Stayed at the Rio from 11/6 - 11/9 for a conference. It was nice. I was sorry that the pool was closed for the season. The room was nice, clean, spacious and a beautiful view. I agree with the other reviewers; the check in lines were extremely long. Overall, the Rio is nice and the location is great. The free shuttle to two other hotels was nice. The value was good because we received a conference rate which included free internet.

Arrived Monday 5:30pm Bell Guys were “CORDIAL”…
Luggage arrived 10 minutes after we got back from Blue Man Group…
View was AWESOME (Looking West towards the Palms Hotel) from 12th floor…
Room was REFRESH daily with new linens and towels…
Elevators was QUICK to the 12th Floor...
As usual Room Service was $$$ for breakfast. (Eggs, Bacon and Toast)
TV was a 32inch flat panel… (CLEAR PICTURE)
Actually I did find just a small in-convenience Sodas were $3.00 out of the vending machine.
Stayed away from the in-room refrigerator (Mucho $$$)

But most of all room was huge for the price... Less than ($25.00) a nite Mon-Thurs in the fist week of Nov.

Fuelish Spectator

I recently stayed at the Rio to attend a conference at its convention center. I was concerned about being off the strip and over a freeway, but it actually turned out to be a good experience. The hotel has a nice, and less crowded casino floor and a good variety of restaurants. We especially liked the Chinese restaurant with dim-sum at lunch time. The room was large (all are suites), had a good view and was reasonably priced. The hotel provides a shuttle service to associate hotels on the strip (Bally's and Harrah's) that runs twice an hour. A plus is that from Thursday to Saturday they provide a free dancing and singing show in a wing of the casino on the hour from 6 pm to 11 pm (three different shows). Couple negatives: they charge a $16+ fee for internet access (though we got it free because the convention we attended) and there isn't a free fitness center.

Stayed here with my family 11/11-11/14/12. Casino is huge and beautiful. There were half naked girls everywhere, which I don't mind, Im not a prude, but other families might want to consider this before choosing this hotel.
The valet is very quick, efficient, and polite. Registration was very quick, maybe 5 minutes, but they charged us $10 for checking in early at 2pm, which I don't understand because check out is at 11am, so room should have been ready anyway. Stayed in the Ipanema Tower, very close to entrance, room 331. Outside the door, there were cocktail glasses which were not picked up during our entire trip. I started to use them as a marker for finding my room when I was tipsy. We left on Wednesday, and the glasses were still there. Room itself was very spacious and clean. On tuesday, housekeeping did not leave any towels for us, but when I called housekeeping, they brought towels in less than 5 minutes. We had a great view of the air conditioners, but it was ok. Beds were very confortable. Beautiful Keurig coffee maker in the room, but way too expensive to make. What ever happened to complimentary coffee?? Also, no K cups in the mini bar. Don't get it. Bought the buffet of buffets pass and ate at both the carnival world buffet and the village seafood buffet. Carnival buffet was very good. It was enourmouse with lots of choices. Village seafood buffet was good up until the part were I got a rotten lobster tail. Just my luck, I don't even like seafood. Ruined my dinner which is horrible because I paid $15 for each of my family members on top of the buffet of bufett pass charge, and for rotten lobster. Food didnt seem so fresh for being such an expensive seafood buffet. However, the server was very quick and attentive, so Im still giving it 5 stars.
Slots are not so loose here. Although we didn't linger on the casino floor with our 5 year old, nobody harrased us when we did stop to look at something. usually security swarms you and tells you your kid has to get off of the floor, but not this time which i thought was just fine.
Again, I have to mention the valet and the bellhop. They were quick and greeted us by last name which I think is awesome. As we were packing our car with all our stuff, my husband left my lap top on the bench and we left. we came back as soon as we realized it, and low and behold, the lap top was still there. This has to do alot with the valet, but also says alot about the people who stay at this hotel. We felt very comfortable staying here and will definitely, definitely stay again.