Hooters Hotel and Casino : The Vegas Hotel from Hell

So we’re back from our liver wrecking honeymoon. Hope you all had a good week at work whilst we were cheering for England at the USA Rugby 7’s in Vegas, and grabbing for beads and riding air boats in New Orleans. I’ll get into the fun stuff later, but since my review of Hooters Hotel and Casino at Trip Advisor is on my mind, I thought I would get that out of the way so I’m not as bitter when I write the rest. Basically, I want to put this warning out there for anyone who might stumble upon this post looking for a review of the Hooters Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

While staying at Hooters Hotel wasn’t exactly my idea of a romantic honeymoon location, Hooters affiliated themselves with the USA Rugby 7’s, offering a lowered room rate and a free shuttle to Tom Boyd Stadium (a good 20 minutes away from the Strip) for the matches. Andy and I are frugal enough for this to be appealing, so we went ahead and booked it.

We left on Saturday morning at 8 AM and by 12:30 PM, were pulling into Hooter’s Hotel parking garage. Hooters is actually nicely situated a mere block off the Strip on Tropicana, next to (what else) the Tropicana Hotel. While 12:30 is a bit early to check in, most hotels (especially in Vegas) allow an earlier check in. The latest check in I’ve ever had in all the hotels I’ve been was 3 PM, but many have allowed me to check in as early at 11 AM if rooms are available. After waiting at the front desk while one hotel clerk handled the line (this is Vegas people!), we finally got up to the counter only to be told check in wasn’t until 4 PM. Since the rugby games had already started and only went to 7 PM, we agreed to have the concierge hold our bags until we got back. That is, WHEN we saw the concierge, which wasn’t for another 20 minutes. We were quite grumpy by then and it didn’t help that we ended up shelling out $12 for two bottles of Amstel Light at the Hooter’s Hotel Bar.

With our bags stored, we went to the matches (another post for another day). Shuttle to and from the stadium was fine. We finally checked into our room at 7 PM, well exhausted. At first the room doesn’t seem too bad. This is what I’d like to call Effective Decorating. What we didn't see right away was:

• Lumpy pillows
  
• Dirt on the floor and shower in bathroom
  
• TV that occasionally decides not to work
  
• Broken patio door lock
  
• Ridiculously small and ineffective mini-disks of soap
• BLOOD (yes, blood) smeared on the bathroom door frame

We were tired, a bit hungry, and just wanted to get out to play some craps. This would be our undoing.

Not wanted to spend the evening at Hooters, we walked over to the Tropicana where we had an excellent time. We strolled back to Hooters at 10 PM and tried very unsuccessfully, to get some sleep. This is never an easy task when your head is lying on what feels like 18 pieces of broken foam.

The next day we woke up early and took our showers. At 8 AM, with the hot water tap turned to the highest setting and the cold tap completely turned off, we got two cold showers. It was cold enough that I caught my breath when I first stepped in. We were in a hurry to get something to eat and get to the rugby matches, so again, we didn’t complain. It was only after we got back later that night and I may have drank a bit too much that I remembered that I wanted to speak to the manager. This was also my fault. The barely 20 year old manager on duty wanted nothing to do with me. When I tried to explain as best I could about the room – the blood, the pillows, the cold water – I was told a very dismissive “sorry” and “I can’t do anything about it if you are going to decide to complain 30 hours later.” Fair enough but I’m still put off about it so I’m telling you all. You want a disgusting room for cheap off the Strip with bad customer service, by all means, stay at Hooters Hotel and Casino.

Not that this would come as any surprise, but the morning we left, we decided to get room service. I know, I know, we should have known better. If you call in for room service at Hooter’s Hotel and Casino expect your food to come “an hour to an hour 45 minutes” later and to be cold and tasteless.

NEXT…a happy tale about our honeymoon.