Hooters Casino Hotel Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Off the Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada

Dixie's Dam Bar

A relaxed party hotel sitting just off the Strip, Hooters takes the cheesy dumb fun of its restaurant chain and spreads it liberally around this 696-room resort. The Hooters girls who made the restaurant famous can be found among the blackjack dealers and bartenders/dancers at Dixie's Dam Bar, for example. From the pools to the restaurants, the resulting vibe is down-to-earth and casual. Racecars covered with the Hooters logo and decorative surfboards dot the property. Casino employees and Hooters waitresses hang out after their shifts end, ordering drinks, playing slots in the low-limit casino, or sitting down to a game of poker.

The typical guest appears young and ready to party, with plenty of fratty-looking dudes in jeans and T-shirts or sports jerseys on-site. While it's not strictly a male clientele -- couples and women also stay -- it is a nearly child-free crowd.

Hooters is a lot smaller than many of its Vegas counterparts. Fellow party resorts such as the Palms and the Hard Rock boast more extensive grounds, better pools, and more restaurant choices, but they can cost nearly twice as much.

Check-in service

Guests shouldn't expect much beyond the bare minimum: luggage help from the bellmen manning the door, reasonably fast check-in and checkout at the front desk and directions to your room. Hooters doesn't employ a concierge, though the bell desk stays open 24 hours a day. Room service is available 24 hours a day.

The staff seemed disorganized when I tried to get them to fix a broken safe in my room. After I called the front desk, a security guard came up within 15 minutes, but couldn't resolve the problem. After half an hour of waiting for the guard to return, I gave up.

For more routine requests, the service was fine. Room service arrived very quickly: in 17 minutes, following a promise that it would arrive in less than 25. A call for extra towels was met in 13 minutes -- a reasonable but unexceptional response time.

View on a Larger Map

On Tropicana Avenue, between a Motel 6 and the Tropicana Casino and across from the MGM Grand, Hooters is a bit of a hike from many of the big properties along the densely packed three-and-a-half-mile long stretch of hotel-casinos known as the Strip. The intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip) -- home to New York New York, Excalibur, the Tropicana, and the MGM Grand -- is a 10-minute walk away, and other Strip hotels are even further. Nearby attractions include the roller coaster at New York New York and the lion exhibit at the MGM Grand.

Cabs are easy to find at virtually any time of day or night. A generally less expensive option is the Deuce, a double-decker bus that runs up and down the strip 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and costs $3 to ride. There's also a monorail system, which stops at MGM Grand, Bally's, Caesars Palace, Harrah's, the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Hilton, and the Sahara. A single-ride ticket is $5; a one-day pass is $13. If you're traveling along the Strip with at least one other person, a cab is often the least expensive option.

To the east on Tropicana Avenue, past the Motel 6, you'll run into the back side of McCarran International Airport to the south and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on the north. The airport doesn't create meaningful noise problems at the hotel. Even though Hooters sits closer to McCarran than almost any other Vegas hotel, it's still about a 10-minute, $10 cab ride away.

The Tower Room

The rooms at Hooters are bright and tropical-themed, with palm-tree bedspreads and fake palm saplings as decoration. At 400 square feet, they offer plenty of space. The Hooters white-and-orange corporate color scheme is evident, notably in the Hooters-orange lampshades. Each room comes with a free copy of Hooters magazine.

My tower double-queen room overlooked Tropicana Avenue and the MGM Grand, as well as the Planet Hollywood Westgate Towers and New York New York. The other main room type, a poolside "bungalow" in a two-story building, resembles the tower room but has direct access to the pool. The suites have wet bars and more space, and some have Jacuzzis that can fit six. The presidential suite offers a Hooters pool table.

The beds, Sealy Hotel Executive Plush Pillowtops, are very comfortable, with smooth sheets. The TV, a 28-inch Zenith tube model, has 36 cable channels. The in-room movie and video game service was temporarily unavailable during my stay. Similarly, I had difficulties connecting to the room's wired Internet service.

The furnishings, both in the bathroom and in the bedroom, bore some scuffs and scratches, but nothing out of control or repugnant. The most notable flaw was ink spilled on the vanity table.

The bathroom, a minimal 50 square feet, was acceptable, and the shower provided good pressure and was hot within seconds. But the tiling looked cheap, a burn mark marred the countertop, and the face of the toilet basin bore a noticeable scratch. Hooters-brand bath products felt generic, though I did take one of the medallion-shaped bar soaps as a souvenir.

