Jonathan C.
Yelp
The Platinum Hotel is a condo-style hotel a half-mile from the Strip.
I booked the "Solitaire Suite Strip View" on Hotels.com. I was in Room 503, and the photos on Hotels.com were generally accurate. One photo showed a fireplace, but the room didn't have one. My suite, like most if not all of their suites, had a full kitchen and homey but boring decor. People online say they had washers and dryers in their rooms, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.
The suite has a furnished balcony with a view of the Strip. It's not bad for an off-Strip view of the Strip, but much of what you see in front of you is a parking lot or back lot.
Some of their kitchen equipment could have been better. The coffee maker was a cheap coffee maker that probably didn't cost more than $30 and the inside was covered in coffee residue. I called to have a tea kettle brought up. It came wrapped in a plastic bag 5 minutes later. It looked like a $10 kettle, and it was partly broken, though it was usable.
Other than the inside of the coffee machine, the room was clean.
The nightstands have plenty of outlets and USB ports.
The desk has one electrical outlet and no USB ports, but was OK for working on a laptop. Wi-Fi was slow: Google's speed meter registered 7 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up. That's barely enough to watch a video online at medium quality.
The Platinum Hotel has made extensive changes for the pandemic. Daily housekeeping has been suspended. You can call for things like towels or toilet paper, but I didn't need to do that since I was only there for 5 days. There are hand sanitizer stations everywhere--more than I've seen at other hotels and resorts. Elevators have social distancing markers, tissues, garbage cans, and hand sanitizer. Staff wear masks. Plexiglass barriers at the front desk. I didn't run into too many other guests, so there's social distancing by default.
Safety changes affect the rooms as well. The kitchens are usually fully equipped, but at this time, they've removed the cookware. Items for dining are still present: utensils, plates, coffee maker, dishwasher detergent, etc. Tongs, baking dishes, frying pans, etc. are available only upon request. The TV remote in the living room was wrapped in a plastic sleeve; strangely the TV remote in the bedroom wasn't.
Many of the hotel's services are shut down. The spa, restaurant, and lounge are closed. They have grocery delivery, although I didn't use it. I don't think they have room service. The pool is open for some reason.
They have a "Platinum Market," which is basically a closet with a few convenience store type products. They're overpriced, especially given that there are 3 convenience stores with reasonable prices on the same intersection.
The elevators are not keycard-secured. This might make food delivery easier.
The ATM in the lobby charges a $5 fee per transaction, $300 maximum, $20s only.
There's a dumb, semi-hidden, mandatory $28/night resort fee. It makes even less sense now since most of the resort is closed.
Although The Platinum Hotel is a half-mile from the Strip, it feels like it's much further away. It was 115 degrees during the day during my stay, and walking half a mile in 115 degree weather isn't exactly pleasant. The immediate area around the hotel looks nothing like the Strip. It's quiet. There are some gas stations, convenience stores, hotels, condos. There's an electrical substation across the street. There are a lot of homeless in the vicinity. I saw at least one every time I left the hotel. One of them decided to set up camp on one of the hotel's pedestrian walkways, blocking it, and refused to move when confronted by hotel security.
Overall, The Platinum Hotel is one of the safer hotels at the moment. Not the most fun, but close enough to the Strip.
