My sister and I go to Vegas 3X a year. We have always stayed on the Strip at different Harrahs properties, usually fully comped for our rooms.
We took the shuttle over to RIO one Sunday prior to leaving for home, and we absolutely loved the atmosphere. It is a loud, festive casino with live entertainment on little stages scattered throughout. The beverage servers are fast, friendly, and the thing we liked is that they have MALE servers that treat the ladies very well. Never a dull moment at this casino.
We will be making our 4th trip to RIO this summer. It is an easy walk to the strip, or they run free shuttles every 15 minutes. The pool is amazing, the rooms are very nice with great views, the service is excellent, the restaurants are great and have a lot of variety.
The gaming is above average, better than the Strip. Highly recommend this casino/hotel. If you want peace and quiet, however, this probably isn't your place.
The Rio is a young adult oriented casino that is west of the Las Vegas Strip and within walking distance to The Gold Coast and The Palms. There is a shuttle service to Caeasars and other Harrah's properties on the strip because The Rio is a Harrah's property (for now).
There are "stage" dancers scattered throughout the casino that give it a very adult theme. The Mardi Gras like partry that include floats in the sky & beads is much more family oriented.
The Rio seafood buffet gets high marks although the cost is pricey. The casino itself is "long" and "thin" and has an average mix and variety of machines. The Sports book is very nice.
The current big name attraction is Prince, who performs 3 times a week. I have not seen the show but I heard great thing about Prince's performances.