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Riviera Room Rants

phyz

Muse
phyz
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
965
OK, so TAM5 has arrived at The Riviera. Attendees are settling into their rooms. Those who have attended previous TAMs will make inevitable comparisons to previous accommodations. That's just how it works.

We're all grateful to have a TAM to come to and stand in awe of those who work so hard to put the logistics together.

Having said that, I've noticed some, um, "undocumented features" of my room.

1. The color of the tap water. See, the tap water should be colorless. Mine has a bit of an orange hue. No turbidity; just a bit of rust, methinks.

2. After fussing with the thermostat, I was able to get it to tell me it was blowing hot air into the room. Did so all night. It promised at temp of 72F. I bumped it up to 75F. After churning all night, it delivered 66F (19C). Perhaps it's just not powerful enough to handle the cold snap blowing through.
 
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phyz said:
2. After fussing with the thermostat, I was able to get it to tell me it was blowing hot air into the room. Did so all night. It promised at temp of 72F. I bumped it up to 75F. After churning all night, it delivered 66F (19C). Perhaps it's just not powerful enough to handle the cold snap blowing through.
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This is a problem with a lot of Vegas hotels. The heaters don't work worth a darn. From what I've been told, many of the hotels have heaters that whirr and clank and blow but don't do much actual heating (other than via the energy they waste moving the air around).

At TAM3, held at the Stardust, I came down with a terrible case of the chills right after the meeting ended. My room was cool, but having the chills made it seem like a meat locker. I wanted to get the temperature at least up to 75, but couldn't manage better than about 68.
 
phyz said:
2. After fussing with the thermostat, I was able to get it to tell me it was blowing hot air into the room. Did so all night. It promised at temp of 72F. I bumped it up to 75F. After churning all night, it delivered 66F (19C). Perhaps it's just not powerful enough to handle the cold snap blowing through.
Click to expand...

You have a thermostat? We have a single, extremely loud heater near the window. Although I have to admit, it did fine and we were pretty warm once we got it cranking.

Our problem is that due to a mix up (which was mostly our fault) with the rooms, we ended up in a smoking room. We're about to move into a non-smoking room before my asthma and allergies all go into overdrive.

Oh well :) Not like we'll be spending much time in here anyway! TAM TAM TAM!!! :)
 
Jesus' face is visible in the mildew in my shower stall.

Maybe I can peel off the wallpaper (since its falling off anyways) and sell it on Ebay.

-AH
 
So far so good. It's an older hotel, for sure but nice enough. I don't plan on spending too much time actually in the hotel room. Better by far than the Frontier, not quite as good as the Luxor or Monte Carlo (but the Luxor didn't have WiFi).
 
I think the rooms are great.

Then again, I've stayed a night in Bornemouth :)
 
I switched rooms, so now someone else will have my old room with no heat.

As I mentioned elsewhere (and others have echoed here), TAM isn't about the rooms.

But I did want one with heat.
 
ottle said:
We're about to move into a non-smoking room before my asthma and allergies all go into overdrive.
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Good luck with that. The nonsmoking rooms reek of smoke. You see, I speak from experience on this subject.
 
They were almost out of non-smoking rooms when I checked in, so I'm all alone in a room with two double beds (anyone wanna have a sleep over?).

I've got my thermostat cranked down to 68, but I drove in from Salt Lake City where it was in the single digits - so I'm feeling just dandy with the air temp. (It's a balmy 50F or something outside!)

The Riv is definitely an older hotel showing its age, but it's livable - although the creaking and stuttering of the elevators can be a bit disconcerting at times.
 
Want a thrill? Ride one of the inclinators at the Luxor! At least these elevators go up and down. They seem pretty fast to me too...Enjoyed the video Troylus. Now you're a super villain? Use your super powers at the casino and you should be set for life.

So far. Enjoying the TAM at the Riv. Nancy got to go up on stage with Banachek.
 
Rant a little on the positive side? Wasn't that a great view from the "Top of the Riv"?. What a clear night!

Heading for breakfast at TAM 5!
 
Krash said:
Good luck with that. The nonsmoking rooms reek of smoke. You see, I speak from experience on this subject.
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Our new room is great. No smoke in the room or on the floor in general - which was the big issue with the smoking room. It's a lot less... dingy too. I think the smoking room was just older or less renovated or something.

