still icey. I tried turning the cold on and hot off. Uh-uh, nope.
No hot water. No shower. No hope.
I changed my clothes in near darkness (the lights gave off about 30 watts each with the overhead light by the door completely out), trying to stay clear of the open curtains where about 100 people at poolside could look directly into my room and rushed over to the convention center.
To say that I was mad would be incorrect. I was more in shock than mad. And it only got worse.
After the first day’s events at Blogworld I returned to the Trop (waiting an hour for a cab at the convention center), stopping by the desk to tell them my hot water was kaput.
“Are you sure?” asked the Manager on Duty.
The snark emerged briefly. “You’re welcome to try it yourself,” I said with a straight face.
“We’ll get someone on that right away,” he said.
Now “right away” is a nebulous time frame so I told the Manager that since I was planning on going out shortly if he couldn’t give me a time frame.
“We’ll have someone come right up,” he said and picked up the phone.
Actually believing the maintenance guy might get there before I returned to my room (not impossible since I was a 10 minute walk from the front desk), I hurried back.
A half hour went by and no one showed up. Another half hour goes by and I’m starting to see red. For the first time, I allowed the annoyance to come through in my voice when I called the front desk.
“This is Mr. Moran in room 5152. I still have no hot water and I am going out very soon. When do you expect someone to come fix this problem?”
“Our maintenance man is very busy right now. He will try to get to it sometime tonight.”
I hated the idea of someone in my room when I wasn’t there. But it appeared I had little choice in the matter.
“This is ridiculous,” I blurted out.
The maintenance guy never did show up the whole time I was there.
I went to the MGM Grand to play since it was a much nicer casino. Dropping a couple hundred more (but having fun anyway) I returned to my room with the lumpy bed.
The next morning, I was forced to take a cold shower, a bracing experience if you want it. I didn’t but had no choice in the matter. Then it was off to another day’s events at Blogworld, returning around 5:00 PM (after waiting another hour for a cab.).
I thought I’d take a nap before dinner so imagine my surprise when I couldn’t get in to my room. The key didn’t work. I walked the ten minutes back and forth to and from the desk in order to get another key – which also didn’t work.
Back and forth again only to find out that apparently, the hotel had locked me out of my room thinking I had already checked out. I had indeed closed my account out that morning, an old habit born of waiting in line to check out. No problem, I was told. Since you plan to incur no charges, you only have to drop your key off at the desk tomorrow morning before you leave. But the idiot clerk had me checking out rather than simply closing out my account so I was forced to walk a marathon just to get it straightened out.
The nightmare continued when I discovered that the TV only got two stations – the station to order pay per view movies and the local Las Vegas station. All the other attempts to change the channel via remote or manually went for naught.
I didn’t even bother to call the desk and tell them.
In the morning, I decided to call the front desk and find out when the courtesy airport shuttle would be leaving. My final surprise of the trip came when I was told there was no free hotel shuttle service to the airport, that hotel guests were forced to fend for themselves. I sort of lost it when I nearly screamed:
“You don’t have an airport shuttle for guests? Jesus Lord! The Super 8 down the street has a courtesy shuttle!” It’s true. I had seen it.
“No reason to get upset about it, sir. You can reserve a shuttle from one of the private companies.”
“Okay,” I said calming down slightly. “Can you give me the number of one of the shuttle companies?”
“You can find them in the yellow pages under ‘airport transportation,’” she said.
CLICK went the phone. I nearly threw the instrument against the wall.
And there you have it. Uniformly bad service, horrible accommodations, indifferent amenities, and a staff that would have an easy time besting the guards at Abu Ghraib for “worst hospitality staff in the universe.”
The Tropicana will be torn down by 2010 to make way for a “new” Tropicana. Changing buildings ain’t gonna solve most of their problems. They might want to start by teaching their staff some manners.
At least then they probably wouldn’t have bloggers writing scathing reviews of their property.
