I recently had the fabulous pleasure of having the ability to take a field trip to the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City with my college’s hospitality club. Join me as I take you with me on a full behind the scenes tour. We’ll get a sneak preview of the 770 room hotel tower, banquet spaces & more!

Starting The Day:

Our tour kicked off at the lobby where we met the Director of Sales for the property as well as a Sales Coordinator. We began the day inside the beautiful meeting room upstairs poised above the lobby. We all introduced ourselves and got a sense of the property, how Covid has affected the day to day operations and how the city has seen an increased competition from more neighboring states legalizing gabling over the past few years.

Hotel Tower Tour:

After this, we were shown around the 770 room hotel tower where we got to tour a basic standard room, a junior suite, a normal suite, and a VIP/Penthouse suite. These rooms were just stunning and mind blowing! The views of the entire city, the ocean and bay were stunning! 

Would you believe me if I told you the last time the rooms were renovated was in 2012? Yes 2012! These rooms are in fantastic shape and well kept for being long overdue for a renovation. All of us students were all mind blown when we were told this. We were told there are plans to soon renovate one floor of the tower at a time shortly after the holiday season. If the rooms looked this good now, I can’t wait to see what they will look like after all the upgrades and improvements are made.

Casino, Restaurants & Marina Tour:

From here, we went downstairs and got a tour of the casino floor, as well as all the restaurants on the gaming floor. Unfortunately, we were strictly prohibited from taking photos or videos on the casino floor. From what I can tell you, the casino floor is definitely smaller than the other casinos in the city but it still offers plenty of slot and table games. Personally, I think less is more for the space they have. The way the casino is set up, it’s not overcrowded or empty. It’s perfectly designed for the space there is and it works. It doesn’t dominate the property or is up in your face which is perfect. The property markets itself as a boutique casino hotel that goes more for a luxurious resort feel. With the casino set up in the manner that it is, it works perfectly to achieve that goal and feel they are going for. 

After taking a brief tour of the gaming floor, we were granted a sneak peak inside the Chart House which is one of their top restaurants in the resort. The restaurant overlooked the entire marina and had stunning views across the entire dining room. Most of not all the walls were covered with floor to ceiling windows.

From here we descended down a spiral staircase and were taken down to the lower level where the Marina is and one of many of their outdoor patios/decks. This outdoor space was personally my favorite since you had stunning views of the city, ocean as well as the neighboring Borgata and Harrah’s resorts. Besides this outdoor space, there are also two outdoor rooftop decks one near the pool and one directly next store to that. These roof top decks are so massive, that they have the ability to host events for a couple thousand people! Speaking of events, our guided tour headed there next.

Ballroom & Event Spaces Tour:

At this point, everything I saw on the tour was impressive enough but my jaw dropped even more when we were taken into the grand ballroom and The Wave nightclub. My first thought was how many of my hotel ballrooms could fit inside the grand ballroom (most likely between 4 – 6) and the sheer capacity it had. When I heard the kinds of events they have there, it honestly made sense. We were told the ballroom hosts anything from large dinners, fundraisers, conventions, weddings, concerts, shows and more. I’ve seen first hand at my hotel what goes into running large events but it’s mind blowing to see that on a far larger scale. 

From here, we were shown The Wave nightclub which as the name implies, is Gold Nugget’s night club and premium nightlife spot. Ironically enough, the club is marketed towards an older, middle aged crowd instead of a younger crowd. The club hosts a lot of cover bands and well established DJs. I think the coolest thing about this space is how when the club is closed during the day, it is used as an event space. You wouldn’t think a nightclub would be a good fit for an event space but honestly the space works very well.

Lunch & Guest Speakers:

After this, we took back upstairs off the lobby where we started the day to take a lunch break. We were not only welcomed to a great lunch but also guest speakers from the property as well. We got to meet the Director of Food & Beverage, Human Resources Team, the Executive Director of Player Development & Front Desk Operations and of course the sales team who was showing us all around. 

This honestly was one of the best parts of the tour in my opinion since we got to ask questions about the property, casino operations, career advice and any other questions we had. One thing that amazed me was the one human resources lead worked in Atlantic City for 40 years! She told us her experiences at all of the casinos she worked at and shared insights with us on how to help our careers. This was really eye opening and inspirational. I recall telling my professor after the fact, how it was so cool to get a taste of the culture and the morale just in a short 2-3 hour span.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I got to say I was super impressed the entire time while on the tour. From the rooms, hotel operations, employee culture and more. It honestly really won me over and gets me excited for the future. I am extremely thankful for the hospitality we received during our tour and glad to have met everyone. This was the first casino hotel I took so far down in Atlantic City and now that I will be going to school down in the area, I can’t wait to go on more tours like this.