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| - If you're not a "whale" at Bellagio and Caesar's, you can be a mere tadpole and act like one by staying at the Westin about a 5-minute walk away. Contrary to what Priceline thinks, it's not really a 4-star hotel, and if you can get that out of your head during your stay, it's actually a decent hotel on the cheap.
For a busy Friday and Saturday night with tons of events going on town, I got a good deal via Priceline. Even though Priceline adds fees and taxes to your negotiated rate, you'll still get hit with their "hotel fee" of $15 per night that. Since we took advantage of everything like the bottled water, tea/coffee, workout room and parking, I didn't mind paying the $30 for 2 nights. But for a longer stay, I could see how it could add up and be pretty annoying.
Service was generally very friendly, from the housekeeping staff to the cashier dude to the blackjack dealer. Contrary to most people, I actually liked playing in an empty casino at the only table. Plus I won some money, so obviously that helped. The only person who looked like they had a stick up her piehole was the front desk lady who checked us in.
We had a room that overlooked the small pool area outside, and a view of Bally's across the street. Safe to say, there's no eye candy and butt flossing, topless parties going on at the Westin. But that's expected, of course. Everything in the room checked out okay except for the fact that whenever we use the shower, the water wouldn't drain quick enough. Ankle-deep in soapy water isn't really fun.
The workout room was surprisingly decent, I half expected it to be the size of a closet with 2 treadmills, but it had a nice variety of equipment. It was great to be able to burn some calories the morning after. Overall, not a bad a budget hotel close to the Strip.
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