Caesars Palace vs Luxor Hotel

If price is a factor, and you want to stay right on the strip, have a look at Bill's! The location is absolutely perfect and rooms are large and just fine. One highlight is the Victorian Room within, 24/7, great food, low prices (and best Chinese in Las Vegas).

But, do check the TripAdvisor Las Vegas forum and all resources for discount codes. Also, Priceline and Hotwire (www.biddingfortravel.com and www.betterbidding.com are fabulous resources).

For March, you should be able to find some amazing hotel rates.

In the meantime, recommend booking Bill's...then keep shopping.

The Monte Carlo has been really affordable lately because of the construction at the new City Centre. Prices may have gone up, but do check them out.

March is a major convention month in Vegas and price availability will depend on whether a big crowd event is at the same time. If not, most of the properties have competitive prices and a little shopping should get you a great room at a reasonable rate. Even Belagio has competitive rooms at the right time.

Other good locations to check are Paris, Monte Carlo and MGM.

If Bellagio is out of your price range, Caesar's may be too. Have you actually priced anything out yet? Luxor should be significantly cheaper than Caesar's. Another thing to mention is that prices within Caesar's can vary a lot depending on the Tower. The Augustus and Palace Towers provide the nicest and largest rooms (another tower is being built but I am not sure when it is scheduled to open). The Forum Tower rooms have very recently been renovated so they should also be nice - although these rooms will be smaller than the Augustus/Palace rooms. The other towers include the Roman and Centurian Towers. Don't know if they have been renovated recently but the lowest room rates will be associated with those two towers.

I usually stay at Caesars (it is part of the Harrahs family and I try to do most of my gambling at Harrahs properties) when in Las Vegas and I do like it a lot. However, it is so big that sometimes it is a little overwhelming.

We stayed at the Luxor a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. It has a more 'sedate' atmosphere than many of the other hotels - dimly lit, spacious lobby and hallways and two huge (but shallow) pools. We got a free upgrade to the tower suites which were very nice.

We have stayed at the Luxor because we use it as a base for exploring the area and the small parking lot in back makes for very easy in and out. If you stay in the pyramid, you can go right out without having to go through the casino and then get out to the south end of the strip and out of town with relatively little hassle with traffic. Some of the rooms do need a little up date but the specials they run make it quite inexpensive.

March is filled with conventions so I suggest you get your room now.
I use expedia to get a good idea of price and photos.
We usually stay at the Wynn and they are having great $109 midweek deals but probably not in March.
I would choose Caesars over Luxor.

As other posters have alluded to, your room price will depend heavily on what conventions might be in town during your visit (and March is typically a busy month for that), and the day of the week you visit. Typically, rates are great from Sunday through Thursday then go sky-high on weekends.

As to recommendations for specific properties, I've heard that Circus Circus and Stratosphere are best avoided. Granted, their rates are cheap, but 1. they're on the far north end of the Strip, 2. they've both gotten a bit run down and 3. travel agents, particularly overseas, are given huge commissions to book these properties.

Excalibur and Luxor usually have some good rates (South Strip), as do the New York New York and Imperial Palace (mid-strip, not famililar w/NYNY, don't like IP). Based on what you've said regarding price being a priority, I think you can rule out both Caesar's Palace and Bellagio. If staying on the Strip is negotiable, you might try some of the properties on the "periphery" such as Hooters, the Orleans, Rio, Palms, etc. Yes, they're off-strip, but their rates are usually quite competitive and they usually have free (or reasonably priced) shuttle service to the Strip.

Hope that helps.

If you don't like Caesar's price, what about across the strip Flamingo? Central location, if the pool will be opened, it's beautiful, and everything is right there!

Try not to stay at the Luxor, it is a dump, rooms are very shabby and dark and not clean. Ceasers is ok but the walk through the casino from your room can take anything up to 45-60 minutes depending on whether you get lost or not. You could look at Bills Gambling Hall, Treasure Island or Harrahs if you want centre strip. If strip location is not essential then South Point about 5 minutes (in a car) south of Mandalay Bay is a lovely hotel with large clean rooms and spacious bathrooms. We stay there most times but you really need a car as the strip is about 10 minutes drive away and not really walkable.

Caesar's is big but coldplay is obviously exaggerating. If it takes more than 5-10 minutes to get through the casino from your room, you are crawling, not walking.

tom42- I don't have a good sense of direction, honest!! Seriously though when I stayed there it took me 30 minutes once to find the front door that lead to the strip, my friend is still there somewhere!

LOL Coldplay, I feel your pain! how many times in all casinos/hotels I had to stop to ask for directions!

Thanks for all your help. I have to say though that I checked out Bill's and it is looking pretty good to me. Rooms for $40 per night - I cannot believe that - $40!!! So the money we save on accommodation can go towards a show and a tour to Hoover Dam or somewhere.

I will have a littl meeting with my travel buddies and see what they think but so far I think Bill's is looking to be my favourite.

Thanks for the tip!

We got back from Vegas an hour ago. We stayed at Bally's ($44 per night) and thought the location was perfect. Bill's is right across the street, so that location would be great, too--as would Caesar's, but it is enormous.

We rented a car ($118 for a week, all taxes and fees included), which I'd recommend. Every hotel has free parking, and it gave us the freedom to see things beyond walking distance at our own pace--Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon, Atomic Testing Museum, SPrings Preserve--all of which I'd recommend.

Thanks for the feedback abram. We will probably be renting a car in Los Angeles and driving to Vegas and then probably take the car back to LA airport.

I figure if I can drive out of the Gare de L'Est in Paris and down to Tours etc I should be able to handle the drive from LA to Vegas - hope that's right!

