Belterra Casino Resort — Local services in Indiana

TL;DR: I just stayed at Hollywood Casino for the first time overnight and can say that you should go there if you want a high quality casino and are willing to sacrifice room quality. You should still stay at Belterra if you're not as much of a stickler about what you play at the casino and want a nice room and location.

This is an update of a review I posted from 2017-2018. I'm breaking this new review into three sections: hotel, food, and casino. Note that I had been staying at Belterra for vacations about once every 3 months for 15 years. Unfortunately, the casino at Belterra has dipped significantly in quality since then particularly if you're a video poker player. Note that this is NOT because I don't win, it has to do with some very specific changes they've been making over time and that have come to a head this past year. See my review of the casino section below.

Hotel: 5/5 (usually) The deluxe rooms at the hotel are still great. There's still a jetted tub and separate shower. There's a TV in the bathroom as well, which is theoretically cool for watching while you take a bath, but it's super old. I generally just ignore the TV. The room feels fairly luxurious. Occasionally I have gotten rooms where the AC doesn't work as well as I'd like, but overall, I really enjoy the whole hotel experience at Belterra.

Food: 5/5 I give this rating primarily because of Nosh, which has PHENOMENONAL breakfast, lunch, and dessert options. The prices are very good for what you get. The Stadium is also pretty good, though the prices are just a touch high for the food quality. The Stadium isn't bad though, I've enjoyed all my dinners there.

Casino: 3/5 I spend about half my time playing video poker and half my time playing slots. If you're a big video poker player, this is where things have gone downhill over the past year. Belterra previously had some of the best pay tables in the area, though their game variety was a little lacking. Recently, they've started adding newer machines that force you to play multi-hand if you want to activate game features and these games have worse pay tables. That means swingier games with worse odds, which generally means you'll lose money a lot faster.

Belterra has also steadily been losing slot machines. There are some newer ones coming in as well of course, but more and more of the casino is sitting empty on the bottom level. I really like some of the older and lower variance slot options they have on their lower level, but it's not enough to keep me coming back.

Conclusion and Comparison to Hollywood I really wish Belterra would improve their casino more. I know they're a smaller player than Hollywood, but they could turn things around by having a higher variety of high quality machines even if they have fewer machines overall. The food is a little better at Belterra and the rooms and location are easily better. I hope to be updating this review again if they make some of these improvements. As it stands, I'm probably going to Hollywood until the casino improves, and if that's more important than the rooms are to you, particularly if you're a video poker player,...

UPDATE 05/01/2022: I went back on the weekend and stayed from about 8 PM until about 4 AM. I wanted to give a review when the casino was a bit busier.

All of the good things in the previous review is the same or better! On the annoyances, they were almost gone during the busier time. I played table games mostly and a server came by regularly and was very friendly. I saw a few floor personnel and they were also very friendly and helpful.

The table game minimums were higher, $15 on Crazy 4 Poker (my favorite game). During the week when it was slow, it was a minimum $5 bet. I understand why but being the less affluent person I am, I think I will stick to the slower times so I can play longer.

An update on smoking - from what I can tell you can smoke when you are playing slots but not while up and walking around. I had a person start to vape at a table game and they advised him that it wasn't allowed. Being a non smoker that made my play more enjoyable.

The only real annoyance this trip was the cage personnel. Unlike the dealers and other personnel I met, they were less enthusiastic about making me feel like I was welcomed there. They were far from rude but just non-enthusiastic. When I am at a casino I think that it should be a bit like Fantasy Island - "Smiles, everyone, smiles!".

Again, overall a great experience and recommended. Still not quite a 5 star, but getting closer. I am already planning my next trip back!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I took a day trip recently to Belterra Casino Resort and was pleasantly surprised.

The choice and condition of the slot machines was good, the table games and dealers were excellent and the location was extremely clean and well kept. I was especially impressed with the condition and cleanliness of the restrooms which may not be glamorous for a review but is still very important practically.

It was close to five stars but I had a few very minor annoyances. First was they did not have a roulette table open the whole time I was there. Second, in the casino itself, besides the dealers, the bartender and one custodian I did not see any staff. There was no wait service when playing the games and no concierge walking the floor see how you're doing and if you were enjoying yourself. Granted, I did go in the middle of the week in the afternoon, but I would think there would be at least one server and a person walking the floor every 20 minutes or so. This criticism may seem a little odd but when you hardly see any employees you feel isolated and like they don't appreciate your patronage even when it is not the case. When I am dropping a lot of money I do want just a bit of attention.

Having said that, it was a very slow time of the week. I'm going to go back on the weekend and if things are better then I'll change my review and rating.

Overall, I had a great time. The dealers were friendly, the casino was very clean and modern, and it had an all-around good feel to it. I'm going back very soon....

Booked 2 connecting rooms and upon check in The hotel informed us that they were unable to honor this request. It wouldn’t be such a huge deal except for the fact that this kept our family separated And they could have honor this request. Why they wouldn’t still remains a mystery. After numerous visits to the check-in counter they finally concluded the reason was they were only at 50% capacity. This again makes no sense since our rooms were next to each other they just want the two that we connect and they simply moved one of our families to another room that connected the problem would’ve been resolved which shouldn’t of been a problem since the rooms adjacent to us were an occupied!

And they could have honor this request. Why they wouldn’t still remains a mystery. After numerous visits to the check-in counter they finally concluded the reason was they were only at 50% capacity. This again makes no sense since our rooms were next to each other they just weren’t the two that would connect and they simply moved one of our families to another room that connected the problem would’ve been resolved which shouldn’t have been a problem since the rooms adjacent to us were on occupied!

After trying to resolve the situation amicably we decided that we would simply check out two days early which meant we still stayed two days but the hotel refused to refund us our money!

Again our big problem was just the hotels lack of effort to work with us. We asked the person at the check-in counter to speak with a manager they refused and said they go back in the “” back room to talk with them and went in and out of that back room several times Claim and they were having conversations with a manager but the manager refused to come out and speak with us directly. This is not good customer service.

We even offered to pay the extra cost to move into a suite but we were told they could not charge us to a better room situation. What??? Is my response why would you not let us move and do a larger suite at a higher rate… Again no explanation but they did go back and speak to the mysterious manager in the back room.

We paid for non-smoking rooms but the room stunk just like their service!

OK so I need to update my review. After being unable to resolve her situation with the hotel we opted to just leave two days before check up time. When we went to the counter to let them know we’re leaving we were met with a totally different person and entirely different attitude. A young woman by the name of Dorthea was very helpful and got a manager for us. The manager, Amanda, was very gracious and helpful. She apologized for the inconvenience and miscommunication. Amanda I’m sure she would get us a refund for the two days we won’t be staying here. We left completely satisfied and truly appreciate the experience...