Resorts World Catskills In Monticello, NY Review

This Resorts World Catskills review is not sponsored.

I like casinos. My family loves gambling, and I inherited that trait. When Pete and I lived in New York, he lived in Yonkers, where Empire City Casino is. The casino was, literally, less than five minutes from his apartment. Once a month, the casino would give us free play, and once a month we would head to the casino to play.

Since we moved to North Carolina, a new casino went up not too far from where I lived in New York: Resorts World Catskills in Monticello, New York. It opened in February 2018 with over 100,000 feet of gaming including over 1,600 slot machines, and 150 live tables. Yup! I’m sad to be missing out on this.

My friend Michelle went to the Monticello casino with her fiancé, Jeffrey, and decided to tell us all about it. She wasn’t paid to go there, so this is a totally unbiased review.

Take it away Michelle.

Resorts World Catskills In Monticello, NY Review

Resorts World Catskills (888 Resorts World Dr.) is a brand new casino, only an hour drive from where I live in Rockland County.

When we arrived, there was a long road to the casino, but no signs directing us to where the front was or where to park. So we parked in the first spot we found, grabbed our overnight bag, and headed in near the bus drop off.

The first thing you notice is everything is clean and it doesn’t smell like cigarettes like so many older casinos do. For a Wednesday evening it was pretty busy, but not crowded. We checked in fairly quickly and headed to the elevator.

Let me stop there for a minute. I did have to ask the receptionist where the elevators were, which was different from the reception area in any Atlantic City casino hotel. The front desk staff in Atlantic City always ask if you’ve stayed with them and you directions to the elevators without prompting. So this was a little odd.

For safety purposes, when you get into the elevator you have to scan your room card then press the number of the floor you are heading to. I really appreciated that extra security.

Our room was beautiful. We booked a luxury king suite in the Resorts World Catskills hotel. My fiancé actually got a deal for it through Groupon. What’s great is that every room at the hotel (there are over 300) is a suite.

The bathroom is incredible. There’s a waterfall shower head, a separate toilet, and a makeup area! There were plenty of towels, which was great because my first call when we get to a room is usually to the front desk to ask for more towels. But we didn’t need to make that call this time. And the towels weren’t flimsy at all.

If I’m being perfectly honest, you needed two men to close the sliding barn door to the bathroom but we didn’t need to close it with just us two so we didn’t say anything. Maybe it would have been an issue if we split the room with another couple, but it was fine.

The sinks were amazing, and the shampoos and soaps smelled so good.

I actually took the time to put make up on after the shower because the sit-down vanity was so nice. The lighting made my eyes look so green. Jeffrey even said they look even prettier in that lighting.

Now, the rest of the room.

There are floor-to-ceiling windows spanning the whole front of the room, so if you open all the curtains, you get an incredible view of the Catskill Mountains. It’s a beautiful area, so I’m glad you can see it from your hotel room.

The TV is a giant flat screen that is kind of awkwardly placed to the left of the bed, but the view of the Catkills is better then anything you’ll see on TV! The TV offers movies, so many channels — and music! You could also order room service directly from the television.

The bed felt brand new, comfortable, and had large pillows that relax you instantly.

There’s a desk and couch in the room too, so if you needed to relax in the room or get some work done while you were there, you have the space to do it.

Each room has a little doorbell outside, which was nice, but the housekeeping staff still knocked.

The lights situation was a little much. It wasn’t until check out that we figured out which switches worked for what lights. One of the coolest features of the room was the phone. It had my fiancé’s name digitally programmed into it. The only picture I took from the entire stay was of the phone because I just thought that was so cool.

The coffee machine was hidden in a drawer that we didn’t find until checkout, but the room did have sparkling water bottles next to the ice holder.

One of the best thing was the WiFi was awesome! You didn’t have to reconnect at all after the first time.

Some of the hotel rooms have private pools, but we didn’t stay in one of those. If you choose not to too, there are two pools in the hotel that all overnight guests can use.

Resorts World Catskills is a hotel casino, so now it’s time to talk about the casino.

The casino itself is a good size. The slot machines and tables are enclosed in the middle of the resort and you have two or more security guards checking ID to get in. Outside of the gambling area are a few bars/restaurants. Unfortunately we were there on a Wednesday after work and most places were closed or were closing. It felt like all the activities — like trivia or dancing — were for every night but Wednesday.

While we were exploring, we walked next door to The Alder at Resorts World Catskills, which is the second hotel on the casino’s property. It’s named The Alder after the alder tree, which you can find in the Catskills.

It was pretty small, but had the Mexican restaurant Dos Gatos Cantina. There were two interactive games for golf and baseball when you first walk in that looked like a lot of fun. If you really like that, you can actually book a Topgolf Swing Suite in The Alder.

The bar we sat at inside Dos Gatos faced outside, and it was open and really nice. There was outdoor seating, plus badminton, cornhole and a giant Jenga game for guests to use. We played cornhole and sat in front of one of the fire pits watching the sun go down.

The Kartrite is the new indoor water park with water slides, a lazy river, and more. It is attached to the resort somewhere, but we didn’t see any signs as to where exactly it was. Next time we visit we’ll bring the kids to check it out.

Have you been to Resorts World Catskills? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.