HotelChatter

Room Reaction:
Our room was located at the very end of the hallway on the 7th floor. The way the Paradise Tower is set up is there is only a handful of rooms off to the left of the elevator bank. Everyone else needs to walk down a long hallway. Here's hoping your room is close to the elevator.

But once inside our grumpiness was abated...for a bit. Our room sat on the corner and the floor to ceiling windows gave prime views of the Strip and sadly, of some more Hard Rock construction. Still, we loved the big white bed and the multiple fluffy white pillows.

The bathroom reminded us of the ones at Thompson LES--gothic and dark--and the shower could easily fit eight people. There was no proper closet but rather two black wardrobes, separated by a dresser.

Amenity Madness
The amenities were choice but nothing too spectacular--a giant flat-screen TV, a Tease sex kit in the mini-bar and an iPod docking station were the highlights. However, the TV was situated directly above the desk so there was no hope for working at the desk and watching TV at the same time. Also, there was a Holy Bible in the nightstand. We guess folks have some repenting to do after their time at Rehab.

In the bathroom, the hotel has random no-name toiletries consisting of a bar of soap, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. So much for those "top-of-the-line exclusive bath amenities" the website brags about. Also, our bar of soap was in a broken box and had been used. Lovely.

Internet Connect:
Wireless internet is offered for $13.99 a day.

Casino, et. al
This is the Hard Rock and in the summer, people come for the pool--which when it isn't being sullied up by trashy partiers--is quite awesome. And in good news, we saw the Hard Rock pumping fresh water into the pool on Tuesday morning.

Throughout the rest of the year, folks come to the Hard Rock to catch shows at the new Joint music space, the nightclubs Wasted Space and Body English and to admire some of the rock n' roll memorabilia on-site. (Our fave: Britney's school girl outfit from the "Hit Me Baby, One More Time" video.)

What they don't come for is the casino. That place was EMPTY everytime we strolled through it. The dealers look bored out of their minds. Also on-site: A Pink Taco restaurant, a Hart and Huntington Tattoo shop (children welcome to watch!), a lingerie shop, Rare 120 steakhouse, the Rock Spa, Starbucks and a mini-mart.

Service
The Hard Rock is now part of Morgans Hotel Group (the boutique hotel collection) and while their other hotels know a thing or two about guest service, the Hard Rock could care less. We're not sure if it's because they are so tired of dealing with crazy partying hotel guests who are probably known more for bad behavior than say, oh, great tipping or if this is part of the attitude they want to project.

From the moment we checked in, until the moment we checked out (yes, there's a long line for that too), we felt as if we were just another inconvenience for the hotel. Like those pesky pool regulators from the Southern Nevada Water District.

What We Liked
The Paradise Tower rooms (even-numbered rooms face the pool area), our room views, free self-parking and having a Starbucks on-site.

What We Didn't Like
The terrible service, the construction still going on at the Paradise Tower, the music from the pool area, the dirty soap, the $7.00 resort fee and the jacked-up prices of lattes at the Starbucks.

Bottom Line
If you want to party and be surrounded by like-minded people, come to the Hard Rock and book a Paradise Tower room, which we did at $99 a night. Otherwise, we say just come by to party but sleep elsewhere.

For more photos of the Hard Rock Hotel, head on over to our Flickr photostream.