Las Vegas Travel Guide
Tags: Video / HotelChatter Reviews / Hotel Video Tours / Viva Vegas / → All Tags
Inside The PH Towers By Westgate in Vegas
We braved the Super Bowl madness over the weekend and checked into the new PH Towers By Westgate, adjacent to the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
Overall, we were happy with what we got for our money, especially since we read some awful reviews on TravelPost before we got there. And being a timeshare resort we were scared that we would be kidnapped by timeshare salesmen and forced to listen to a timeshare pitch in a windowless room below the casino. (Thankfully, that never happened.)
However, the biggest drawback for this hotel is that it's really attached to the Miracle Mile shops rather than Planet Hollywood. Which means, you have to walk through the mall to get to the PH casino. And then you have to walk back through the mall to get to your room. Do it five times on Super Bowl Sunday and it gets old real quick.
Check-In: We rolled up on Saturday afternoon at 2pm to the PH Towers entrance where valet (it's free!) helped us carry our bags out of the car. NOTE: If you're arriving by taxi, specify that you are going to PH Towers, not Planet Hollywood. Otherwise, you will be dropped off at the Planet Hollywood entrance and will be forced to schelp through the mall to PH Towers.
The check-in line was no less than five minutes and we were on our way to the 37th floor.
Tags: Hotel Technology / Viva Vegas / Hard Rock Hotels / → All Tags
'Sound Matters' at The Hard Rock's New HRH Tower
The juke box and Sound Matters control panel.
There is plenty to say about the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's new tower. However, let's leave that for another day. For now, let's focus on the Sound Matters Sound Bar and the touch panel juke box system with over 2,000 songs that is in every one of the all-suite rooms here in the new tower.
First and foremost, the Sound Matters system sounds incredible. We have experienced a ton of in-room sounds systems in our time, and this one tops them all, it is that good. The jukebox idea is also a good one. It gives you the ability to play plenty of the rock songs you usually here down at the casino level in your room.
One odd thing about the featured play lists, though: John Mayer is featured right along Best of HRH, 90s hits, and 80s rock -- really? John Mayer at the top level just seems odd, maybe if he was playing The Joint this weekend, but he isn't Santana is.
Tags: VegasChatter / Jaunted / → All Tags
Fedoras, British Folk and British Folk Wearing Fedoras are Still Hot for Vegas
Finding a hotel is often only one part of your trip. The other half is getting there. And our bro Jaunted does a bang-up job of covering the latest news and trends in the travel world. Out in Vegas, VegasChatter is keeping us informed on what's going down in Sin City.
VegasChatter
· Jordan aka Katie Reid and cross-dressing wrestler boyfriend get married at The Wynn.
· 10 Things You Need To Know About Matt Goss
· The Cosmopolitan Hotel is still happening.
· Jason Alexander is Starring in This at Planet Hollywood.
Jaunted
· Jaunted Gets Twitter-Stalked!
· Top 5 Worst Places to Spend Valentine's Day
· Toyota's Recall Affecting Your Rental Car?
· Go Nude for the Olympics. Sure, Why Not?
Tags: Hotel Sports Books / Viva Vegas / Super Bowl Hotels / March Madness Hotels / → All Tags
The Five Best Hotel Sports Books in Las Vegas
Now that it's winter, it’s high time to head to a Las Vegas sports book. Between The Super Bowl and March Madness, there’s no shortage of reasons to spend inordinate amounts of time in these gambling Meccas.
In addition to being the best places to bet on sports, books are arguably the biggest and baddest sports bars in town—the perfect spot to grab a cold one (or six) and sit back to watch your team bring it home.
Not all sports books, however, are created equal. We created a list of the best Vegas venues to place your sports bets back in 2005, but this is a different city in 2010. Places have changed and so has the technology.
So after years of taking points, giving points, parlaying and teasing, yours truly has pulled together this list of the best of the best. Here are the Best Five Sports Books in town, with a rundown on what makes each of them worth your time.
Tags: Snapshot / Hotel Technology / Viva Vegas / Hotel WiFi / → All Tags
The Sad Scene That is The Flamingo's Internet Junction
It's 2010, right? That's what we thought. But during a recent visit to Vegas, this is the sad sight we were confronted with when we needed to print something. It is, friends, the Internet Junction at the Flamingo Las Vegas.
We can't decide what's worse: That we had to pay $13.99 for in-room WiFi here or that it cost us $6.41 to print a couple of pages at the Junction. (Then, of course, there's the matter of that name. Wordplay can be cute, but "Business Center" would work just fine, wouldn't it?)
Tags: Killer View / Anti-View / Viva Vegas / Donny Osmond / Marie Osmond / → All Tags
Donny and Marie Invade Our Hotel Room Views in Vegas
View from Vdara.
We’re not above cheesy entertainment in Vegas. We would have happily gone to see foreign pop idols Matt Goss or Human Nature—and we did enjoy Cirque’s Viva Elvis on The King’s 75th birthday. But we’re not so hot on The Osmonds. Especially when the supposedly wholesome Donny and Marie mess with our hotel-room views of the Strip.
Our first stop was at the Flamingo, where we had upgraded from a regular GO room to a GO room with a view prior to arrival. (We received an email offering the upgrade for just 15 bucks, which the reservation agent assured us was a great deal.) Psyched for the view, we hit that big ol’ button for the blackout shades and sheer curtain … only to be greeted with this gauzy view of Caesar’s across the street.
