I need to preface this story with - this is a first world problem we're talking about, okay? This is about the fabulous Las Vegas, where you’ll pay $25 for a shot of tequila and $40 for a micro bottle of sunscreen at the pool. Everything is an overpriced luxury. But I'm reserving the right to feel completely devastated that the vision I had meticulously crafted for a year fell apart the moment I arrived at The LINQ Hotel.
Here's the short version:
Imagine you spend a year planning an epic 30th birthday bash in Vegas. You have 20 of your closest friends and family coming to celebrate your milestone, so you go crazy with excitement and splurge on booking the penthouse suite. You feel insane for treating yourself to this experience, but you're determined to make this a once-in-a-lifetime trip. The long-awaited day arrives, and you show up to find out the hotel unapologetically gave the penthouse to someone else. The manager explains that despite your reservation, there are simply no penthouses available anymore. And now you're stuck with a room where the only view you’ll be soaking in is one of a dirty, dingy stairwell. There was no phone call, no email, no heads up. You just show up and NOPE, it's not available. Seriously, who does that?
Now, I don't know what you would do, but I went to my room with the shitty stairwell view and had myself a good cry. After a few minutes of processing with my husband, adjusting my expectations (and mascara) - I pulled it together, and promised I wouldn't let a little hiccup ruin the trip.
Here's the full version:
In June of 2020, a year before my 30th birthday, I began making plans for my dream Vegas vacation. I absolutely love Vegas, and I wanted to go all out for my golden birthday. I invited a bunch of friends and family, and held tightly to hope that the pandemic was going to release its chokehold.
After much consideration, I had settled on The LINQ Hotel for our stay. I knew this wasn’t going to compare to someplace like the Cosmo, but the location on the strip, proximity to various food options, and walkability to everything we were planning to do made it ideal. The price range also made it affordable for a large group of people, and to top it off, their cabana rooms seemed like a perfect alternative to renting an expensive cabana elsewhere.
So, I pulled the trigger and booked one cabana room for some friends to stay in, envisioning it as the perfect hangout spot on our first day. And, because I had a group of 21 people, I went for it and booked the penthouse suite. I literally did a dance when the reservation confirmed, because although I'm drawn to the glitz and glam of Vegas, booking the penthouse suite has only ever been a dream. It's certainly a level of luxury I wouldn't typically indulge in.
Ultimately, I wanted to create an epic central hub where our group could all gather, pregame, unwind, and have an unforgettable Vegas experience. The penthouse seemed like the perfect way to treat myself and my friends during our first post-pandemic vacation.
Since the world was still in a precarious situation while I was planning this, I really wasn't sure what it was going to look like when July 2021 rolled around, but our rooms were booked, tickets purchased, flights arranged - we were ready to go when the world opened up, and to my delight, it did!
We arrived in Vegas on Thursday evening after a delayed flight due to a storm, and it was still raining a little bit - not a big deal...unless you're staying at The LINQ, of course, because the parking garage was flooded. With no valet, our friends who drove had to scramble to find alternative parking.
Entering the hotel lobby, we were met with a chaotic scene. Apparently we were not the only ones eager to get to Vegas after nearly a year and a half of isolation. The line to check in was long and sluggish because there were several uncooperative machines for self-check-in, and only 2 human concierges.
My mother-in-law’s attempt at using the machine did not go smoothly. After several failed tries, I could tell frustrations were getting high, so she ditched the machine and was able to get checked in with a woman at the front desk.
My turn with the machine didn't go much better, but Cameron was able to work some magic and get our room assignments. At this point we were just exhausted and frustrated, and ready to get to our rooms. It was already not an ideal way to start the trip - but I completely understood that coming off the heels of the pandemic, businesses were probably understaffed and undertrained, so we were patient. And the promise of having a cocktail and unwinding with an incredible view of the strip was drawing near…or so I thought.
We finally retrieve our keys and I take a closer look at our room numbers. I’m immediately concerned. Considering we had booked both a cabana room and a penthouse, it was odd to see that both were located on the second floor near the pool. I let Cameron know that it couldn’t be right, and despite a sinking feeling, we decided to just go to the room to scope out the situation.
