Observations and musings after 4 nights at Paris

After a two year hiatus, I was finally able to go back to Paris on a pleasure trip. Paris has been our base since 2010, and it remains right in our wheelhouse. Not too young, not too old, not too pricey, not too cheap. It really has come to feel like home, or familiar like a comfortable pair of old jeans. But two years is forever in Vegas, so some things have changed, but others remain the same...

We always arrive midday. Two years ago I'd never heard of the $20 trick so this was my first try at Paris. We had already booked an Eiffel View room, but I like to be 26th floor or at least higher. The south bank of elevators serves 26-33, so being on 26 is perfect as you never stop once you head down, and you're always first off on the way up. So I did the trick and asked for 26. She was able to get me 29, which was fine. Also she waived the early check-in fee, which was $30. So at the very least, the trick saved me $10.

Room 2994 is on the northwest wing of the 'X' that makes up Paris' tower, and for my money there's no better view on the Strip (although I've never had a terrace room at Cosmo). You can see all the way to Mandalay Bay, and the further down the hall you are, the less the Eiffel Tower blocks the view of the fountains (I always wonder how much the surrounding resorts owe Bellagio for being able to charge more to see their fountains?). I highly recommend asking for this wing specifically. Of note however, is that the 29th and 31st floors of Paris have these decorative things blocking the lower half of the windows. So if you're planning to turn the loveseat around and have a few nightcap cocktails in the room (as we always do), a lot of your view will be blocked, unless you are very tall.

Our room was a Red Room. I've read a lot here since joining about how the Red Rooms are "tired" or "worn". The room looked the same to me as always. Yes, the edges of the furniture have some nicks, and the baseboards in the hallways could use some touching up. The carpet looked fine, it's hotel carpet, it get more traffic than you can imagine. Anyway if nicks on the furniture are going to impact your trip then you might just be a little too particular for your own good.

The room has a fridge, a coffee machine and a hairdryer. We did not use the TV, except to check out. In past stays at Paris, for some reason I frequently did not sleep well. Something about the pillows maybe. But the bed this time was AWESOME. Better than I remember. I haven't slept so well on four consecutive nights in YEARS. I was so impressed with it that I snapped photos of the mattress and pillow tags, so I know what to buy when we finally replace our bed at home. Sheets were great too.

The new CVS between Paris and Bally's did not bug me as much as I thought it would when I first heard it was being built. To the contrary, we used it several times. It's quite convenient.

Dinner one night was at Mon Ami Gabi, which was excellent as usual. We made a stop at our engagement spot of Le Central, a great place to people watch. But we did not stay; My wife noticed that the wine selection there had changed dramatically. She is not really a wine snob, but she figures if she's going to pay $16 a glass, it had better not be for something from the bottom shelf of our local Jewel. I don't know wines, so can't comment accurately, so take it for what it's worth. In fact, during the course of the weekend, several times a place would not have the wine she's used to ordering in the past.

One night we lounged at Extra at Planet Hollywood. I forget the name of the rock band there but they were diverse and entertaining. Not quite as much as the woman who was so intoxicated that she fell four times (twice onto the stage), before being asked to leave. Crazy stuff. We had dinner at Koi there at PH another night and it's the best sushi I've had anywhere.

Another night we ventured down to Mandalay specifically to catch TJ Tyler at Orchid lounge; we saw him there twice when we stayed there on business last spring. He puts on a great show, and it's always refreshing to see that style of music still cuts across generations. There's hope for the kids yet.

That's all that springs to mind at the moment, maybe I'll be back with more, who knows...

 

Very nice!

 

I forgot to mention... Across the 'X' we could see rooms on floors 21-24 with papers tapes to the windows, almost like checklist type things. From what we could see it looked like work was going on in there. So whatever the renovations are, my guess is that's where they're working right now.

 

Thanks so much for the report! Sounds like some good times!
I agree on the new CVS. I was a frequent shopper there on our recent trip.

RICHARD

 

Love Paris - not staying there this trip (in a couple of weeks) but plan on stopping in to do some gambling - plus eating one night at GR Steak

 

Another thing I just recalled -- for some reason the club noise on Friday and Saturday night was tolerable. This wasn't my experience in the past. So either we were up high enough, or they put in some acoustic barriers, or turned the music down a bit. I don't know. But I was able to sleep no problem even though I could still hear it a bit. And it wasn't because I was "over-medicated" either...

 

At least your bed wasn't worn! Surprising how big a difference they can make.

Thanks for sharing!

 

Actually there at Paris right now, we are on 32. Have a view of fountains, newly renovated room really well done, looks like the whole floor was redone. Carpeting and wall paper very nice. Noise was not bad from the club.
Went to Coldplay on Thursday, amazing show, Chris Martin and band are great. T-Mobile is well done. A big plus being able to walk back to
Paris. Getting out of there by car looks to be terrible.
Gambling at Paris not good, machines are so tight.
Will be here till Tuesday, if gambling gets better will post more

 

Pics of room please? Would like to compare to what we had.

 

Good to hear they have some of the rooms renovated. Paris location is great but the red room I had in December was very beat up.

 

No updating the casino? They did a great job on the bar by check in.

 

Love Paris! We check in this Friday. Our host is supposed to hook us up with a red room, high floor with the tower view. Hope we get it!

 

Not sure what they would do during a remodel to lessen the noise or if they would even spend that money to do so. Maybe the noise source has changed.

 

I have always been happy with Red rooms too - although as you said others complain about wear - heck I have been happy with the regular rooms there. I find it a very comfortable place to stay. And my mom also has Paris as her number one choice too.

I booked Flamingo for November as two close friends are going at same time & we all agreed on Flamingo Go's. (One is doing a mini-suite & Travelfiend & I are doing regular Go's).

 

We seem to have an incongruent relationship with Paris. We've never stayed there, but I have to say we really, really like going there each trip. Our favorite buffet, Eiffel tower is nice, I know many people love it there, and we appreciate the themed-ness. For some reason though, it never even comes up in the conversation of where we would like to stay in the future. I think we've heard too many negative comments about the rooms being bland over the years?

 

I love the St. Louie crepes at Le Creperie.

 

I was in the same boat and when I finally tried it was really nice. The blue rooms aren't sexy but they fit the theme and outside of the weird bathroom, it was great. However, just tracking the renovation history and some of the feedback, I am sure that there are some rooms in crap condition. I think there are blue rooms that have never been touched and it's already time for the Red Rooms to get some attention. You should stay but I would put it off until they renovate the rooms.

 

What were the Burgundy Rooms before the redo?

 

Classic rooms I would think. The two basic (non-suite) room types before the reno were Classic and Red. Unless they are renovating every room in the hotel, I'm sure they would update the Classic rooms first as those are much older than Red rooms.

 

Classic
Red Room
Burgundy Room
These are listed on the rate page.