Vegas

Greetings from room 666 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. I'm here for a three-day company offsite.

I just got back from breakfast. I need to pack up my stuff, check out, and then head downstairs for our final day of meetings. They go all day, and then I catch the 7:00 Ted flight back to SFO.

There are things I've enjoyed about this hotel, such as my view:


And other things:


Being a rock-and-roll themed hotel, there is rock music playing everywhere in the hotel lobby, casino and restaurants. I rather like it. However, a lot of my work colleagues find it annoying, but I think most of them are not in this hotel's target demographic.

However, there are things I haven't cared for. They are represented by this:

This is a diet Coke that I bought, chilling in the room's ice bucket. The reason it is in the ice bucket and not in the room's refrigerator is that the fridge holds the mini-bar. "Couldn't I just take stuff out and put the soda in the fridge for a couple of hours", I hear you say? Not unless I want to pay. You see, the mini-bar is automated. Merely taking something out will cause my room to be charged for the item in question. In fact (according to the four-screen electronic disclaimer I had to read and sign while checking in) merely opening the refrigerator door will result in a charge.

They will also charge me for using the gym ($20/day), bringing a guest into my room (ahem), or even bringing into my room food bought outside the hotel (I don't know how they'd find out, but I don't want to mess with Vegas security).

BTW, while the room rates are considerably cheaper during the week, starting Friday evening, because this is Halloween weekend, the hotel will be charging over $400/night per room

That's right. A hotel that charges $400/night will ding me for buying a bottled water outside the hotel.

How I wish for the days when the hotels were cheap because they would make their money from gambling.