Las Vegas is one of those travel destinations where you can spend exorbitant amounts of money on lavish luxuries or you can have a perfectly good time on a very frugal budget too. More than anything else, the location of your hotel should be one of your biggest concerns and that’s part of how we landed at The Quad Las Vegas for our CES 2014 trip. It’s far from the fanciest hotel, but it’s awfully central and conveniently connected to the monorail system.
In some sense, you could say that the Quad is a “new” property on the Las Vegas strip, but that’s not really true. Instead, it’s a rebranded and revamped version of what was once the Imperial Palace. We started seeing some of these renovations last year and they are still ongoing. The Imperial Palace has never been fancy, so while we didn’t have the highest of expectations for the Quad, we had hoped that they updated the rooms with new furniture and amenities.
Sadly, our hopes were dashed. The casino floor area, shown above, has been upgraded and it’s a vast improvement over what was once there, but the rooms have been left largely untouched. The room where I stayed at the Treasure Island just the month prior was old too, but it was decidedly of another class. What can you expect when you stay at the Quad? Check out my hotel room video tour to find out.
As you can see, the room is definitely lower budget in scope with very dated furnishings. The lack of a true closet is disappointing, though having a proper sitting area with a table and a couple of chairs made for a convenient workstation. I also appreciate the easy access to power outlets. The wireless Internet access, included in the resort fee, left a lot to be desired. Thankfully, I had my mobile hotspot in tow for this trip.
On the plus side, the Quad is now home to Hash House a Go Go, a 24/7 eatery with copious amounts of farm-inspired food. Instead of regular old bread, you get massive honey-covered biscuits. The hash comes along with meat and eggs, as well as carrots, oranges and even watermelon on a skillet. And the sage chicken and waffles? It’s a mammoth portion for a mammoth-sized appetite. It’s not exactly cheap (the chicken and waffles are $20), but you most certainly won’t leave hungry.
Would I stay at the Quad again? I’m not sure. I really like the location from a convenience standpoint, but the room itself leaves a lot to be desired. It’s old, the beds are uncomfortable, and there are always inexplicable stains on the dingy carpet.
Places like Flamingo Las Vegas and Harrah’s aren’t exactly monumental improvements, but I would say that they are better. If a room can be had at either of those properties for the same price, they’d be higher up on the option list than the Quad.
Bally’s is my standard go-to. It’s directly across from Bellagio, hence incredibly central but boasts 2 huge advantages that few people know about.
1 – the lobby exits directly onto Flamingo Road, allowing you to bypass the traffic hellstrom known as the Strip.
2 – the elevators don’t require a labyrinth like search from the main check-in lobby.
Regrettably, Caesars/Harrahs has enacted the resort fee as of 2 years ago, which not so coincidentally, coincided with my last trip to Vegas. But it was another awesome savings over the MGM hotels.
And of the 2 towers at Bally’s, the “North tower” has been fully renovated and offers quite nice looking, albeit spartan, rooms. That said, the older South tower offers “fountain views” of the Bellagio.
Pricing is rarely more than $50/weeknight during off-peak.