This place is pretty awesome. It's a block off of Fremont St, which some might think is a bad thing due to the shady history of that part of DT Las Vegas, but It's perfectly safe and the walk from the front door of the casino to Fremont St takes about 3 minutes max.
I usually self-park but since the lot was across the street I decided to valet, which was free (like most if not all LV casinos). You simply text the number on the back of the ticket on the way downstairs. My car rolled up about 5 minutes after texting.
Check in was extremely stress-free and quick, considering they only have a few hundred rooms. The staff was extremely genuine and very helpful (was immediately told by a security guard when we walked in the door with our luggage that check in is to the right).
The elevators in our tower were very quick. We never had to wait more than a minute or two, despite it being a sold out holiday weekend. If anyone's ever stayed at some of the nearby hotels, waiting 15 minutes to go back up to the room because you forgot something is incredibly annoying.
The standard room we had was spotless and smelled fresh (because they're brand new). The furnishings were modern but pretty modular looking. The desk had an outlet built into it with a USB port to charge your phone/device. The lamp on the nightstand also had the mandatory charging outlet for your devices. There is a clock radio with a jack to plug in your phone/ipod (the speakers are about 1.5 watts. The room had an extremely comfy chair so you don't have to lay in bed to watch the TV (your significant other will have to tho). Beds were average. Check this out though... our standard room had a 50 inch LG tv. I know "this is vegas..." but watching south park on a big screen in a hotel is an excellent way to nurse a hangover and that in itself is a major plus. Our room's AC pumped. The room never smelled like smoke despite having guests who were partaking. The ventilation system in the casino must be state of the art. The bathroom was average and I don't even have to mention the shower door issue other than the hotel should take note and spend the $20.00 a room and throw up a curtain to stop the splatter onto the floor. It didn't bother me but based on the other reviews was a big deal to a lot of people.
The casino was very nice and had minimal smoke (I don't care, but based on reviews, I guess this is a major thing in casinos for many folk). The exposed duct work shows that they spent a fortune on a major ventilation. The table games were friendly and the staff was totally cool with a little lively fun at 5am. The casino is slightly smaller than average. It's about the size that you can tell your travel-mates that you'll be downstairs and they will have no problem finding you in 5-10 minutes. The decor of the casino is pretty cool and modern. Lots of exposed structural steel and duct work. We noticed a lot of details that aren't exactly fancy like the cosmopolitan or anything, but show the extreme attention to detail that went into the finish design of the hotel/casino.
The pool is small and sunny. The deck area itself was pretty nice looking. I didn't spend too much time out there as I was already sun-baked from the day before and there wasn't any shade.
As a long-time Vegas participant I feel they did a fantastic job at resurrecting a vacant and blighted part of downtown and completely invigorated it. I'm not hyper-critical of hotels like some yelp reviewers are but I see this place has some heart and I can tell there are people running the place who are actually trying. With some fine-tuning the place can be a real winner as long as they keep up the good work.