Oh when you say free parking is that you just park the car yourself or does a valet do it and if so how much do you tip the valet?

You can park the car yourself at no charge. What works best for a group is to let the valet park the car (no charge) - saves a lot of walking. Not sure what we tipped - think it was a couple of dollars - depends on how much money you want to give them.

Everyone could put some money in a pot for tipping and just drive from casino to casino without walking the long walks from the parking garage to the main parts of the casino.

Don't like the Luxor although I have never stayed there. Try the Paris.

We did a lot of walking, but drove to a couple of casinos. Usually, we did self park. When we used the valet, we tipped $2--I don't know if that was the right amount.

did you firm up your hotel yet? dates?
did you try expedia.com?

I have never stayed at Bill's but if you can get a 4-5* hotel on the strip for around $75-$100 a night, I would go that option..no offense to bill's but there is something to be said staying in a really nice casino/hotel/resort vs. a bare bones hotel with bad filtration..the smoke never leaves your room..yuk.

I always have a car and valet is usually free but with a $2-5 min tip on valet but always read the signs or ask..you drive to the valet and self parking will have signs and follow them..valet can take awhile..free self parking on-site is always free.

the free drinks at the slots/tables..tip about a $1 a drink..you can drink well with the top shelp doubles and bottled water too..
I say this because didn't you say you live in AUS?
15-20% gratuity is average..
I say this in the nicest manner..do love the country!

Have a great time stormbird and report back!!!


some great food is to had in LV.
drive from LA to Vegas is brutal..if you can't keep the speed limit or a little over..move over to the slow right lane..do not hang in the left.

In and Out before Barstow/Outlet center or the Greek restaurant..good to stop and get an xlarge ice tea and a double double with fries.

I love the LA Vegas drive, leave at 5:30 AM pull un Vegas by 11-11:30 with no traffic. As long as you dont return on a Sunday or 3 day wkend Monday its about as fast as a plane(if you count parking-loading-flight-renting a car)

Of course there is nothing better than flying if you live or work close to the airport, but still not much faster. btw-As far as Vegas goes, I stay on the strip, so if Im losing at one casino Im not stuck. So Caesars

Hi ksucat - I have firmed up with Bill's - there really aren't any bargains as such that I have found - there are a lot of conventions there in March. And really, Bill's looks fine to me - fantastic location I think!

FrankS, we will be driving from LA to Vegas so we are looking forward to that. Have decided to hire the car for a couple of days whilst in LA as it seems the easiest way to get to Disneyland and the beaches will be with our own car.

Thanks for the tips tip! I definitely think we will have a kitty for tipping etc. Also thanks for the heads up - didn't realise that drinks were free for those playing the tables etc.

I am really getting excited with our departure just about a month away. Will definitely get back with a report on our return.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Stormbird,
You might live up to your ID and get lucky. You might just get to see the desert wildflower bloom. With all the rain, it will be nice. Here is my advice on tipping...tipping the dealer has no influence on future wins, but tipping the cocktail waitress does

Whenever I go to Vegas, if at all possible, I stay at Bill's. As previously mentioned, the location is fantastic and you can't beat the room rates for that area. It's a small hotel, so you are out of your room and onto the sidewalk in literally a couple of minutes - I don't care for the endless hallways of some casino hotels.

The rooms were refurbished several years ago and while not fancy, they are not dumpy or shabby either. The casino can get pretty smoky, though.

I wouldn't mind a fancier hotel room, but for the location and price, I'll stay at Bill's and use the money saved towards a show, a nice restaurant or spa service somewhere.

Great minds think alike Chepar!

Luxor's Sewage Problem

I would not recommend the Luxor Hotel. I just stayed there this weekend. We got a "luxury" suite in the west tower. It had out dated tube televisions, cheap furniture that was nicked up (revealing the compressed cardboard beneath it), and the (ethernet) internet didn't work in our room (notice I said ethernet, they do not have wireless). An engineer came out but was unable to fix the internet connection in our room so we were moved to another "luxury" suite in the west tower. After changing rooms, the internet did not work. This was really bad because both of us had a lot of business work to conduct over the weekend and could not login remotely to do it without the internet. Then, to top it all off, raw sewage started backing up into the shower and sinks... I asked if we could use another room to take a shower... they told me to just wait for engineering to fix the problem.
After waiting awhile for engineering to come, I called the front desk again asking when they were going to show up and why were not allowed to take showers in another room. At this point they finally offered to let us use a different room to shower---albeit it was too late.... we decided to bail out and just go back home. What a dump. I highly doubt they did anything to actually disinfect all of the sinks and the floor. I strongly discourage you from booking at the Luxor. Even with the remodeling, it's still a dump. The worst part is as of the writing of the message, Luxor has not offered to refund the price of the room in full. Nor give any comps. They simply offered to take off the hospitality charge (for the failed internet)... and the price upgrade for the luxury suite. They said since I booked through hotels.com that they couldn't refund the money I paid to them. (Nor did they offer assistance in helping me obtain such a refund). As you can tell this was a very disappointing trip to Las Vegas. I normally would never stay at the Luxor, we just thought it would be nice to try out this area of the strip for a change. If you're shopping around in the same price range, I recommend Treasure Island, it's remodeled. The dining options are far superior to Luxor's restaurants. And it's right across the street from Wynn, Palazzo, Caesars, and all the other high end hotels. I think the most upsetting part of the whole thing with Luxor is that none of the problems were handled quickly for purportedly being a luxury suit. You'd think after sewage backed up into your room rendering the bathroom useless, that you'd at least get an immediate full refund and some type of comps.