We booked our stay at the Golden Nugget Hotel, a downtown staple and one of the oldest hotels in Las Vegas. It was originally built in 1946, and has since undergone major changes and renovations, making it one of the top hotels on Fremont Street. It ended up being a mixed bag of good and bad, mostly good but there were a few incidents that left me thinking that The Golden Nugget might have a few spots that are just gold-plated.
We checked in and were given a room right away, which was much appreciated. We were put in the Carson Tower, an older section of the hotel. The room was "fine", nothing special, nothing terrible.
The next morning, we got up early to check out the gym and grab coffee. When we returned to the room, we were immediately hit with a strong and horrible odor as we walked in. I'd noticed a bit of funk the previous day, but chalked it up to smells from whatever cleaning products the housekeepers used. But now it was much, much worse, like raw sewage. What was even more horrible was when I realized the smell was coming from the bathroom sink! So we called the front desk and asked if we could be moved. They were very accommodating and professional about it, and said to come down to the front desk whenever we were ready to move. B had a couple of appointments that morning so I decided to go to the pool for a bit, with the plan that we'd move to our new room later in the day.
The pool at the Golden Nugget is really kind of fabulous, at least as far as the layout. The lower level has a big pool area, and there is a "shark tank" with real sharks! A water slide takes you right through the thick of it, which looked to be pretty fun although I didn't use it. Here's a view of the large fish tank in the evening:
The pool area also has an upper pool, which is adults only. When I went there, I was informed that not only did every single chair there cost money, all the normal lounge chairs were booked and all that was left were the large round chaise loungers. Cost for that day (a Thursday) was $75 in food and drink. I decided to go for it, since $75 in food and drink all day for the two of us didn't seem unreasonable. It did bother me, however, that we weren't advised at check-in that there were additional costs for the Adult Pool. I'd assumed our resort fee would cover at least a basic chair at the upper pool, and it would've been nice to know in advance that we needed to book space there. I found out later that it is listed in the small print of their check-in information, but it felt like they didn't make much of an effort to make sure their guests knew of this policy.
I did end up talking to the front desk about it, and the manager there was very helpful. He offered to upgrade us to a better room for no charge, since we were already moving rooms, and put us in the Rush Tower. These rooms are MUCH nicer, beautiful view of the city and a lot was put into the decor. If you stay here, I would definitely see about upgrading to one of these rooms if possible.
So, our first day at the pool was nice, service was good, food decent, all in all a nice afternoon. We enjoyed the Fremont Street sights that evening, had a great dinner, did some gambling (I lost, as per usual!) and watched all the craziness go down.
Unfortunately, our second pool day is where it all unraveled. We went to the upper pool again, planning to just go ahead and rent another round chaise for the day. Because it was Friday, we were told that now the cost would be $125, not including food and drink. Sigh. But, same as the day before, all the regular chairs were reserved so it was either take it or try to find a spot on the lower pool (which I will say is stacked with people and by late in the day is incredibly crowded.) We decided to roll with it and got our chaise, which was on level two, an area that consisted of about 10 chaise loungers and some cabanas.
When we got to our spot, we noticed that the two chaises next to us had about 30 people hanging around (these are smallish round loungers, room for maybe four people!) Apparently, when you rent a chaise at the pool, you are not restricted as to how many "friends" you can have with you. So we endured an afternoon of watching this group get increasingly drunk, smoke weed, vape, and invade our space. At one point one of them even tried to sit on the edge of OUR lounger. We started talking to another couple who'd also rented a chaise on the same level but a few doors down. They said there was a bachelor party group next to them who was doing the same thing- super drunk, obnoxious and loud. By now we'd moved away from our old chaise to one closer to the stairs, as those people had left for the day and our server said it was fine.
The couple decided to complain to a manager about it, and the wife was particularly upset at the treatment she witnessed the female server dealing with from the group of drunken bachelor party boys. She said they'd spent the afternoon catcalling, harassing and making inappropriate comments. The server was a young, very pretty girl who was also working really hard to make sure everyone was happy, and certainly didn't deserve to be treated like a piece of meat. When asked about it, she simply shrugged and said, "It happens all the time."
The manager, whose name was "Jordan" I think, came to talk to us and I have to say, he really didn't handle things well.
Having worked in customer service and in the hospitality industry for many years, I think one of the worst things you can do when dealing with guests is to have a chip on your shoulder. Jordan came at us with a very defensive attitude, told the couple who was complaining that "if they'd said something this morning he could've done something then" and was very sharp-toned and dismissive. He ended with a sarcastic "Well what exactly is it you want at this time?" and ended up agreeing to take $50 off the couple's rental. He completely ignored us, however, and stalked off before I could even say a word. Obviously, Jordan was having a very bad day, and I'm not sure management is his life calling.
Even worse, when questioned about the verbal harassment that the server was subjected to, Jordan seemed to shrug it off. And I think that's what bothers me more than anything. Here was this young woman, who was working her ass off and just trying to do her job, and a group of drunken blowhards thought it was okay to treat her with zero respect and that it was permissible (because, hey it's Vegas) to let loose with their most misogynistic behavior, all with no consequences. Never okay, and especially not okay in today's social climate. I'm not sure what the solution is, because I do understand that it isn't always within managements control, but it concerns me nonetheless.
There are a lot of positives I can cite with our stay. Front desk service was exceptional, Rush Tower rooms were great, plenty of nice restaurants, and the gym and spa area were all well-appointed. The casino was nicely laid out and the tables tend to be a bit less expensive than The Strip, which makes it fun for low-level gamblers like me (did I mention I never win? Ugh!)
The location of being right on Fremont Street is also a huge plus. I loved the vibe of the downtown area and everything about the Fremont Street experience was a blast. Easy walking, lots to see (lots of things to see that are NOT child-friendly though entertaining for the grownups. Don't bring your kids here, just don't) some really cool bars and excellent food.
I think we would stay at the Golden Nugget again, but I would go into it knowing that we don't want to stay at the Carson Tower and we want to reserve our chairs for the Adult pool WAY in advance. Despite the issues with the management poolside, our overall stay was good and I'd recommend this hotel if you're looking for a bit of old Vegas with some modern touches.
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