Rio issues

I remember reading somewhere in the forums about Rio holding exorbitant amounts as a security deposit and then delaying release. I did a search of the forums and couldn't find it. Can anybody give me the details on this and any other recent info on the state of the resort? I understand food is overpriced and the gambling is good; looking more for the general maintenance of the hotel and vibe in the casino. TIA.

Yes. They will hold $100 per night as security, regardless of the number of nights. I experienced delays of at least five business days, and in one case seven, before my money was returned.

You're correct about the food,: everything there is pretty good quality but hideously overpriced. The gambling is indeed surprisingly good.

The overall vibe is nice IMHO; somewhat old-school. The place is huge and it's a long long walk to your room in either tower. The rooms are immense and they all have floor to ceiling windows. The Masquerade Tower is quite dated; the rooms have features like almost no electrical outlets and surprisingly small tub and shower combos.

Customer service is barely adequate; they're understaffed and it looks like they want it that way. The people I did interact with were great. The worst part by far is Rio Rita the phone bot, who is programmed to drive people nuts until they hang up in frustration.

Overall: you'll definitely feel you're in kind of a bargain basement environment, but where else are you gonna find $3 craps, $10 BJ, and 9/6 JOB? 

I think Kevin is thinking of a post maybe in a trip report of someone being charged $400 or more for smoking in the even though they didn't.

if it's $100 they charge on hold that's low compared to $200-300 and up some charge albeit returned to you at the end of stay.

Nope. I'm the one who made the post he's referring to. They do charge a $100 per night deposit.

Again, it wouldn't be such a big deal if they didn't drag their feet in giving you your deposit back. Technically, what they do is put a hold on your account for the amount in question (rather than a direct debit), so they could easily remove the hold the next day--after they determine that you have no outstanding charges (on checkout) and you didn't steal the fridge (maid). No excuse for that process taking as long as a week.

  I stayed at the Rio for 3 nights 2 weeks ago and the deposit they had for my stay was released in just a few days. Hopefully that is now the standard they will be utilizing going forward.

I stayed at the Rio in October in the remodeled rooms, I didn't have any problems with the deposit. The room was very nice, and the walk to the room wasn't a problem for me. They have full pay 9/6 JoB and 8/5 BP all over the place, including some of the bars. As well as the best available paytables on multiline and Ultimate X video poker. 

I lived west of the Rio in the '90's, and walking through the hallway from the parking garage was a bit nostalgic for me. That was when the Carnival World Buffet was booming, and I walked that hallway many times with my wife and two young sons to have the buffet.