They say, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas…” and that may be true. But, we found the PERFECT hotel…to AVOID in Vegas, so regardless of what or who stays in Vegas, I wouldn’t recommend staying there.
Do NOT stay at Blair House Suites, 344 E Desert Inn Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109.
We were in Las Vegas over the 4th of July Weekend for a Wedding Ceremony. I researched and reserved rooms super-early so that we’d be sure to be close to the wedding. The wedding was going to be at the Wynn, which is a little too rich for our blood.
Imagine my delight when I found what I thought would be the perfect option, just around the corner: Blair House Suites. It wasn’t a casino, so we wouldn’t have to worry about walking through it with our preschooler. It wasn’t on The Strip, so we didn’t have to deal with the challenges there, but it wasn’t too far from The Strip, because that wouldn’t be good, either. And, it was close to the Wynn.
I emailed them directly for rates (as requested), and they offered me a great deal. I checked and double-checked the photos and reviews, and all seemed in order.
Perfect!
Let me start out by saying, I’m not a terribly picky person. (Please stop laughing…that’s not nice.) No, seriously. I understand that you get what you pay for. I used to be a Front Desk Clerk, so I know there are things you can complain about, and things you can’t get resolved, no matter how hard you try.
I have a list of criteria in my head, and a couple things off the list are allowable. I’ll let some things slide. But, a whole handful of things? Even after changing rooms? Even I have my limit.
Yes, I considered changing hotels. Yes, I could have demanded an even bigger discount, but I decided to do something else. Something a little more powerful:
The online review. Oh yes. I’m gonna go there. I have to! Had someone else told the truth about this hotel, we could have been spared! 
In fact, I posted a review on tripadvisor.com and the Yahoo Travel Site…and guess whose review shows up in the top search results for that hotel…in a general search, even!? (Expedia.com, orbitz.com and hotels.com won’t let me post a review since I booked directly with the hotel. Did you know it worked that way? Hmmm…interesting!)
I mean, I researched this hotel like you wouldn’t believe, and I was duped! Online, on paper and in theory, this hotel appears fine. It looks good from the outside. But, like most things in Vegas, appearances are deceiving!
So, here’s what happened.
Whenever we travel, I summon my Travel Zen. I know we’re going to have a good time, and we almost always do. Even the challenges that arise can’t knock me out of my bubble. It’s all part of the adventure, and usually, I can laugh it off.
Looking back, over all, we had a good time on this trip.
That being said, it was a struggle.
My bubble got pummeled pretty quickly and once it burst, it was hard to gather the pieces together. But, I didn’t cry. I kept my emotions in check, and Claire (our 3yr old) wasn’t the wiser. I didn’t want to upset her…because there is really nothing worse than adding an upset preschooler to the mix.
We made do. We made the best of it. And, that’s mostly because everything else in the area was either sold out or cost a million dollars*. I know, because I called. *Okay, so maybe other hotel rooms were a little cheaper than a million dollars. A little.
By the time rooms were available, we were already on our “free night.” (The hotel’s deal was pay for two nights at a discounted rate and get the 3rd night free.)
*sigh*
So, what went wrong?
Now, for the record, we were in Las Vegas. I understand that you’re going to see a wide variety of people in Las Vegas. Meeting an overly-friendly “woman” in the lobby was quite a treat. “She” offered to bring us fresh fruit, and was quite welcoming. In the hotel’s defense, the Front Desk Clerk did apologize for that uncomfortable situation.
The fact that this happened within the first five minutes of our stay just set the stage. Somehow, I’d missed the ominous music that often accompanies such foreshadowing.
When I booked the room, I was told we would be in an “updated suite.” I looked online and read reviews of the hotel. Everything seemed to be in order. When we checked in, the Front Desk Clerk gave us our room keys and showed us on the map where our room was. We found it, admired the courtyard and plantings outside our room, opened the door and fell promptly into 1983. The furniture was old, outdated and worn. The carpet and flooring were stained.
We were on a time-crunch to get ready to meet the wedding party for dinner, so we quickly got changed and realized that this couldn’t be right. Surely, this wasn’t an updated room. I’m not one to cause a fuss, so I hesitated to call…but I’d been promised an updated room. If this was an updated room, I was afraid to see what the other rooms looked like!
