A Less-Grand Option Next Door

If you’ve got a hankering to live at the Galleria, but don’t care to disclose your financial status, there is a less-grand option.

The Sierra Lodge motel, next door to the Grand, rents rooms furnished with king-size beds for as little as $32.95 per night. Instead of a marble lobby, you’ll have to settle for inexpensive mobile home-style paneling and a faux brick motif. But your king-size bed may feature a fancy red Naugahyde headboard and your walls come complete with framed posters of Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and other scenic wonders.

A household of two requiring only one bed will pay $34.95 per night (about $1,083 a month before tax) plus a $3 key deposit and a $20 phone deposit (both refundable). Your monthly total comes to $1,061.45 before tax--slightly more than for a one-bedroom place next door at the Grand--and you don’t get a kitchen. But utilities and color TV are thrown in free, you don’t have to show that you make more than $3,000 a month and, best of all, you can pay your rent with a credit card.