We left the 90 degree, 60 percent humidity weather in Detroit for the 105 degree, 8% humidity weather in Las Vegas. The LV heat is an order of magnitude more comfortable that the steam bath in Detroit. Here are the notable items from the trip:
Rental Car:
I usually book and rebook several times. Sometimes, the rental car location will have an old, cancelled reservation showing as active. That is what happened with Alamo. My rate for a mid size for 5 days was $127. When I checked in at the kiosk, the rate showed as $175. One Alamo rep said I would have to go to the counter ( and wait in line) when another Alamo rep, Steve, came up to see and asked what was wrong. I showed him my reservation $127 and the kiosk display showing $175. He said he would take care of me and took me to an empty register and started to process my rental. The first time he punched in my reservation, it came up with a $141 number. He said he would fix it and my new total was $108. I said that he didn't have to do that and Steve said "Your time is valuable. I should make up for the extra time this takes". When have you EVER heard that at a rental car location? He then insisted on going with us to pick out a car. He got us an upgrade to a Fusion Hybrid ( full size car) and made sure everything was set. He even offered to carry our luggage.
I can be pretty critical of rental car facilities ( and with good reason) but Steve at Alamo in Las Vegas went far above his duty to help us out. I'll be sending a letter to Alamo to let them know what a great job he did for us.
Harrah's Laughlin Fireworks:
Pretty good show. We had a room on the 18th floor at Harrah's so we had a pretty good view. I wouldn't make a special trip but since we were there, it was a nice break after a hard day of gambling.
Range Steakhouse Laughlin:
We have had some clunker meals there in the past. This time, I ordered their rib eye special and my wife got the artichoke chicken. The rib eye special was a generous cut of ribeye, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and a seafood cake with a shrimp on top for all of $55. You could add a glass of Coppola wine for $5. I can usually find something I don't like or wasn't done right in a meal but there were no issues with this meal. The steak was flavorful, hot and properly cooked. The seafood cake was very good. Even the green beans had a nice flavor to them. The same for my wife's enormous artichoke chicken. Artichokes aren't cheap and the prep time is a pain. There were at least 3 full artichokes in this dish. We took enough back to the room for breakfast in the morning. This was as good of a meal as I have even had at a Range Steakhouse.
Four Queens VP:
At the bar, there is an 8/5 Jacks or Better progressive with suited royals. The club Royal flush was $5167 when we left on July 3rd. I have never seen a quarter royal that high.The play is close to break even with the other royals at reset but the variance is through the roof. More of a curiosity than a serious play. I threw a few bucks at it for kicks but did not connect.
The Cromwell:
Oh, where to begin. We wanted to try the Cromwell since we hadn't stayed there before and when a comped room popped up on my wife's account, we decided to give it a shot. The room design is different to say the least. Think of a W hotel and New York New York having an illegitimate, slutty kid. The elevator has a corset like design the walls. The hallways are dimly lit, as is the room. Lots of pirate treasure chest furniture design. The door to the bathroom has a handle that looks like a giant bottle opener and is pretty sharp on the edges. I heard that the showers used to have a two way mirror between the shower and the main part of the hotel room. That has been corrected. But still, I don't need a full length mirror in the shower. I know where everything is. The shower has a confusing set on controls. The is a hand showerhead mounted on the wall and as I found out, a rain shower head about 9 feet in the air. As I'm standing in the shower and turn the water on, I expected to have the water come out of the wall mounted showerhead. To my surprise, the cold water came out of the rain shower head ( which I hadn't noticed earlier).
And the noise from the traffic. We were on the 7th floor and the outside noise woke me up a couple times. I actually checked to see if the window was opened. They spend a ton of money on style and forget to include function. That pretty much sums up the place. They have Lavazza coffee makers by the elevator but only on the 5th and 7th floors and the ones on the 5th floor were out of service the 2 days we were there.
I asked a bellman where the ice machine was and he walked me over to it. Unusual, but I thought he was being friendly. Nope. The ice is in a locked room. If you want ice, you call the front desk and they send a bell person to get you ice. Style over function.
The room layout is a lot of wasted space. The mini bar in enclosed in a HUGE treasure chest cabinet. The headboard looks like it came from an 18th century bordello. Combine the dark laminate floors with the inadequate lighting and we had to open the drapes to see anything. This added heat and noise to the room. Even though the room was comped, it was too much to pay. If you wanted me to stay there again, you would have to pay me $125 a night.
Harrah's Badge promotion:
earn 25 points at a harrahs property and they give you 25 more TCs. Not a bad promo but there is very little that is even playable vp at Harrah's properties unless you want to play $5 machines. I won't be doing that one again.
We got back home on July 3rd and are now battling the 90+ degree heat and 50+ humidity. I'll take the dessert heat over this any time.
