First off hotel has seen better days. Run down, class of people had alot to be desired, and a non smoking room should not have holes in the carpet and chairs.


Save your money!

We normally stay at Harrah's, but wanted something different this time. We'd stayed at Bally's a few times over the years, so decided to go back there.

Big mistake.

We arrived at about 1:00 and waited on a LONG line to check-in. We were informed that there would be an ocean-view room if we'd like to wait about an hour for it. Sounded good. I expressed not wanting to wait in line again, and was assured that I only needed to call a certain extension to find out if the room was ready - and pick up my key. Simple.

We called every hour for the next four hours. Finally, our room was ready. When we went to get the key, there was - in fact - a line. A long line.

When we picked up the key, we were told we would be put in the Claridge. I was not happy about this, as I've read the reviews. I was told it was all that was left.

We walked over to Claridge and had to wait, no exaggeration, 15 minutes to get an elevator. The lines were so long for this as well.

We got to the 20th floor, went to our room, and couldn't get it. A woman came to the door and said that she had been in that room for days. I asked that, if our luggage arrived, she would please ask the Bellman to bring it back down to the front desk.

I went to find a house phone. One of the many times during our stay that I would be using it.

When I called the front desk, I was asked to hold. There were 5-6 calls ahead of me. I explained that I was on the 20th floor, without a room, and didn't want to have to go all the way back to the lobby. I was told to hold.

So I went back to the lobby.

I asked to speak with a manager. 18 minutes later, one arrived.

I explained the situation and was told that the wrong room number was written down on the envelope for our key. I received no apology.

Back through Bally's to Claridge, back on line for the elevator, and back up to the 20th floor.

When I reserved the room - I asked for a room away from the elevator, as I'm a light sleeper.

When we got off the elevator on the 20th floor, there was our room. You literally stepped out of the elevator and fell in to it. We finally managed to get in (one key worked, one did not) and words could not even begin to describe this room.

I will say this: It was not clean - and it smelled very bad.

Again I called the front desk. I was put on hold 7 times before I got through to someone. The hotel was booked and it was either take this room or leave it. We wanted to leave it, but had some drinks in the afternoon while waiting for the room, and were too tired to even consider driving home.

We stayed out as late as we could (at another Casino - Bally's was loud, hot, and horribly crowded) until we were so exhausted that we had to go back to the room. When we did, I called "Room Service" to ask that a pot of coffee and a pot of tea be sent up to our room at 7:00 a.m. First off, once room service did answer the phone - I was put on hold. For well over five minutes. Also to be noted, they did not arrive to the room until well after 7:00 and, when they did, there were no spoons and no napkins on the tray. The spoons and the napkins did not arrive until 8:20. If I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy the coffee, at least the bug that had been flying around in our room all night did. When I got back up from getting plastic spoons from downstairs, and I finally went to take a sip, I found him in my coffee cup.

We wanted to shower and get out as soon as we could - and the bathrooms were filthy. The floors were dirty, there was hair all over the shower walls - it was awful.

Needless to say, we won't be staying at Bally's again - EVER. I wll say that our last experience with Harrah's wasn't fabulous either. Vouchers sent for Buy 1-Get 1 Free buffet. But you can't eat until after 9:30. Unless you have a Diamond Card.

This is a review for Bally's, so I won't bore anyone with my personal feelings on what I see happening in AC. I will say it's certainly nothing like it was 10-15 years ago.

Some of the changes are good. Most of them, not so much.

I don't have a Diamond Card for any of the casinos. But I spend my money there, too. I guess that the casinos should take care of their 'big' players.

I just don't feel that I should be treated so badly in the process.

