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IMPERIAL PALACE
I have only stayed at the Imperial Palace twice before for one free night each time. Those times I found it acceptable. However, they must have redone these rooms at some point since then. There was nothing fancy, and the televisions were very old, so it would be somewhat disappointing to get sick and stuck in the room there, but other than that, I thought they were very nice.
Everything worked. The AC stayed on constantly. The water flowed and drained easily.
The furniture was very tacky, but it was functional. Very clean.
My check for bedbugs on my first stay found only totally clean areas and the headboards easily lifted off the wall, so that difficult examination was easy and set my mind immediately at ease. I asked for the same room and got it on my second stay.
The most annoying thing was the lack of lighting. For some reason the small light in the ceiling just after entering the door was missing. Three floor and table lamps were adequate, but not really good for finding things in dark suitcases. Lucky I always have a small flashlight or two.
I arrived for my first 4 nights later than I thought I would after a long day of waiting in the San Francisco airport for planes to get back on their schedules after a huge fog cancelled and delayed all flights.
I was tired out.
Three of us, all taking different flights, had driven two hours from Healdsburg, California, where we had been staying with family, waited most of the day at our gates, and finally got flights. Then, when I arrived, I had gone up to the SSTT to get my 30 day bus pass, caught the SDX, and rolled my very heavy bag in 102 degree weather down from the Paris stop.
I won't do that again.
It was difficult to get off the bus at the Paris with my luggage. Every inch was packed.
So my stress may have shown when I arrived, but I was not impolite. I got the gruffest clerk I can remember ever having, and she had no sympathy for my wanting some quiet, but told me that all that was left was a room facing the loud music which would blast until 4 AM.
Then she tried to get me to pay double for a quiet suite.
Tired or not, I am frugal. I took the noisy option.
The first room was 1582. It had a great view, and perhaps being up so high, the music was less intense. However, I could not listen to music on the television because the dissonance drove me crazy. But I could sleep.
The music was there, but it did not bother me much that first night. The AC and my sleep apnea white noise must have cancelled it out, or I was just too exhausted to care.
The next morning I got the clerk everyone wants to get, friendly, efficient, helpful.
I was rested.
I explained the problem of noise, and immediately the clerk went off looking for a room. There was none available at that point. Perhaps later.
"Well, here is my dilemma. I am coming again next week for 4 nights and again the week after for 4 nights. What should be my strategy for getting quiet when I come in for those bookings?"
She gave me a manager direct number and told me to call a day ahead of my arrival and explain the issue.
Then she went in to the computer again and locked up a room for me, so that at 5PM when I was done losing at poker, my room was all ready and I could relax in perfect quiet.
The second room was 763 which had the worst view, a flat, black rooftop and tall building, but pigeons came to play on that rooftop. I spent most of my adolescence watching pigeons in my coop, so for me this was a fine view. I am more entertained by pigeons than by lighted buildings.
The move was simple because I was in the same Tower 5, and I could make a couple trips rather than pack everything perfectly.
I had wanted to be close to the Imperial Palace poker that offered cracked Aces, but the games have evaporated with all the old locals moving to the Flamingo.
I don't know why.
The room was moved upstairs and it killed the games. It is a fine location with an easier bathroom, but change sometimes causes live poker games to dry up, and this out of the way location would not attract tourists who just passed by and saw a game.
I even put my name on a list and had breakfast at the Imperial Palace buffet, a poor choice. When I came back, my name was on the list and no one else. I did not bother with that poker room for the rest of my trip.
I did call the manager the day before arriving for my second stay, and he put my need for quiet in the notes and that I requested 763. When I got there, they gave me the same 763 again. This pleased me because it also meant I had less to worry in terms of bedbugs since only one other guest had used the room since I had slept in it the week before, so my odds were very good.
I am certain there are better rooms, but there were the entertaining pigeons and it was quiet. I was happy.
My first stay I had a rental car. The parking was really a maze. It was hard just to find the way in to the lot. Roads were closed. Finally, I did find a place to park. I was on a Blue Level 2. But the elevator color coded the floor as purple.
Very confusing.
My second stay I did not have a car, so I did not need to find my way through the maze of back road parking, the confusing garage, the confusing elevators.
I hate having a car unless I am off the beaten path of casinos.
Later in the day of my second check-in I saw lines that stretched all the way to the back of the casino. I estimated it would take 3 hours to reach the front desk. I was happy to have missed all that by coming early, and to not have caught such crowds when I had first arrived. However, I don't quite know what to do on my next trip. I could leave my bags and come back late in the evening, but then I would get the noisy rooms for certain.
I cancelled my third check in as I had a better deal at the D anyway. I had stayed double booked because I did not know what I might want. I did not want to have to come in to a long line for booking.
Long line at booking will be the factor that most influences whether I stay at the IP again. My live poker play gets me very good rates there, and it is close to the games I want, but I don't want a 3 hour wait for a room.
I think that I'll be certain to stay downtown for the first part of my trip. The bus trip to downtown is very simple, even with stopping at the BTC for my 30 day pass, and the hotels don't have check in lines downtown.
As I think ahead my frugality is being offset by the convenience of staying in one place for a good long while even if it costs me more. It saves the repeated bedbug inspections, the packing and repacking, and if I concentrated some time at the Gold Spike, I know that I would enjoy the room, the generous pool hours, the wifi, the fine television with TCM as insurance for days when I am overtired or were I to get sick, and the general lack of crowds.
However, it means a bus ride to the better poker games at Flamingo.
The Super Eight will not give me as nice a room or as nice a pool, but it could be another long term choice with wifi, TCM, laundry, free coffee, good food right next door and an easy walk to the strip.
Well, by the time I go back the entire picture will have changed. The bus fares will change. The Imperial Palace will change. And there will be more hotel options downtown.
