Checking In: Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Desert Club Resort

Sailordude checks in at Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Desert Club Resort

First off let me give you some background. Two years ago my wife and I met another couple in prenatal class while we were preparing for the birth of our daughter. We all became really good friends and quickly learned that they also loved Vegas. We talked about the future when we would be able to leave our kids at home and make a trip out to the desert to relive our pre-responsibility days. Fast forward 20 months, and we were on a flight from Detroit to Las Vegas to spend four night and five days in the desert at Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

My parents are members of the RCI time share “thing.” It really works well for them as they like to spend a few weeks in Florida every winter. They know how much I love Vegas and offered to let us use some of the points to book a place for our time in Vegas. There were a few places to choose from, but we decided on staying at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Desert Club Resort (you think they could’ve gone with a shorter name eh?). I’ve stayed at the HICVADCR before when a friend of mine got suckered into a time share presentation. He had to sit through a couple of hours, say NO a dozen or so times and we got a place for three nights. So given that I’ve stayed here before I knew what I was getting into when I booked this trip. Here’s my review of the property.

Location:
The HICVADCR is located at 3950 Koval Lane between Sands Ave and East Flamingo. Essentially it’s just east of the Highroller. We took a Cab from McCarran, and it was maybe $20. Walking time from the front gate to the strip takes about 10 minutes walking straight up Winnick Avenue, and that takes you right to the base of the Highroller at the east end of the Linq.

Check In:

Things went very smooth, but I had my paperwork in order. Since the timeshare is in my parent’s name, I had to have the “Gift Reservation” document in hand, plus all the regular things like I.D. and Credit Card. I asked for a unit close to the front of the property, so our walk to the strip was shorter every day. They hooked us up with a room that was in the front third of the property, on the 2nd floor with a view facing the parking lot (the alternative view is facing one of the pools).

Here is where things start to go off the rails. After check in, they handed me over to a Guest Relations person who started asking a lot of questions to build a demographic profile on me. I could already see where this was going and politely asked if we could skip the timeshare sales pitch as we would like to begin our Vegas Vacation. Unfortunately, the (attractive) Guest Relations lady said: “No, it’s required.” She continued with her questions for maybe a minute and then handed me off to a sales guy who must’ve been on his 5th or 6th red bull of the day to try to sell me on a timeshare. I quickly told the sales guy that I was there using my parent’s timeshare, and that I wasn’t interested. That didn’t even phase him; he just continued on with what he could give me…blah-blah-blah… yadda-yadda-yadda fast forward a few minutes and I finally had enough and told him no thank you and walked away.

The Room:
It’s FANTASTIC. This is the main reason why we go back to the HICVADCR. We had a unit with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, laundry room, great room (with a pull out couch), and a full kitchen stocked with all the things you would need to make a dinner in (not that we ever did). Everything was very clean, the beds dressed up with nice linens (and very comfortable), the towels well stocked. The room also has a safe, 3 TVs’, a stereo system, and a balcony. I believe the units are all non-smoking, but there was an ashtray on the balcony. I should note that there is no maid service available, so you have to pick up after yourself and hang up your towels after using them as you won’t get fresh ones.

The finishes on everything was high end as you can see in the pictures. To me, it’s a perfect alternative to a suite, or booking two rooms on the strip when traveling with another couple. It would also be a great option for anyone traveling with a young family as you could put the kids in one room while having the second bedroom and the great room to hang out in while they’re sleeping. The general feel was more relaxing than a hotel room.

On the flip side, this isn’t a place that I would book for a guy’s trip..I wouldn’t want to spoil my parent’s reputation. And one more thing, the buildings are all three story walkups with no elevators. They did ask at check in if anyone had mobility issues so they must be used to accommodating anyone that needs a room on the 1st floor.

Amenities:
At the resort, five different pools sit in a quad made up of 3 or 4 buildings. The main pool has a waterfall feature. The quad pools were all equipped with chairs, tables with umbrellas, and loungers; we never had a problem of finding one to use. They also had BBQ’s and games rooms at some of the pools. Oh and the best thing, nobody seemed to bother us if we brought beers to the pool! The staff also run activities and games around the pools throughout the day.

At the front of the property in the main building, there is a small variety store to stock up on things like chips, snacks, drinks, booze, beer, toiletries, etc. There is also a restaurant that I found to be very delicious for breakfast! The property operates a shuttle service to and from various strip properties, the Rio, and Freemont street, however, we never used it simply because it wasn’t around when we were leaving the property. I believe there is free parking on site.

Check out:
We had to tidy up the room before we left, gathered up all the towels and piled them in the tub and threw all the bags of garbage into the dumpster on the way out.
Check out went very smooth. There were no hidden fees that needed to be cleared. I simply turned in our key cards, they gave me a receipt and thanked me for visiting them. The bell desk called us a cab, and we were off to the airport.

Favourite memory:
Since we were in town for Mother’s Day, we decided to take the girls out for a nice dinner. Jon at the concierge desk was extremely helpful with this. They wanted to know what type of meal we were after if we preferred to be on the strip or not, and what our price range was. Jon quickly made a phone call to Del Frisco’s and secured a reservation for us for 6:00. When it came time to leave a cab was waiting for us. We had a fantastic meal that was right around the money we wanted to spend, and Jon even arranged for a free dessert somehow… what a nice guy eh? Service like this goes a long way!

The next time you’re thinking about making a couple’s trip to Vegas consider the HICVADCR. It’a great alternative to the strip. If you’re willing to sit through a timeshare presentation, you can get a few nights for free! Or if you’re like me, you can freeload off your parents existing timeshare… even better!

[Photos: SailorDude]

Sailordude

Husband, Father, Yachtsman, Rum Drinker, Beer League Hockey Goalie, Canadian, and now Writer (I guess?). Darren loves to visit Vegas a couple times a year and considers himself a low roller extraordinaire. “Long time lurker of VegasChatter, I’ve learnt the ways of those that came before me (to Vegas).” – Sailordude