I’m in Las Vegas for the third of four interminable days. The Hubby has a conference to attend, and I came along for the ride…
We are staying at The Venetian, supposedly a “five-star” Strip hotel and casino. As to why, Hubby’s conference is here, so the suite came… inexpensively. The hotel’s good points:
- The bathtub. I will concede that even the least expensive Venetian suite (it’s all suites) has a deep and luxurious bathtub.
- The size of the suite. It is not quite possible to get lost in the suite, but it does have at least twice the square footage of a Motel 6.
- There is a Walgreens half a block away for snacks and incidentals.
- There is a shopping mall (Fashion Show Mall) within easy walking distance that has a Starbucks with normal pricing.
The hotel’s bad points:
- The gloom. The Venetian strives to project the ambiance of a Venice evening in the twilight just after sunset. The low level of lighting in the shops and casino is bad enough, but that is continued in the suite itself.
- The decor. It is so formal and subdued as to give me hives, and the black carpets and extremely dark green and mahogany accents do nothing for the light level.
- The greed. The refrigerator and the snack bar have sensors on them, for the love of Mike, so that if you so much as pick up an item to see if you might want to pay for it, someone comes around to check and see if they can hike your bill up. The restaurants and sundries shops have prices twice what outside versions of the same stores would charge. In keeping with this, the hotel tries to keep Walgreens and the Starbucks up the street a big secret…
Bleah. I’ve dropped my obligatory $20 in the casino of a less-depressing hotel (the Excalibur, where I would prefer to stay if I could…) Hubby and I will take in a show tonight. And tomorrow I will shake the alkali dust of Las Vegas off my Birkenstocks and head back to dear old Tarzana.
A Study In Silver 