Best Western Plus Boomtown Casino Hotel

The Best Western Plus Boomtown Casino Hotel (quite a mouthful!) is a casino hotel located at 2100 Boomtown Garson Road in Verdi, Nevada.

As an aside, Verdi was a census-designated place off one side of I-80 that got its start (in of population) mostly due to the railroad running through it. For history buffs out there, the Verdi area is home to a few places on the National of Historic Places.

The Best Western Plus Boomtown Casino Hotel is sometimes known as, “Boomtown Reno,” even though that’s not its official name and it is also not actually in Reno. The residents of Verdi will probably take it, however, as long as it gets people to come into town. We would imagine that this casino hotel is a very large contributor to Verdi’s local economy.

The building itself is kind of fashioned in an enlarged version of an Old West Saloon and Inn Style and the hotel is franchised as a Best Western, which is a brand highly popular amongst business travelers. It stands to reason that the hotel casino also benefits from Best Western’s online platform, access to third-party booking channels and the Best Western Rewards program. Best Western also has a pretty decent reputation and a loyal following, as far as major hotel chains in the US go.

Guests of the hotel will enjoy wireless internet access as well as access to the hotel’s fitness center. Normally, the hotel would have a pool, but that closed during the Covid-19 shutdowns and has yet to reopen. That said, the website refers to it as, “Temporarily closed,” so perhaps they are planning on opening it back up one day.

Unless there’s a special event that causes high occupancy, rates tend to live somewhere in the $80-$120 range, as of the time of this writing, with the main difference in rates being whether or not it is a weekend. Even though this casino hotel is all but located in the middle of nowhere, and is also part of a franchise, it charges a Resort Fee of $16/night, so shame on them for that. A Best Western with a Resort Fee!? Disgraceful. Either way, that Resort Fee is going to be enough to effectively pull most room rates to north of $100/night.

The rooms are clean, but probably a bit dated by Best Western standards. It’s pretty clear that the furniture has been around for awhile, but maybe they make the argument that it’s meant to fit the theme of the building itself. Either way, Resort Fees here are totally unjustifiable and are a clear money grab—even more so than they usually are—so I’m not inclined to take a favorable view of the hotel.

The property is home to a combined 541 video keno machines with denominations ranging from pennies to $25. According to VPFRee2, the property is home to several Video Poker paytables that return north of 98% with optimal strategy, but none that return more than 99%, which is piss poor (if correct) by Nevada standards.

Table Games at the property include Poker Room, but that did not reopen after the Covid-19 closures and it is unknown whether or not that will be coming back. You can continue to check their website if you are thinking about visiting, but we would expect that it’s probably gone if it’s not back by Spring or Summer of 2022. Many casinos across the country did not bring back their poker rooms after the shutdowns, which is typically an indicator that they weren’t particularly profitable in the first place.

The property is home to a small William Hill Sportsbook that is closed on Tuesday and Wednesdays and has limited hours otherwise. Interestingly, Live Keno can still be found at the Boomtown Best Western during many hours of the day.

KOA is the property’s fully equipped RV Park which might draw some visitors to Verdi if they are travelling by that means.

The property is home to a steakhouse, which is the property’s fine dining selection and with pricing that seems to be on par with many American chain steakhouses, so that’s at least a little bit of a value, even if not much else about this property is. They have this to say about the steakhouse:

The Boomtown Steakhouse at the Boomtown Casino Hotel in Reno, Nevada is famous for fabulous fine dining including savory entrees, certified angus beef steaks, fresh seafood, beautiful salads, delicious desserts, weekly chef’s specials, and local goodness that will make your taste buds soar. Enjoy a large selection of great wines, captivating cocktails, and refreshing drinks. Relax and enjoy elegant table side service, friendly staff, and more!

As you can see, they say that the steakhouse is in Reno, Nevada…and I guess that’s technically true since Verdi is no longer a census-designated place. However, just to give you an idea, Boomtown “Reno” is about fourteen miles from Atlantis Casino Reno…so this isn’t really in Reno, kind of on the outskirts.

Mel’s Diner is an American eatery at this casino that serves casual American food at really low prices 24 hours per day. It’s at least nice to know that there’s always somewhere where you can sit down and get something no matter what time it is because, again, there’s really not much else out this way.

Market Fresh Deli is the spot to go for quick eats and drinks and also sells pizza by the slice. If you’re on the move and you just want something fast, then this is the place to stop.

Finally, the property is home to a Peets Coffee and Tea location which also has a few pastries in addition to the caffeinated beverages. It’ll certainly get the job done.

The Guitar Bar on property features a live performer almost every night, so you can check the schedule here to see what’s coming up and then maybe do a Google Search to see what sort of music you can expect. That’s at least something to do aside from playing at the casino, so it might be worth checking out if you happen to be staying here.

The property is also home to a Family Fun Center that features a few arcade and carnival style games as well as a 4-D theater. If you happen to be staying here with kids, then that will give them something to do.

That is everything we have to say about Boomtown “Reno,” which is probably a good place to stop if you are traveling by RV and offers a bit to do in addition to the casino as well as a couple of different eating establishments. The one thing that we would advise our readers to be aware of is that you are going to be nowhere near Reno proper should you choose to stay at this location. We also want to mention, again, how disgraceful it is for Best Western to have a property with resort fees…you’d think the major franchisors would at least take a stand against such things to protect their reputations...it’s barely a limited service hotel!

Gold Ranch Casino & RV Resort

The Gold Ranch Casino and RV Resort is located in Verdi, Nevada, which along with Boomtown above, is a bit out of the way of Reno proper. The Gold Ranch has properties both in Reno as well as in Dayton, NV.

The property is home to more than 250 combined slot, video poker and video keno machines. According to VPFree2, the Video Poker here basically sucks, so you’re not going to be going out of your way for that. In fact, there’s no hotel associated with this property and it only serves as an RV stop, so chances are you won’t be visiting this one at all, unless you’re traveling by RV.

The property is also home to a William Hill Sportsbook that is open most hours of the day, seven days per week.

The property is home to a convenience store and gas station, as well as a lottery center for California lottery, which I guess is technically just across state lines.

Eateries at the property include The Sierra Cafe, which the property claims is a popular spot for locals and has some great breakfasts. This restaurant serves American food at low prices and is open for breakfast, lunch or dinner seven days per week.

The Gold Ranch Coffee Bar serves Starbucks Coffee. The property is home to a Jack in the Box restaurant, which is a fast food place serving mostly burgers and fries. Finally, Port O’ Subs does what it says on the box and is basically similar to a Subway.

That’s everything you need to know about Gold Ranch, which there’s really no reason for anyone to ever go to unless you are traveling by RV. Even if you’re at the nearby Boomtown, you can skip this one and you won’t be missing anything.