First Time Visitor Review and Imperial Palace Review
 

Reservations

I looked at prepackaged deals through Orbitz, Expedia, United Vacations, etc., etc., but found they wanted me to leave home at 6 am and leave Vegas at 11:59 pm, or pay a hefty sum for the privilege of leaving at a decent hour. So I started to price air and hotel separately. I looked for roundtrips on the same airline and finally found the best times and prices going on one airline on the way out and a different one on the way back. I booked a room through the hotel’s website since that is where I found the best deal:
05/11/06 = $75.00
05/12/06 = $104.00
05/13/06 = $104.00
05/14/06 = $56.00

Hotel
After checking reviews all over, including here and on Trip Review, we decided to stay at...the Imperial Palace. Why you ask? Well, price (see above) and location were the two best reasons. Seriously, most of the reviews of this place said that it was a room to sleep in, nothing more. And that is exactly what it was. Although it had been described as a Holiday Inn, I thought it was slightly lower in quality. I’d compare it to the Gold Coast Days Inn in Chicago, where I was forced to stay on business a few months back. The furniture and bedding were cheap, but it was all we needed. We literally slept there, showered there and left. And the water pressure was very good (a big plus in my book). As for check-in, we got there about 11 pm on Thursday night and waited about one minute. As for check-out on Monday morning, we did it using the TV which allowed us to bypass the very long line downstairs.

The casino was actually more fun than I expected. It was quite popular with lots of energy and a wide variety of people, especially on Friday and Saturday night. They have the Dealertainers, which are dealers dressed up as celebrities. The ones I saw included Elvis, Gwen Stefani, Whitney Houston, and JLo.

As far as food, we had heard bad things. I assumed that a breakfast buffet would be fine as its hard to screw up breakfast foods. It actually was not fine. The prepared stuff was pretty bad and even the omelet I had was only okay. After that, we only got coffee in the mornings in the café, which was acceptable but nothing more, so I really can not comment on any of the other food, although someone in the elevator said the burger place there was good.

Overall the location was great and I would stay there again if all I was interested in was a cheap, clean, NO frills place to sleep!

Vegas
As a first time visitor, we wanted to try to see as many hotels and casinos as we could. We ended up signing up for the Players Club Card at over 30 hotels. With some, we got free T-shirts (NY NY, Las Vegas Club, Flamingo), some free dice or a deck of cards, some we got nothing but the card. Most of the casinos were pretty similar-we tended to like the ones where we won more than the ones where we lost. With that said, Barbary Coast had some fun cheap gambling (including a huge Wheel of Fortune game in the front). They also handed us a $5 bill to use to gamble, which no one else did, though sometimes we got a small amount of free slot play or a free pull. (I won 50 cents once). I should say we are not big gamblers, we do mostly slots (especially the penny or nickel slots) with some Blackjack and some Roulette.

All in all it was a fabulous trip and we are looking forward to going back!

I have not stepped foot into IP in over 20 years because it is a dump and your review further validates my reasoning. Glad you had a good time.

Thanks for posting the review!

Your welcome! I thought it might be helful to some people. And if anyone has any other questions, ask on the board or pm me.

Well, I don't think the OP exactly said it was a dump. :) I never stay at IP, but do enjoy gambling there. Fun dealers, usually a good crowd. Harrah's is raising the table limits, though, and has elminated $5 blackjack which is not good news. It will be around until March 2007, the last I heard.

hehe, I came across a wee bit harsh. OP did a nice review but I still think IP is a dump ;)

didn't you know, this is the Las Vegas LUXURY HOTEL forum. :D :D

Thanks OP for the trip report; while I am NOT personally fond of this property (I can't get over the hard feelings I have for the previous owner... and his nazi sympathizer issues... (i.e. Imperial Palace party to honor the birthday of Adolf Hitler... yikes... though, he did apologize... It always has left a very sour feeling.... ) I would love to see more reviews in this forum.

Had to meet someone there last summer... and went up to his room... what I did notice is that the elevator wait was crazy long....

Also, nwsilverflyer : Be CAREFUL --- most low limit blackjack at Harrahs is 6:5; and you absolutely don't want to play at one of those tables.

I was in Vegas about a week ago with my dad, and we decided to take a stroll through IP because he had never been in it despite him going to Vegas for 20 years regularly...I agree with all the comments above about the non-room parts of it, and I also saw something there that Ive never seen anywheres else in my life...a "do-it-yourself Breathalyzer kiosk" in the little shopping center they had...I was left speechless by that one...

Was in Vegas and stayed at IP for some of the same dates as the OP. I checked in on 5/13 and checked out on 5/17. Here's my thoughts:

I got an even cheaper rate by joining their Player's Club. I got $85 Sat $65 Sun-W. While the $65 was technically higher than the $56 available, my rate was for a deluxe room, not a standard room. Had a great room for the money. The only drawback is the shower drained slowly, so if my buddy whom I was staying with woke up first, I had to wait about 10 minutes after he had finished showering before I showered.

We asked for a room facing the strip. We were placed on the 10th floor. The elevator bank for this room was on the left, just after you pass the dealtertainers. No long wait for elevators at any time. The view was great. The only potential drawback, is the area between Harrah's and IP (Carnival Court is what they may call it??) which was right in front of our balcony had live music until about 3am. It didn't bother us because we were up until 6am every night. We got a free lunch buffett with our deal. Price was right, but I would never pay for their buffett.

As for the dealertainers, it was fun to watch the occasional singing performance they do. The Alice Cooper dealertainer was scary looking. They always seemed to have him working at the money wheel at the bottom of the escalator up to the buffett/sports book rather than at the blackjack tables. Maybe he's not good at math.

The one negative is I think drinks should be cheaper. We wound up drinking at the Barbary Coast every night. I've stayed there before and would gladly stay there again, but their rates were sky high for our dates.

I think the IP is a great deal, but let me disclose that the other places I've stayed in the last 3 years are the Barbary Coast the (now closed) Boardwalk and the Orleans. So, I like to go for cheap accommodations.

I walked thru IP a while back and there wasn't really anything memorable.

The only redeeming factor to the IP is the bartenders at the Carnival Court in the front of the property. These are by far the best bartenders in LAS! Otherwise, a very accurate review of this property.

You are spot on - couldn't find any 3:2 double deck games at IP like they used to have pre-Harrah's. They even had $25, single deck, 6:5! Had never played there much before, but found cheapo $5 3:2 BJ during the day at Monte Carlo (and great drink service!). Might have to go back there next trip.

Hi
I am staying at The Barbary Coast in October and the rating and review on tripadvisor are really good....so fingers crossed!!
Lardie