The D Las Vegas

This was my 4th time in Vegas. I’d stayed on The Strip for the previous 3 visits. We were doing Route 66 and decided to have a shoot up to Vegas for a 2-night layover. Fremont Street has always been a great destination, so we decided to stay there. I was in the D hotel on the night of the horrendous / needless shooting at the Mandalay Bay. We were staying in the Excalibur, so clearly out of the way on Fremont. The D has been gutted and refurbished to a good standard. I noticed this on my last visit, hence the booking. A 2-night stay cost us less than $75 (resort fees double that). The staff are really attentive. Our room had a partial view of Fremont Street & the airport, with no noise coming from either. As a four timer to Vegas, I think I know what is good value and where to stay. Believe me, this place will be near impossible to beat for value & cleanliness. The only downside is they have a small pool. Having said that, I don’t sunbathe so it was not an issue.

On the good side: Nice room, corner king, great views. Housekeepers were great. In the casino, we liked the dancing dealers. And, the hotel was great for exploring other parts of the Fremont Experience. On the negative side: our check in was awful. We got there at 4:30 expecting a room. The desk person, Alicia, was rude, told us the room was not ready, and that she would call us when it was ready. No apologies. Luckily, we decided to drop our bags and hit the Downtown Cocktail Room (1 block) for drinks--half price happy hour. At 6 pm, with no call, we checked back, being sure to talk to a different person. This time we received an apology. The room had been ready for awhile. Apparently, there is no automatic notification when the room is ready...the front desk has to remember to check and remember to call people waiting. And, after observing the housekeepers working their butts off on long hot days, there clearly needs to be more people hired (including one replacement at the front desk). Other negatives included no air conditioning in the hallways or elevator and the video poker machines at the bars radiated a lot of heat--so much heat that it was not worth hanging out there. So, we mainly played at other casinos. Next time downtown we will try another hotel.