Spotlight - Hooters/Oyo

The last vlog was about the Tropicana, we went in 2015 and so of course a lot of things have changed since then. This vlog is about the second casino we stayed at - Hooters and yet again, a lot has changed since that visit.

Hooters casino is on East Tropicana Avenue just 5 minutes away from the Strip and not too far from Tropicana nor MGM. We could actually see Hooters casino from our room at Tropicana. This casino has undergone so many name and owner changes so here's a very quick rundown;

Howard Johnson Hotel (1973–1975)

Paradise (1975-1976)

20th Century (1977-1978)

Treasury (1978–1985)

Pacifica (1985)

Polynesian (1985–1989)

Hôtel San Rémo (1989–2006)

Hooters Casino Hotel (2006–2019)

OYO (2019-present)

Just like Tropicana, Hooters is quite plain from the outside - it's white and orange with the word Hooters on the building and some palm tree imagery. It is definitely not a big casino hotel, it has just shy of 700 rooms and around 350 slot machines, There's also table games, poker and a sports book. It may be small but for people like my folks who were totally overwhelmed by the size of Harrahs, Hooters is good and cheap, definitely cheap. There is no glitz or glamour here but that's not we're about. I know it is important for a lot of people and to those people I say (in the nicest possible way), go elsewhere.

You may be wondering why we went from the Tropicana to Hooters, there were four factors.

Location – like the Tropicana it was away from the main hustle and bustle of the Strip but close enough to the Strip so you didn’t feel left out.

Size – We were taking mom and dad and after the fiasco at Harrah’s we opted for a less intimidating, smaller and simpler casino.

Price – It’s one of the cheapest and for us a room is a room. We don’t need extravagance in a room in which most time in it we’ll be asleep.

Hooters – A tradition of ours when in America is Monday Night Football with a few beers and a Philly Cheesesteak at Hooters so as there was obviously a Hooters restaurant on site then it was a done deal.

The year we went they had been renovating some of the rooms – I managed to get us one of these and yet again I got us a fridge for free. You could tell these were recently renovated as they smelt of paint. The one window wouldn’t shut properly either and the safe was locked so we needed someone to come in and unlock it. The room was a smaller version of the one we stayed in at the Tropicana but there was still plenty of room and there was complimentary water too. The room was all black and white with none of your Hooters orange anywhere which was a bit of a shame. The beds were comfortable and overall, we were happy with the room even though there was no minibar so I wasn’t able to be massively overcharged for a drink (seriously, do people ever use these?)

For those who like to keep fit and healthy after a Philly cheesesteak and a few beers, there is a 24-hour gym. You can then show off your achievements at one of the two Hooters pools and play games like Beer Pong. When we went there was nobody in the pool but then again, it was October.

For food there was the obligatory Hooters Restaurant that was always pretty busy. If you fancied what was basically the same but without the Hooters branding there was Steak’n’Shake. There’s a Pizza Hut there too I believe. We only ate at Hooters, as with the Tropicana we were more interested in eating out and trying a range of different places and Hooters Casino definitely did not have a range of things to try. Apart from the cheaper drinks you get from gambling there’s the Saloon Bar that I think we went to once. It was a standard bar that I didn’t really pay much attention to.

Back to theming. Apart form the Hooters shop, the restaurant and a few girls walking around in Hooters tops there wasn’t too really any theming. Things were white and orange, the Hooters sign, owl and numerous pictures of Hooters girls advertising deals and offers was emblazoned in many places but in their defence, there’s not much you can do. I think it was trying for a tropical look but like Tropicana it was very muted.

This brings us nicely to OYO. Hooters was taken over in 2019 and rebranded as OYO. Slowly, everything that made it Hooters was changed to OYO but they would be keeping the restaurant and when we visited in 2019 I could still see some remnants of Hooters.

We haven’t stayed there since 2016 but looking at the photographs of the OYO rooms, the standard two Queen room looks exactly like what it did when it was Hooters (maybe the window closes properly now). Hooters is still there as is Steak’n’Shake and Pizza Hut. There is now a Krispy Kreme doughnut in the Southside Eatery so that’s a definite plus. At the poolside bar ‘The Porch’ you can still play games like beer pong and giant Jenga. For a more relaxed drink you can go and sit in the Underground Lounge.

Returning to Hooters/OYO in 2019 was a visit of two halves. We were happy the Hooters restaurant was still there, the food was still good and Monday night football was able to continue. However, there was something ‘off’ with the branding of the casino – this was something I tried to discuss in one of my Vlogs but spent most of it mispronouncing OYO. It all seemed a bit plain, it was also very quiet so maybe when it’s busier there’s more of an atmosphere. The staff were lovely – they were a great help when I misplaced my phone so I thank them for dealing with this inebriated forgetful idiot.

Reviews of OYO on Trip Advisor and Yell are very mixed (although people on Yell seem to hate everything) but I always find with reviews people will only bother to give their opinion if they loved it or hated it. Anything in between and no-one bothers. We enjoyed our stay at Hooters but it is cheap for a reason so don’t go in there expecting the Wynn, you will be disappointed. For those on a budget I feel it’s a good option, you can spend the money saved on gambling, eating and drinking. Would we stay there again? Yes we probably would.

Oh, and parking is free.