3:29 pm
Enjoyed the story immensely! From your experience, I will never even consider the Trop when I go to LV.
M-
5:01 pm
Hey, it’s Vegas, pal. I’ve been there numerous times, with several experiences like yours, and let me tell you, it’s all about the money. If you don’t have lots of money, expect to get treated like dirt. And if you did have lots of money, you wouldn’t be staying at the trop.
Yoor experience is typical for anyone staying off-strip, or on-strip at an older hotel or down at the seedy end, say near Circus Circus. Except for the strip, the entire city is a dump, well on it’s way to becoming another American disgrace like Atlantic City.
But they took your money and gave you little or nothing in return, so, the system still worked.
Believe me, I’m sympathetic to your travails: as far as I am concerned, Vegas is the last place I want to go to a convention. Everyone should go there once (and see Hoover Dam, BTW, more impressive than the Strip IMO) but after that, it has always been a big disappointment to me. Lousy food at ridiculous prices, with exceptions to that rule rare, also.
5:06 pm
I’ve been to Reno about half a dozen times and the difference is night and day.
We love Reno – less crowded (even on weekends), great food at semi-reasonable prices, and everything is within walking distance (mostly).
Casinos aren’t as good or as swanky – but they’re okay.
Someone told me I should have stayed at the Bellagio. Next time…
6:12 pm
“to “no tell†motel rat traps I normally wouldn’t bed down at with a $5 whore”
Where do you normally bed down with a $5 whore?
Just kidding. Good to know. I won’t be staying at the Trop either.
6:21 pm
I’m sure I’d spend 5 minutes writing a scathing letter to the CEO of Tropicana; then 45 minutes more editing it into a readable, profanity-free version and mail it off snail mail.
Just the lack of hot water would be cause for my writing, the rest adds insult to injury. I’m sure they have a “Trop” in Reno as well, so at the very least they’ll send you a comped stay there or at another location.
7:19 pm
The Bellagio is amazing and you should stay there at least once (cash out a CD first though). Best bang for the buck for me has always been the Rio.
Couldn’t agree more on Reno, but you forgot to mention Reno also has Lt. Jim Dangle. Plus, Reno is maybe 75 minutes from Sugar Bowl or Squaw valley where (from March on) you can ski in a short sleeve T-shirt.
7:36 pm
Sorry to hear about your experiences.
I’ve been to Vegas about 6 times for conventions and training. The last 3 times have been at the Bellagio. It is a nice property and early check-ins and late checkouts were not a problem. I think “West” was right when talking about lodging in Vegas, if not anywhere.
I may not travel enough because I was impressed by the taxi availability in Vegas, and I didn’t mind the walk to luggage claim or the wait for cabs.
I would have changed hotels after the first 6 hours you went through.
8:11 pm
Far be it for me to make fun of another’s misfortune. My sister had a Vegas Vacation that was even worse. She refuses to go back. I’ve had great time both trips. Try the Renaissance Hotel. It is smaller, no casino, no flash and trash, they cater to you like a NYC hotel. There is never a line for a cab, and the doormen are great – as long as you tip them. The hotel was small enough for the staff to remember who was staying there and who was tipping. Great trip!
I’m more interested in shopping than casinos or shows, so I like Vegas – like New York shopping – west.
SJ Reidhead
The Pink Flamingo
9:20 pm
The Venetian is pretty nice. Bizarre, but nice. And of course the Four Seasons and the Ritz are likely to be pretty solid.
But on the point in question, I’ve linked to this piece because I love the idea of bloggers taking their revenge on lousy establishments like the Tropicana.
11:18 pm
I have had this experience in Vegas too many times to count. The better hotels like the Venetian, Belagio and the Wynn do not treat guests this way. But I have always felt that most hotels in Vegas suffer from what I call ‘Success Syndrome’. You, as the guest are easily replaceable, and therefore not deserving of respect. Most employees there are burnt to a crisp from the constant flood of customers, and they don’t try to hide their disdain for the people who pay their salaries.