We found our way to the elevators, which were incredibly slow, small, and smelled horrible. Since the place was packed and we were only going to the second floor, we opted for the stairs.
We get to our room and exchange confused looks as we walk in - this is clearly not the penthouse, but it's a junior suite which has 1 bedroom, a small sitting area, and wet bar. I approached the window and my hopes for a stunning view were quickly dashed by the sight of a dirty stairwell littered with trash, and essentially no natural light. Perfect, exactly the view I dream of when arriving in Vegas! I give Cameron a bewildered look. What in the world is going on?
Honestly, for any other trip to Vegas I would have been happy with this room. Yes, the view was the absolute worst view I’ve ever had at any hotel, but the room itself was nice enough. However, for a trip where I’m coordinating 20 other people, a trip that I had been meticulously planning for a year, a trip that I’ve been dreaming of as my once-in-a-lifetime Vegas experience - for THIS trip, I was in fact, not happy. There must have been a mistake, I know I booked the penthouse. I had even gotten to use the exclusive penthouse helpline to discuss my reservation.
Perplexed, we make our way back to the lobby and find a manager. I explain that there must be a mix-up because we’ve checked in and it’s not the room I booked. He asks if "the room is ok, is something wrong with it?" Well, yeah there is something wrong with it - it's not the penthouse I booked.
Now, I have a lot of empathy for anyone working in customer service, especially post-pandemic customer service so I am trying to hold it together. I tell him I’m confused because I’ve had the penthouse booked for nearly a year, and I never received any notification that my room was being changed. He apologizes, though he doesn’t actually seem apologetic, and explains that there are only two penthouses and both are taken, so there are simply no penthouses for me to use.
Once reality sank in, it was clear they weren’t going to rectify the situation. I had 20 people (13 rooms) booked at this stupid hotel, and now I am fuming; a rare experience for me. But I’m pretty sure the words “are you f*ing kidding me?” came out of my mouth. (Ok, I didn’t use the f-word, but I was thinking it!) I wanted an explanation, but unfortunately that didn’t make me feel better either. Essentially, he told me that if a “high roller” shows up and wants the room, they get it - so tough shit. I am so pissed at this point that when he tells me (as if he’s giving me some great deal) that I won’t have to pay the same amount I was going to for the penthouse and the rate would be adjusted for the junior suite…like, obviously? I could feel my body tensing up to control the level of my voice, and I let him know I don’t think I should have to pay for the room at all. He looked shocked, but honestly, I still stand by it. I don’t think I should have had to pay for it, because that was some next level BS.
He offers me a $200 credit to use on room service and the hotel bars. A lame attempt to reconcile IMO, but fine. It was evident I was not going to get what I actually wanted (you know, the thing I booked and paid a deposit for), and walked away.
Side story about the $200 credit: Their room service menu was very limited and since Cameron and I are vegan there was nothing on it we could order, so we were going to have to make use of it at the bars. We ended up buying a couple drinks at the pool during our stay, but on the last day still had about $100 remaining - so we bought two final drinks at a bar on the casino floor. Determined to make use of the credit, I decided to leave the bartender a huge tip to use the remainder…well, turns out tipping wasn’t covered by the credit, so they just ended up charging my credit card. Joke’s on me, I guess.
Anyway, we were stuck with the room, and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. We begrudgingly returned and I let myself have a small breakdown while Cameron hugged me, and gracefully validated my frustrations. Despite knowing it wasn’t the end of the world, the year-long excitement and anticipation for the penthouse experience had been unexpectedly dashed, and I was rightfully disappointed.
Looking back, the worst part was the lack of warning. If someone had just given me a courtesy call to let me know the penthouse was no longer available, I would have had time to digest that and plan accordingly. To find out by literally walking into our room and realizing it’s not what we booked was completely unacceptable, and I would absolutely never recommend staying at a place with that level of unprofessionalism. There are so many great places to stay on the strip, do yourself a favor and do not settle for The LINQ.
Because I was surrounded by amazing friends and family, I was able to make the best of it and had an absolutely great birthday, but it’s been nearly three years since this experience and it shook me so much that it occasionally still keeps me up at night wondering what I could have done differently. Because seriously, who does that?!!
Have you ever experienced anything like this? Was it just a post-pandemic fluke or is this a thing that happens often?
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