Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
property and no casino, spa, or fitness room, but for those who simply
want a cheap, nice place to stay, there's none in town that can beat it. A
real find.
Next door, the
Villa Roma Hotel
5
(220 Convention Center Dr., between
Las Vegas Blvd. and Paradise Rd.;
%
702/735-4151; AE, DC, V, MC;
$
-
$$
)
is
another terrific value, with oversized rooms, comfy beds, free Wi-Fi, and
free coffee. It's slated to become a Quality Inn 'N Suite, which I hope
won't up the prices too much (they now go for about $39 weekdays, $69
weekends). I'd rank it well below the Somerset because the service isn't
quite as sweet (it's hard to compete with those swell ladies), and the
rooms have a bizarre leprechaunish color scheme of forest green and
lavender. Again there's a small pool, but no casino or fitness room.
Half timeshare, half resort,
The Royal Resort
5
(99 Convention Center
Dr., between Las Vegas Blvd. and Paradise Rd.;
%
800/634-6118; www.royal
hotelvegas.com; AE, DC, V, MC;
$$
-
$$$$
)
is the splashiest choice on the
block but still a pretty good deal. No casino here, but it does have many
of the same amenities as the Strip resorts, including a nice pool with
cabanas, a cocktail/piano lounge, room service, and a small but modern
and quite useable fitness center. Chic rooms, with heather green velvet
armchairs, swish pillow-top mattresses, purple and gold coverlets, and
actual, useable balconies (a rarity in Vegas) are why so many business
travelers choose the joint. (The nice business center is also a lure.)
Average rates here: $89 to $99 on weekdays, $149 to $159 on weekends.
Try Lodging.com when looking for rates, as it seems to have some kind of
in when it comes to discounts (from the searches I've done).
And who are their customers? The Sahara seems to be guessing they're
NASCAR fans; those areas of the casino that aren't Arabian Nights-themed, are
filled with race cars, black checkered flags, and NASCAR memorabilia. There's a
NASCAR Café, a NASCAR roller-coaster out front, and in the back arcade a
highly realistic NASCAR simulator ride where you compete against other guests
after watching a 5-minute training video (p. 137). A useable pool (nothing to
write home about), two theaters, a bad buffet, and a handful of other restaurants
complete the offerings here.
DOWNTOWN HOTELS
Remember how I wrote that the North Strip was a good, if sometimes down at
the heels example of '60s and '70s Vegas? The same could be said of Downtown
. . . times ten. This is where Vegas began, an area originally called “Glitter Gulch”
for all of the glamorous neon signs that fronted the casinos on Fremont Street.