Tags: Viva Vegas / Hotel Transport / CityCenter / Hotel Cabs / → All Tags
Inside the Vdara Vacuum—Where Peace and Quiet Means Long Waits for Cabs
Ah, waiting for cabs in Vegas. In the past we’ve found this mostly a simple affair: walk out of your hotel-casino and there they are, lined up and ready to go. We did expect to wait longer than usual when in town for CES this past Thursday to Saturday, but what we didn’t expect was a phenomenon we’re going to call the Vdara vacuum.
It began when we checked out of the Flamingo and decided to be lazy and cab it over to CityCenter. (Who wants to schlep their bags down the Strip in the middle of the day?) “Vdara, please,” we told our cabbie, who promptly replied “Huh?”
Tags: Hotel WiFi / Viva Vegas / Free Hotel WiFi / HotelChatter WiFi Guides / CES Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Where to Find Free Hotel WiFi in Vegas
We hope you brought your wireless card with you.
If you're headed to Vegas this weekend for CES or the Adult Entertainment Expo, chances are you're gonna need a WiFi connection for all your uploading, downloading, Twittering, Facebooking, blogging, and other, ahem, recreational activities.
The bad news is that in the privacy of your hotel room, expect to pay at least $10 a day to sign on. Sadly, there really no hotels where in-room WiFi is free. There are, however, plenty of public options. You just have to know where to look.
We've culled together a list of tried and true WiFi hotspots on the strip based on our own experience as well as the knowledge of Vegas expert @24K aka Chris Rauschnot, who is constantly up and down the Strip reporting on the scene--all from his cellphone.
So the next time you find yourself in Vegas for a conference or just some good old debauchery, here's where you can get connected.
Skip on over for VegasChatter for free WiFi that's not limited to hotels.
Tags: CES Hotels / Viva Vegas / Geek Hotels / VegasChatter / → All Tags
Geeks and Porn Stars to Arrive in Vegas This Weekend
As VegasChatter put it, this first week of January is The Most Wonderful Time of The Year … For Techies and Porn Stars. That’s right, the Consumer Electronics Show and the Adult Entertainment Expo are in town! And Vegas hotel owners are happy because most of them are sold out for the duration of the events, from Wednesday Jan 6–Sunday, Jan 10.
Thursday and Friday nights are the most heavily booked—and all the big-name casinos on and off the Strip have very limited availability any night. All is not lost, though. Here are a few options we found for last-minute geeks and gawkers.
Tags: HotelChatter 2009 Awards / Best Hotel Scene / Viva Vegas / → All Tags
Best Hotel Scene: Long Live Las Vegas
The Strip has seen from the Mandarin Bar at the Mandarin Oriental
It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2009 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year (and the decade) all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in comments below.
The year started off bleak for Las Vegas--at least from a tourism industry perspective. But for travelers, it was awesome! The room rates on the Strip dropped to unbelievable prices, even on the weekends, and we couldn't create a hotel deals list without including Vegas on it somewhere.
If you found your travel budget slashed in any way and that big trip to NYC or Hollywood or even Europe was just too expensive, you knew you could still get a great deal in Vegas as not only room rates were dropping but hotels were throwing in dining credits, spa discounts, show tickets and even gambling credits. It was practically a free for all in Sin City.
Of course, it didn't last and things began to level out again by the summer but room rates in Vegas are still much, much lower than they were at the start of 2008. And resort credits are still very much alive.
However, we're loving Vegas for a whole new reason in 2010 (and it's not because of our new baby sibling, VegasChatter.com, although that helps!)
Tags: HotelChatter 2009 Awards / Hotel Video Tours / Viva Vegas / → All Tags
Best Hotel Video Tour: Inside Encore Las Vegas
It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2009 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year (and the decade) all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in comments below.
Each year our video library grows and each year it becomes harder to pick the best one of the year. We've gone all over the world to shoot these videos, from Vienna to New Mexico to London, Paris, Montreal, Kuala Lumpur, Cartagena, Sydney, Hong Kong and Dublin.
In fact, we've filmed over 75 videos in 2009 and put them all right here for your viewing pleasure.
But interestingly, the most watched video of the year was found in Las Vegas at the Encore Las Vegas, which opened in January. Then again, Las Vegas was a great destination for hotel deals this year. We even spent two nights at the Encore this September for just $99 a night (mid-week.) In the boom years of '05, '06 and even '07 that was unheard of.
We'll have more on Vegas later but for now, check-out the runner-ups.
Tags: HotelChatter 2009 Awards / Anti-View / Hard Rock Hotels / → All Tags
Worst Anti-View: A Parking Garage, Courtesy of The Hard Rock's Paradise Tower
It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2009 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year (and the decade) all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in comments below.
WORST ANTI-VIEW: THE HARD ROCK'S PARADISE TOWER
Hmmm, that doesn't look like paradise does it? But this is the view from room 30521 at the Hard Rock's Paradise Tower in Las Vegas. Our tipster tells us it was supposed to be a "mountain/ city view" but instead he got a nice birds-eye view of the employee parking garage.
When we stayed there in August, we had a corner room with a so-so view of distant Strip but there was so much construction going on around the Hard Rock that we couldn't really focus on the positive. We guess we should be happy we didn't have a view of someone fornicating in the pool. Then again, that would be more interesting!
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