Five Vegas Motels to Avoid Like Day-Old Sushi

CITY CENTER MOTEL

Once upon a time, Aria, Vdara, Veer Towers, Waldorf Astoria, and Crystals were collectively known as "City Center". The branding of that multi-billion-dollar complex has been largely retired, but the name lives on at City Center Motel.

The operators of this former Super 8 on Fremont Street cleverly capitalized on the City Center name more than a decade ago, no doubt hoping that at least a few would be fooled. Now the only fools are those who make a return visit. 

If "location location location" is your criteria, then being across from Downtown Container Park should cause delight. I have to admit that the persons manning the reservation desk were quite congenial and friendly. But if comfort, cleanliness, and glamour are what you seek, you'd better take a LYFT to Circa on the other end of the street.

The fondest memory of my stay occurred when walking across the parking lot, key in hand. To my left, another guest was posing for a selfie in front of the dumpster (why?), unaware that a bum was crawling into said dumpster from the other side. Talk about a photo-bomb!

City Center Motel currently holds two stars out of a possible five on TripAdvisor. Former guest/survivor Allisonj7 posted this memorable review: "They sold us a weird room around the corner of the building (not even within the property and it didn't even have a room number!) I swear it was a former broom/janitor closet that they tried to fashion into a room. Everything was really run down and there was a window the size of a sheet of paper that faced the back alley."

Every successful business starts with a good foundation.