I was a bit worried after reading some of the reviews of this hotel but I was very happy after arriving. Check in was easy we had help from Toni, she was very helpful and pleasant. She upgraded us to a mini suite in the Monoco tower. All we had to do was ask. The room was great. VERY CLEAN. The bed was VERY comfortable and big. TV was very nice even though we did not use it much. Our view was not too good but I guess you can't have it all. I did not get a chance to check out the rooms in the other towers but I believe if you ask for non smoking you will get a remodeled room.

The locaton is not bad at all. You are away from the crowds yet if you were in the mood for more action it was in walking distance if you like to walk or if not the Duece bus stops right outside the hotel and you can take it to the strip or even to Fremont Street. Cost is seven dollars a person for 24 hours. The stops are plenty so you will always find the bus stop.

The service that we recieved as very good. Everyone was friendly and helpful. This was one thing I was worried about because of the reviews. We signed up for the players club and recieved free show tickets. We went to the ice show and it was Awesome. We gave the lady seating us five dollars and received front row seats. We were not in the room often so we did not need it cleaned every day. We let the cleaning service know that we would still need towels and they were very promt with bringing them every day. Also they made sure we had the bath and body works shampoo, conditioner, soap, and lotion every day. They were very nice people. We ordered room service one night, It was very late so we did not expect very promt service. But we had our food within 1/2 hour. We ordered the chips and cheese supreme and received more than enough for the two of us. It was a very reasonable price for all the food we got.

The ABC store in the hotel is very reasonably priced. You could get a can of pop for $.75 and a bottle of pop for $1.49 which was much cheaper than the hotels down the strip. One of the stores is open 24 hours. The food court is reasonable too. You can get an omlet breakfast for $5.99. There is also a Chinese place, Mexican place, and a Quiznos.
The Sahara down the street had buffets for $8.99.

The pool was nice and not too crowded.

As far as gambling it seemed that the Riviera and Circus Circus (not Slots of Fun) were the loosest slots and we gambled at New York New York, Rio, MGM, Sahara, Wynn, Encore, Treasure Island, and the Stratosphere, Golden Nugget, Fitz, and Fremont Street Casino. You must go to Fremont Street. The atmosphere is awesome if you just want to have fun. The light show is awesome also. They were celebrating the Summer of 69 the week we were there.

I would definietely return to this Hotel.

I booked this hotel because they were giving me the 3rd night of our stay for free and the rates on the other 2 nights were pretty cheap. I had other hotel offers (through my job) but made the mistake of choosing the Riviera. With the 3rd night free I was also supposed to get 2 tickets to a show.

We checked in at VIP services as I was instructed when I booked my reservation. The gentleman that checked me in should not be working for VIP's. I don't consider myself a VIP but the promotion I booked said to check in there and so I did. I asked about the 'Welcome Package' I was supposed to get that would explain about everything, including the show tickets. The man at the VIP desk had no idea what I was talking about. I asked about the show tickets...again he was clueless. I pulled up the ladies name and number I had booked with and offered it to him. He called her and said she was not in the office and he could offer no further assistance other than to check with someone else (basically saying it was someone else's problem).

So I finally get the room key and I have to ask him where my room is. To me, if you do nothing else to help the person checking into a hotel, at least tell them where the room is! Ok, so we get to the room and it's ok. Nothing fabulous but not awful or anything. We were in the older section that had not been renovated yet as I required a smoking room and that was the only tower that had smoking rooms. Once we had gotten comfortable, I called the woman I booked my reservation with to try and obtain information about the free show tickets as I wanted to see it on our first night there. She was still not in and I left a message for her. Exhausted from the travel and the hassle of checking in, we were in the bed earlier than normal so we could get plenty of rest for the next day. At 8:30pm there was loud knocking on our door. My husband was asleep so I rushed to the door. I was a member of the housekeeping staff asking if my room was clean. I appreciate that they asked but we had checked in about 5 hours before so to me a call soon after check in would have been more courteous than loud knocking at 8:30 at night.

Day 2 was when I finally got a call back (voice mail as I had been in the shower when she called) about the show tickets. She told me I should have gotten a welcome package at VIP services. I tried to call her back only to get voice mail once again. By this point I gave up trying to get the show tickets since it appeared no one knew what was going on with the promotion I had been offered from their hotel.

Day 3 was the last day we would be there as we had a red eye flight that night. When we went to check out I went to the regular desk and the person there also had no clue about the promotion of getting the 3rd night free and I had to wait about 10 minutes while she checked on it. Once we got that settled, she gave me the bill. It showed only 1 night's charge. I was confused since I should have paid for 2 nights. Scanning the receipt in detail I saw that I had been charged the first nights stay when I booked the room a month before but I was never advised that I would be billed in advance. Luckily it wasn't an issue but adding it on top of the other issues just made me so glad to be leaving this hotel!!

The only other bad thing I have to add is that there was a pool tournament going on at the hotel during our stay and I would have appreciated being notified of this when I booked the room as it would have made a difference in my decision to stay there. The place was so packed with people it was hard just to get to the strip from my room and there was no room to gamble so we spent the days at other places and only returned to the Riviera for sleep and a shower.

The best thing about our stay was the departure. The gentleman at the Valet/Taxi area was extremely pleasant and helpful. I wish I would have looked at his name but I was just ready to be out of there so I can't tell you his name but he was great!

Upon returning home I waited a few days before deciding to say anything. I understand everyone has a bad day here and there but the more I thought about it, the more angry I became so I wrote to the Riviera with all the above concerns and to date I have not heard back from them. Terrible customer service and though the price may seem good, just remember you are paying for a hard time so I say spend a little more and go elsewhere!

Its a great place to stay at LV when you are traveling on a budget... Easy access to the strip and some great restaurants around...

Just got back from 3 night stay @ Riviera...checking into the hotel can be a task (especially during peak hours)...that aside, the hotel and casino is a great value considering how much other hotels are charging on the strip. I requested a non-smoking room, so they gave me a room in newly renovated tower...good sized room with all the current amenities( flat screen, ipod clock radio, etc.) I was given a room that was next to elevators, so i didnt get sleep first night...the next day i went down to guest services, and before i could even finish complaining i was given a nicer room. the hotel had great service and was clean. the casino floor was a bit smokey, but what the hell u expect, its vegas. the hotel has ok buffets, and there is great t-bone steak dinner special for under $13 24/7. I went on weekend, and was impressed with the crowd @ pool...was packed sat and sun. In terms of location, it is a bit north on the strip across circus circus. McDonalds right across street for early morning munchies. Bring walking shoes if you don't have rental car. Would recommend to college friends on budget....if you want in on the real vegas action look into the middle of strip, b/c it does become hassle getting to the hot nightclubs.