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| - The Imperial Palace is super affordable for Vegas standards but there is nothing palatial about it!
First tip: book at Travelocity. We paid like $30/night, anymore than that would have awarded the place 0 stars. Plus, you get a free 24 hour buffet pass good at any of the Harris hotels.
Second tip: make sure your cab driver drops you off in FRONT of the hotel. Our cab driver dropped us off at the back entrance, not knowing any better we got out and then had to take two different elevators and walk a mile through the musty casino with our luggage to check in (which is located at the front of the hotel). Not fun. Boo, (curse you mean cabbie)!
To get to any of the rooms you have to walk through the smoke filled casino. Gross!
My BFF and I wanted to go to Vegas for our first vacation ever but were on a serious budget. Opting to maximize our spending power we went with the Imperial Palace. The rates are great and the nonsmoking rooms are truly smoke free. The hotel is centrally located on the strip, across from Cesar's Palace.
The actual room was kind of Motel 6ish. Not horrible but most definitely not the nicest room I have stayed in. It had those scratchy blankets and sheets, you know the ones. There were plenty of towels and good water pressure which is a definite plus.
The room had a tiny little "patio" but our glass door required the Jaws of Life to open, so we didn't go onto the patio much. There was a major wind storm so we didn't get to enjoy the pool (which was super far from our room) but looked decent enough.
We stayed in Tour 5 which meant we went to sleep (around 4am) and woke up (around noon) to blaring music. I am still not sure were the music was coming from, but if you live in a city with lots of street noise it won't bother you.
Overall, the place is super dumpy compared to all the nice Vegas hotels but it gets the job done. Let's put it this way, we had a blast but made a pact not to return to Vegas until we could afford to stay at the Venetian or better. The biggest negative is having to walk to another hotel to shop, eat, and/or party. At the nicer hotels you can do this in your own hotel (and with guest perks) maximizing your stay. If you just want a cheap, conveniently located place to crash this is your spot!
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