We arrived at the Monte after an 11-hour flight only to be told that our room wouldn't be ready till 5 pm. When we got there our expected Strip View was entirely blocked by a towering huge grey wall which turned out to be part of the new City Centre project. The beds were Ok but why don't they supply decent plump pillows instead of the dolls house variety? My wife and I have been staying at (and recommending) the Monte Carlo since it opened in 1996 and have seen a steady decline in just about every aspect of the Hotel. On our last visit 18 months ago we saw the start of the City Centre construction right next to the hotel -and the noise and dust that accompanied it. The once-fabulous pool area has been greatly reduced (the Lazy River wasn't working the day we arrived) and the whole environment is overshadowed by what appears to be the Backside of Benidorm. - and a huge grey warehouse-style abomination that completely ruins the view. Even the cooling waterfalls have gone. On arrival at the pool at 9am everyone had their bags searched (no, not for bombs) but - "due to a change of policy we don't allow any food in the pool area" we were told by an officious Border Guard and my wife had her bag of crisps promptly confiscated - as did a kid behind with a half-eaten bag of popcorn. When I asked why people were being allowed in with their coffee I was told: "Coffee is OK but no food." "So not even a Danish bought in the Hotel to accompany my Starubucks?" I queried - only to be told that pastries were on the forbidden list! Safely past the sentries I went for some towels: "Only two per guest"! the girl barked when I took four. "But I need 2 for my wife as well" I protested and was sulkily supplied with another pair. But before we had time to settle on our longers the most ear-splitting noise (it could not be described as music) blasted our eardrums. Don't get me wrong I like music (Will Smith's my hero) but this was not the usual Monte soft rock -it was Gangsta Rap at full blast and went on mercilessly all morning. People were complaining all around the pool and one couple went into Reception to lodge their objections, then more people joined the queue. All to no avail. On the second morning (after our food search) "Yo Momma! Yo momma!" was belting out again -it was relentless - and more people complained but we were told that "The music is streamed down from a satellite so we can't change it." (Yes you heard that correctly). I don't know if the Manager is a friend of Snoop Doggy Dog but despite the daily protests of his paying guests he refused to either play something which might be appreciated by the majority of his paying guests - or lower the volume. When I complained at Reception I was advised "When you get home fill in a form on the Website." Brilliant. Instead I wrote a very a strong letter on Monte notepaper and handed it in - as we checked out in disgust! What contempt for their guests - no wonder the place is in terminal decline. Even Lance Burton went AWOL - his Theatre closed until further notice -he was apparently 'off sick' (why am I not surprised). Shopping in The Street of Dreams consisted of one lonely shop (the others were closed) and the hotel Hypermarket had disappeared to make space for the new Mexican-themed Diablo Cantina which was lively, fun, busy and totally out of character with the Hotel's 'classy' French Rivera theme. When we ventured outside the Hotel we constantly had pimps thrusting 'girls for hire' cards at us. I later counted thirteen (yes thirteen) pimps in a line so that holidaymakers had to run a gamut of sleaze before escaping to yet another line of pushers a few yards up the Strip. I cannot stress enough our disgust with the management of the Monte Carlo (and I repeat we've been regular guests for nearly thirteen years) and we certainly will neither be returning, nor recommending this pit to any more friends. We checked out and went to the Treasure Island Hotel after spotting a great offer on the Expedia website (one free night in five). See report on Treasure Island which we would highly recommend to those who don't want to spend their vacation with bleeding eardrums and pastry-less coffee.