text: We booked three rooms for three nights at THEhotel and here is the lowdownnnGOOD NEWS n Nice rooms with lots of space bathrooms comfy bed and relatively quietn No smoking hotel and common areasn No threemile walk through a brainnumbing casino to registration desk elevators etcn Attentive staff particularly our bellman EricnnBAD NEWS n We booked nine nights total and one of the rooms literally faced a concrete walln One of our three rooms had a bathroom that had not been cleaned at all after the departure of the previous guest YUCKn Inroom coffee COSTS a cup WTHn You are charged if you use space in the minibar fridge to cool anything you bring into the room WTH x n Poolside seating at the Mandalay pool is FULL SUN EXPOSURE only If you want or need an umbrella get out your wallet On the Sunday we were visiting the pool umbrellas were available ONLY in a ropedoff area with padded lounges Lounges were renting for each and umbrellas were renting for each WTH x n If you want to use the hotels free cardio room get a map a compass and put on your walking shoes At least you will burn calories getting to the wimpy little cardio center If you want anything other than the usual cardio machines be prepared to pay for it or per day depending on what level you wantnnAs Robert DeNiro points out at the end of the movie Casino nnThe town will never be the same After the Tangiers the big corporations took it all over Today it looks like Disneyland And while the kids play cardboard pirates Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Juniors college money on the poker slots In the old days dealers knew your name what you drank what you played Today it is like checkin into an airport And if you order room service you are lucky if you get it by Thursday Today it is all gone You get a whale show up with four million in a suitcase and some twentyfiveyearold hotel school kid is going to want his Social Security NumbernnBottom line it is Vegas baby You go expecting more than you will ever get and you come away promising yourself you will never go back But if you are like me you will go again sooner or later hoping things will be different and somehow you will be treated like something other than what we all really are in Vegas cattle in the herd