Places to avoid AT ALL COSTS:
Circus Circus
Stratosphere
Riviera
The Quad
Excalibur
After that, we need to know what you people want out of the trip.
I stayed at the Luxor 5 vacations running.
It’s on the Strip, had huge rooms (by UK standards!), wide choice of restaurants, enjoyable shows (well I like Carrot Top 
) and helpful staff.
After the first 3 visits, I got upgraded each time. 
A while ago I got a good deal at Caesar’s as part of an airline package. I wouldn’t recommend it, since while the rooms are nice it is high end and they nickel and dime you for everything.
Not only don’t stay at Circus Circus, don’t even go into Circus Circus. 30 years ago it was pretty nice, but now it is awful and on the verge of being torn down.
In late April, three of us stayed at Circus Circus for 3 nights, two of which were free. We stayed in the Casino tower, which faces the Strip and the Riviera across the street. I believe the rooms in that tower have recently been refurbished. Certainly, the decor was fine and not tatty, and the room was comfortably sized for two queen beds and the other furniture like a desk, set of drawers and TV cabinet. We didn’t notice any problems with noisy kids at 2 in the morning either.
We had lunch and dinner at Rock and Rita’s, and breakfast once in their buffet dining room. The food was fine.
The exterior does look a little faded, with the red looking more like pink nowadays and the place out the front, Slots of Fun is not so flash.
Now, the free rooms. Facebook has games, some of which fall under the title of “MyVegas” Playing the games (for free) allow you to earn reward points. We earnt enough for 2 nights at Circus Circus, but I believe you can get nights at other casinos as well. The restrictions on the nights were basically no Friday or Saturday nights, otherwise you just reserve them through a phone call, just like any other place.
True. Places on the strip that are nice include the Luxor, the Paris, the Venetian, and Treasure Island just in random order but there are others as well. I have only been to Vegas once but I went by myself and went in every single hotel on the strip.
It isn’t a joke about walking.I literally walked about 30+ miles every single day for three days until I could barely walk anywhere anymore. You don’t have to walk quite that much but the strip, all the hotels, and the casinos are gigantic. No matter what you do, pick comfortable shoes over style.
I can personally recommend Treasure Island (TI) because I stayed there, the Paris, Luxor, and the Venetian. I would recommend staying on the strip if it is a guys trip but definitely make a trip to downtown Las Vegas one day. That was my favorite thing of all. You get some serious history, seediness, and good gambling odds if you go there. The Golden Nugget is definitely a good choice for that type of thing but I also liked the absolute worst and most down and out casinos in that area as well. I won $800 on $2 slot machine bet and it paid out in Kennedy half dollars. You can’t beat that type of ambience.
Just for points of comparison, the wife and I will be in Vegas quite a bit this summer. The hotels booked are M Resort (already been, and it is FAR off-Strip), Paris, Harrahs, Harrahs, Venetian and Main Street Station (Downtown). I think I’ve stayed at just about every hotel on the Strip at one time or another, other than Aria. Just be aware that Center Strip is a mess of construction as CET drops $500 million on its LINC project. That means the east side of LVB from the Flamingo to Venetian is a mess.
How long is that supposed to be going on?
Through at least the start of next year, in theory. The Wheel is moving along apace, and they’ve gotten some of the marquee up, but there is still a buttload of work to be done on the entire street that runs between Margaritaville and what used to be O’Sheas. Not to mention the 5 years worth of sterilization it is going to take to make the Quad habitable again.
The best way to research prices is to go to each hotel’s website and check out their “rate calendar”. The problem with sites like Orbitz and Travelocity is, you have to pay for the room in advance, and I’m not sure how refundable it is if your plans change at the last minute. (However, keep in mind that pretty much every hotel now charges a “resort fee”, which “should” be listed on the website somewhere.) The Caesar’s hotels (Caesar’s Palace, Planet Hollywood, Rio, Bally’s Paris, The Quad, Harrah’s, Flamingo) have a common site where you can look at all of their rates at once.
If you want a cheap rate, don’t stay on Friday or Saturday night - the rates are much higher on those nights, as the hotels tend to cater to the I-15 crowd coming up from Los Angeles. (Then again, nothing comes close to the prices everyone charges on New Year’s Eve.)
Las Vegas does have an excellent bus system, but if there are four of you and you plan on doing everything together, you might be better off renting a car. The buses that run along the Strip and between there and downtown tend to get crowded as the day goes on.
I second Luxor for an inexpensive option that doesn’t feel extra cheap on the strip. It used to be a little too far south, but now that they have opened night clubs in MGM and Mandalay, it’s not that big of a deal.
