Room was basic and functional. Beds were comfortable. We loved Liam, the bar tender. Breakfast is inexpensive and tasty but not available Monday and Tuesday. We easily flagged down taxis to take us to the strip and airport. It's funky and full of history. It is a bit away from the main part of the strip but only a $15 taxi ride (the traffic jams made the ride more expensive).

We found this place online and the pictures online are VERY MISLEADING. do not stay here, Beds were sqeaky, Renovation not finished, very noisy, elevator closes on you, even the dining expierience was not good. Aruba Hotel & Spa, didnt see the spa anywhere . The only thing that was half way decient was the honeymoon suite.. Your better off staying at a Motel 6 or something, this Aruba is not a HOTEL at all.....

Avoid the Aruba hotel. It was by far the worst hotel experience I've had. I can't properly describe everything that was bad about this place, but here's an attempt.

- There were knife holes in my dingy, musty smelling bedspread. I couldn't help but think that somebody had died in my bed.
- The entire room is tile floor. The tile is uneven, chipped, and rather rough. Definitely bring flipflops, not only because of the tile, but to keep your feet from touching the filthy ground and the slimy bathtub.
- The TV went out in the last few minutes of my universities conference championship b-ball game. The cable TV never worked again.
- I had my first introduction to bed bugs and was constantly itching and being bitten all night long.
- The tile and the thin walls make it VERY noisy. I could almost drown out the noise with the very loud air conditioner.
- The phone rang twice in the night but nobody was there when we picked up. Beyond that, a fire alarm somewhere in the hotel had bad batteries or something and beeped loudly every 5 minutes or so.
- The hair dryer burst into sparks when plugged in.
- Unless you want to explain to Little Johnny why the girls playing on the swingset in front of the strip club across the street are mostly naked, I'd recommend that you take your family elsewhere. It's located in a very seedy, non-friendly part of town - though it is at one far end of the strip.
- The place was generally filthy. The tile floors had not been mopped in some time and when swept, the dirt was just pushed under the beds. The closet and dresser were full of dust, garbage, and hair. The HUGE plastic plant that takes up a good portion of the room had not been dusted... ever.

I must say that the woman at the counter was extremely nice and helpful. Check-in was quick and easy. I caught the last few seconds of the game in the bar and it appeared to be a nice, classic place to hang out, though I doubt this to be true because I was the only person there that night.

In short, the Aruba is a very cheap place to stay if you can sleep through anything and are comfortable with deplorable living conditions.

Back when Las Vegas was for Rat Pack-esque sleazeballs, and I mean that in a loving way, good, clean cheap motels lined the strip, like someone had mushed Park Place with Baltic Avenue together on one street.

Those days are dead and gone, and Las Vegas suffers for it, frankly. The Aruba Hotel & Spa is one of the few throwbacks to that glorious era-- a clean, respectable, inexpensive motel in an city full of overblown overcharging casino-hotels. Sure, it's in an area where the main attractions are strip clubs and quickie marriage chapels, but frankly that's *precisely* the charm. Want klassy? Stay at the frickin' Bellagio. Do you want VEGAS, baby? Stay at the Aruba!

Mind you, the Aruba truly is a nice hotel in the middle of a very, ahem, non-touristy area. The staff is beyond excellent, the food is decent (and there is a great Cuban restaurant down the street), and the bartender has a PhD in nuclear physics. The bar, The Thunderbird, one of the few original Vegas places left. There is a great sense of history in this place, and they have pictures of their past glory days. If the idea of seeing one of the places Keely, Louis and Sam performed makes you misty, then stay here. You really have no other choice anymore (RIP, Glass Pool Inn, Tam O'Shanter, La Concha...)