Hotel

This thread is to be used to discuss hotel accommodations at Tropicana.

I stayed here a while back. The rooms are okay, but nothing special. I remember it being a hike to get to the casino. The location was okay, but I'd recommend NYNY which is on the same intersection and in the same price range, but a much nicer hotel/casino.

May 2010

The renovations (first since 1985) are completed on 500 of the 1700 rooms. Many of the public spaces and restaurants have been completely finished.

The new owners have very ambitious plans and intend to try to get a AAA 4 diamond rating. That is a higher rating than NY/NY (other 4 diamond casinos on the strip are listed below).


=================
Caesars Palace, 9 years
Paris Las Vegas, 10

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, 10
THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, 6

MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, 4
The Signature at MGM Grand, 3

Monte Carlo Resort & Casino, 4

The Mirage, 20
Treasure Island - TI, 11

non-gaming
Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel, 5
Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, 2

The Trop is also going to have a section of its pool/ pool party run by Nikki Beach club.
Nikki at trop

It must have cost the Tropicana a pretty penny to get The Nikki organization involved. Nikki certainly wont want to damage there high end image with an association with a mediocre property. I for one can say that after the room renovations and with Nikki getting involved I would now consider bringing my wife and staying at the Trop.

Paco do you know (think) the Tropicana's parent company has enough money to pull off a full renovation and move up in class?

From 2003-06, my wife and I stayed at the Trop a number of times because it was cheap, was conveniently located to the strip, and (provided you stayed in one of the towers) had reasonably nice rooms. We stopped staying there as it progressively and rapidly became a dump with atrocious customer service. I can't even keep track of which owners were the worst.

I am really hoping that the current owners do make it into a nice property again, and if the prices do not jump out of sight, we would return.

Quote: jburgess

The Trop is also going to have a section of its pool/ pool party run by Nikki Beach club.
Nikki at trop

It must have cost the Tropicana a pretty penny to get The Nikki organization involved. Nikki certainly wont want to damage there high end image with an association with a mediocre property. I for one can say that after the room renovations and with Nikki getting involved I would now consider bringing my wife and staying at the Trop.

Paco do you know (think) the Tropicana's parent company has enough money to pull off a full renovation and move up in class?

The new CEO was a well known MGM executive. They say the bankruptcy has cleared the past debts and they have the financing to do their expected work. The plans are considerably less ambitious than the previous owners (Columbia Sussex) who said they were going to expand the room inventory from 1,700 rooms to 10,000 for a cost of $2.5 billion.

I think the current plans are doable. They probably won't renovate the oldest low rise towers, since they will certainly be knocked down at some point in the future.

Excalibur and NY/NY are the two most profitable MGM properties (by percentage, not by dollar). As an executive of MGM for many years, Alex would be very aware of that fact. Excalibur has the least expensive rooms in the MGM strip casinos (with the exception of Circus Circus).

Originally, I thought they were going to try and bring Tropicana up to Excalibur standards, but the stated goal by the executive in the video of a 4 diamond resort is more ambitious.

Personally, I would think a less lofty goal of achieving Monte Carlo room rates would be preferable.
These are the Average daily room rates for 2009 of the MGM casinos nearby
Excalibur = $54
Luxor = $72
Monte Carlo = $76
New York = $90
MGM Grand Las Vegas = $106

I would assume that if they get to the point that they want to tear down the oldest low rise towers, and build multiple new high rises again, they will have to sell it to MGM Mirage for the billions in financing.

In the previous plan from 2007, the existing tower is dwarfed by the new towers.

I'll have to check it out next trip. I really like the place but it was really getting to be a dump. I remember going in there once last year and you could just feel that the place was dying.

They have a great location they should definitely do something with the 2nd level walkways to Excalibur and MGM. The fact is TONS of people want to walk between mgm and excalibur(and the tram to luxor and MB). So if they have the walkway go straight into a second floor casino/restaurant area and a clear path to the other second floor walkway to the MGM people don't have to go down and back up stairs on the NYNY side so they will walk through the trop.

The renovations are pretty much completed on the inside. You wouldn't even recognize the place. But the outside is still a lot of scaffolding and temporary walkways. I think they will try and eliminate the drop.

The inside looks really good. Kind of a nice cross between the spaciousness of the old building design and the modern new renovations. The pool area is intact.

I went through there briefly with croupier and his wife. The interior did look a lot better. The exterior still looks very 70's.

Just got back from a Vegas trip. Decided to see if all the buzz about the "new Trop" was true--walked through the casino & other public areas and gambled casually for a couple hours. Compared to my last walk-through a couple years ago the property has *vastly* improved. It's been transformed from a grimy, dark, unkept property to a brighter, cleaner, much more appealing place. The low ceilings are still there but the new color scheme and decorating tricks make it seem larger. Good selection of slots, decent table games (though I was disappointed to discover BJ was no surrender). Employees were universally friendly. Discovered that a casino hostess I had at Venetian before Shel got all penny-pinching on the comps was now at the Trop so I looked her up. She's very happy with her new surroundings. My wife and I usually hang out at the higher-end properties (V/P, W/E) but we've decided to give the Trop a shot on our next trip.

Friend was just given a good offer, asked me if the property is ok. He usually stays at Caesar's/Wynn/ Bellagio but is willing to downgrade a little for the free room. Anyone stay there since the upgrades? Thanks

Quote: mantic59

....but we've decided to give the Trop a shot on our next trip.

