We're very familiar with the Strip Scene in Las Vegas but for those who want to get a little outside the madness of Vegas proper and the crowded club scene, two hotels off the strip are offering outdoor dining and entertainment.
The Platinum Hotel and Spa located on Flamingo Road is promoting their "Dine and Wine" package which includes dinner on the hotel's fifth-floor pool deck (shown above) paired with a movie, concert footage or a live band. The shows will be every Friday and Saturday night from now through October.
As dusk falls, guests grab a seat in a plush chaise lounge or Orbit chair next to the pool and settle in to watch films and concert videos projected onto the wall of the hotel while enjoying gourmet snacks and specialty cocktails reminiscent of the best candy at the concession stand.
For example this weekend, the hotel is showing footage from the Live Aid 2005 concert on Friday and the movie Some Like It Hot on Saturday night. The Restaurant (the hotel restaurant's name) will offer a four-course prix fixe movie menu for $39 per person with seatings at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. in case you want a more traditional dinner and a movie experience. The only downside is this is a nongaming hotel. But it is also smoke-free. So you decide what's more important to you--gambling debts or clean lungs?
Also, hosting outdoor activities this summer is the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas who return with their annual "Dive-In Movies" schedule. Every Friday and Saturday evening at 8:30pm the hotel will be showing kiddie movies by the pool complete with a full concession stand serving popcorn, hot dogs and nachos. It's open to the public as well as hotel guests and include movies like Happy Feet, Fantastic Four, Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2, A Bug's Life, Cheaper by the Dozen, etc.. The movies will be shown throughout the summer, ending on Labor Day.
Maybe it's all the Vegas pool crashers that have got some of the Venetian Pool staff down or maybe they're too busy focusing on their future acting career? Either way they don't seem to be busy rounding cocktails. A recent past guest was "shocked" by the flat-out rude service:
Tuesday and Wednesday there appeared to be only 2 servers, both brunette females. I wish I had gotten their names, because they were the rudest, most inattentive servers I have every come across. The would walk by together, engrossed in personal conversation, ignoring us as we tried to flag them down. Drinks took 30-40 minutes. At one point one of the servers dropped a drink a woman next to us had been waiting for over a half hour. She looked at the woman without so much as apologizing, said "I dropped your drink", disappeared, and took another 15 minutes before walking out with the drink. The same server, again, I did not get her name, but she served us two drinks on Wednesday, if you can look it up, rudely yelled at my fiance "I CAN'T HEAR YOU" when she could not understand his drink order.
Perhaps the shitty poolside band had put these servers in a crappy mood as well as made them deaf? But the plot thickens. By threatening to spread the word on the horrible experience she had, this guest tries to leverage a free stay for her upcoming wedding in Vegas.
Although we are all for complaining about bad service and seeking out reasonable compensation, Diva Demands only make guest feedback appear less reliable. Sure this experience was awful, but don't push it. A few missed cocktails does not merit a free wedding.
When enjoying the over-the-top pools during your Vegas vacation, chances are a small chunk of those around you haven't paid the hefty fees you have for the honors. It's not that they scored a better room rate on Priceline--it's that they didn't pay at all.
The Seattle Post Intelligencer recently reported on the risks some Vegas locals are willing to take to pass the pearly gates of say, the Mandalay Bay and into the pools without paying a resort fee (why should all the tourists have the fun, huh?)
Crashers have created fake wrist bands, posed as hotel employees and lain in wait in a ballroom for up to seven hours with the hopes of emerging unnoticed. At the Hard Rock, a favorite point of entry is a 6-foot fence at the back of the property, with sharp, spearlike points.
Although some Vegas pools are pretty sweet places to cool off, we're not sure if they merit a spike in the chest to get to them. Maybe if you're a college student without much money, or if you really wanna have sex in the pool, is it something you're willing to risk.
Vegas hotels love to boast about their expensive cabana options poolside. For $250 and up a day, you can rent an air-conditioned cabana complete with a stocked refrigerator, flat-screen TV and plush seating areas.
Not so much at the Rio Suite Hotel and Casino. They get props for at least having the option of a cabana. But as this photo from a tipster shows, the refrigerator looks like it went through a few semesters too many in someone's college dorm room. The air-conditioning is an overhead fan and the TV looks like it came from the same dorm room as the fridge.
