Long check-in lines are de rigueur in Las Vegas. People go to Vegas for a break, and the start of their trip is a queue – probably first for the ride from the airport to their hotel, and then to get into their room. What could be more of a mass experience, and what could make an upscale hotel feel more like Circus Circus than this?
Resorts World is a complex at the end of the strip with 3 Hilton brands under one roof: Hilton, Conrad, and Crockfords. They all share the same restaurants and casino facilities, and the rooms are surprisingly similar. You only check in at Crockfords if you’re booked into a suite there, and the check-in lobby is generally lowkey and peaceful.
Crockfords standard room guests check in at Conrad, which isn’t what you think a Conrad-branded property is like (way too mid). Hilton’s lobby is exactly what you think it’s like, except you stand there for seven hours:
People sometimes claim that Resorts World Las Vegas is *empty" but that's not true. In fact, eager hotel guests are waiting in line for up to 7 hours to check in! pic.twitter.com/kvXbd6ga21
— Las Vegas Locally (@LasVegasLocally) February 22, 2025
Here’s Hilton check-in on a normal day.
I really like the property. The restaurants aren’t amazing. Elite breakfast is lacking. The casino is often quiet, and the food hall is excellent.
No hotel is worth standing in line for seven hours for. Who would do that? Who wouldn’t just leave? Except that this is more common in Vegas than you’d think. You might book a room somewhere else and find check-in is just as bad!
Long check-in lines are a problem across Las Vegas, though a bigger problem generally Caesars hotel properties than at MGM hotels, and something that really accelerated in earnest during the pandemic due to insufficient staffing.
Hotel check in wait times are out of control in Las Vegas, especially at Caesars owned resorts like Horseshoe, Paris, Planet Hollywood and others. Its no secret that these videos put me at odds with the two major corporations who own the majority of the resort hotels on the… pic.twitter.com/QlK02dAMVR
— Jen G. (@vegasstarfish) August 15, 2024
Waiting in line to check in at Caesar’s Palace. I first tried checking in at 7 pm. The line was approximately 3-4 hours long. I left (and hopped around town with luggage) and came back at 1.40 am. It’s 2.50 am. Still waiting. pic.twitter.com/jk3Vl8Cxhs
— Benjamin Lee (@blankcheckben) July 11, 2023
Bizarrely, Vegas-goers seem thrilled online when they only have to stand in line half an hour to check into their hotel.
Some suggest using a chain’s mobile app or kiosk for check-in, but reports are that those assign the worst rooms (low floor, view of the HVAC), whereas when you check in with a person they’ll usually try to give you the best thing they can within your category (and you have the opportunity to slip them $100 for an upgrade).
Status helps. You will still wait in a line but you will skip the worst mess.
Las Vegas has interesting economics. They could charge you more, and provide proper staffing, but then they wouldn’t fill the rooms. And filling rooms is the goal, more than the rate, in order to earn off you because you are there in their complex – from shopping and dining to gambling. Yet while you’re standing in line that’s time you aren’t gambling or shopping.
A check-in experience like this one may help contain costs, but in the long run surely it costs the hotel revenue. It’s a good reason not to return to a hotel, and indeed when guests share what check-in is like it’s a reason for others not to book in the first place. But since it’s infrequent guests bearing the brunt of this check-in process, perhaps the bet is there’s not much future business to lose?
If you’ve made the trip to Vegas, maybe you’ve paid to park, and you’re faced with a super long check-in line my advice is:
- Use a mobile kiosk or app for check-in
- Take the keys to the inferior room you’re probably assigned
- Then call down from the comfort of your room to complain.
You may have to wait on hold for a bit, but that’s far better than standing around like a schmuck in the lobby.
Just quit going! Money is all these big companies understand. If people quit going and they are not making money they will be forced to improve service or go out of business. Same for airline’s
It’s not true that using the app will give you the lowest floor. The app will give you the first available room. But if you don’t like the floor when you receive the text message or the room pops up on your app, you can simply stop in the lobby at the front desk, concierge or call the hotel and they can change your room, right on the app. It’s that simple. Don’t go to the room because then they won’t want to change your room because they all think you messed it up and they don’t want to have to clean it again, because then nobody’s room will be ready. Using a hotel or Resort casino app is your best friend.
Las Vegas has sucked all the value out of a visit. If not for a conference there which I attend annually, I’d never go.
You better change and stop playing with peoples time. I know cause we went through that so we moved here now we don’t need hotels
I visit Vegas yearly, visiting friends. I do not stay at a strip hotel. I won’t tell you where I stay, don’t want to get it messed up like these.
Vegas is messed up now and too expensive now. Have no desire to return. There are many other options that treat guests better and less expensive.
I stopped going to Vegas when the minimum bets went sky high. When minimum bets on cruise ships went up I still cruised but I stopped gambling. Gambling is just entertainment for me and I will not be a sucker to casinos. Which is why when I did gamble over the last 50 years I was extremely conservative plus I am very educated regarding the mathematics of all the games.
Las Vegas is garbage. Slot machines so tight now, you might as well just throw your money in a dumpster. Resort fees. Paid parking. Ridiculously overpriced food, that is mediocre at best.
We are done. No more Vegas.
You do NOT have to stay ‘on the strip’…there are OTHER hotels in LV and nearby suburbs!
“Long check-in lines are a problem across Las Vegas, though a bigger problem generally Caesars hotel properties than at MGM hotels”
That’s either a lie or someone is telling you incorrectly. MGM hotels are just as bad in terms of long checkin lines.
STAY DOWNTOWN PEOPLE! Avoid all that nonsense on the strip. I go to Las Vegas every other month and downtown has lower table minimums, nicer dealers, nicer cocktail waitresses and bartenders and tons cheaper food!