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CET Rio/WSOP Embarrassment?

Discussion in 'Off-Strip Hotels' started by joespoolhall, May 29, 2019.

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  1. waverunner

    waverunner ------VEGA$------

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    I would venture to guess that the Rio-Bally's-Harrah's shuttle, which is no longer, hasn't really made an impact either way by Caesars.
    I'll be there in two weeks to say hello to Rio, Gold Coast, and Palms. Does the GC shuttle still pick up behind the Wheel?
     
  2. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

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    Pulled this from one of my Trip Reports from 2011. Nothing has changed since then!

    Rio's rooms are pretty big. But dated. Kinda like a 70's porno set.

    A huge fabric headboard.



    [​IMG]

    Cheesy mirror in the bed area that lets you peek in on whomever is in the shower/toilet. Kinky to say the least.

    [​IMG]

    A nice couch and sitting area, but the rooms is pretty bare. Old TV, older wallpaper in the John, with polished brass everything.

    But very very clean.


    [​IMG]
     
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  3. Bigcasino

    Bigcasino Low-Roller

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    We stay at the Rio 2 to 3 times a year. Yea it’s not as new or nice as Aria or Cosmo but getting free or very cheap rooms is very important for many people. Paying 150 to 350 per night for a room is hard for some people. For us we would rather use that money for gaming. But here is our observations from our experience about the Rio.

    Pool: the pool is awesome with 4 pools, 3 spas, 2 bars and even a DJ and massage spa on some days. The pool is free to guests. Parking is free to guests also.

    Food: they have a large selection of food that we have found to be as good as other places on the strip. Carnival Buffet, Hash House, American Grill and many other good eats. They have a top notch wine cellar.

    Customer service: we have experienced great CS. Never an issue or problem with their staff or facility.

    Room: yes the furniture is dated. But the room is very large with one wall all glass overlooking the pool and mountains or overlooking the strip. Rooms and casino are very clean. The rooms have a large double bathroom, safe, fridge, flat screen TV, couch, large closet with iron and ironing board, desk and chair. Some rooms have been updated but many have not. But for what you get for free or very cheap it’s a great deal for LV.

    They did stop the shuttles to the strip but Lyft is $6 anywhere mid-strip.

    The bar tenders are great and freely comp drinks to people really playing VP. People there to just obtain a free drink and leave the bar tenders make them follow the light rules fir drinks. Tip your bar tenders! :) we don’t even finish our drinks and waters before new fresh water and drinks are sit in front of us!

    The place is always semi crowded even during slow times ( never really a slow time in LV but slower than a big event). So a lot of people also like it at Rio.

    I think CET has been pumping so much revenue into the Linq area that it’s hurt other properties.

    As for dates and run down if anyone stayed at the Sahara or Imperial Palace right before they closed that is what I would classify as run down. The Rio is no where close to that.

    Guess we are just old fashion and don’t want to see all the older casinos turn into high dollar High Roller places that push some people out of the fun of LV. Also just didn’t want readers to get the wrong impression that Rio is a dump that should be avoided. It’s not as nice as Green Valley Resorts but no where near a worn out as been casino.

    :)
     
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  4. Marky147

    Marky147 VIP Whale

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    I come for a month every WSOP, and haven't stayed there since my first ever Vegas trip in 2006. I was tempted this year as I'll be there so much, but when Aria is cheaper, I can't really justify it.
     
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  5. rhinoman7

    rhinoman7 A Diamond in the Ruff

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    I fully agree with @Bigcasino. Out of 24 trips to Vegas, I have stayed at the Rio for 14 of those trips. Still love the place, and will continue to stay there as long as the free rooms keep coming. I really don't understand how people can keep saying they haven't put any money into the place for a really long time. About 5-6 years ago, they replaced all of the carpeting in the entire casino. After a big gap between trips to Vegas (July, 2015 and January, 2018, both stays at the Rio), I noticed a LOT of changes. First of all, they FINALLY replaced those crazy small chairs at the table games to some much nicer ones! Also, from what I could tell, most, if not all of the tables were updated (new felt, new cup holders, etc.), plus a good amount of the older slots had been replaced with the more updated ones. They also updated the elevators, which was LONG overdue! I agree that on the fringes (so-to-speak) of the property not much has been done and it appears to be a very tired property, but once you are inside and get involved (playing games, dining, seeing a show), none of that matters. I know that they were in the process of updating all of the rooms at one point, but not sure how far they have gotten. Out of 14 trips, we have only asked to switch rooms twice: first time was because there was a room full of unsupervised kids next to us, and the noise was just ridiculous!!! Second time was because we initially took an accessible room (we were checking in very early, and were told the only difference was bars in the shower), but there were just too many differences we didn't want to deal with (only one sink, clothes rack was too low to the ground, and I kept bumping my elbows on the bars in the shower).
     