All else is fine - and our view is much better.

Getting my butt out of bed to go to breakfast soon.
 
Saturday night was freeeezing for me and my friends. I woke up a few times and couldn't feel the tip of my nose. My friends had similar experiences. We cranked up the thermostat even and didn't feel any change.
...we wake up the next morning and notice THE WINDOW WAS OPEN.
:footinmou
 
Ahhh, heck. I did love the view this year when compared to the Stardust where we were high up but facing an industrial part of Vegas. One problem however was that we didn’t get what we asked for. It was almost as though they were just kidding when we made our reservation and clicked off what we wanted. For example, instead of a large king we wound up with two double beds. They said at the desk that the requests are on a first come (that to them means arrive) basis. I must now re-think what the word reservation actually means in the context of hotel jargon…

Anyhow, no big thing I guess. The point of TAM is TAM. And our sleeping arrangement is a very small complaint when compared to the excellence of the event itself…
 
Seinfeldesque

Ahhh, heck. I did love the view this year when compared to the Stardust where we were high up but facing an industrial part of Vegas. One problem however was that we didn’t get what we asked for. It was almost as though they were just kidding when we made our reservation and clicked off what we wanted. For example, instead of a large king we wound up with two double beds. They said at the desk that the requests are on a first come (that to them means arrive) basis. I must now re-think what the word reservation actually means in the context of hotel jargon…
Click to expand...

There was an episode of Seinfeld where he reserved a car, arrived at the car rental location, and they did not have a car. There was a very funny interlude where Jerry concluded that the rental agency did not know the meaning of the word "reservation."

Upon my arrival at the Riv on Thursday night I went to the little self-service kiosk to check in, and was told by the computer that, instead of the king bed non-smoking room I reserved, there were only double bed smoking rooms. I guffawed, shook my head and expressed my displeasure to the reservation clerk. The conversation went something like this:

Me: It says that there are only smoking rooms left.

Clerk: [nodding her head in sympathy]. Yes. We are very full.

Me: But I reserved a king bed non-smoking room.

Clerk: I'm sorry.

Me: I want a non-smoking room.

Clerk: There aren't any.

Me: But I had a reservation for a non-smoking room.

Clerk: Well, like it says when you made the reservations, you only "requested" a non-smoking room. It's only a request, and there are no non-smoking rooms available. We can put you in one tomorrow.

Me: And what about the king bed?

Clerk: Likewise a request only. None available. Sorry.

Me: I am not very happy.

Clerk: I can see that.

Me: I fact, you might say that I am angry that you don't have the room I reserved.

Clerk: That you requested.

Me: But you have computers.

Clerk: I beg your pardon?

Me: You see, I don't see why the computer doesn't stop you from giving out the last non-smoking room when I have specifically requested one. Why didn't the computer say: "Hold on, Mr. Orman has requested this room, give the other guy a smoking room." It would seem to me that your computer could tell you to do that.

Clerk: I will go talk to my manger. [Disappears for two minutes, then comes back]. Okay, I will give you a suite.

Me: A suite?

Clerk: Well, a junior suite.

Me: A non-smoking suite?

Clerk: Yes. Here's your key. Please sign here. Have a nice stay.

Little did I know that they put me in what I can only call the "Punishment Suite," something that they reserve for customers that annoy them. First of all, to call it a "suite" is a gross exageration. It was just a really big room with the same stuff you would find in a normal room. Then there was the buzzing sound. It was like I was on top of a huge and broken power transformer that buzzed at 50db (at least) continuously. All I can say is that the night in the Punishment Suite was not very restful, but at least they put me in a regular non-smoking room the next day--sans buzzing.
 
DiskoVilante said:
Saturday night was freeeezing for me and my friends. I woke up a few times and couldn't feel the tip of my nose. My friends had similar experiences. We cranked up the thermostat even and didn't feel any change.
...we wake up the next morning and notice THE WINDOW WAS OPEN.
:footinmou
Click to expand...

And what school do we go to again?

I tried to turn the heat on our room, but then we would never had slept. Thankfully, I'm a New Englander and delphi's a Mid-westerner.
 
RemieV said:
The room was great! It came with its own skepdude!
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I protest that it was not clearly marked out on the reservation forms that you could get rooms with Skepdudes in them. I demand a refund and apology from someone.
 
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