Atlantic City gets a bad rap. Sure, it’s not Las Vegas, but Atlantic City could be an ideal weekend getaway for those in the North East and Mid-Atlantic, provided you pick the right hotel. We compiled a list of the five best hotels in Atlantic City, along with a brief review of those which just missed the cut.
For us, a great indoor pool is a top factor, considering you can only make use of an outdoor pool in Atlantic City for 4 months of the year at most. After that, transferability of status to other hotel chains and Las Vegas properties factors into our ranking, along with customer service and cleanliness of rooms. Finally, food options are important for us, because a lot of the time, there’s little incentive to leave the casino you’re staying at (do you really want to brave the boardwalk in the winter?).
With that said, let’s start briefly with the hotels which missed the cut: Golden Nugget, Resorts and Tropicana. While we have nothing hugely negative against of those properties, they each have a few things that don’t rank well with us. For all three, they have limited options for earning status in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Specifically for the Golden Nugget, it lacks an indoor pool for the winter months. Resorts is dated and has a very small casino compared to the newer hotels in Atlantic City and Tropicana is very far from all the other properties, meaning you have to drive or take a cab to head anywhere else in Atlantic City.
Now, onto our 5 best Atlantic City Hotels:
T-5. Bally’s and Caesars Atlantic City
Bally’s Atlantic City is part of Total Rewards, so what we stated below for Caesars is echoed for Bally’s as well. It is connected to Caesars and walking inside between the two is fairly easy. A few other downsides to Bally’s specifically is that the hotel and casino floor just feel a bit dated, though there are not any issues regarding cleanliness.
With that said, why Bally’s over Caesars? Bally’s does not try to pretend to be something it is not. It is routinely the most cost conscious of the three Total Rewards properties in Atlantic City so you won’t have to break the bank for a weekend night stay. Also, while Bally’s does charge for admittance (without upper tier status), it at least has an indoor pool (albeit a no frills indoor pool). At the end of the day, Bally’s is not a bad option if you want to stay on the boardwalk and prefer a Total Rewards property.
Caesars Atlantic City is also part of the Total Rewards program, and it comes with probably the best and most intuitive website to book a hotel with in all of Atlantic City. Cancelling and re-booking (for a lower price of course!) is also easily done on-line and Caesars has two sister properties in Atlantic City itself, not to mention the vast network of Total Rewards casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere. If you have status in Total Rewards, you can status match to a corresponding tier in the Wyndham Resorts rewards program and vice versa providing lucrative extra perks for vacation travel.
Caesars also has a convenient location on the boardwalk and includes beach access and connected to Bally’s Atlantic City. The Pier is attached to Caesars on the boardwalk with shopping and another favorite restaurant of ours, Buddakan.
Another major problems with Caesars in Atlantic City is the rooms come with a Caesars Las Vegas like premium, but the property is just not that special. The rooms are nice, but not nice enough to command significant premiums over higher ranked hotels on this list. Total Rewards charges the highest resort fees in all of Atlantic City, topping $30 per night when including tax, but at Caesars that pretty much gets you nothing, WiFi and a $5 discount on $15 parking, which is also more than other hotels charge (unless you have status). Total Rewards in Atlantic City has also generally been much more stingy with freebies and comps. The worst part? No indoor pool and Caesars has the gall to charge you admission to the outdoor pool when it is open seasonally. That’s a hard pass on our end.
4. Hard Rock Atlantic City
We developed a bit of a love hate relationship with Hard Rock after staying this past October. Last summer, when Steve’s parents stayed at Hard Rock, it boasted an indoor pool with a bar for food and drinks and an outdoor tanning area. The indoor pool along with a boardwalk/beachfront bar and restaurant and a private Hard Rock only beach area with lounge chairs for guests to use on the beach, is all included in the resort fee. When the summer season is over though, all you are left with is an ice cold indoor pool, coupled with having to trek down to the casino floor to get your own drink. We just don’t get the big disconnect there and it’s a huge lost opportunity.
Hard Rock did put $500 million into renovating the former Trump Taj Mahal and you can really sense the fresh renovations everywhere, except at the indoor pool area. The rooms were beautifully redone and may be the best in Atlantic City now, though don’t sport floor to ceiling windows. The casino floor is airy and bright and doesn’t give you a trapped feeling. Hard Rock offered generous tier matching from other casinos, inclusive of a free night and casino credit and even offered discounts on their high end fine dining. We also added a new favorite high end restaurant to our list as well with Council Oak Fish which boasts amazing seafood. Hard Rock has a great location on the boardwalk, right next to the Pier providing non-gambling entertainment during the spring, summer and fall.
Hard Rock has many hotels and casinos worldwide which can be a positive or negative in some eyes. If you’re looking for status for Las Vegas trips, but prefer not to be forced to stay at one hotel (Hard Rock), you’re best steering yourself towards Total Rewards or M Life rewards programs. Additionally, while almost everything else was extremely positive and we may return to the Hard Rock in the summer, the ice cold indoor pool stops Hard Rock from rising higher on this list. That being said, if an indoor pool isn’t all that important to you, we would recommend Hard Rock over Harrah’s.
3. Harrah’s Atlantic City Resort
Harrah’s Atlantic City used to be our favorite Atlantic City hotel, but now we weren’t even sure if we wanted to include it in our top 3. Their indoor pool is the best in all of Atlantic City, also boasting five separate hot tubs and a full bar with bar food to enjoy during the day. At night it turns into a fun night club. The casino has an open and airy feeling to it. Recently, Harrah’s has begun revamping their Bayfront and Marina tower rooms, and generally they have fairly priced rooms, though occasionally they can be a bit expensive. Additionally, the positives of Total Rewards listed above for Bally’s and Caesars applies here as well.
