Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

[TheCotMan]

Do you have comments, criticism, or ideas for the Rio Check-in or Check-out and hotel rooms?

We received a message on the hotel phone claiming that we should consider using express check-out by phone or TV because they were expecting a large number of people to be checking out, and long waits were expected. We had to get up and leave early for our flight, but in the early AM, there was nobody in line. (It is nice to have a printed copy of room charges before we leave as "evidence" of what were are to be charged, just in case problems appear like were claimed at the AP and the Riv on inconsistent charges.

As for check-in,I arrived early in the week, and they did not have a room for us. They put us in a different room that was not what we requested. Did anyone else have this problem?

Also, did all of the rooms have the perv-window that let people in the shower look into the room, and people in the room look at the person taking a shower? I do not understand why that was considered a good idea in a two bed, room in a hotel. Sure, swingers might check-in and use a room, and maybe people in open relationships might share a room, but I was wondering if these were in all of the rooms, or just, "special," rooms.

Did you have any problems with check-in or check-out? How long were the check-out lines on Sunday? What about Monday?Was there a "worst time" to check-out?

Thanks for your comments!
-Cot

[micros]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

Check-in, about 3am Thursday morning, for a room with a wed night checking, late arrival note. Only two people at the front desk, one of which was also dealing with checkouts. I had one person in front of me, and it still took > 25 minutes to check in.

Bell hop - 3am basically non-existent. I called the manager on duty to complain, as I specifically asked the front desk if the bell hop was available, as I did not see anyone at the desk as I walked in, and was assured that a bell hop would be available. After 10-15 minutes of waiting at the Bell Desk, a door man walked up, and said that he could load our stuff onto a cart, and a bell hop would deliver it in ~30 minutes. I am sure that I am not alone in stating that I do NOT let my luggage go anywhere un-escorted by myself or my wife. In this insane environment of TSA strip searches, letting luggage out of your control is a very very bad idea.

I wound up taking 4 trips through the hotel to our room to get everything up from our car, travelling with an 20 month old and a 4 year old can really add to your luggage.

The room (17th floor) was quite nice. The window in the shower, while fun/interesting for my wife and I while friends were not around, made it more difficult to schedule showers and friends visiting. I would like to see a way to block this window easily (ie a plastic cut out the right size to drop in) to be included with the room). I am sure this added a whole new dimension to "room share" this year.

Check-Out, attempted TV checkout several times with no success, finally called and left a voice mail as check out. While I prefer to check out in person, I only about 30 minutes left to get stuff to the car, and get over to the buffet to squeeze one last meal in under my 24 hour pass.

DefCon TV was great, and I am very much looking forward to an improved version for next year, as I expect were are going to just blow the doors off the RIO with the number of people showing up for Defcon 20.

Reservation was made in May, at the DefCon rate, and with some work the rate was honoured (they tried to change Sunday night to $99 from $59, but that was corrected when pointed out to them). Seeing the RIO's non DefCon rate both at the time I registered (about $40 lower for the stay) and much closer to the con (3x-5x the DefCon Rate), it seems that the RIO really does a good job of setting price based on occupancy. I will be happy to see a larger DefCon block next year.

DefCon Human Reg - seemed a little dis-organised, as we were sent to the "end" which depending on definition was actually non-human reg. We were able to move over to the right place rather quickly, but still the direction was not clear. The number of desks should be higher, based off of the rate of registration. I way say at a minimum both the SWAG desks, and the Reg desks from this year should be used for Reg, with SWAG moved to another area.

Food - The 24 hour buffet pass that worked at many buffets around Vegas worked out well, we actually did it twice over the con. The Cafe on the way down to DefCon closed ungodly early (~2pm range), and the "cafe" inside DefCon was way at the end. The Riv learned to have Food all over the place, even with it being the same items, they really increased sales. Both food and beer prices seemed a fair amount higher at the Rio.

[charliex]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

Called ahead to let them know we'd been in really late, got there about 5AM and the room had been cancelled even though we'd prepaid and called, they said we were lucky that there was availability and we still got a room.. Then offered to sell us a nearly free upgrade for $400.

So FYI according to the front desk guy, it's policy they cancel after 2AM even though we called in and said we'd be arrive long after that. I know its normal behaviour for a hotel to cancel after a certain time, though I've never had it happen after a call to let them know.

We checked out on Monday, around 2-3PM, it was completely empty at the desk.

[theprez98]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

My reservation was made about 2 months ago and the block was full on some (but not all) nights...the nights that it was full, the rate was so high that it wasn't worth getting into the block at all. Priceline was better. I also saw other rates that ended up up being cheaper than the block. So, in short--more rooms in the block, and seeing advertised rates cheaper than the con block is not exactly what I am hoping for.

~9PM check-in on Tuesday night--no wait
~3AM check-out on Monday morning--no wait (system was down)

My room did not have a "perv window" (at least not one that I saw!)

Daily service was fine, I didn't use room service, a bell hop, or ask for anything special.

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

i have not "checked out" of a hotel room in about 7 years, i think. i honestly didn't know that people still did that.

i just call a bell cart and leave. during check-in i specifically have them disable anything that could possibly be billed to the room (clear out minibar, disable internet purchasing, disallow room service, etc etc etc) so there's never been anything on my room bills.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

i have not "checked out" of a hotel room in about 7 years, i think. i honestly didn't know that people still did that.

i just call a bell cart and leave. during check-in i specifically have them disable anything that could possibly be billed to the room (clear out minibar, disable internet purchasing, disallow room service, etc etc etc) so there's never been anything on my room bills.

I use check-out to get a paper receipt of all charges that will apply; there have been issues at other hotels with discrepancies between items on the bill and the reality of charges, including extra taxes, or fees not on bills for everyone.

[astcell]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

I had the perv window and when my roommate was showering I made sure to avoid any perception of peeking.

The check-in line was fine, the check out on the TV kills your room card on the spot so don't get ahead of yourself.

If you check firearms with security expect a 20 minute wait while they retrieve them.

The Indian restaurant was out of food, the buffet waiters kept taking my food if I got up for a straw or something, and everything had terrible lines.

Still, eons ahead of the Riv!

[e2fsck]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

I didn't properly plan ahead this year. I attempted to book a room at the Rio a month prior to the con, but the block was completely full. I look forward to staying on the property next year (I hate shuttles/Taxi's/walking).

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

The Indian restaurant was out of food, the buffet waiters kept taking my food if I got up for a straw or something, and everything had terrible lines.

one night i joined some TOOOL folk at the buffet way on the other side of the hotel. be sure to not change tables without keeping a hold of your water glass... seems they use that as the only system for defining who is a paid customer. i observed folk get hassled by waiters who were demanding to see receipts if they sat somewhere new and requested another beverage.

(of course, i suppose that a system this strange means you can always just keep a glass from a previous trip and then sit back down as many times as you like in the future.)

[querist]

Re: Registration at the Rio: Hotel Check-in,Check-out, reservations

I am happy to report no problems except that the recommended checkout on the TV procedure did not work, but I checked out at 3AM.

I just ate at atypical hours and avoided the queues.