Overall the hotel was okay. The check-in was not exactly a great welcome to the hotel. I got there an hour after the normal check-in time and, you guessed it, my room was not ready. Now, having been up since 3:30 a.m. to catch an early flight, I was tired, and the room not being ready did irritate me, but it was the "oh, too bad, your problem not ours" attitude of the front desk that was really frustrating. I was supposed to be on a high floor, non-smoking room with a river view. All they had were low floor, smoking, so I took it. I then asked the front desk staff how I contacted a casino host regarding some questions and got a look like a deer in headlights, as if they had no idea what I was talking about. I was then told I had to call the casino. I asked if there was a direct link on the room phone to the casino, and again the look of a deer in headlights and was told no, you dial the casino's number (of course God forbid they offer to give me the number!). I do smoke occasionally so thought that the smoking room would not bother me ... wrong! The smell of smoke was unreal. But I survived and evidently housekeeping does spray because the smoke smell was not as bad after the first entrance.
Next, being so tired I walk over to the casino to Fudrucker's, got a burger to go and brought it back to my room. When I got to my room my keys did not work. I tried both of them a number of times, then walked to the house phone at the elevators and called downstairs. I told them what was going on and the response? "Are you sure your keys don't work?" Hello? I wouldn't be calling you if the keys worked! So someone came up with newly coded keys but of course just had to check my two keys first -- I guess they thought I did not know how to use hotel keys! But here is the kicker about that. I am holding my dinner and a drink and the man from the front desk says he needs to see my ID. Now I understand that and have no issue with it, but does he offer to hold my take-out container and drink while I get my ID? Oh, heaven forbid that happen. So I walk back to the elevators so I can put this on the table at the elevators, get my ID, show it to him and then go back to my room. That is when he tried my keys, found that I was not a complete idiot and the keys did not work, used the new keys and they worked. I did ask him if they would continue to work and he looked at me as if I was insane and said, of course. Really? Really? But again I got the "your problem, not ours" attitude.
As I was attending a conference I was in and out of the hotel quite often ... the most congenial and helpful people I found were the bellmen and doormen. They were always willing to answer questions, provide any information I needed, etc. The front desk staff always seemed as if they were too busy talking and dancing around to be much use, so I just did not approach them.
Perhaps my encounters were not the norm, perhaps they were, I have no idea, but on my next trip to New Orleans I will stay elsewhere which means I will pay for a room instead of having a comped room. I do have to say, on a positive note, however, that room service was excellent, the food delicious. I also ate in Harrah's buffet one night and it was delicious although not as extravagant as they advertise.
Upon checkout I had a very early shuttle arrival at the hotel and the bellmen on duty were very nice and would walk outside to make sure I was okay as there were many people coming and going up and down the street even at 3:45 a.m. At checkout I just paid for my room charges instead of using points as I had no idea how much of a hassle it would be. I would guess not much, but just did not want to go through it.
The room was okay, no pad or pen, no clock to set for a wake-up call (but then we all usually have cell phones to use for that or can call down and have the hotel do the wake-up call). I was not able to use the checkout on the TV so had to stand at the front desk for about 10 minutes while they checked in a lady that had had too much to drink and should not be driving -- I do give kudos for that! The bed was comfortable and I could see a bit of the river from my room.
Again, not up to Harrah's standards (at least not the hotels in Vegas) and I doubt very seriously I will stay there again. It is convenient to many things. My experience just started off very badly and that is difficult to get past. It was the attitude that bothered me the most, the, as I said, "your problem, not mine" attitude. Also, the air conditioning will either freeze you out or there is no fan (even if set on "on") when the A/C unit goes off.