Found good rates at Bally's. $129.00 plus tax for the night. Reserved 2 rooms. Needed one King smoking and a double bed non smoking. Got down there at 3pm. Parked, went in. The king room was ready. The double was not. They told us to keep on checking back. They gave us cards to show the people working at the information counter so we did not have to get back in the check in line. Went back several times after 4pm. This was check in time. Keep getting told that its not clean yet. Went up to the floor that this room was on. Could not find a housekeeping cart anywhere. Saw someone looking at their room which was close to the one that we were supposed to have. Asked them if they just got there room. They said yes. It took awhile, but its a really nice room. So we thought there was hope for us. Went back downstairs to see what the problem was. The man at the information counter sent us back over to check in. We told them we wanted to be upgraded since they did not have our room ready. They checked with a supervisor and said that was fine. They put us in a Junior Suite non smoking. It was great. 2 rooms. One room had a king size bed. They also sent a roll away bed for our teenager to sleep on. We were very pleased that they did accomodate us after told them we wanted to be upgraded. So if your room is not ready when it should be, tell them to upgrade you. Also we stayed in the Dennis Tower. Nice and close to everything. The 6th floor has restaurants on it. We were on the 4th floor. Had a nice view of the pool. Our friends who were on the 6th floor had a lovely view of a wall. The casino was really good too. The cigarette smoke was not bad at all. A few in our group went to Johnny Rockets for dinner. They loved it. They said they had the best milkshakes, cheeseburgers and fries ever. 2 of us went next door to a place which sold pizza among other things to eat. The cheese pizza was so good. The pepperoni pizza did not look very good. The only thing I did not like was the pidgeons were in this place. They would fly in or walk in. The boardwalk was so neat too. The only problem that I encountered were the seagulls flying around. They would swoop down at you. Don't stop and eat something or the seagulls might take it away. Take your food inside somewhere. We did go down to Taj Mahal. Our teenager wanted Sabarro pizza for dinner. Its in the hotel. We asked a security guard and she told us how to get there. It was really good pizza. Then we walked back down on the board walk. I stopped in and got some fudge at Steels Fudge shop. Oh that was so goooood. My husband got ice cream at Ben and Jerrys. A small ice cream in a cup was almost $5.00. However it was tasty.

We came back to the room. I did not gamble anymore that night because I kept on loosing.
Even on nickel slots. The next day I decided to put my last $20.00 in the triple bonus video poker machines. Oh my gosh I was so excited to win. That was the best machine. Now the lowest amount of money you can put in is $5.00 You can't even put in a $1.00. I did not like that part. No change either to put in the slot machines. I did like the fact that you did get a ticket when you cashed out so you did not have to get your hands dirty from coins.

Overall we did have a good time. We came down on a Monday which seemed to be a good day to be there. It was not packed. One could get a machine to play on. The free parking garage is free only when you have a certain total rewards card. Otherwise its $5.00. I think you have to have a diamond or platinum card to park for free.

My parents and I went to Bally's with a tour company. On making reservations, I requested rooms on a lower floor, which was probably a big mistake. We ended up with rooms in the former Hotel Dennis. I was a little shocked because I've been to some beautiful hotels around the world and this wasn't one of them. My room was dark and dingy, with kind of a funny smell. There were stains on the carpet, the bedspread, the loveseat. The phone cord was covered in what looked like years of grime - it had to be bad for somebody to notice a phone cord. But the biggest surprise came when I turned on the faucet in the bathtub and muddy water filled the tub! I immediately called the front desk and they sent a plumber up very quickly. He brought a wrench, but as it turned out, he didn't even need it. He turned the water back on and let it run for a minute or two, then held a glass under the faucet. The water in the glass was clear. "This is rust," he explained, pointing to the horror scene in the tub. "We are on well water here. You have to let the water run for a few minutes. Haven't you ever had well water before?" I thought this was funny because I live out in the country where everybody has well water and have never seen anything like this. However, despite the dismal accomodations and tight, tight slot machines, we still had a wonderful time at Bally's. The staff was friendly, especially the security guards, who tirelessly gave us directions. We enjoyed meeting some of the locals. The Price is Right Stage Show was a lot of fun. And I should probably add that many of the people in our tour group talked about how nice their rooms were. I guess the moral of the story is to stay in the Tower.