Fire pit

The fratty atmosphere extends to the pool area, where guests can dip into two Jacuzzis and three swimming pools. The Pool Bar serves cocktails, as '90s rock plays in the background. As is common at Vegas hotels, the main activity for this youthful crowd is drinking and laying in the sun. Many of the sky-blue or beige lounge chair cushions were in disarray both morning and night -- not a bad thing, just another indication of the casual vibe. At night, after the pools close -- common practice in Vegas -- guests gather around fire pits, and the underwater pool lighting makes for a laid-back festive atmosphere beneath the giant orange Hooters sign on the hotel's roof.

The pools are small compared with those at other Vegas hotels, and there are no cabanas in the area. I saw some leaves and drinking straws floating in one corner of the kidney pool. Overall the water was clear and pleasant, but one of the pools appeared to have an algae problem.

The fitness center has two exercise bikes, two elliptical machines and two treadmills, as well as a set of weight machines. Flat-screen TVs lining the walls are tuned to ESPN. It's a little cramped, with not much room for free-weight exercises. Use of the facility is free, however, which is more than guests will find at hotels like the Golden Nugget, The Mirage, or Planet Hollywood, to name a few.

I couldn't get the in-room cable Internet to work, and the pay-per-view movies were similarly unavailable. This may have been a one-time occurrence; TripAdvisor users generally don't complain about technological failures at the hotel.

The Night Owl Showroom

Even though the Hooters restaurant has a kids' menu, parents will find little else that's suitable for children. Hooters girl service in the restaurant and on the casino floor, the adult-only Men of X show and Dixie's Dam Bar, the pool with no shallow end? Nope, nope, and nope. The company website's description of the restaurant chain sums it up: "Hooters characterizes itself as a neighborhood place, not a typical family restaurant. Sixty-eight percent of customers are male, most between the ages of 25-54. Hooters does not market itself to families, but they do patronize the restaurants."

Cribs are available for anyone brave enough to bring a small child to this hotel.

Hooters, while clean overall, shows signs of wear and tear. My room's carpeting was stain-free, and the furnishings were freshly dusted. The one blemish was an ink stain on the vanity desk. The bathrooms, however, had a circular burn on the sink and a minor scratch on the toilet, near the handle. In the tub, I spotted minor rust, grout discoloration in the corner, and an unidentified stain near the faucet.

Hooters fare

Dining at Hooters casino is festive and casual. No surprises at Hooters restaurant. The servers are young women clad in the traditional Hooters short-shorts and white tees. The food, much of it fried bar fare, is nothing special, though many testify to the greatness of Hooters' wings. Classic rock like Boston's "More Than a Feeling" pumps over the PA system. In the evening, the restaurant boasts a live three-piece band that plays heavy metal and classic-rock covers, including Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train." For dinner, a buffalo-chicken sandwich, an order of fries and a Budweiser draft ran $17.22. Entrees range from $8.99 to $24.99.

The menu at Mad Onion Fine Food & Spirits is traditional American fare, with sandwiches ranging from $8 to $10, and entrees running from $13 to $23 (plus a touted $9.95 prime rib dinner).

The other dining options at the hotel, including Pete & Shorty's, The Pool Bar, The Bait Shoppe, and Dixie's, are primarily bars.

As for room service, my "All American" breakfast order was delivered in 17 minutes. With coffee, orange juice, and tip, the tab came to $25.51.

The Hooters casino is in many ways the opposite of the vast Strip gaming rooms, with their winding carpeted mazes of slot machines and high-limit zones. At Hooters, the two parallel paths run the length of the gaming area, allowing for more open views, fewer chances to get lost. The small casino has the usual slots, table games, live poker, and sports book -- plus Hooters girls who deal blackjack -- but the games include $3 blackjack tables, 50-cent roulette, and two daily $28 no-limit Texas Hold-'em poker tournaments, and the crowd seems to enjoy gambling without putting as much pressure on their pocketbooks.

Upside down dancers

For guests in search of a Hooters-inspired party scene, Dixie's Best Dam Bar delivers. The leather-clad bartenders double as dancers, encouraging revelers to gently plumb the depths of debauchery by offering free shots. Budweiser bottles run just $5 apiece, and the bartenders gladly snap photos with customers. The soundtrack ranges from Lil Wayne to Presidents of the United States of America. Open Wednesday through Saturday nights, the place is simply a blast. I spotted bachelorette parties, locals letting loose, off-duty Hooters staff, and many others. Women get in free. Men pay a $10 cover.

Although I didn't make it to the all-male Men of X erotic show, the posters suggest it could be a draw for bachelorette parties.