Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City — Hotel in Atlantic City

I'll preface my review with: I am not a fan of Atlantic City overall... I think it's a grimy, tired, little town that grasps desperately onto what made it "great." I've always vacationed at shore towns much further south...and it always amazes me how I can get out of the car at a place like the Hard Rock Casino, barely a 100 yards from the sand, and I can't "smell" the ocean, just car exhaust and cigarette smoke.

I did not stay at the hotel, so I cannot speak to that. We took a day trip from our home in the Philly burbs to see a show at the Hard Rock Live Etess Area. All employees we encountered were super friendly, from the parking garage attendant to the ushers in the arena. I can't say as much for the clientele, but that's not Hard Rock's fault. It was super crowded because it was Labor Day Weekend. And the sheer number of people who were just standing around staring blindly into space like they didn't know where they were and/or moving along a snail's pace taking up all walking areas (a pet peeve of mine) got my blood pressure way up. If this is how the casino always is I'd personally skip the next visit... I wanted to say to people, "Get where you're going or move aside!"

The casino is elegant without the usual casino-type tackiness I recall from visits to other places. The abundance of music memorabilia all around is great. I'm a music fan-girl and enjoyed everything from seeing Frank Sinatra's tux, to Elvis' Rolls Royce Phantom, to Kurt Cobain's junk mail. The music theme runs everywhere from the guitar pick floor tile to the guitar-shaped crystal chandelier. There was a live cover band playing at the far side of the main floor, not sure if that was a weekend special or a daily occurrence. It was loud in there but not unexpected considering... We perused the gambling floor but did not gamble as we had limited time that evening.

I will say I am a fan of the Etess Arena. It's small enough to feel intimate, but large enough to allow great viewing perspectives from all seats. The seats were roomy... which is sounds like such an old-person thing to say, but both my fiance and I noted that there was enough space to not have to stand up to let people walk down the aisle past you as is the norm in so many arena seating set-ups. The show was great, sound was excellent. The exit from the parking garage at the end of the night was lacking, my recommendation to the business would be to have someone directing traffic to prevent confusion and backup, perhaps at each floor. It took us over an hour to get out of the garage.

My biggest complaint about the place was the HEAT. It was like there was no air conditioning on in the casino at all. Granted, it was one of the hottest days of the summer, but it was horrible, and I would think that such an upscale place would better manage comforts like this. We both made the comment "Well maybe that's how they get the gamblers to buy more drinks..." The arena was fine. Like another world, perfectly comfortable air conditioning.

Overall I wold 100% see another show at the Etess. It is super convenient to Philly for the experience and I would recommend it to anyone considering it (I would recommend over shows at The Met or Franklin Music Hall The Filmore in Philly). I would consider extending my stay for a weekend at some point, not on a 100 degree weekend for sure and absolutely not on a holiday weekend again. I suspect my experience is clouded by both those factors, and like I said, being a music fan I would like to see more. Should I ever do that I will certainly expand...

Not the best stay but not the worst. Arrived around 3pm Monday. Had an Apollo bay suite (comped) but upon arrival there was none…front desk was able to get me into an Apollo ocean suite but it was a smoking room. Not the end of the world and appreciated the better view and the giant tub. Which btw is EXTREMELY slippery. Use caution getting in and out of it. Room was definitely starting to show its age a bit though. Damage around the bottom of the mirror in the guest bathroom, stains on the lamp in the bedroom, small things but definitely noticeable. The amenities are seriously lacking as well. Used to get mouthwashes and toothbrushes and toothpaste and shaving kits in the suite and this had none of that. Also had 2 conditioners in the shower instead of one shampoo and one conditioner. And whatever the new brand is was not great, and bottles were definitely kind of annoying to open especially when wet. I miss the sweet grass scent. Did virtual check out on my TV. Walked by several housekeepers in the hallway. Got downstairs and immediately realized I left my phone charger in the room. Went back up the elevator and spoke to one of the housekeepers who refused to let me into the room even though I still had my key in my hand. Told me to use the phone in the hallway and call downstairs. Spoke to someone who said if housekeeping is refusing to let me into the room I needed to go all the way back down, wait in line and then speak to someone at the front desk to see if they would issue me a new key or send someone to let me into the room. In the middle of checkout time. Wasn’t about to do that when the housekeeping staff could have just opened the door and stood there while I grabbed my charger. That was unacceptable to me. So if anyone finds a charger in room 1433 congrats lol. All other employees were fantastic as usual from security, to people at the casino cages and everyone on the casino floor from the servers to the cleaners. Also special shoutout to Mamu in the icon lounge. The lounge was extremely busy and seemed very short staffed but he was great and deserves...

My husband and I booked a weekend for our anniversary. It was our first time to Atlantic city and we also got tickets for a concert that weekend. ||We had indicated on our reservation that we'd be arriving early, which I know is no guarantee that the room will be available early. They told us we'd receive a text when the room was ready, and we had planned to spend the day on the boardwalk, then clean up and change for the concert that evening. We asked "what time do the doors open" and the counter agent couldn't answer a basic question. ||Check-in time came and went, so we went back to the front desk to check, just in case there was an issue with the text service. The counter agent (different person) seemed irritated that we were asking again only 5 hours since the last time we checked on our room. They couldn't tell us when they might expect the room to be ready, and I said "we'll be able to get in in time to get ready for the show, right?", she said "probably" (not a ringing endorsement). We were told, they were fully booked and "lots of people are waiting for rooms".. like it was my fault they weren't properly staffed. My husband and I joked after we finally got into our room about an hour later that they could have offered a small voucher for the casino (which 99.9% of the guest would loose in the first 15 minutes) and be out nothing for the inconvenience. ||The room was beautiful, and ocean facing (which was a higher charge). Fair warning, and the hotel has no control over this, the fog came in while we were at the concert, so if you're thinking about the ocean front view, it may not be worth it. ||The staff was just so impolite and unprofessional, my husband said he'd give it a 1 star. We had received an email after our stay asking us if everything went well and I replied with the issues we had at checkout... I got an autoreply.. and absolutely no acknowledgement whatsoever. ||We enjoyed the boardwalk and the show, and we've talked about going back, but we'll be trying a...