Their South Coast casino, opened in December of 2005, used the same blueprint and while it worked on many levels there is one crucial bit missing: a personality.

Now that the hotel has a new/old owner and a new name, that may change. Michael Gaughan, the man who founded Coast Casinos and sold it to Boyd Gaming, left the latter company and took the South Coast with him. Now, comes a name change to South Point and some other revisions are in store as well. In other words, take what you read here with a grain of salt because the bulk of this review was written before the changeover.

South Point is located on Las Vegas Boulevard South, more popularly known as The Strip, but not in the region most tourists consider when thinking of the destination. It’s about six miles south of Mandalay Bay, right along Interstate 15 in a rapidly developing area of condos, apartment buildings, shopping complexes, and houses that was nothing but scrub brush a few years ago. In fact the neighborhood is booming so dramatically that the infrastructure to support it doesn’t really exist yet. Roads are narrow and congested in several spots and there is no nearby freeway exit so getting here is not as convenient as it may seem. That will change over the next few years as the city’s seemingly non-stop road construction plays catch-up, but potential visitors should keep that in mind for the short term.

The overall scheme of the property is Southern California sunshine, all white and gold and earth tones, which in my opinion is the first mistake. As a Southern California resident I speak for many of us when I say we’re tired of the look and in fact most new construction here eschews this kind of design simply because it feels “done.” This has been the trend lately in new Vegas construction, to go for the safe, relatively bland “luxury” feel instead of the far-out architecture of the ‘90s. While it’s certainly nice, it also certainly doesn’t imprint itself on your brain the way that the more successful examples of Sin City wackiness have.

The main floor is given over to the casino of course - an 80,000-square-foot barn of a space that has terrific vertical and horizontal spacing (absolutely no sense of claustrophobia or crowding here) but also provides zero intimacy. You can see the entire room from just about anywhere you stand and so it left me feeling exposed at times, something you don’t usually want when you’re feeling guilty about blowing the rent money or little Billy’s college fund.

There are plenty of games on which to do just that – more than 2,200 slot machines with plenty of video poker (all coinless, ticket-in/ticket-out technology), several dozen of the most popular table games, a race and sports book, a keno lounge, a poker room, and a giant bingo parlor on the second floor.

Ringing the room are the restaurants, bars, and lounges. There are no name-brands here but they have all the usual suspects covered including a big buffet, a steakhouse, an Italian joint, a Mexican cantina, and a 24-hour café among others.

On the second level is the aforementioned bingo parlor plus a 64-lane bowling alley with all of the latest high-tech wizardry the sport seems to demand these days, a Kids Tyme child care facility, and a 16-screen movie theater complex.

Unavailable for preview during my first visit were a nightclub and the giant Equestrian and Events Center, a 4,400 seat arena for horsing around and other entertainment events that features a 250x125 foot show floor arena, 1,200 climate controlled horse stalls, room out back for several thousand head of cattle, nearly 100,000-square-feet of meeting and convention space, a bar, and snack facilities. The Equestrian Center may be revised in some way so it can host things other than horse-events.

The pool area, spa, and an outdoor activity area with a sand volleyball court add to the outdoor fun.

A giant expansion is already underway that will add more of just about everything including rooms and many of the restaurants and entertainment venues could change under Gaughan's new leadership.

The existing 660 guest rooms in a 25-story tower are lovely, each around 500-square feet and completely packed with all of the conveniences you could possibly need including flat-panel televisions with movies and Internet access, separate high-speed and wireless Internet access, hair dryer, iron and board, coffee maker, and more. The beds are plushy, the furnishings are all simple and tasteful, and the towels in the moderately sized bathroom were soft.

Prices are a bargain, on most days, not only for what you are getting but for the city as a whole. Rates during the week are as low as $59 a night and rarely exceed $100, while weekends are as low as $99 and rarely go over $150. Not the cheapest hotel in town but when you look at what it has to offer in terms of amenities and appointments those are great prices.

Service was a hit and miss affair. The front desk crew and security guards were terrific and friendly but a few other people I ran into seemed to want to be anywhere but there. This has been an ongoing concern at Coast Casinos in my opinion and while the staff isn’t going to throw things at your head just for looking at them, there doesn’t seem to be the focus of making you feel special like there is at some of the other hotels in this city. Maybe Gaughan will change all that.

But that’s a minor quibble. The bigger one, really, is that while the hotel is very, very nice, it’s boring as all get out. I stayed there on a Sunday night and on Tuesday morning I actually paused for a moment when I was recounting my hotel hopping to a colleague. Hooters may have its issues to deal with but I remembered staying there. South Coast faded into the background like so much white noise. There’s nothing wrong with white noise – I have to have a fan to help me fall asleep – but it certainly doesn’t scream “Big Vegas Fun!”

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