Las Vegas used to be for an older crowd, but those days are long gone. A recent review of Mandalay Bay brings up the agism issue. Is Mandalay Bay only for the young? Looks that way folks; the question becomes, at what age does it stop being fun and/or appropriate to be drunk and idling down a lazy river. Our 50-something tipster thinks early 20s should be the cut-off. Lo and behold the sad account:
I've always wanted to stay at the Mandalay Bay because of the pools...We went to the pool to give it time to dry. The pools were packed with rude 20 somethings, smoking and jamming the lazy river. The cocktail waitresses were only interested in the 20 years olds...Don't stay here unless you're under 30. Expensive and not worth it.
Now how long will it be before Mandalay Bay starts letting you have sex in the pool?
Maybe we are not as pool savvy as the folks at the Venetian (or anyone else who lives in Vegas during the summer) but we had never seen a wading pool just for your lounge chairs.
What a brilliant idea. It certainly makes up for the disastrous poolside band. And this way you can get a tan, stay somewhat cool and not have to deal with drunk sorority girls drinking Long Island iced teas out of plastic football cups attempting a game of Marco Polo.
You may however get a little pruney in places you'd rather not.
Have any hotel pool photos you'd like to share with us? Then upload them to the HotelChatter Flickr Pool. It's as safe and easy as spray-on suntan lotion with SPF 45.
We were excited to hit up the pool at the Venetian this past Saturday as we were suffering from a head cold and hoped the desert heat would help us breathe again.
Everything seemed to be working in our favor. We had some nice seats next to the pool so we could dip in and out without having to walk too far. A friendly waittress was on hand to take our drink order. There were few children splashing around and no one was completely wasted yet.
We rubbed in our suntan lotion and laid back to relax. There was top 40 music playing through the speakers but we didn't mind. In fact, we kinda liked it. Having gone to bed early the night before due to our cold, we were glad to experience a little bit of the town's party atmosphere.
Then came the Band. We don't know the name of this band and quite frankly we don't care. It consisted of three dudes and a chick, all of whom took turns slaughtering every song you ever liked. Panama? Ruined. Pour Some Sugar on Me? Dunzo. Sweet Child O'Mine? Hate it. Granted, these are cheesy 80s songs to begin with but they usually put you in a good mood.
Not with this band. When they finished killing your fave 80s hits, they tried out some of today's pop like Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Wanna Be" and Daniel Powter's "Bad Day." Then they started playing Avril Lavigne's "SK8R BOI" which we didn't think could sound any worse but this band just butchered it.
The band played for hours with 15-minute breaks in between each set. During their breaks the music would come on through the speakers and people would start dancing again. But as soon as the band came on, people sat down. Even the Venetian staffers at the pool couldn't handle the band.
We just want to know who heard their audition tape and signed them to the pool area? That person must be seriously tone-deaf.
If you do stay at the Venetian and want a more low-key pool scene, then hit up the Venezia Tower's pool which is smaller but unfortunately doesn't get that much sun as its sandwiched in between two buildings. Still, you get peace and quiet.
After spending the week checking out some luxe (and one raunchy) pool scenes, we had to swing on down to check-in on Hooters.
This is still one of our favorite Vegas Pool Scene photos. A child splashing around at the Hoooters Hotel as a sexy waitress walks on by. This picture actually says a lot about the hotel. The pool area, like much of the place, is just a down-home sort of feel--no fancy frills, no refrigerators in cabanas and best of all, no $500 for a place to sit.
They throw blow out pool parties on weekends and the pool area is pretty good even by Vegas standards. I have been told that Vegas hotels put no money into their pool areas because they want you at the slots, but the Hooters pool area is made up like a beach party with a cabana and those great women bring you the drinks.
Judging from our other stories this week, it seems as if some hotels in Vegas are putting money into their pool areas but making sure they get some back to with expensive cabana rentals and charging admission.
Here's the rest of the pool scene stories. If there's anything else going on poolside in Vegas that you think we should know about send us a tip. (*Thanks to Jen Leo at Written Road for her first-hand tips.)
