In my opinion, the Las Vegas experience includes more than just gambling; it’s the experience of the Strip or downtown area, with other casinos, shopping malls and other attractions just a short walk away. There’s also the crowds and people-watching.
In Vegas, there’s a growing number of casino hotels located off the Strip, some in distant outlying suburbs. I’ve heard these referred to as “locals casinos”, but they often include hotels with hundreds of rooms. I don;'t know why a real local would stay overnight at a casino hotel, when their house is just a few miles away.
My question to Vegas-area Dopers and anyone else knowledgeable: who stays at hotels that accompany locals casinos in the Las Vegas area?
Maybe they stay at the Hotel so they can safely get drunk and not drive home? Sometimes it’s just kinda fun to stay (and have sex ) at a hotel. And the ones in Vegas, even off-strip are often pretty nice and relatively inexpensive. I guess the hotel makes its profit on gaming and alcohol sales.
I stayed at an ‘off strip’ Hotel/Casino (Southpointe). I was in town to visit friends, not gamble and I got a good price there.
If you are there for a specific purpose, i.e., sex, drugs, gambling, hanging with friends, getting out of the cold, whatever, and don’t give a crap about glitz then why stay on the strip when you can get a better deal elsewhere? I’m sure many gamblers will tell you (whether it’s true or not) that the odds are better in the off-strip hotels where there aren’t so many tourists that are complete suckers.
The mistake you’re making is assuming that everyone is going to Las Vegas for exactly the same reason you are going.
I mean, Marriott has a bunch of hotels in Las Vegas that don’t even have casinos. They are clearly intended for an entirely different kind of Vegas visitor than you.
Just recently, my wife and I stayed at the Flamingo for 4 nights and it cost us $160.00. That’s $40 a night and I can no longer remember staying anywhere in the US or Canada for that cheap.
Granted I’m not really a gambler, but the couple of times I’ve been to the strip I’ve found it extremely stressful if you’re not looking to just hemorrhage money all over the place. Yeah, there’s deals to be had, and if you’re a high-roller I’m sure all sorts of stuff gets comped, but if you’re just looking to have a good time and maybe gamble a little it’s surprisingly hard to do even do simple stuff like get a beer (even when you’re paying for it!). I like the spectacle and all that, but if you’re not looking to spend much it’s all pretty inhospitable. The stuff like the super-cheap buffets and rooms and the free-flowing comp drinks seem like a thing of the past on most parts of the strip (though granted, I haven’t been there since the recession really hit).
I haven’t spent much time on the off-strip casinos, but I have spent the night in Primm a few times and quite a lot of time in places like Ely and Winnemucca and I’d imagine the low-rent off-strip Vegas places are similar. I’ll admit I’m a bit of a sucker for the wild-west ambiance, but beyond that things are just so much more laid back there. The last time I stayed in Primm our hotel room was $12 (which I guess is the state minimum) and we got pretty well drunk on comp beers while feeding a few bucks into the slots. I think if gambling and drinking were the main attractions, I’d steer clear of the strip too.
I have been to Vegas many, many times. Used to go about four times a year. Often, for bowling tournaments. I am rarely interested in the glitz (and more importantly, the crowds) associated with the Strip.
I enjoy a bit of gambling, and I definitely enjoy Vegas dining, but I don’t need to be on the Strip for that. My mom and girlfriend and I are headed to Vegas to celebrate Christmas, and we’re staying at the Rio because it’s really cheap during that time, and I like the large rooms. Had it not been, I’d have had no issue staying next door at the Gold Coast, which is where I often stay, or at South Point (about five miles south of the Strip) or at Sam’s Town (way off the Strip, and my mom always calls it “Sam’s Club,” heh). I really prefer being at a hotel that has everything I generally want (bowling, Bingo, a casino and decent food – I’m easy) so that I don’t have to go out if I don’t feel like it.
As someone who stays in off strip casinos myself sometimes, I would say it is because you can often get a very nice room without a lot of headache for the same price as a strip hotel. The difference is that when you want to get away from the crowds and relax, that is easy to do at the Red Rock Casino at the end of Charleston, but not so easy at Caesar’s Palace. Also, you can actually park the car in the same zip code as the hotel when you’re not on the strip, so there’s that. And if you are doing something off the strip, it may be to your benefit to stay closer to that activity because traffic around the strip is a major headache.