11:19 pm
Also, Vegas is one of the only places that still charges about $10 a day for internet access.
12:00 pm
Is the advertising phrase “What happens in Vegas stays in Vagas” actually a hope that people will remain silent about how they are treated there?
1:47 pm
Sorry to post this here but your contact did not work for me. Have you seen this parody of 24?
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/11/12/video-24-in-94/
4:25 pm
You should have not even checked in. With a cell phone and an AMEX/MC/Visa card you could have located other lodging. You had the hellish time you asked for.
5:02 pm
Yuck. I would have spent all day finding a room at another hotel. I would not reward this kind of sleazy hospitality.
10:33 pm
The Tropicana was run down when I first visited Las Vegas back in
2002. I would never stay there, the MGM right across the street is much better.
1:30 am
Blog Trotter, you apparently have not been to Las Vegas on a regular weekend recently. Finding a room in Las Vegas on a Friday or Saturday night with no reservation is a little bit like trying to find an open seat on the 4 line at 5:20 p.m. in midtown Manhattan. It ain’t happening. Sure, there’s plenty of rooms in the big hotels, but they’re all—ALL —booked. From the airport to Fremont Street, any hotel-casino of note is 100% booked for the weekend months in advance. When I go, it’s for a reason, and I’ve taken to staying at non-casino hotels, either well off the Strip or south of the airport. Takes some of the fun out of it, but it beats sleeping in the rental car.
6:55 am
Weds. Morning links…
A negative hotel review from Rick. Tropicana. For starters, I would not be caught dead in Las Vegas. Second, if taken there dead against my will, I would stay at the Bellagio.A fast food calorie counter.Rich Lowry has it right. From Quiet Victory (h/t…
3:20 pm
Say Rick,
I saw a nice video on the news of the Frontier(I think it was the Frontier) being demolished. Bunch of explosions and it all came falling down. You might want to get a copy when the Tropicana suffers the same fate.
3:20 pm
Horrific story, until the end where you mentioned the place is getting torn down soon. That’s when I understood the staff’s lack of attention. They’ll be out of work soon, so, screw it. Not exactly professional behavior, but certainly human.—Also, in my experience, LV management treat their employees like crap.
8:42 am
I went to the Trop a couple of months ago to see the Body Works exhibit they were hosting. It was the worst dump I’ve ever been in my life. The Trop is the place those $99 Vegas Week-end packages stick you in.
A relative of mine is a casino ops director so I’ve toured several hotels in Vegas and without a doubt, the Trop should not exist. It was bought out a few years back with the stipulation it would be renovated …... didn’t happen and never was going to happen.
10:06 am
Wow, how the Trop has fallen. Only five years ago, I was attending DTR conferences in Las Vegas, and I liked the Trop. Sure, it’s a long walk, but I’m a New Yorker, used to walking. Maybe used to brusque behavior too, but rudeness is not brusque, there’s a difference in empathy for a client and a desire to be helpful. Perhaps being at the Trop makes the staff unhappy, and there’s no management effort to alleviate that.
Speaking of Super-8, in Mundelein, IL, the Super-8 at the intersections of SR-60, SR-83, and SR-45 is blunt, polite, friendly, and 100% functional when arriving frustrated and sleepy.
The difference I’m sure is that this Super-8 (and perhaps the one you saw) wants our business. Trop’s unmotivated staff just don’t care. Very sorry to hear you went through this.
11:36 pm
I agree totally with you about the Trop. It was the first casino I walked into during my recent trip to Vegas. My only thought as I circled the small run down casino gaming area was im sure the rest are much nicer than this dump. And as far as the musty smell you mentioned- it lingers in the casino area as well. Its amazing that a hotel that has a street named after it would be such a rat hole. I was in Vegas for work and I stayed at the exquisite Motel 6(thanks boss)located on Trop Ave. just east of the trop. Hot water, clean room, decent bed. GO FIGURE Sorry about your hellish experience.