So how was your stay at the Trop? Were all of the rooms updated?

Quote: IAchance5

So how was your stay at the Trop? Were all of the rooms updated?

Didn't stay there last year but wife and I will be there next month! Will post review & pics upon return.

I had a room there since the upgrades. They are small but new hotel rooms. They do not scream luxury but they are new furnishings and clean. I would stay there, especially if their price was comparable to NYNY, Luxor or Excal because they are going to be nicer than standard rooms there.

Quote: Pokeraddict

I had a room there since the upgrades. They are small but new hotel rooms. They do not scream luxury but they are new furnishings and clean. I would stay there, especially if their price was comparable to NYNY, Luxor or Excal because they are going to be nicer than standard rooms there.

My brother was there 2 weeks ago and agreed with what you just said.

My wife and I usually stay at the higher-end Strip properties (Venetian/Palazzo, Wynn/Encore, Bellagio, etc.) so we’ve become accustomed to a certain level of comfort, gaming, and service. But last year the casino hostess we had at Venetian (Lucy, who was RIF’d out a few years ago with the rest of them when Shel decided he wasn’t going to cater to the “average” gambler anymore) called me to say she was now working at the Trop and invited us down to look around. We had already made our plans by that time but we did stop by the Trop to say hello to her and look around the public areas. The last time we had stepped foot in the Trop was about 10 years ago and it was pretty run-down. Now a new owner had made about $200 million worth of renovations and we were quite surprised when we walked in: it was bright, airy (even with the old-style low ceiling in the casino, thanks to some interior design tricks), and had a cheerful, casual-but-well-kept appearance. We did a little slot gambling (decent selection of machines), ate a light dinner at the “Beach Cafe” (I had a fillet mignon wrap that was quite good), and decided we should try the Trop for our next trip.

We were checked in by a smiling, pleasant front desk person. This turned out to be a common theme with virtually every employee we came in contact with: cheerful, pleasant, and seemingly genuinely interested in our stay without being obsequious. I would love to find out how management is motivating the employees so I could apply the concepts to my own staff.

We received our key cards (20th floor, Club Tower) and proceeded to the elevators. The elevator bank was what I’ll call “semi intelligent:” the up/down light of the car that was coming to get you would light well before the car actually arrived so you knew which door to stand next to. Great idea, I wish some of the other Strip properties would do that (particularly Venetian, whose elevators always seem to take forever).

Since this was our first stay at the Tropicana we decided to get a room roughly-equivalent to what we stay in at other properties so we reserved a “Club Suite”-- ~800 sq ft, bedroom w/chaise lounge, living room with couch & dry bar with coffee maker and fridge, safe, dual bathroom sinks, and shower (no bathtub). Our room was as advertised, clean and well-maintained. Sound insulation, water temperature, and water pressure were good. Two closets (one by the front door and one next to the bedroom) were more than enough to accommodate our luggage and clothes. The windows were not floor-to-ceiling but certainly large enough for letting in the sunshine and “sightseeing.” And, surprisingly, the windows opened slightly to let the fresh air in if we wished. However we did discover that our windows were part of a building wrap sign so there was a screen that detracted from the view a bit.

In the casino there was a reasonable selection of slots. The pit minimums were quite low, $5 to $10, but the rules were just “OK.” However I discovered the “high limit” room ($100+) had better rules including Blackjack (6 decks, stand on soft 17, DAS, RSA, and surrender). Now...I have an admittedly odd way of gauging the drink service (and service in general) in a casino: I initially order lemonade. I have found this “throws them a curve ball” for some reason. I have previously been turned down (at Wynn: “we don’t offer that”) or given inconsistent product (Venetian). Tropicana handled it well. While it may or may not have been a pre-made mix, it was neither too sweet nor too tart and quite refreshing.

Food service from the three sit-down restaurants was good: maybe not the widest selection (no novel-sized menu like at Grand Lux Cafe) but the quality was excellent. In fact I had a couple meals that could hold its own against any of the high-end strip eateries.

Shopping? You’ll be disappointed. Other than a small “Welcome to Las Vegas” store, a sundries shop, and a few “pop-up” stalls, merchandise is left to other properties.

So what do I think of the “new” Tropicana? It’s a solid value, mid-tier Strip property with a great location; employees who are cheerful, pleasant, and motivated; and gaming that should be acceptable to almost anyone. I would have no problem with a return visit.

Nice report. I have stepped into the Trop once in Dec. 2011 after it was remodeled and the things that stuck out to me were:

Lots of white.

And some ceilings were really low.

I should have stopped by there on my trip this month since we were on the south strip for 2 days. But hell, I should have stopped in a lot of places last trip...lol

Quote: tringlomane

Nice report. I have stepped into the Trop once in Dec. 2011 after it was remodeled and the things that stuck out to me were:

Lots of white.

And some ceilings were really low.

I should have stopped by there on my trip this month since we were on the south strip for 2 days. But hell, I should have stopped in a lot of places last trip...lol

Lots of white is right. The place is really pretty during the day. (I don't know what to think during the night though, some of the staff look out of place in the new decor. Garish might be apropros. )

Stayed there last year, rooms were small, but were clean and of a good quality. Great water pressure in the showers, and like a previous poster mentioned all of the staff were smiley / happy/ very friendly.

The cafeteria by the casino floor was fine, we didn't really make use of their other services / facilities.

For those interested, hotel seems to cater to the middle-aged+, old south + florida crowd.