My husband and I booked a room at the Grand Sierra for an overnight trip. We were greeted by the valet service who parked our car complimentary and were very helpful. Front desk receptionists were also very nice and friendly.

Hotel ammenities were okay, if you want to have a nice dinner at one of the upscale restaurants I would advise making a reservation. Otherwise you're stuck with the typical casino cafe.

Pool is also pretty nice. (Large pieces of outdoor daybeds etc.)Only issue was we arrived a little later in the afternoon so there were diry towels laying around, and it needed a bit of clean up. None of the staff seemed concerned about it either.

We did stay in one of the summit rooms, which I would recommend. Flat screen televisions, very modern furniture, fridge and microwave.

There is just one issue I've yet to decide if I'm going to contact the hotel on or not. I woke up and noticed approx. 6 bites on my ankles and legs. They were quite itchy and resembled mosquito bites. I didn't think anything of it considering we were in viginia city the day before. That is until my husband started complaining about several bites. Some on him were the size of a nickel. I'm 95 percent certain they were not there upon arrival and don't know if I'd return to the hotel due to this.

Overall the stay was okay. I've stayed at better in reno, but then again it is just reno. I would just read several reviews before I returned back.

Good luck at the Summit.

Approaching the last two days of a cross-country road trip, we were looking for something a little bit more comfortable and relaxing to reward ourselves for surviving the drive through Nebraska and the salt flats of Utah. Our expectations were rather low (this is Reno, not Vegas!) but when we saw a room for under $100/night we figured it was worth a shot.

Since staying at The Summit for one night, we've constantly been looking for excuses to go back. The room was stupendous, with previously reported flat screen TV and contemporary styling throughout. There were many excellent dining options to choose from, though we ultimately settled on Dolce (with a stop at the wine bar beforehand)...maybe we were just so happy to be out of the car, but we had perhaps the best gnocchi ever. The resort was enormous (never even scoped out the shopping center for example).

The pool looked excellent, although the day we were there we were battling some fierce winds coming down from the mountains so it was too chilly to use the pool. The pool bartender, however, made some excellent mojitos. It might be in Reno, but it's self-contained enough to be competitive with many Vegas experiences. And with today's airfare and air travel frustrations, a 4 hour drive from San Francisco sounds pretty good compared to 2.5-to-3 hours of airport shuttles.

The Grand Sierra was a mixed bag for my family. Make sure you book a "new" room on one of the upper floors. These rooms are very spacious and have a very modern look. As with other reviewers, I agree that the rooms and hallways of this newly remodeled hotel are way too dark. Not sure why they chose to paint the walls such a deepish brown color, but it is very difficult to see in your room at night. Even the lamps were dim. The huge flat screen tv in the room is nice, but what good is it when the reception on all the channels are fuzzy, go figure. I think the bathroom tv had better reception. The shower was huge, but no tub for the kids to take a bath and the the heavy glass shower door can be dangerous for small kids. The bathroom sink was a poorly designed invention. The faucet itself has a huge long neck and the basin is not deep enough. Everytime we turned the water on, even slightly, to wash our hands or face, you would have an instant swimming pool all over the counter and on the floor. Really goofy design. Even the kleenex box set inside a wooden holder got completely soaked from all the water on the counter. The microwave and refrigerator were nice touches to the room. The fridge was a lot bigger than your standard mini fridge, but half of it was already occupied by an assortment of beverages you could "buy" and get charged an arm and a leg by the hotel.

As far as the hotel itself, it was pretty good. There's an awesome 50-lane bowling alley that's relatively cheap ($3.50 shoe rental, $3.50 per game or $13/hour for the lane). The amusement center they tote as being huge is an average size. Not many actual video games, but more kids' games that shoot out tickets so the kids can trade them in for prizes. There was a tiny mini-golf course and bumper cars, but I didn't see anyone using them. You would be disappointed if you were expecting arcade type video games. There are a lot of restaurant selections in the hotel, Round Table Pizza being the most cost-efficient selection with their special lunch buffets for $7. The hotel pool is not owned by the hotel. It's owned by a place called Niki Beach and they have a bar and entertainment there off and on. The downside is that the pool can be closed off to hotel guests at any time if there is a private function going on. That puts a real damper on your vacation if you time it wrong. There's also an interesting golf driving range right outside of the hotel. It's like a man-made lake with the holes on little islands out on the lake.

The casino is nothing to write home about. It certainly is a huge area, but they spread out all their machines to make it look big. There are really not a lot of table games or variety of slots if that's what you're looking for. If you're looking to gamble and don't want to drive or take a taxi, you should probably not stay here. You're pretty much trapped at the hotel at night, although the downtown strip is about 10 min away. It would have been nice to be able to walk between casinos at night. You don't have that luxury since Grand Sierra is isolated from the main strip. Another downside is that there is no covered parking structure and it's kind of a hike to the parking lot (especially if you have lots of luggage). If you go during summer, your car will bake all day long.

Overall, it was an ok experience. I don't believe I will stay here again, but will look to one of the other downtown hotels for the convenience. If you don't like crowds and would like some seclusion, this would be ok to stay at. However, I don't belive it was worth $90/night.

I have been coming to this property for 20 years. It has all the features I want in a hotel/casino: cheap spacious rooms, entertainment, good food, and excellent gaming. The new rooms in the Summit section of the hotel are a little too dark as other posters have mentioned, but are considerably nicer than the non-rennovated rooms.

After reading some of the other reivews, I don't think people are giving this property a fair rating. The rooms are super cheap! I don't expect Bellagio or Wynn hotel service and standards for $60 per night. However my room was clean with plenty of ameneties, the 42" plasma is sweet, and the linens were great.

The Charlie Palmer restaurant was far better than the other steakhouses I've eaten at in Reno as well. The buffet is nothing spectacular, but was clean and well run. Johnny Rockets is always dependable.

The group of 15 I was with at the hotel was treated very well and everyone was impressed. Best of all, you get excellent gaming in a world of rip-off 6-5 Blackjack tables, weird craps layouts, and continuous shuffling machines. There were none of these to be found in the casino. They have an excellent single deck blackjack game with a 5 or 10 limit (no DAS, DD 10/11, great penetration).

The outdoor pool party called Nikki Beach was also cool and inviting.

If you are looking for an inexpesive full service resort in Reno, I don't think you can go wrong with the GSR.