The customer service has just been downright terrible these past couple of years, having been treated with hostility even by members of hotel management and it is almost shocking to see. If you’re not a diamond or seven stars with Total Rewards, Harrah’s just flat out does not appreciate your business. Online check-in is a joke and absolutely useless. After using online check-in at 3pm during our last stay at Harrah’s, our rooms were still oversold before we arrived later that evening. It took 4 hours to find us a replacement room (the gentleman who cleaned our room was nicer to us than the front desk manager which should tell upper management something). We weren’t the only one stuck in that situation, with dozens waiting for a room and the hotel staff not even bothering to offer water or snacks to anyone waiting.
Harrah’s has cut back on comps (good luck even getting a buy one get one buffet here as a gold Total Rewards member) and room offers are almost non-existent. The quality of restaurants has been declining as well as of late. Additionally, the past three times we stayed at Harrah’s, we have had screaming next door neighbors, either late in the night (3-4am) or extremely early in the morning (7-8 am), making it impossible to have a relaxing night at the hotel. I haven’t had that issue at Borgata, Ocean Resort, Hard Rock or even Bally’s. I won’t even go into detail about how some of the rooms we’ve or our friends have seen recently haven’t been as clean as they should have been.
At the end of the day, the indoor pool, which is accessed for free as part of the resort fee, its relationship with Total Rewards and the nightclub make Harrah’s an all right Atlantic City option for those coming for a random weekend, though you better hope you don’t have to deal with anyone in the customer service department.
2. Ocean Casino Resort (formerly Revel)
You may remember Ocean Resort as Revel, the pretentious all glass beachfront property with a combination nightclub/dayclub which is arguably the best in all of Atlantic City. You may also remember how Revel’s pretentious made it fail spectacularly, going bankrupt and shutting its doors within 2 years of re-opening.
It re-opened the same day as Hard Rock this past summer and its new owner is attempting to shed its pretentious image by allowing single night bookings, adding a buffet, a Starbucks (both the buffet and Starbucks yet to open), a Wahlburgers, a Top Golf Suite, and a gaming area for kids. The other positives are that it is a beautiful beachfront property with a heated indoor/outdoor pool (and hot tub) overlooking the ocean, along with a separate adults only summer time pool area with chair, daybed and cabana rentals including a food and beverage credit. Also during the summer you have direct beach access with a private lounge chair area much like at Hard Rock. The casino floor is eye-catching and is the most Vegas like casino of all Atlantic City hotels, centered by the new William Hill sports book which is also the best in Atlantic City if sports betting is your thing.
Ocean Resort is a category 3 Hyatt property and can be booked for 12,000 Hyatt points per night, which represents solid value on your points if booking on the weekend. On our stay we did need to follow up to make sure we received the right credit as a Hyatt Discoverist using our Hyatt credit card, though that should be sorted out now. Hyatt is our favorite major hotel brand, so an option to earn Hyatt points in Atlantic City is definitely welcomed. Additionally, if you have Hyatt elite status you can match that to a corresponding tier in the M Life Rewards program for the Borgata and Las Vegas (and other) stays as Hyatt and M Life have a partnership in the same way Total Rewards has with Wyndham. We rate Ocean and Borgata higher on the strength of the Hyatt rewards program in our opinion over Wyndham’s program.
The downsides which keep it from being Number ONE? The rooms themselves received very little love before re-opening, and while the bathrooms are nice and up to Hyatt standards, the rest of the room needs some more updating. The hotel itself also has a ton of open space and is very disjointed with some restaurants and the pool being on the hotel lobby floor, but the casino and other restaurants being on a completely separate floor. There are more signs now than in the Revel days, but it remains a bit of a maze to navigate. Additionally, the customer service representatives on the phone and some in the casino just are not as polished as the Borgata.
- The Borgata
The Borgata just celebrated its fifteenth year anniversary, but their rooms remain fresh and clean and we can certainly say they have the best customer service in all of Atlantic City. The Borgata boasts an intuitive layout as well with the majority of their restaurants and shopping being ringed around the outskirts of the casino floor, where you will find an impressive collection of quality high end restaurants and even some good casual options as well. Gypsy Bar, an awesome live music venue, and Premier nightclub are also found within the casino floor. Borgata does an excellent job of obtaining top entertainment for not only their nightclub, but their Events Center as well.
The newer tower at the Borgata is the Water Club, which provides a more VIP feeling with its own separate entrance and check-in area. The rooms are top notch too, though not necessarily more spacious. The Water Club has its own separate adults only indoor pool area with two hot tubs which gives Harrah’s pool a run for its money, but on top of that boasts two separate outdoor pools. The only slight miss is that during the non-summer months, there is a limited/no service at the indoor pool, but there is a bar next door to the pool, avoiding the same long walk I had to make for a drink at Hard Rock. You can now access the Water Club pool even if you’re staying in the Borgata tower, provided you’re 21 or older, and access is included in the resort fee, unlike at two-thirds of the Total Rewards properties.
Importantly, it is the only M Life property in Atlantic City, which provides reciprocal benefits at some of the top Las Vegas casinos and elsewhere and status matching with Hyatt. Through our Discoverist status with Hyatt, we were able to match up to Pearl status from the base level Sapphire. While Borgata parking is only $5 (compared to $15 at Total Rewards properties!), Pearl gives us free parking among other cool perks. We have gotten a comped room on a non-Saturday twice now, along with match table play, free slot dollars, free buffets and comedy show tickets. Borgata certainly knows how to appreciate even lower tier players and make them feel welcome.
If we had to nitpick, the casino floor could feel a bit claustrophobic with lower ceilings, and I wish you could order a drink directly off the slot machines, like they have at Hard Rock and Harrah’s. That said, the Borgata is the clear number one destination in our book for a weekend getaway to Atlantic City!