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| - While at one of my favorite places of refuge when I work in Las Vegas - Whole Foods in Town Square - it occurred to me that maybe there was a hotel nearby. The Riviera was all the way on the other end of The Strip, and I hated it. So why not stay where I like to hang? So I Google, and found this gem.
The lobby was big and inviting, there were palm trees everywhere, and I thought I'd stepped into a hotel on an outer island of Hawai`i. (It could have been the heat, too, though).
I ended up getting a "Moorea" (580 sq ft) for 77 bucks, tax not included. That got me a Living Room, Kitchenette (right in the Living area, and there's a small granite-top bar with bar stools, plus actual counter space for food prep), 1 Bathroom, and a separate Bedroom. It was a quiet week, so your actual price may vary.
Here's what else I got:
*half-size refrigerator/freezer (bigger than those beat-up little boxes they give you when you request one at Mandalay Bay), microwave,
*coffee maker (a real, 12-cup Cuisinart, not the bathroom kind)
*Hamilton Beach blender
*a toaster
*a big sink
*a pantry
*full set of plates, cups, knives, etc.
*paper towels (!)
*dish soap, rag, scrubber
The whole place, and my room, was very clean, and the staff was generally pretty nice and helpful.
There's a BBQ area with 5 professional type grills where you can just bring stuff, cook and eat at tables and shades provided, and it's actually nice, not gross.
The Pool area is open til 10pm, and the 2 jacuzzis are open 24/7. There are actually 2 pools, one "lazy river" (for kids), volleyball net, and one entrance has a small beach (with real sand). They show movies in the Pool Area sometimes, so you can eat, or play in the pool and watch Star Wars. And there's a luau every Saturday!
A nice feature for me was the great, old style Hawaii 5-0 type bar/restaurant called Tahiti Joe's. (For you Hawaii residents, I accidentally referred to it as "Tahitian Lanai" a few times, because it sorta reminded me of that venerable institution). The food is actually quite good, not just "good bar food". I had some great Korean BBQ ribs, Chicken Katsu, and actual Poke. The adjacent bar has 2 slot machines, some of those electronic blackjack stations in the bar, a couple of TVs where I got to see replays of Matt Cain's "Perfect Game" and that's about it. It's like my local in Kailua. Great vibe. There's also a Denny's next door if you must have that. There is also a very good, well-stocked convenience store, not 24-hour, though.
It's a 2-minute walk to the Las Vegas Outlet Center, and a 15 minute walk to Town Square (Whole Foods, Fry's, Apple, etc.). Although when it's 103, a 15-minute walk is no picnic. There is a shuttle that takes you to New York, New York. I don't care at all about the Strip anymore, anyway.
Oh, and on-premise laundry!
I was in Tower 5, away from the pool. Not much view or natural light, but the lighting was well done (as was most of the other fixtures), so it was fine, and really quiet. Some of the other rooms overlooked the pool, so that could be a bit noisy for some people. Not nearly as bad as Hard Rock, though, and the whole atmosphere is completely different anyway, not gross and stupid like Rehab. Way more family-oriented here.
The only minor drawbacks for some people might be:
* No WiFi in the room. There is free WiFi in some of the lobbies and other areas however. In the room, you have to go on a cable, that they provide. However, the one they give you is only 6 ft or so. You may want to have your own 15-footer, WITH a Cat-5 coupler (or female-to-female adaptor), since the provided cable is not detachable. It's $9.95 per day (as of this writing), but it worked, and it was actual High Speed. It conked out once, but it was a simple matter to just reboot the box, and the maintenance guy came pretty quickly.
* It's not really set up to be a "business" hotel, so downstairs all they have is a printer with two terminals, but nobody seemed to know if I could bring my laptop or a thumb drive down to print stuff out. The staff was very nice, but puzzled by my request. But I was able to email my docs to Perla in the office (her idea), and was able to print everything I needed. Also, there is no fax machine in the "Business Office", but they do have one in the back offices of the front desk area. It was easy enough to ask them to fax stuff, and they did it free of charge, as they did the printing.
* My room had no actual "desk", as in most regular hotel rooms. So if you're some manager or accountant working on the road, and persnickety, you may be slightly annoyed. But the whole package is so nice, that if you really do get that annoyed, you have much bigger problems than not having a desk.
So, a ridiculously nice place, very well-executed, with a helpful and conscientious staff, for a really good price!
Time for me to head back to TJ's and talk to Jay the bartender, stock up on some ribs while I'm at it.
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