Planet Hollywood's standard room - it's not that good, sir

This is it?  Are those sheets?  Are we in the military?
What's that over there by the far wall?  Nothing!

That's all the storage space right there.
And Hayley's suitcase is almost as big as the armoire...

See the wasted space?  Do something with it!

When I booked the hotel for my Vegas shopping trip with Hayley this past November, I chose the room based on my discussion with Hayley about the location and my desire to try new things on each trip, especially after so many trips to Vegas.  CET offered me a FREE "Hollywood Hip" room upgrade at Planet Hollywood, where I've never stayed before, and Hayley liked the modern photos on the website.  I figured we might as well check it out because A) I might not get another free room offer from them, and B) it was all about keeping the girl-child happy and keeping her near the shopping areas she was looking to visit.

We arrived from the airport at about 1 p.m., and I didn’t know if we’d be able to check in or not because the Caesars Entertainment website gives the earliest check-in time as 4:00 p.m. for all of its properties.  There were only a few people in line, and we were told that the comped Hollywood Hip room I booked through the CET website would not be ready until after 5 p.m. at the very earliest, but a standard room was available now if we wanted to take it.  I asked Hayley if she cared, and she didn’t.  The front desk guy said, “Well, you’re used to staying at Harrah’s, and we’re a step up from their rooms, anyway.”  Really?  We’ll be the judge of that!  

(I like how all hotel employees always assume - or try to convince YOU - that their rooms are superior to everyone else's in some way.  It's not that I stay in any high-end hotels on my Vegas vacations, but assuming that your rooms are better than other properties' rooms isn't always a wise thing.  Just sayin'.)

Off to the room, and I don’t think they ARE a step up from Harrah’s, personally.  The main bedroom area was very basic and a bit worn, and definitely not as large as I expected based on the front desk employee's description.  The very first thing Hayley noticed when we walked in was the theme: Predator 2.  Oh, boy!  We get to stare at aliens every day!  (If there were such a thing as a "sarcasm font", you could use it on those last two sentences, believe me.)  One of Hayley's big dislikes is aliens, and they're not exactly my favorite, cuddly bedtime friends, either.  I should have asked if “Sixteen Candles” was available and we would have both been happy.  That would be a great idea to add to the Planet Hollywood room booking:  selecting the room 'theme' based on your movie likes and dislikes.  So many other theme choices would've been higher on my list.

There were only two drawers and one closet in the bedroom armoire – too much wasted space for a room with double beds.  Pretty sure more than one person will (usually) be staying in a room with double beds, so why not give us more places to put our stuff?  The hanging space was very limited because of the smaller, single-door armoire, and we had to be very creative about putting away our clothes.  I ended up putting most of my folded clothes in the useless door area below the TV because...what else would I put there?  A stack of phone books?  Two females in one hotel room equals more space needed to put stuff!

No decorative pillows on the beds, no random bed décor, and not even a colored or creative bed skirt in sight…even Harrah’s uses some color for a standard room!  We both first thought that there were only SHEETS on the beds, with no comforters at all.  Luckily we were wrong about that!  All white bedding makes it look BLAH.  It was a very sterile-looking bed area.  The beds themselves were not the most comfortable I've slept in (Aria and Bellagio top that list...so far...), and it was hard to find a good 'spot' to lay in at night.  I did like the suede headboards, but that's all I can say I liked about the beds.

The Roman shade on the window was frayed and worn on the edges, and you couldn't totally block out the light at night on the sides.  I really like sleeping in a completely dark room in Vegas.  For me, it's hard enough to get comfortable in a strange bed, so I want complete darkness and quiet to help me get the little sleep I manage.  To even GET to the window was hard enough:  a randomly placed purple chair was right in front of it, between the armoire and the foot of the bed, and we both had a hard time getting to the window to open or close the shade.  BEHIND the chair and in front of the window was a random "table" with movie memorabilia in it; again, alien guns weren't the thing I was hoping to see, so leaving that table behind the chair became one of the better decisions for this particular room.

Next to the bed near the far wall was some sort of light display-box-thing that was supposed to 'highlight' one of the alien movie posters on the wall.  Again, it had no real practical use, and the bottom portion of it was uneven and barely allowed Hayley to stow her suitcase out of the way.  It offered no other benefit or "wow" factor for the room because the lights weren't working.  Not that I'd turn on the light to highlight the alien poster in the first place...

And...one random, striped wall?  The carpet pattern didn't compliment the wall pattern, and neither of them went with the purple chair.  I think either the wall paper or the carpet was left behind from when the hotel was still Aladdin, and they haven't really finished updating everything.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.

The bathroom in the standard room is very big, but they could use the space better and put in a couple of open shelves under the sinks for storage, or even add a second sink with all that space - again, I'm thinking double beds, double sinks and a place to put everything that goes along with it.  There IS a separate area for the toilet with a door, so that's a plus I like when sharing a hotel room (there's no need to share too much, y'know).  The garden tub was nice and deep, but yet ANOTHER alien movie print staring down at you is not the best view when you want to relax in your hotel room.  Hayley actually took a bubble bath the first night, but she didn't comment on it.

The shower area is separate and glassed-in, but the tile is older subway-type tiles and very old-looking.  They would do much better to re-tile the shower to match the rest of the marble in the bathroom, or just use a pre-fab shower to make it look more updated and less like an old shower.  Good water pressure, though, and the water was nice and hot.

So, would I stay at Planet Hollywood again?  If you haven't figured it out by now, the answer is NO.  Given the below-standard state of their "standard" room, I will be happy going back to Harrah's for my next trip...unless I get an offer for another CET property I haven't yet occupied.  I give this room a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 - it was clean but very worn, and the bathroom saved it from being completely useless, but my vacation time should be enjoyable all around, even when I'm in the room.

If you're interested in checking out some of the OTHER rooms offered at Planet Hollywood, check out their website here, http://www.planethollywoodresort.com/casinos/planet-hollywood/hotel-casino/property-home.shtml, but I'd stay away from the basic rooms if I were you.