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  6. kingpasty

    kingpasty High-Roller

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    Yeah add me to the list of a Rio fan. We stayed there on a comp last year for one night and had an absolute ball. We were in an updated room in the Masquerade tower and found it to be nothing fancy but totally serviceable. Service was great and had a blast playing VP at shutters.
     
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  7. azbob

    azbob MIA

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    Glad to continue the positive Rio comments as, no doubt, it needs an upgrade, but whenever we can always get a comped room there and with it being next to GC and Palms, I think all of our needs are met. Staff are friendly and you can find much better VP than on the strip. We poured all of our former Boyd's gambling $$ into Stations so my wife is at the President level now. With that, CET upgraded her to Diamond in their program which presents some additional benefits. Check out the back of the house as they have put in a Smashburger.
     
  8. Electroguy563

    Electroguy563 Vegas Joker

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    I remember my first trip to Vegas in 2005. Even then the taxi cab driver gave us a negative rating for the Rio, but I think back then he was referring to gaming odds. I only went to the Rio once and that was back in 2009 where we went for the Seafood Buffet. It was still awesome back then and I loved it. The casino was still nice and busy to me but I was disappointed that the Carnival in the Sky was not happening when I was there. Not sure if it was discontinued then or just dark, can't remember.

    And that's it. Never went back. I should. I might still like it as I'm not a shmancy pancy kind of guy. I stay Downtown and something tells me the Rio is not as run down as some of the casinos there.
     
  9. sinnerman

    sinnerman VIP Whale

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    I like the food options at the Rio, you get a lot of variety at a very reasonable price.
     
  10. MCann

    MCann I can't complain, but sometimes I still do...

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    Man, all this talk about clean rooms! I was in two rooms in April and they were both dirty as hell and smelled horrible. The first one they gave me is the dirtiest smelliest room I've ever gotten anywhere. ALL the furniture was damaged and or stained. Couple glass tabletop covers were missing. Most of the stains in the first room seemed to be, or looked like spilled ashtrays just rubbed in to the furniture. Lots of tiles in the shower were coming up and moldy in the gaps, and when I turned on the shower oh my god the smell. I think the heat + steam + water was releasing years of built up cigarette tar off the walls. It literally seemed like the water smelled like smoke and ashtrays and I cut it off and waited to switch rooms and take another shower in that one. You could smell smoke in my hair after the shower and I hadnt been in the casino. That's just fuckin gross! This was in a top floor "updated" Masquerade room. I'm a big plus one vote on embarrassment to CET.

    My second room, also an updated Masquerade suite, was better but still similar condition, minus all the cigarette damage and smell. I wish Id taken more pictures to share here but I only got a couple.

    Here's the end table - supposed to be glass on top of that but it was just gone and the finish all ate up. Loveseat behind it had a stain covering about 90% of 1/2 seat cushions, looked like some sort of spilled drink I hope. What looked like ash rubbed in on arms and other cushion, unfortunately didnt get a pic.
    WP_20190406_13_15_35_Rich.jpg

    Here was the writing desk - same deal, glass table top completely missing, finish all ate up all over. Carpet was stained on the floor around it.
    WP_20190406_13_16_03_Rich.jpg

    ...and here's how they repaired a hole in the wall. First room had two 'repairs' like this
    WP_20190406_13_20_21_Rich.jpg

    Again, these are just minor things and I didn't get pictures of everything. Wish I had. It was unbelievable bad. I had previously only stayed in Caesar's Palace in terms of CET Vegas properties, so it was an even bigger shock to me that the same company runs a place like this right down the road. Some of the disappointment was my expectations were at least a little higher, but most of it was how gross my rooms were. I enjoyed the casino but could see the remnants of when it used to be something special and it just seemed like a half dead place, like when a mall is empty but hasnt gone out of business yet.
     