A real hidden gem is the Westin. It is right behind Harrah’s and everyday from 5:30 to 6:30 pm they have all you can drink bottles of beer, wine, and appetizers. Absolutely free. Cheap gambling as well, and only a 2 minute walk to the center of the strip.
+1
If you want a suite for a reasonable price (depending on what is going on in LV during your stay, as fight weekends, holiday weekends or big conventions will drive up the prices everywhere), I would recommend the MGM Signature. It has three towers, tower one closest to the MGM Grande (with an indoor walkway connecting them) and Tower three closest to Planet Hollywood, with easy access to monorail that takes you to the center strip (Bally’s).
You can book the suite viaVRBO (which may not provide all the same service amenities such as housekeeping or room service provided by booking through the MGM)or directly through theMGM Signature. Signing up forMlife may also provide you discounts for MGM properties (MGM Grande, MGM Signature, Bellagio, Aria, Mirage, etc).
How’s the old “Imperial Palace” these days? Its said to be a bit of a dump-maybe the rooms are cheap?
The IP has been rebranded as The Quad, and its rooms are worse than a Motel 6 on Crack Alley. Seriously. The place should have been imploded as part of the LINC Project, rather than just the exterior facelift it got. The rooms aren’t due for an upgrade until 2015, by which time they will be so septic that the CDC will have quarantined the place for the protection of society.
It’s now “The Quad” but it still has some decor that seems to be Imperial Palace-y, kind of a vaguely “oriental” theme.
It’s currently a incredibly conveniently located dump. I stayed there in May because I was only going to be in town for about 9 hours (landed around midnight - drove out of town the next morning) and it was dirt cheap. I spent at least 1 full hour waiting in line to check in. They we’re understaffed everywhere (not just the check in desk) and going through renovations. Everything was slightly-to-quite shabby. If Vegas is the point of your vacation, I’d avoid it.
Check out the Aria. It’s one of the newer casinos, well-located right in the middle of the Strip, and is absolutely beautiful. The rooms feel luxurious and there’s a really good pastry place right by the elevators. For a while, it was very affordable relative to the equivalently-fancy hotels, but that may have been to lure people in right after they opened. Worth a look, anyway.
When I was planning a trip years ago, I checked out the chart at Cheapo Vegas, and I thought it was helpful. It had candid reviews of each of the hotels/casinos and descriptions of each of the casino’s “personality”. Now, it’s a mess of ads but it still may be worth a visit.
One of the things that you should be aware of is bedbugs. They’ve historically been a problem in Vegas, but most hotels are aggressive about controlling them. You simply don’t want to take them home with you.
Also “LVB” in silenus’ post about the ongoing construction refers to Las Vegas Blvd, i.e., “The Strip”.
Too bad Bills Gamblin’ Hall is closed for renovations. It isn’t scheduled to reopen until 2014. I really enjoyed my stay there and was extremely appreciative that it wasn’t a massive resort that I had to walk a mile through to get to my room after a long day. I’ve also stayed at the Bellagio and it was really nice, had impressive views and is centrally located.
Not a fan of the Luxor; I could hear everything going on in the rooms around me, whereas TI was so well soundproofed, that except for the “cannon fire” during the show, it was wonderful. Maybe a back room would have been quieter, as it was we were on the 30th floor, and still heard the show. Faintly, but we heard it.
I liked the Luxor because of superb Titanic exhibit but I don’t know what it is like to stay there. I was supposed to go there with a friend who is a life-long Las Vegas aficionado. He backed out at the last minute because he broke his leg on a cruise excursion but he still tried to help me have a good time. We were originally booked at the Paris because that was his pick but the reservation was under his name and I had a rewards credit that would pay for anything (within reason) for three days as long as I hit the cost/value equation well.
I ran down the options from Priceline.com and Treasure Island (TI) was it out of the many good choices. I didn’t pay for jack shit but it was a steal at $55 a night plus a $25 resort fee. I went by myself so I didn’t need it but TI has an under the table deal where you can slip the check-in agent a $20 bill at check-in and say “Anything you can do for me would be appreciated”. You can get anything from a suite upgrade to a beautiful view overlooking the Strip and public displays but it is at their discretion.
Like I said, I went in all of the hotels in casinos and I was quite happy with TI. The huge Walgreens across the street is a great way to save money by buying anything at near normal retail prices plus you can just hang out at the slightly nicer hotels just down the street if you are in an upscale mood.
TI itself isn’t very shabby either. They have a large casino plus several hopping nightclubs and restaurants. It isn’t the most premium but it is still pretty impressive. The key to saving money on those types of trips is stay in a good value hotel and then hang out in the more expensive ones if you want to.