My husband and I have been making it a tradition to go Vegas to celebrate our birthdays. For our hotel, we usually go the cheapo route so we can spend more money on gambling and dining. This year, I decided to book the Tropicana because it is now owned by Hilton. I have gold status with them so I knew our breakfast would be comped at least. The $49 room rate was decent too.\n\nI booked a bungalow room thinking it would be nice to have a balcony, but it soon became clear that the AC wasn't functioning properly. I asked to be moved to another room, and the front desk said they would send security over to open up a nearby room. We waited half an hour and no one showed up. So I went to the front desk, and the woman offered to upgrade us to a \"mini-suite\" in the newer tower. What a joke! It was just a regular room at the end of the hall with a small triangle's worth of extra square footage. Oh well, can't get too uppity about a $49 room, right?\n\nI was hoping things would be better on the casino floor, but it was much worse. My husband and I were sitting at the automated roulette table for 30 minutes and watched 4 cocktail waitresses walk right past us. We cashed out and moved over to the bar to play some video poker. The bartender was nice and helped us promptly, but he clearly had no idea what he was doing behind the bar. I ordered a french martini and my husband got a manhattan. Both were made with the wrong liquors.\n\nThe pool area is clean and not too crowded. We didn't enjoy it all that much though because of the god awful music playing (I think a 12 year old girl choose the playlist) and the retina-burning level of chlorine in the pool.\n\nWhat did save the Tropicana was the great breakfast. The buffet had a decent selection of the usual suspects, and the quality was all average or better. I loved the omlette bar, and the guy working it was awesome. So much fun and very competent. I wasn't his only fan. A group of ladies doing business travel asked to take their picture with him.\n\nWe had a fun trip despite our accomodations, but I think next year we'll splurge on a nice hotel.