We started our trip at the Las Vegas Hilton. On the way into town, we saw signs that it was NASCAR weekend at the Speedway so we knew it would be busy. We rolled into the valet at about 5PM and the wait at check-in was about 10 minutes. The Hilton has a few different room types so we reserved a "Grand" room because it is larger than a standard with a seating area that we like to have. At the desk I ask for my usual; smoking, high-floor, good view if possible. She tells me they are very busy with NASCAR in town and all she has is a smoking on the 3rd floor with no view. Ok, no problem, we aren't picky. We hoof our stuff all the way to the last room on a very long hallway, open the door and it is not only a non-smoking room with no view, it is not even a Grand room like we paid for. Back down to the front desk, where I am told the only other room in the entire hotel is also on the 3rd floor. I ask if it a Grand room, "No but its smoking." is the response. So I look at him for a few seconds before he asks "Is there anything else?" Ummm yeah, the 20 bucks I paid for the "upgraded" room! It is not a lot of money just the point that they were perfectly intent on screwing me had I not said anything. He goes in the back and comes back a few minutes later and tells me he credited my account witha surly look on his face. A very frustrating start to the vacation...

The rest of the stay wasn't too bad. The "premium" room that we ended up in was fairly nice. It has been recently remodeled and everything was in decent shape. There is a good-sized flat panel TV, marble counter-tops in the bath and it was definitely larger than a regular room. The only real problem was the amount of noise in the room. The door was so thin that I thought someone has having a conversation in my room! The AC also rattled, the mini-bar had a persistant hum and the elevator "ding" was awfully loud! It all made it a little tough to get to sleep.

The only food we ate at the Hilton was a quick snack of nachos and a pretzel at the Sports Book Deli, both of which were good. This is the 24 hour dining option at the Hilton as yet another casino coffee shop is no longer open all night. Fortunately, they do have an extensive menu. The coffee/wine bar in the lobby has snacks and pastries 24 hours as well. We played just a short time in the casino which has very little to note except the "Space Quest" casino still exists which makes it even more out of place now that the Star Trek attraction is gone. There are a decent amount of good single line video poker machines near the giant sports book that I spent some time playing without any luck!

All in all, the stay at the Hilton was slightly above average. It is definitely a long way from it's glory days as one the high roller joints in town but a decent option for an inexpensive room if being a block off-strip doesn't bother you. If you are attending an event at the Convention Center next door, its a no-brainer and the monorail station somewhat offsets a less than ideal location.