I’ve never stayed there (though I stayed in their Atlantic City version), but Harrah’s might be a place to try. Rates are very cheap ($80/night for two double beds), and it’s right in the middle of the strip.
I’ve found the best way to reserve rooms is this:
Go to TripAdvisor and research the hotels. Don’t be swayed by any single review, but by the general tone of all the reviews.
Go to the hotel website and make the reservations.
I’ve usually found the rates at the hotel equivalent to those you get on the various reservation sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) and hotels admit that if you book directly you’ll be treated better (newer rooms, for instance*). I haven’t tried Priceline, but I prefer to know what I’m getting before I make the reservation.
*In one case, for instance, I was put into a newly remodeled room with a great view; another person who booked through Expedia at about the same time had an older, more shabby room.
I stayed at Circus Circus and it was something ridiculous like $30 for a night for 1 King although fees and taxes took it to something like $50. And the room was not tiny either (although it may not have been big, I don’t remember because I didn’t spend much time in it.) Although it seemed old and out of fashion and smelled vaguely of smoke but that just added character for me. The point being I got to stay right in a full service casino for pretty cheap.
I imagine other casinos might have similar deals. Even if you aren’t planning on dropping cash there but doing other touristy things in Vegas, they very well might compete on price versus traditional hotels because they want to keep their clients on site. But I only went to Vegas that one time so I may be wrong.
Although you mention that location does matter, it is a pretty important factor. It sounds like this is your first time to Vegas, so that plays into the equation as well.
On the strip:
Treasure Island. I’ve found good rates, and the rooms were very nice. It is also well located on the strip - walking distance to places like Caesar’s (Forum Shops)
Harrah’s. Across the street from Treasure Island. I’ve found very reasonable rooms there. They’re a bit older, but comfortable.
Flamingo. Next to Harrah’s. Only stayed there once, but nice rooms. A little more expensive.
Tropicana. From the outside it is definitely a bit aged, but the rooms (tower) were surprizingly nice, and very reasonable.
I would not recommend:
Circus Circus. Very cheap rooms, but I have not had good experience (thin walls, so if you have noisy neighbors can be a problem). Since they cater to families/kids, you can have kids running around a 2AM (while the parents are downstairs gambling).
Excalibur. Also affordable. But not very nice rooms.
Downtown:
California Club or Fremont. Older hotels and casinos, but rooms are nice. And you can get good rates.
Golden Nugget. I haven’t stayed here, but it looks nice for one of the downtown casinos.
Not recommended: Main Street. Older rooms. And if you get a room facing the freeway, you can hear it all night.
If it is your first time in Vegas, you’ll want to consider the Deuce bus. This double-decker bus just runs from the end of the strip to downtown, and then back again. You can get a pass (I think $7) for on/off priviledge all day long - 24 hours from the time of purchase (otherwise it is $2 each trip). Makes it easy to check out the strip, if you are staying downtown. And vice versa.
Best time of year to go is December–hotel rates are very cheap. You can stay in a beautiful 5* property like Bellagio for probably in the low $100’s per night range. Mirage is cheaper and a fun place to stay. Treasure Island is cheaper still, and is also ok, but a little smokier.
I haven’t stayed there, but the Stratosphere is damn cheap at times, some nights $31 or so for a basic room. They have to keep the prices down because they’re way out there on the north end of the strip, so they need to convince people to stay there. I’ve seen some mighty good deals on rooms at the Venetian, as well; they’re not owned by a big chain, so they have to keep prices low to compete. Caesar’s, in my experience, is way overpriced. If all you want is a basic room that’s centrally located, try Bally’s.
Last time we were there, we stayed in a “panorama suite” at Vdara, one of the hotels in the City Center. Basically, windows wrap around three sides of the room. The view was killer, but to get anywhere else from there, you have to walk through Bellagio, and that kinda got tedious.
My wife and I were on holiday in Vegas a month ago. We stayed at the Stratosphere, and paid about £30 a night though we’d booked quite far in advance so I don’t know whether that was a factor. The rooms were OK (they’re pretty big, in decent shape, but could probably do with a major refit in the next few years). It’s on the strip, but at the very bottom end, so you need to catch a bus to get to the rest of the hotels.
I have stayed at Golden nugget and loved it. Just go to hotels.com, it seems the hotels in Vegas sort of rotate who has the best deals this week, so the best deal changes a lot. I stayed at the Hilton for 1 week for $26 a night.
Timing is everything. If you want to come during some convention or big event in town, the prices will be outrageous. Thus, please check the prices a few weeks prior or after that date and see the difference.
Generally, the cheapest time to come in in the dead of summer…for instance, this weekend is supposed to be 117 degrees F (47 C) and you can imagine not many Californians are eager to visit. Why not? We have great air-conditioning here, wonderful pools and just don’t go for a hike on The Strip between noon and 6 pm!
Do your Google searches, but it doesn’t hurt to call a few places directly to see what deals they have…some have “secret” deals that you only get when you call and speak one-on-one with the hotel. However, some have better deals online than when you call them directly - I know that makes no sense, but it can go either way.
So - if you have the flexibility - search a few weeks prior or after your target times…you will be surprised at the differences in pricing! Also - try to avoid weekends…arrive on a Sunday night if possible…weekends (Friday/Saturday) are ALWAYS more expensive than week days, so try to make it just one weekend if you have two weeks to come here, or try to avoid weekends all together. It wouldn’t be stupid to even consider moving hotels over a weekend…perhaps go cheap on Friday and Saturday off-Strip, and then move back on-Strip for the week days.
Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about some hotels and deals and locations, etc.
I like the La Quinta Inn, just down the road (west) from Excalibur.
Last time I was there:
Pool and hot tub, open 24/7
Free breakfast
Big comfy rooms, dark, cool, non-smoking.
Very short walk to the strip, or you can catch the bus.
But also you are off the strip there are gas stations and restaurants close by.
I stayed at Treasure Island last January for $55 a night plus a $25 a night resort fee (resort fees are extremely common in Las Vegas and they usually aren’t even mentioned when you buy a room online. You pay it directly to the hotel when you check in).
I was very happy with Treasure Island. It is a large hotel with a big casino plus several restaurants and bars. The rooms are nice as well but the best thing is the location. It is central to most things on the strip. It also has a Walgreens next door which is surprisingly useful for buying everything from toiletries to liquor at normal retail prices rather than the inflated priced you have to pay most everywhere else.
The Rio, in my opinion has some of the nicer off-Strip rooms for cheap, particularly given its proximity to Las Vegas Boulevard. During December, I have stayed often for well under $100/night. If you’re willing to be really off the Strip, the South Point is about five miles (wait for it) south of the Strip, and is one of the many all-inclusive hotel/casinos (restaurants, movie theater, bowling alley, etc.). Neither of those places are particularly fancy, though, and if this is going to be your first trip ever to Vegas, you’re probably going to want to be closer to the Strip so that you can enjoy walking around (weather permitting).
The $50-100 difference in room prices is going to be a relative drop in the bucket compared to airfare, gambling funds, food, and/or what you stand to spend at a club for a guys’ trip.
My opinion is that where you stay both does and does not matter.
The location itself isn’t too big a deal. Between 4 guys you can cab just about anywhere for relatively cheap be it pool party, club, casino, etc. Or you can just hop on the bus - the bus is very cheap, air conditioned, and full of fun locals.
What does matter is the quality of your room. If you get a budget room and it’s small, cheap, smells weird, badly lit, uncomfortable beds, small TV, wonky ice, bad tasting ice, etc. you’ll just wake up 25% crankier/more hungover than if you woke up in a Mandalay Bay bathrobe on a super soft mattress and all the pillows/covers you can handle. All of the little things like the smell, feeling like you can walk around barefoot, decor for the saving of $50-$100 hurts your experience disproportionately imo. Go to Ellis Island Casino & Brewery for their $7 steak and take whatever you save on dinner and put it towards the room upgrade.
Personally I can’t speak for that many hotels specifically, especially the fringe ones but I can say that Circus Circus is bad. I would think Stratosphere is too. That north end of the strip is not very nice. The south end may be barren but the north end feels borderline dangerous.
Based on the one and only time I stayed at the Stratosphere, I would absolutely agree that it’s not worth the cheaper rates. Go see it for the touristy aspect, but stay elsewhere.
A few years ago we stayed in a suite at the Signature at MGM Grand. It was a VERY NICE room and because we were there between conventions, it was a very cheap room - like $100 a night. Its a walk to the Strip (a LONG block) and at the end of the Strip. But its a walk (unlike being downtown or at the Rio).
For a girls trip, we stayed at the Four Queens on Fremont Street because it was about as cheap as we could find. It was perfectly serviceable for something like $30 a night. We took cabs where we needed to.
I think the Flamingo is a good choice. It’s in the middle of the strip, it tends to be placed around mid-pack for price and “niceness,” it has history, it has Second City comedy, and it has nice grounds and pools. Rooms facing the strip have a nice view of the Bellagio fountain.
Also, never being to Vegas before, you need to be aware that the distances are deceiving. Even though 2 hotels / casinos are “right next to each other”, it might be a 10 minute walk to get from one to the other. To get out of the current resort to the strip, walk along the strip to the entrance of the next hotel / resort, then walk from the entrance to the hotel / resort might be 1/3 to 1/2 mile or more.
Be prepared for a lot of walking, which will happen even if you take taxis or the bus.
J.
p.s., I’ve always had very good luck with hotwire.com for hotel reservations, though I’ve never used hotwire in Vegas. Check it out.
Nobody has mentioned the by far best value, which is the “locals’” casinos. The ones near the Strip would be Palace Station, the Gold Coast, and the Orleans. The latter two have a free, frequent shuttle to the Strip. Palace Station is a $5 cab ride from the Strip, though it’s on Sahara so the trip to the center of the Strip might be longer. All three hotels have nice rooms–the Orleans is the nicest. They also have all the normal amenities, including some great and inexpensive restaurants.
I just checked online and the Gold Coast is $29 on weekdays and about $99 on weekends (Fri/Sat). The Orleans is about $5 higher, and Palace Station was $26 on weekdays and $79 on weekends. Of the three, the Gold Coast is the closest to the center Strip, within a 10 minute walk–and there’s a frequent bus along Flamingo Rd. as well.
The basic rule for those in the know is: be a tourist on the Strip, but don’t eat there, stay there, or gamble there. The Strip is a giant tourist trap. (Those locals’ casinos also have far superior slot and video poker machine payoffs, if that’s your thing. Table game limits are also much lower.)
2nd the Tuscany. The rooms are bigger, with a couch, table, mini-frig and wet bar. It’s about a mile off the strip but has a small casino and a few restaurants. The grounds are set up with multiple 3 story buildings with nice walkways and gardens around the main building. It’s a nice getaway from the craziness that is the strip.
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