High Roller Suite at the Rio

Quite often, when we want to go to Phoenix, it's a lot cheaper to fly to Las Vegas and then drive down.  It's not that big a deal to us as we always have free nights in reserve for some of the Vegas hotels, so we usually fly in, spend a couple of days entertaining the kids in Vegas, then head down to Phoenix.  One of the hotels we stay at quite frequently when we're traveling with the kids is the Rio.  It's off strip, has a great pool area, and it's rooms are all (kind of) suites with two queen beds and a pull out couch.  It's one of the few Vegas hotels that's set up for families of five, so if it's available we quite often choose to crash there.

Last time we pulled this maneuver, we were only staying one night before heading down to Phoenix.  We arrived at the hotel, checked in, and went upstairs to find that we'd been given a smoking room with one king bed.  That wasn't going to work for us, so we called downstairs and reminded the lady that we were going to need a room with two beds, and preferably non-smoking.  She apologized profusely, and then found us another room on the same floor so that we wouldn't have to move our luggage far.  We went back down the hallway a little bit, and this is the room they moved us to:

It was a very nice way for them to say sorry, however, there was still a problem with this room.  Here's a video my daughter made of the room.  See if you can figure out the problem with it.

(P.S. - You're looking for the problem with the room.  I know the problem with the video.  I think we must have left the espresso out on the counter again!)

Yup, still just one bed.  The kids and I opened every door in this place (and there were lots) looking for a second bedroom, but there wasn't one to be found.  Just as we were about to give up our search, my daughter looked at me and said "The Rio can't count to two can they?"  That's now how the kids refer to the Rio - That place that can't count to two.

 Now let me say that we definitely didn't call down and ask to be moved again.  Despite the fact that there still aren't two beds, I just couldn't bring myself to call down and complain about a giant suite.  Besides, there's enough couches and chairs in this room for everybody to have a place to sleep.  My daughter even considered sleeping on the dining room table, but we found a more suitable place for her (Actually she got to share the bed with Lori and I got booted to a couch.  Not sure how that works.)

The sad part is that this isn't even one of the nicer suites at the Rio.  I've seen a few other suites in there that are, shall we say, less in need of updating?  The gold plating on the ceiling of this room kind of made me think that this room might have been decorated in the mid 70's, except for the fact that the Rio didn't open until 1990.  I guess overkill never goes out of style in Las Vegas.

I'm pleased to say that we have been back to the Rio since this trip, and without even having to ask twice, we got a room with two beds, although I did ask for two keys and they gave me one.  My kids are convinced that this place must be a fantastic place to gamble, as you'd figure that a place that can't count to two might make a few mistakes with their payouts.  Still, for one night it was fun to live the life of a Vegas high-roller, although I doubt that many of the real high rollers had Krispy Kreme and McDonalds for dinner.