Rio Suites

My 29 year old boy is making his first trip to Vegas. I would have recommended differently, but I'm interested if any of you folks have been to this place lately. I've read that it's nothing like it used to be, maybe 20+ years ago. It was cheap.......Spirit non-stop flights arriving 10pm on a Monday (January 9), and departing 6 am on Saturday for $550 out the door including both hotel and air. I'll wil also post this question elsewhere on LV Advisor. Give me your thoughts, please.

 Five nights at the Rio ( a run down, off strip casino), I would be bored after 2 days and late to arrive, early to return flights on Spirit - that is not how I would prefer to be my first visit to Vegas. But then again, I don't know what your/his budget is - I think that staying for a shorter time (maybe 3 nights) at a more centrally located casino would be a better choice and experience. JMHO...

That sounds like a decent package.  Hopefully the airport issues will be resolved by then.

Rio gets an unfairly bad rap IMO....kinda like Circus Circus.    True its not as good as it used to be .... but its not a shithole either.      I popped into the casino briefly on my last trip.  It was energetic enough with some good live music in the casino.   Voodoo Lounge is still open.   Probably  cold  up there this time of year.

I dont know if they have shuttles to the strip.  If not - that would be the biggest reason to avoid.    

Voodoo Lounge never reopened from the pandemic close.  Voodoo Steakhouse is open though.

There is no longer shuttle service. Spirit will be fine the Rio not so much. Make sure his package  included luggage or he will have to buy it at the airport.  If price is an issue switch to the Excalibur or Luxor. At least he would be on the Strip. My understanding is the homeless camp out in the RIO parking lot.  

Prices are Caesars-sky high there, and the quality of what you get is...dubious. As a Vegas newbie, he'll play the $25 6:5 BJ, pump Benjamins into the 88% return slots, etc. He'll spend a lot of money and get crud in return.

That said, how many people use their Vegas rooms as anything but a crash pad? Just tell him to sleep there but gamble and eat almost anywhere else. The Gold Coast and the Palms are much, much superior alternatives, and right next door.

The place looks, and is, worn out. But as a base of operations, it'll work.

With the $40 resort fee at the RIO, the small savings on the base room rates over the budget properties on the Strip and downtown is going to be exceeded by increased daily transportation costs for rideshares/taxi/rental/parking fees. I can't imagine the average 29 year-old would find the next door Gold Coast appealing leaving the Palms as the only place for him to hang out with people his age within walking distance.

If my first experience in Vegas was at the RIO in its current condition, I'd never come back.

Well that sucks.     Funny, they still had signs advertising it on the casino floor.    

I'd like to see someone buy the place and make it truly nice again.   

I'd like to see someone buy the place and make it truly nice again.

Hyatt is taking over

https://newsroom.hyatt.com/rio_las_vegas

Maybe so, but the only (the only) reaon to visit Vegas is to gamble. If he wants a glorified nightclub experience and to partaaaay with other twentysomethings, he can get that cheaper and easier just about anywhere else, including Nome, Alaska.

I loathe getting ripped off, and that's the central theme of any CET property. Now, since I concentrate on gambling, the availability of good gambling on-property or, at least, nearby, drives my decisions. That may not matter to him at all (though he'll end up poorer).

If my first experience in Vegas was in its current condition, I'd never come back.