I spent a night downtown at The D on a recent trip. It was a nice change from the Strip. While I don’t agree with the notion that downtown Las Vegas is “Old Vegas” anymore (too much has changed), I do enjoy the relaxed vibe downtown. Everything is less expensive downtown, too. The D was formerly Fitzgeralds. The Irish theming is gone and has been replaced with a fresh red and black color palette. That simple paint job is enough to give the casino a more modern feel, while giving a nod to the Las Vegas of yesteryear.
There are only 19 rooms per floor, so it is a short walk from the elevator to your room. The rooms are small and simple, but it is hard to beat the price. As I write this, the average weekday room rate is $22 per night. Weekends range from $54 to $199 depending upon the weekend. The basic room is 300 square feet, but has everything you really need; bed, desk, flatscreen TV, bathroom with shower/tub combo, iron, hair dryer, and safe. The mattresses could be replaced. Although their website boasts a “comfy mattress”, the ones in my room were very lumpy. I think my photos give a good representation of the rest of the room and amenities.
The street level casino is fairly standard; current slot machines and party pits with fringe-adorned Dancing Dealers. The second floor casino focuses on a more vintage Vegas with coin-op slots and an old Sigma Derby horse race machine. That second floor casino has many video poker machines with good paytables, too. You can check the VPFree2 database for current listings. The D has a stand alone players club called Club D.
The D doesn’t have many dining options. It has the Andiamo Steakhouse, D Grill, the 24 hour American Coney Island and a McDonalds. That isn’t a big deal since you can walk to any other casino on Fremont Street in less than 10 minutes.
What it lacks in dining, it makes up for with bars. It features the Longbar (claiming to be the longest bar in Nevada), the outdoor D Bar, and the Vue Bar overlooking the Fremont Street Experience.
While room rates are very reasonable, they do charge a $20 per night resort fee which covers high speed Wi-Fi access, $10 off D Showroom tickets and free local and toll-free calls. Taxes downtown are 13%, so that resort fee ends up being an additional $22.60 per night, almost doubling the cost of the room on many nights. They also have a $100 per stay credit card hold required upon check-in.
I was impressed with the overall value at The D. If you are looking for a less expensive, more relaxed Las Vegas experience, The D is definitely worth your consideration.
@mike: I stayed on an email offer last month, and resort fee was waived on rooms booked on that offer. Generally worth asking whenever you particularly book, but my guess is generally, no fee on comps. Or should be able to ask to get it waived.
Yes, but if you play you can usually get it taken off your bill by your host.
Is resort fee on comp rooms ??