So, I called. I told the Front Desk Clerk that I’d been told we’d be in an updated room, and asked if this was one of those? She gasped. “Oh, no! You’re in a standard room. I’ll find another room for you! I’ll call you back right away.”
Time ticked slowly. Apparently time runs differently when you’re trapped in the 80s. After 10 minutes, I called back.
“I haven’t had a chance to find one yet, but I’m working on it. I’ll have it in a few minutes!”
About five minutes later, she called back. She’d found a new room for us, and we could come get our new keys.
When we got to the lobby, the room was full of angry patrons. Apparently, the key-card maker was down, so no one was getting their keys.
Lovely.
The Front Desk Clerk told us our keys weren’t ready. We had two options. We could go back to 1983 and wait, or she could personally walk us to our room and let us in. We could get keys for the room when the machine was up and running.
We opted for the latter. We were already running late, and had no desire to travel back in time. We had enough time to deposit our things in our room and grab a cab to the dinner.
She walked us to our new room and apologized for the mixup.
This room was not stuck in the 1980s, but it was not what had been pictured online. This was not the room where all those positive reviewers had stayed. It couldn’t be! The carpeting, flooring, and furnishings, though newer than the other room, were dirty and worn.
It appeared to be recently vacuumed, but it was dingy.
The way the rooms were designed was not conducive to cooling the room quickly. The air-conditioning units were not turned on when we entered the rooms. (This would be understandable since we’d just switched to this room, HOWEVER, the original room’s a/c unit wasn’t turned on either…) The vent from the bedroom into the living room wasn’t cutting it. It took over a day to cool both rooms.
There were TWO towels in the room. TOTAL. *I* use two towels. We made do, and got extra ones when we went to the pool the next day. I cannot confirm that the towels in the room were actually clean. They were stained but smelled laundered, so we used them. *shudder*
Yes, we could have called for more towels, but they’d been slow to respond on other issues, so we didn’t bother.
There was mold on the drain-plug and shower-curtain. Nothing grosses me out faster than mold on the shower-curtain.
The mold issues weren’t helped by the fact that the bathroom fan was non-functioning. It was there. We saw it, but it never came on, and there was only one switch for the bathroom.
When you go to Vegas with a preschooler, you have to anticipate staying a little longer in the room than you would if you were totally unfettered and free.
This is where the TV comes in handy.
Well, first of all, there were two TVs in the suite. Both were old and grungy and had seen better days. And, there was only ONE REMOTE. Sweet!
Additionally, when we first turned the TVs on, all we got was black snow. Neither TV worked. We fiddled and fiddled and finally I called down to the Front Desk to report this issue. That’s when they told us that the channels start at #14. Once you scroll through the lower numbers and get to Channel 14, the picture comes in just fine. This would have been good information to have before we tried to figure out what was wrong ourselves!
“Is there a trick to get hot water?” I asked the Front Desk after letting the water run, with the handle put in all the different spots on the dial. No, there wasn’t a trick…there was just no hot water. There was an issue with the the boiler room to our building, and they finally got it fixed. Because we couldn’t wait any longer for them to fix the issue before we left for the day, my poor husband took one for the team. The first half of his shower was freezing cold, and then in true Murphy’s Law Style, the hot water came back on in the middle of his shower, and he had to take quick action to avoid being scalded.
If you’re the second or third person to use the tub, beware of the puddle on the floor. You guessed it…the tub leaks!
Eventually, I was able to laugh. The second day, when the water started pouring out of the bottom of the tub during my shower, I started laughing. I laughed so hard my hubby actually came to check on me. It felt good to laugh. It felt even better to check out of that hotel.
No. The hotel really was close to The Wynn, and it really was walkable. Keep in mind that the sidewalk on that side of the Wynn is also home to those who don’t have homes (unless you call cardboard boxes homes)…so plan your walk accordingly.
And, the pool was actually decent.
Were the location and the pool good enough for me to recommend this hotel? Absolutely not.
Choose another hotel. It is Vegas, so you’re welcome to try your luck. (Vegas is the city to do that, you know…) But, I’d place my bets somewhere else.
When I was planning the trip, I created a Travel Folder. In it were maps and ideas for each leg of the trip. I used plastic page protectors, and they were wonderful for organizing the information we needed for the trip and for maps and other things we gathered along the way. Everything was in one place, and I kept the Travel Folder easily accessible from the front seat of the car.
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