HotelChatter

What's Up With the Name?
So where did the name "The Water Club" come from? And why so similarly named like Harrah’s Waterfront Tower? We asked Bill Boyd, the Chairman of Boyd Gaming, which owns 50% of the Water Club:

We had absolutely no idea what Harrah’s was going to name their tower, so that came as a surprise to us. But we named the hotel The Water Club because we have 5 pools, and every room has a waterview.

Fair enough. Now, let's get to the room review.

Check-In

When we arrived at The Water Club, and valet parked our car ($10 with unlimited in/out privileges), we were immediately welcomed by a Water Club Ambassador who walked us up to the front desk and helped make our check-in super fast.

The easiest way to describe the lobby is huge: marble floors, flowers and greenery everywhere you look, and a front desk made of dark wood.

When you head to the room, you need to show your room key to the security guard to enter the elevator banks, and pool area just like the Borgata. After awhile we felt a little bad for the security guards. Not only do they check your room key, but they also open the door, every. single. time.

Room Reaction
Our room, 2886, was a lot bigger than expected. The colors were all in brown, tan and aqua blue--the Water Club's colors. The 46" Sony HDTV on the wall welcomed us by name and offered all HDTV stations as well as a channel with music and a photo montage to sooth us. Next to the bed was a Sony iPod dock/alarm clock.

The bathroom had the same shower design that the Borgata made famous - marble walk-in shower, glass doors and a bench, but the Water Club adds a rain showerhead, which shoots water from the ceiling and feels like a tropical rain shower. Fortunately we did not see the water charge for a 1 hour long shower on our bill upon checkout. All the bathroom amenities are L'Occitane.

And because we know you are curious, our room did have a waterview. The Atlantic Ocean to be exact.

Turndown Service:
At night The Water Club turns down your sheets, and places a tray on the bed with a battery operated candle, the weather report for the next day, refreshing face gel for those bags under the eyes and takes the slippers out of the closet and puts them by the bed. We've heard of turndown service before, but never like this.

Internet Connect
Since the Borgata is the nation's first 100 percent fiber optic hotel, all rooms have an IP Phone which allows you to check flight information, get weather, check stocks as well as order room service without speaking to a person, or check your Borgata Rewards account all from the phone's screen. We were told that in the coming weeks you will be able to make and check your Borgata dinner reservations on the phone as well.

Sadly, the hotel is still not up to speed with free WiFi charging $9.95 for "regular internet" and $14.95 for a faster connection. There is WiFi throughout the entire building and an ethernet cable for grandma and other old-school types.

In-Room Dining
All in-room dining was developed by Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, who is in charge of the food and beverage service for the entire Water Club property, we'll have more on the food/in-room dining later this week - but we'll say this: Geoffrey puts a great spin on the in-room dining.

Eager Housekeeping
One of the oddest/funniest events during our stay was when housekeeping went the extra step - to ensure we had enough pencils in the room. Not once, but twice!

Housekeeping knocked on our door and when we answered, we were handed a standard number 2 pencil (with The Water Club branding!!). Talk about randomness! We later found out that the housekeepers were very new and were a little overzealous in ensuring that we were happy in our stay.

What Will It Cost:
Since this is a boutique hotel and is a notch above the Borgata, you can expect to pay about 25 percent more per night vs. the Borgata, which comes out to around $250 mid-week, to $700 on the weekend in the summer. And yes, players card comps from the Borgata do work at the Water Club!

For those who really have no spending limit, the Water Club also has 3 residences on the top three floors of the hotel. They were not ready yet when we stayed, but we are totally expecting TVs that rise from the floor and a personal butler who would feed dinner us if we asked.

Pricing? Think $10k a night. Minimum. Or, if you win big (and we mean big) at the casino they might let you stay there for a night.

Bottom Line:
It only took 5 years, but finally The Borgata has been one-upped in the Atlantic City Hotel Scene-- by its sister property! We think it’s great that Donald Trump hasn’t been able to trump the Borgata, but the Borgata can still manage to trump itself. (Did you follow that?).

Check back throughout the week for more articles on The Water Club. Including their Immersion Spa, and the nitty gritty on The Water Club’s bars, pools, and food. If you want instant pleasure, head to the Flickr set.