I have only stayed at the Imperial Palace twice before for one free night each time. Those times I found it acceptable. However, they must have redone these rooms at some point since then. There was nothing fancy, and the televisions were very old, so it would be somewhat disappointing to get sick and stuck in the room there, but other than that, I thought they were very nice.
Everything worked. The AC stayed on constantly. The water flowed and drained easily.
The furniture was very tacky, but it was functional. Very clean.
My check for bedbugs on my first stay found only totally clean areas and the headboards easily lifted off the wall, so that difficult examination was easy and set my mind immediately at ease. I asked for the same room and got it on my second stay.
The most annoying thing was the lack of lighting. For some reason the small light in the ceiling just after entering the door was missing. Three floor and table lamps were adequate, but not really good for finding things in dark suitcases. Lucky I always have a small flashlight or two.
I arrived for my first 4 nights later than I thought I would after a long day of waiting in the San Francisco airport for planes to get back on their schedules after a huge fog cancelled and delayed all flights.
I was tired out.
Three of us, all taking different flights, had driven two hours from Healdsburg, California, where we had been staying with family, waited most of the day at our gates, and finally got flights. Then, when I arrived, I had gone up to the SSTT to get my 30 day bus pass, caught the SDX, and rolled my very heavy bag in 102 degree weather down from the Paris stop.
I won't do that again.
It was difficult to get off the bus at the Paris with my luggage. Every inch was packed.
So my stress may have shown when I arrived, but I was not impolite. I got the gruffest clerk I can remember ever having, and she had no sympathy for my wanting some quiet, but told me that all that was left was a room facing the loud music which would blast until 4 AM.
Then she tried to get me to pay double for a quiet suite.
Tired or not, I am frugal. I took the noisy option.
The first room was 1582. It had a great view, and perhaps being up so high, the music was less intense. However, I could not listen to music on the television because the dissonance drove me crazy. But I could sleep.
The music was there, but it did not bother me much that first night. The AC and my sleep apnea white noise must have cancelled it out, or I was just too exhausted to care.
The next morning I got the clerk everyone wants to get, friendly, efficient, helpful.
I was rested.
I explained the problem of noise, and immediately the clerk went off looking for a room. There was none available at that point. Perhaps later.
"Well, here is my dilemma. I am coming again next week for 4 nights and again the week after for 4 nights. What should be my strategy for getting quiet when I come in for those bookings?"
She gave me a manager direct number and told me to call a day ahead of my arrival and explain the issue.
Then she went in to the computer again and locked up a room for me, so that at 5PM when I was done losing at poker, my room was all ready and I could relax in perfect quiet.
The second room was 763 which had the worst view, a flat, black rooftop and tall building, but pigeons came to play on that rooftop. I spent most of my adolescence watching pigeons in my coop, so for me this was a fine view. I am more entertained by pigeons than by lighted buildings.
The move was simple because I was in the same Tower 5, and I could make a couple trips rather than pack everything perfectly.
I had wanted to be close to the Imperial Palace poker that offered cracked Aces, but the games have evaporated with all the old locals moving to the Flamingo.
I don't know why.
The room was moved upstairs and it killed the games. It is a fine location with an easier bathroom, but change sometimes causes live poker games to dry up, and this out of the way location would not attract tourists who just passed by and saw a game.
I even put my name on a list and had breakfast at the Imperial Palace buffet, a poor choice. When I came back, my name was on the list and no one else. I did not bother with that poker room for the rest of my trip.
I did call the manager the day before arriving for my second stay, and he put my need for quiet in the notes and that I requested 763. When I got there, they gave me the same 763 again. This pleased me because it also meant I had less to worry in terms of bedbugs since only one other guest had used the room since I had slept in it the week before, so my odds were very good.
I am certain there are better rooms, but there were the entertaining pigeons and it was quiet. I was happy.
My first stay I had a rental car. The parking was really a maze. It was hard just to find the way in to the lot. Roads were closed. Finally, I did find a place to park. I was on a Blue Level 2. But the elevator color coded the floor as purple.
Very confusing.
My second stay I did not have a car, so I did not need to find my way through the maze of back road parking, the confusing garage, the confusing elevators.
I hate having a car unless I am off the beaten path of casinos.
Later in the day of my second check-in I saw lines that stretched all the way to the back of the casino. I estimated it would take 3 hours to reach the front desk. I was happy to have missed all that by coming early, and to not have caught such crowds when I had first arrived. However, I don't quite know what to do on my next trip. I could leave my bags and come back late in the evening, but then I would get the noisy rooms for certain.
I cancelled my third check in as I had a better deal at the D anyway. I had stayed double booked because I did not know what I might want. I did not want to have to come in to a long line for booking.
Long line at booking will be the factor that most influences whether I stay at the IP again. My live poker play gets me very good rates there, and it is close to the games I want, but I don't want a 3 hour wait for a room.
I think that I'll be certain to stay downtown for the first part of my trip. The bus trip to downtown is very simple, even with stopping at the BTC for my 30 day pass, and the hotels don't have check in lines downtown.
As I think ahead my frugality is being offset by the convenience of staying in one place for a good long while even if it costs me more. It saves the repeated bedbug inspections, the packing and repacking, and if I concentrated some time at the Gold Spike, I know that I would enjoy the room, the generous pool hours, the wifi, the fine television with TCM as insurance for days when I am overtired or were I to get sick, and the general lack of crowds.
However, it means a bus ride to the better poker games at Flamingo.
The Super Eight will not give me as nice a room or as nice a pool, but it could be another long term choice with wifi, TCM, laundry, free coffee, good food right next door and an easy walk to the strip.
Well, by the time I go back the entire picture will have changed. The bus fares will change. The Imperial Palace will change. And there will be more hotel options downtown.