Caesars Southern Indiana - A Caesars Rewards Destination — Hotel in Shively

This was undeniably, undoubtedly the worst experience I have ever had at a hotel in my life.

Upon checking in, my plan was to relax, enjoy dinner, head down to the pool and hot tub during adult swim, and finish the evening losing a bit of money in the casino. Pretty reasonable and standard for an overnight stay at a casino hotel, I'd say. Unfortunately (and especially unfortunately for Caesar's), I never got around to losing money at the casino because, by the time I got back into my room from the pool, I was infuriated and didn't want to give these jokers another penny.

Following my dinner, I went down to the pool, where I swam a couple laps and enjoyed the hot tub for a while. By the time I finished, it was 9:45. Given that I left my room specifically to go to the pool, I brought with me only my flip flops, a towel, and my room key. Upon returning to my room (which was on the far end of a hallway that is nearly a third of a mile long) and fairly wet from my swim, I discovered that my room key was no longer functioning. No big deal, I'll just go to the front desk and get it taken care of. Sure, it's additional walking, but it is what it is.

The problem begins when I get to the front desk. As I arrive to the front desk, which was only manned by one person at the time, I explain my situation. I tell her that my key to my room isn't working. She asks me my room number, my phone number, my address, and my name. I give her all the information, and then she asks for my ID. As I had just told her, I was in the pool and therefore didn't have my ID as I left my wallet in my room, to which she responded "Oh, well I need your ID in order to give you a new room key." After a few seconds of awkward silence and me staring at her, I say "well, then why don't you just make up a new key, and you and I will go to the room together, you let me in, and I show you my ID." Her response was "no, I'm the only one here, so I can't abandon my post, but I will call security to do that for you." I say OK, fine, and she says to go wait in front of my room for security.

So I go back to my room at the end of a mile long hallway on the 6th floor, and I sit in front of the door and I wait... and I wait... and I wait... at 10:12 PM, I message their half-automated text line saying that this has been a miserable experience. I get a response, at first automated, and then after a short back and forth, the front desk lady I had just spoken to responds. Mind you, this is after 30 minutes of waiting already. She says in the text "I am calling secuirty again; I apologize they have not made it up there yet." I make sure to remind her to have security bring a fresh key as well so I don't have to make the trek back down again as well, to which she replies that she will.

Then I wait... and I wait... and I wait... until at 10:45 I text the number again saying "I have been waiting for more than half an hour. Is there a General Manager I can speak to?" After another 15 minutes without a reply, I had enough. I go back to the lobby.

When I get to the lobby, I (rudely) interrupted the lobby by loudly raising my voice and emphatically describing how ridiculous the situation is. By this point, there were two employees and one other guest there checking in (I pray their stay was better than mine). For whatever reason, they, including the lady that helped me the first time, were surprised that security hadn't arrived yet. So after berating them, and telling them "You're coming with me to security" and trekking halfway to the casino, we happened to meet the security guard, who I believe was named Lee, halfway between the hotel and casino. By this point, I had walked about 2 miles according to my step counter in dripping wet clothes and flip flops, and had spent over an hour and 20 minutes locked out of my room because of the inability for the hotel staff to effectively and efficiently communicate with one another, and a policy that they're too undermanned or incompetent to execute properly.

If you want to gamble, that's fine, but find a different...

Recently, I visited the Caesars Southern Indiania property. I haven't been here in several years, and many things have changed since then. If you are familiar with the casino being on the boat, then be warned. The boat days and the modern day version of the casino are now world's apart. Here are some observations I made on my recent trip.

Rooms:

When I stepped inside the room, I noticed a very strong musty smell inside. Smells will be an issue throughout the property. It took a few days to breathe properly again. I'm not sure when the last time when this room was cleaned, or even been into. This is a very basic no frills room. There is a mini refrigerator inside to store your drinks. The bed is very hard and uncomfortable. The pillows were flat, and should no longer be offered to guests. No one in my party slept very well at all. Be prepared to listen to plumbing issues randomly throughout the night. The bathtub is very small, and is very slick on the bottom. A tub mat is recommended. Do expect a long walk from you room to the casino floor.

Casino floor:

This area is fairly small, given the recent renovations. The game floor was only busy at the poker section. The rest of the area didn't have very many people at all. If you do not smoke or are sensitive to it, then you will have issues here. The divide between smoking and non-smoking does not make sense. Depending on where you enter, you may have to pass the smoking section to get to the non-smoking section. Stale cigarette smoke impacted the hallways, which is a non-smoking area. There are very few Video Poker and Video Keno machines in the non-smoking section. There are more Video Poker machines, but they are located in the smoking section. I seen a lot of married couples here. One spouse would be playing a slot game, while the other would look down at their phone. No one I spoke with did any kind of winning. There was a lot of employee staff members present. I seen groups of security personal trying to entertain themselves during their shift. Bartenders were standing around looking bored, due to lack of customers. Table game operators were also bored, due to very few players. Table minimums are likely to change by the time you read this. Parking here was easy to get, regardless of the construction around the garage area.

