Circus Circus Reno – A Caesars Rewards Destination

The front desk woman was kind and got me checked in quickly, but the stay itself was rough. My room, #221, was by the elevator and a noisy ice machine. The place felt badly worn: peeling wallpaper, a rotting sink mirror, and a hand print on the wall by the headboard. Outside the window, which looked onto HVAC equipment, there were dismembered bird remains on the ground and the equipment. That was awful to see. Please clean the area outside room #221. The AC was loud, so I shut it off, but it kept turning back on in the middle of the night even louder. I barely slept over 3 days. The bathroom was falling apart, although the shower had good pressure, volume and heat. The bed was just okay. The whole room felt like a Motel 6 in a post-apocalyptic state. I arrived well after midnight because the airport shuttle never came. I waited from 11:40pm - 12:20am in 28 degree weather, and a taxi was close to $40. Uber wasn’t much better and would have taken longer. The room’s view of HVAC wasn’t a huge issue, but the bird remains were. I didn’t report the problems to staff. The front desk was always busy in the day, and changing rooms after unpacking is a hassle. I understand people may choose Circus Circus because it’s cheaper, they have kids, or they got a special offer, rather than for a quality hotel stay. If a manager wants to discuss this, I’m happy to. I’d like the "resort" fee back since this didn’t feel like a resort property and the shuttle didn’t run, leaving me with taxi costs. I’m not furious, just wondering how this room can be rented in its current shape, and whether staff clean and report these issues.

We picked this place because it was downtown and fairly cheap, but next time we’ll stay by the airport and Uber downtown. It would be much less hassle. The hotel has two buildings connected by a skywalk, but getting there means taking an escalator and then several sets of stairs. We were drenched by the time we reached our room and pretty annoyed. We later learned there’s an elevator from the parking garage, though you have to drag your things around the building, across a busy street, and around the other building to get to it. We had 3 rooms, 6 people, and ski gear, so the luggage cart situation was a problem. First I was told we couldn’t have a cart. Then the bellhop couldn’t bring two carts either. Couple #3 was riding with us, and we had two carts full of mixed-up luggage, so without 3 carts it wasn’t going to work. We gave up and carried everything ourselves. There was confusion at check-in too. I booked 2 rooms, with couple #2 arriving later, but the desk gave everyone keys to the same room. We had to go through check-in again to get two different sets, and the names were still reversed, which confused the bellhop at checkout. The next morning, rooms 1 and 2 called the bell desk. They were initially confused because of the front desk mistake, but it went fine after that.

I stayed on the 28th floor of the Sky Tower. The rooms felt pretty average and not updated, with weak water pressure, though the Internet was good. The place still brings back memories from when I was a kid. My parents brought us here in the late 80s, early 90s, gave us rolls of quarters while they played slots and table games downstairs. The flying trapeze and motorcycles in a metal ball are long gone, but kids still play carnival games and head home with huge stuffed animals.

I’m still waiting for maintenance more than 90 minutes after reporting that the thermostat in my Sky Tower room doesn’t work. The operator said I’d need to return to the lobby and wait in the huge line again to be assigned another room. If I have to go back down for security reasons, that makes hotel security seem useless, since I’m already in the room after going through the process. The resort fee was over $44, more than the amount on my original invoice. The check-in itself was a mess. I arrived at 5:00 PM on Saturday, a peak time, with my QR code completed, but the self-check-in kiosks were down for maintenance. The line wrapped around the corner and barely moved. Only 3 of the 11+ registration desks were open. I called to complain before they opened another desk right away, then one more 10 min later. Why did it take a complaint to get more desks open? It felt like management wasn’t paying attention to guests’ time, or how long people spent waiting instead of on the casino floor. Timeline: arrived and parked at 5pm, joined the line at 5:15pm, got to the room at 6:25pm, and called maintenance at 6:30pm. The operator said someone would be sent before a room change, but maintenance never arrived. This felt like a failure to manage basic hotel operations, not just a run of bad luck. For Reno, I’d suggest the Peppermill if you want a casino, or SpringHill, Kasa Archive, or Element for other lodging.