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  11. MiDenny

    MiDenny Low-Roller

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    Rio was our home base for years. I never minded the dated decor in the rooms. We liked the pools and loved the room size. When we started going there, we enjoyed kicking off the trip with a visit to Bamboleo. Anybody remember that place? As it turned out, this was my wife's first lesson on not getting too attached to anything in Vegas since it changes constantly. She loved that place and still mentions it from time to time.

    What bothered me most was their strategy (or lack of) for the restaurants there. Bamboleo closed, and for a short while there was a Mexican/Irish pub (huh?). That closed after a short time and sat vacant for years. The Cafe closed where Hash House is now. So, the only choice for late-night was All-American, which the wife wasn't fond of. It seemed like instead of giving you restaurant choices, they were trying to steer you to specific places at different times of day and night. We haven't been there in quite some time, maybe this is improving?

    Shutting down the Parade in the Sky was kind of a bummer. The show itself was kind of goofy, but there sure was a party atmosphere at that end while it was going. The shuttle closing down didn't affect us since we usually rented a car for a Rio stay, but I can understand others being disappointed. Their decisions kept making the place less and less appealing to us. I know Burger King is gone now, but putting that in never made any sense to me. Kiss Mini Golf sure doesn't appeal to us. It just ended up that there weren't enough reasons for us to make the trek over there. We have now become strip dwellers. We bounce all over the strip and enjoy it, staying wherever the comps will take us.

    We do have a lot of fond memories of staying at the Rio (and one or two very disturbing ones). But I can't help but shake my head at what they have done to the place. Not so much in lack of renovations or whatever, but in their decisions on the peripheral businesses....the extra stuff that was part of the experience. Oh well....what can you do? Cheers!
     
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  12. Tonyfromjersey

    Tonyfromjersey High-Roller

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    Sometimes on this board it just seems to me anything that ain’t Wynn/Venetian is a dump. Same thing with restaurants. If it ain’t a celebrity restaurant or a 5 start establishment it’s a dive. That being said yes the Rio is showing it’s age a bit. I stayed their in the late 90’s when that was the “in” place to be. I stopped by last year and I didn’t think it was run down like many have said. Was it what it use to be ? No but a dump ? Sorry I just don’t see that.
     
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  13. chef

    chef Resident Buffetologist

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    Well said Tony.
     
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  14. Tonyfromjersey

    Tonyfromjersey High-Roller

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  15. vinniemac274

    vinniemac274 Low-Roller

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    I stay at the Rio almost every time, even with Vegas first timers.

    They love the rates, they love the rooms, they love the pool, they love the restaurants.
     
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  16. mikel123

    mikel123 High-Roller

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  17. mjames1229

    mjames1229 # of visits includes only trips w/ hotel stays

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    In no way am I suggesting that the poker player "deserved it" or "asked for it", but why in the world wouldn't this guy have asked for it to be added to his WSOP account for future use, or otherwise wired to the financial institution of his choice? One time I hit a VP royal flush during that last gamble on the way to the airport and I asked for a check just so I didn't lose that $1000. I couldn't imagine walking around with that much cash.
     
    USBC Nationals are back in Vegas
  18. Mitkraft

    Mitkraft VIP Whale

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    Two points: I don't get the hate on the Rio, and in its current state I'm of the impression that the Rio is actually a good match for the average WSOP player. I don't get the impression that aside form the celebs and final tablers that they are a bunch of high rolling types.

    Admittedly I've only stated at the Rio once and that was about six years ago but I actually kinda liked it. I liked the size of the room, the separate seating area, and the fridge. I also liked the abundance of good machines at bet levels I wanted to play. The only thing I really didn't find great there was food options.

    Edited to add: I'd probably stay at the Rio more if it were on the strip. I'd be a good alternative to Bally's which we use when for some reason we can't get comped at Caesars or Paris on the dates we want.
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2019
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  19. stlguy197239

    stlguy197239 VIP Whale

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    Are we talking about the guy who had a meltdown at the WSOP yet in this thread? Because, I know it was incredibly inappropriate but...fuck...that was funny shit.
     
  20. mikel123

    mikel123 High-Roller

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