Las Vegas, Nevada: Bad Wheelchair Service @ Palms Hotel

Checking-In

Overall, I was not impressed by the service nor the ADA compliance of the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas and do not recommend staying here. Upon arrival around 12:30pm, my sisters and I checked if the room we were in was a roll-in shower and the gal at the desk confirmed. By the way, the lowered section of the front desk counter was being used as the baggage check station, not for check-in. At this time I requested that a roll-in shower be taken up to the room. Later that night around 10pm there was still no showerchair.

By this point I had called the front desk four times and housekeeping once along with physically going to the front desk at the Palms Place tower. I decided I would make one more trip to this desk and if the showerchair was not in the shower by the time we had returned from going to the Ghost Bar that I would instead shower in one of the leather chairs in the room. To me there was no other option. I explained this to the gal at the front desk who comp $50 for drinks for the inconvenience of the situation. She was graceful, sincere and competent. Everyone else I spoke with lacked her professional charisma. When we returned, a showerchair had been placed in the shower. To get a showerchair to the room took over ten hours. Strike one.

Rooms

The Palms Hotel has three towers with overnight accommodations: Palms Place, Fantasy Tower and the Palms Tower. The only automatic doors are the front doors to the casino and to the main pool.The Palms and Fantasy Tower are connected to the main building and casino while the Palms Place tower is a bit a journey to get to. One must take multiple elevators and pass through a long hallway to reach the rooms. My sisters and I stayed in the Palms Place tower on the fifteen floor in room #305.

The first thing I noticed was that there was a lowered peephole on the door. Inside room was modern and spacious with a small full kitchen, entertaining area and three TVs. I was impressed by the lowered light switches for the main area and bathroom. The rest of the lighting consisted of individual lamps, including by the bedside; at least two I could not reach. The AC/Heat controls were accessible. My favorite part of the room was the fact that the floor was all either tile or wood. The bed could be accessed on either side and was at a great height. However, the lip of the bedframe was a little wide and may make it a little hard for some to transfer over. This room had the one king bed but the couch folds out into a full size bed if needed. In the kitchen was a raised table that almost any wheelchair could fit under.

The bathroom was elongated and a good room to maneuver. The toilet was just to right after coming through the door. Then the roll-up sink and bathroom TV were next to it and finally the shower on the far left side. As I’ve stated above, the hotel provides a showerchair upon request but who knows how long it will take to arrive. The showerchair was small but did have a backrest and the length of the legs can be adjusted. Both a hand-held shower nozzle and an above rain showerhead are available in the shower. The shower lacked a quality shelf. All that existed was a small soap tray connected to the bar of the hand-held shower nozzle; not really big enough to hold shampoo and conditioner too. Therefore, I needed to somehow hold these items while showering. The only really horrible thing about this bathroom is that there were absolutely NO grab bars near the toilet or the shower. This is dangerous and a clear violation of ADA law. No one could explain to me why there were no grab bars in this ADA room. After speaking with management in person and by email, the hotel tells me that there are no plans to change this. Strike two.

Before I left, I insisted that I see an ADA room with grab bars. I was given access to room #16-115 in the Palms Tower, which was directly above the casino. It had two twin beds that were slightly higher than the room in the Palms Place tower. There was nothing impressive about this room. Like the room I was staying in, this one also had a lowered peep hole and lowered light switches. The closet did not have lowered bar and the desk height was not altered for a wheelchair user. The bathroom had a bathtub with grab bars and hand-held shower nozzle. A semi-roll-up sink and toilet with grab bars were also included.

Pools

There were two pools at the Palms Hotel. The main one was located just outside of the casino floor and the other was tucked away on an outdoor terrace of the Palms Place tower. The one at the Palms Place had a more relaxed feel, probably because it was smaller and less visible to pool hoppers. Mirroring part of this pool was the Simon Restaurant and Bar with tasty food and a full bar to be taken advantage of during happy hour. Both pools have outdoor bars with bar girls to serve you, cabanas for rent, accessible restrooms and promotional events. Neither pool had a wheelchair accessible lift. Seventeen other hotels on and off the strip have one but the Palms Hotel does not. Strike three.

Besides the casino, the hotel has a fitness room, day spa, several restaurants (varying in price and quality) and two night clubs, Rain and the Ghost Bar.

Summary

The hotels/casinos of Las Vegas define the strip and with 20+ to choose from, I would look elsewhere besides the Palms Hotel. The hotel is not responsive to the necessity of a showerchair for a wheelchair user nor was the ADA room I stayed in equipped with the required grab bars, which makes me question all of the ADA rooms or perhaps all the rooms located within the Palms Place tower. Furthermore, the pool at a Las Vegas hotel is a commodity. Many like to spend hours at the pool so not having a lift so that all guests can enjoy this feature is inexcusable when the majority of hotels have them. And finally, it may be reason enough alone to look elsewhere due to the fact that the Palms Hotel is off the strip and too far/dangerous to walk to. This means that a taxi ride is needed to get to the strip, which can get expensive.