We stayed for a week from 6/7/08 - 6/14/08. Had a room on the 16th floor with a king size bed. Room was ok. Bed wasn't the best or worst. Housekeeping did a great job keeping the room serviced. We did have an employee try to get into our room one day around 4pm for an "occupancy check". We hadn't put out the DND sign since the room had already been cleaned... we didn't think it was necessary. She told us to make sure the sign was always displayed when we were in the room. We made sure to do that the rest of our stay. The next morning with the DND sign out.. housekeeping was knocking on the door trying to clean the room around 9am. We told her to wait til after 10. Guess the DND sign just keeps people from entering... not knocking on the door.

Ate at Round Table Pizza and the buffet only at the hotel. The buffet always had long line. From an ad on the television that we saw... they offer locals a special price of $7.77. Hotel guests pay like $16.99 during the week. Seems they really liked the locals and really catered to them and not the guests. An employee at the buffet even said that the locals feed the slots for hotel and they needed to keep them happy. Not very guest friendly at all.

Parking for hotel guests was not very conveinent at all. Once again the guests at the Summit hotel and player's card holders got all the good parking places.

Overall the stay was ok. Would I stay there again? Probably not. The special treatment that the local residents received was enough to turn me off. I would definitely choose somewhere else next time.

I tempted my husband for an Anniversary weekend getaway by telling him how delicious the buffet was going to be.. It was a Friday night and we live a little over an hour from Reno.

As we drove to the hotel we talked about and wondered if it would have crab, oysters, what cut of beef etc. As we arrived it was slightly past dinner time. We checked into a nice room and headed down to the buffet only to find the lineup filled with LOCALS there responding to a deal for LOCALS ONLY for $7, and an expected 2 hour wait! I asked to speak to the restaurant manager and he said there are no expedited lines for hotel guests and was almost rude.

The spillover into all other restaurants was terrible backing up kitchens at all of them and resulting in mediocre food. Cafe style dinner, for our aniversary was NOT what I had in mind, but it was all that was left. After a 45 min wait, a battle between waitresses as to whose section we were in, we finally received our dinner. At this point I refuse to comment on the quality of the food since my hunger had grown to the point of a hypoglycemic dizzy spell.

The hotel is situated away from most other hotels and the prospect of driving around for a dinner after a long workday, drive and such was not really a pleasant option.

The following morning we had breakfast at t he buffet, it was nice and the waitress said the LOCALS ONLY $7 DEAL had been going on for months!

Without knowing such ridiculous things are possible and that people would actually expect anyone to wait 2 hrs for a meal, we checked out the next morning and will probably not return without a huge incentive.

I loved this hotel! I was here for 5 days for a poker tournament series, and the hotel was a refreshing change from most of the hotels I've stayed at when playing poker. There were plenty of dining options, from a Johnny Rocket's to a buffet to a few fine dining restaurants. I got a great rate on my room... something like $50/night, and it was even better because I got in on a promo where I got $50 in match play coupons and a $50 dining credit. I ate like a king for the entire duration of my trip! Furthermore, the front desk let me upgrade to their condo rooms for about $10/night, so I was able to stay in one of the nicest hotel rooms I've ever stayed in, complete with a big plasma TV and an LCD TV in the bathroom, a fridge and microwave, upgraded furniture, etc. I wasn't crazy about Reno, but I was sad to leave this hotel behind when I left.

I recently traveled to Reno from Sacramento, CA for my birthday weekend and after trying to make reservations with much difficulty at other casinos (I have no credit card, and the other casinos i.e. Peppermill, etc. would not budge on the credit card policy and let me pay cash for the room.) I decided on the Grand Sierra. I was a fan of the old Hilton, and very curious to see how the property had been updated. It's great! The rooms are beautiful but somewhat expensive (we stayed in a Loft Suite at the Summit for $220/night, and that was the discounted price because of my birthday, normally $350/night); the food is good and relatively inexpensive in the coffee shop, Cafe Sierra. They have an amazing selection of penny slots, which are my boyfriend's and my favorite. In fact, I won $1000.00 while we were there on a penny machine!! To top it off, one of my friends there with me hit a $2020.00 progressive jackpot on a penny machine. Everyone was amazingly nice - they even offered to escort us to our rooms after winning to ensure our safety within the casino, which made us feel very important.
However, there was one hold up - if you are reading this and don't have a credit card and are thinking about making a reservation at the Summit - make sure you have a credit card number with you. They will enter it into their system in order to ensure you keep the room clean (the Summit is a non-smoking property, but people were smoking in the hallways on the higher floors anyway, and i smoked in my room without being caught). i was told on the phone I wouldn't need a credit card upon arrival, and when I told the receptionist this, she began to refuse to give me my room. However, after I (not so nicely) explained to her that i'd been stuck on Donner Summit for 5 1/2 hours, I had missed my birthday arrival in Reno (we left Sac at 6:00pm and didn't arrive in Reno until 1:30AM due to chains/snow), and that i had more than enough cash to pay for the room (I may have turned on the waterworks a bit, too....=-D), she accepted my ATM card number because it has 16 digits as does a credit card.
Overall, though, it was an amazing vacation. Everyone won money in the casino, even my boyfriend and my other friend who wasn't lucky enough to win the progressive. We went up as a group with 3 grand and came back with 4500 bucks after 2 days! I would recommend this place to anyone who loves a nice hotel and a great casino. The poker room is non-smoking, the casino is pretty big with tons of penny machines, there is a fun park outside with thrill rides, go karts and bumper cars (close while we were there due to the snow), and downstairs they have a shopping mall, arcade for kids, and a movie theatre for $3/ticket! You literally can find anything you might want to do in Reno at this place. They even have an amazing adventure desk that will set up snowmobiling trips and outdoor adventure activities for you. A great bet for a great hotel. You can expect us to be staying there anytime we've got the cash to go.