FWIW: Rio still very cheap with LVA

What they actually do is charge $100 PER NIGHT for "incidentals," and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they tried to steal some of that money by having the maids report bogus damage.

Another thing they do is keep/fail to credit first night deposits. I'm still trying to get my $50 back from when I stayed there last June.

About half of the crap you experience at the Rio is due to deliberate understaffing (like never being able to talk to a human), and half is due to deliberate malice/ancillary gouging. Nevertheless, if you know what to expect and can navigate all the pitfalls, the Rio is still a bargain.

Kevin, I am likewise struggling to get my first night deposit back after making a cancellation a few months ago. I will be staythere next week so I will try face to face. If I do not get credited  I think I will get my credit card company to instigate a chargeback against them. It is only $30 but annoying me now.

I assume your comment on stealing incidental deposit was a bit tongue in cheek and no one has experienced this. On the incidental topic if you say you will not charge to your room can you avoid it?

I agree on price, I consider it a great bargain provided unrenovated rooms is okish.

I had to cancel and rebook my room at the Rio for my last trip, the price had come down. They didn't refund my first deposit automatically, but I was able to talk to the AI Rita, and it was refunded a few days later.

Yeah, I tried telling them that I was unlikely to charge anything to my room and even if they thought I would lose control of myself or something, wasn't $500 for five days kinda sorta excessive? I'd have to want extra extra butter on the croissants delivered every morning to my room to approach that!!

It really annoys me when some company I'm dealing with, whether a hotel or an ice cream parlor or a Chinese brothel, drags out some "policy" that anyone who thought for two seconds could tell is ridiculous, and I have to deal with it.

And yes, it makes me nervous to have $500 of MY money in THEIR custody and THEY are going to decide to return it ..or not! Maybe on some pretext ..

They also haven't considered that tying up that money may mean that people won't lose it in their casino.

Stupid.

The person who created Rio Rita should be burned alive. Or perhaps that's too lenient.

I got two rooms 2025-12-23 - 31 for $400 all in. Not bad. A bit of a hack as the booking site failed to disclose the resort fees. FTC rule violation. So they are paying it. I might still go for Westgate ($75 F&B credit per room per night).

The Rio smoking rule bogus fee is a report on VMB. https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/rio-falsely-charged-me-for-smoking-in-my-room.217035/page-2#post-3015287

The $100 per night per room reservation is indeed silly. Always use an AMEX. They have the fastest and best dispute resolution process.