Staff interactions:

This is where things start to fall apart. I wished I read some of the past reviews regarding the staff before I arrived. Checking in can be very difficult. Phoning in a reservation is not advised. During the phone conversation, you will be transferred to a foreign call center. I was asked to read out my credit card number and expiration date. I hung up the phone immediately. You are definitely better making off making reservations in person. I was advised by the clerk to just say front desk, while on the phone line. It is not likely that the property will be out of rooms. Make sure to get a final bill before checking out.

Checking out was strange process. The clerk told the guest in front of me that one of the job difficulties was pronouncing last names that he has never heard before. That guest looked displeased. Not a good time to tell jokes.

While I was on the casino floor, I picked up a .20 cent cash out ticket near me. An older woman with glasses that looked like she was part of the cleaning staff verbally screamed at me. She said that that ticket was not mine, and ordered me to bring it to her. This was behavior that I have never seen here before! I reached the ticket over and she dropped it. She responds...DON'T THROW THINGS AT ME! I told her firmly to do her job, bend over and pickup the ticket, and to leave me alone. The conversation ended quickly. Her behavior was close to the grounds of Disorderly Conduct. My group witnessed the incident. We decided to cash out our tickets and leave. I think management needs to do an employee evaluation quickly, before more customers head...

We visited this property in early February, 2025. Our first mistake was following their signage which said to turn into the first drive for both the casino and the hotel. After parking and going up one level, the guard chastised me for coming to his station. I asked how to get to the hotel, and he gave me a long story about bringing our luggage up to his entry point, which they would have to hand check thoroughly. Then, we would have to carry our bags through the casino and walk 1/4 mile to the hotel. I asked if there was any alternative, and he said to get back in the car, turn left and take the first road to my left, which would take me to the hotel. Only problem? There IS no road to the left of the casino. We had to go RIGHT about 500 feet, turn right on an unmarked road and wind through the property to the hotel. Yes, the hotel is 1/4 mile from the casino. I guess they just wanted us in the casino spending money rather than getting to our room quickly to relax after a 4-hour drive. Instead, I got lectured for not knowing the property layout in advance. Duly noted!

At the check-in desk, I presented the clerk with my Caesar's Reward card and she said she didn't need it. After we got home, I received an email from the hotel manager telling me I failed to earn points for my stay because I didn't give them my Rewards number. I emailed this story to the manager, but never got a reply - OR my points. I guess they have to pay Corporate a cut of the stay if the guest is a Rewards member, so they prefer to ignore the points program completely.

When I finally got to the room - almost 1/2 hour after arriving on-site, the windows were covered with thick white plastic, so we couldn't see out. I went back down to get a different room, and the clerk said that entire side of the hotel was under renovation. Even though the hotel was only about 1/4 full, that was the only room we could have. So every morning from about 8 am until 5 pm, we heard jackhammers and drilling. Two seniors, and they gave us the noisiest room in the property. The room itself was very nice, but we were hoping for a relaxing getaway weekend rather than living in a construction zone. Housekeeping was very friendly, which made the trip nicer, but hotel management showed zero interest in making our stay enjoyable.

Apparently the property DOES offer room service, but our room had no literature, no menu, absolutely nothing to tell us about the hotel or what services they offer. So as far as helping guests enjoy their stay, it was more like a Motel 6 rather than the luxury property we envisioned. Plus, the casino is literally 1/4 mile from the hotel. Yes, they have "people mover" walkways, but it's still a long way to walk for seniors like us.

The casino staff was very nice for the most part. We came for the sports book only to find that they don't offer off-track horse race betting. Would have been nice to know in advance. Food venues were very limited, but overall the quality of the food was good. Slot machines weren't paying at all, but then again this is an Indian casino (although we only saw one person of native American descent on our entire visit.) Indiana - like most states except NV and NJ do not require casinos to pay out a fixed percentage of the draw. So they chose to tighten up the machines that weekend. They know people will still play them because there's nothing else to do. Table games were good and we actually won there, so I would recommend sticking to the live tables and avoiding the machines.

Checking out, they asked if I wanted a printed or emailed receipt. I opted for emailed, but they never sent it. I still don't know what they charged me.

Bottom line: we felt that the staff of locals really does not like out-of-town guests disturbing the peace and serenity of their casino. Point taken, and we will honor that request in the future. Perhaps they should put a "Do Not Disturb" sign at the...