Oh, and I don’t necessarily mean hookers/strippers either. I am renting a houseboat on Lake Mead this year for our vacation, and the night before, we will be staying in an off strip motel close to a super market that is also in the vicinity of the marina. That way we won’t waste a lot of time trying to get there in the morning to make maximum use of the time we have the boat.
A lot of Vegas tourists stay off-strip. It’s usually not my bag. Right now Vegas is so dirt cheap, you can get good deals on the Strip so off-strip makes less economic sense. But it hasn’t always been really cheap.
Just depends why you are there. Not everyone wants the bright lights if the strip. And not all of the places off strip are rat infested shitholes. Golden Nugget, Green Valley Ranch and the M Resort are all nice places.
One of my friends always stays at the Rio. It’s an all-suite hotel, so you get a larger room for your dollar. And she is there mainly to gamble and hang out at the pool with friends.
I have friends who stay at the South Point precisely because it’s not on the Strip. They dont want to spend their day hanging out with some of the Strip crowd. “Degenerates” was the word they used once. Decent joint, good eats and reasonably priced entertainment.
Some of the off-strip places can be better with comps. If you go there regularly, you can get to know a casino host who can hook you up with rooms, etc. That’s a lot harder to do at Caesars if you aren’t dropping a large chunk of change every day.
That said, my next trip, I’ll be off-strip, but I’ll also have a car, so I can still head to my favorite places. For NYE, the pickings get a little slimmer if you are a bargain hunter.
Vegas off-strip hotels have 2 main types of customers:
[ul][li]Cheapskates who don’t want to pay the prices for on-strip hotels. (But at times when the economy is down and business is slow, those on-strip hotels can get very cheap.)[/li]Non-gambling visitors. For example, I have relatives living in Vegas, far across the city from the strip. When visiting them, I stay in an off-strip hotel close to their home.[/ul]
The first (and only) time I ever went to Vegas I asked for advice from a guy in my office who goes 2-3 times a year, strictly to gamble. He always stayed at one of a couple of excellent hotels a few blocks off the strip that cost one half to one third as much as one of the big names. For the price of a big name room we had an equally good room, enough money to pay for any cab we wanted so we could visit all the big names, and money left over. I don’t feel like I missed anything by not sleeping inside of Caesar’s Palace.
For my first (and so far, only) business trip to Vegas I stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott at the Hughes Center, a few blocks from the Strip and the airport (and perhaps not coincidentally, a few blocks from the Air Force “Groom Lake” terminal). Might as well have been staying at a hotel in Phoenix or Salt Lake City. Zero gambling on-site and a copy of the Book of Mormon in the nightstand. Had zero interest in gambling so I didn’t mind too much, did have one overpriced dinner at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.
Yep, as I said Marriott has a bunch of hotels in Vegas, especially if you consider all of their various brands. None of them has a casino, as far as I know. Maybe it’s because of their Mormon background.
Vegas off-strip hotels have 2 main types of customers:
[ul][li]Cheapskates who don’t want to pay the prices for on-strip hotels. (But at times when the economy is down and business is slow, those on-strip hotels can get very cheap.)[/li][li]Non-gambling visitors. For example, I have relatives living in Vegas, far across the city from the strip. When visiting them, I stay in an off-strip hotel close to their home.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
I visit Vegas several times a year, and this description fits pretty well. For as little time as I spend in the room, it doesn’t make much sense for me to pay for a strip hotel. I realize this is different for everyone, but for me, Vegas is about not spending time in the room - the room is just to sleep and shower.
My preferred off-strip/non-downtown hotel is Sam’s Town. Not only cheap (I’ll be staying Saturday through Wed. - 4 nights, for about $120 total), but they also have free shuttles to both downtown (where I prefer to gamble), and the strip (where I prefer to walk around and eat), added to that, they have a big, multi-screen (I think 12) movie theatre with just-off first run movies. So in my “down time” I catch up on movies I haven’t seen.
We also go with a bunch of relatives, some of whom aren’t really into gambling. So the movies are great for them. And the price fits their budget.
I have stayed at strip hotels, and treated my girlfriend to a really nice (lakeview) room at the Bellagio. But along with the convenience of being in the midst of the strip, you also end up dealing with the crowds (lines for the buffets, lines for the elevators, big lines to check in, etc.). So I mix up whether I stay on the strip or at Sam’s.
) at a hotel. And the ones in Vegas, even off-strip are often pretty nice and relatively inexpensive. I guess the hotel makes its profit on gaming and alcohol sales.