My husband and I are planning a first time trip to Vegas to celebrate his 40th birthday, in July. We've been quoted a really good price on a package deal, for New York New York. Any comments on this hotel versus Paris, or anywhere else? Also, what does run of the house mean (for a hotel room)?

Overall, NY-NY is a good hotel. I would say that it is on the second tier of hotels (with Bellagio, Venetian, Caesar's Palace, Mandaley Bay, etc. being on the top tier). Although I haven't stayed at Paris, I have visited the casino. It looks quite similar to NY-NY, only with a French theme. NYNY has some good restaurants and the casino is pretty lively (gets very crowded). The pool is no great shakes (compared to other Vegas properties) but it's okay. Location wise, both NYNY and Paris are excellent. NYNY is close to MGM, Monte Carlo, Mandaley Bay, Luxor. Paris is close to Bellagio, Venetian, Caesar's and Mirage, among others.

You might hear a little noise from the roller coaster that wraps around the hotel but I didn't find it annoying (it wasn't that loud and stops running fairly early).

If you are looking at other hotels in the same class, I would not hesitate to recommend NYNY.

I think you will be very pleased with NYNY. The only possible drawback is that it is one of the more family oriented hotels in Vegas so there are lots of children and teenagers running around. For me that's no problem, as my wife points out I'm am chronologically in my fifties but emotionally about 17. Some of the other hotels would be a little more adult themed.
But it's a great hotel.

We stayed at NYNY last year (also for my husband's 40th!) and were satisfied with it. I had read that some rooms had no windows, so upon registration we specifically asked for a room overlooking the strip on an upper floor that wasn't so close to the coaster. We had to wait a couple of hours for them to clean the room, but we got what we wanted. And it was really no problem. They have an area for you to check your bags and pick them up later. (We tried to learn craps during this time ... HA!) The casino area IS very crowded and noisy, but it was exciting for a first-timer. It was neat in that the hallway areas were made to look like NY streets, complete with steaming manhole covers, etc. All in all, for the price, it was fine and location was great.

I don't know if you have to do a package, but we are also going in July and have managed to secure a 39.00 midweek rate at Paris(you have to ask for it, they also have AAA discounts, 1 888 bonjour) and a 50.00 midweek rate at Treasure Island. I chose the latter as well because i understand they have recently refurbished their rooms. Try it out!

Not to quibble, Annemarie, but you are paying a little more to stay at Treasure Island because they "recently refurbished the rooms"? The Paris rooms were just built and completed a year ago, why would you prefer refurbished rooms to new rooms???

I have stayed at every Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip (except Bellagio) The best Hotel in my opinion is the Venetian. It's Center Strip and walking distance to anywhere you need to go. Also a plus is that every room is a 700ft Suite for the price you would pay for a regular room elsewhere. NY NY Hotel is definitely the nicest looking hotel but it is very busy and the rooms are nothing spectacular, however the location is also very good. Any other questions please feel free to E-mail me.

Opinions about hotels in Las Vegas always raise debate, it seems. Some comments here I find odd. NYNY is "definitely the nicest looking hotel in LV"? Hmmm. Bet the people at Bellagio would like to argue that one.
And for Patrick: Annemarie is staying at Treasure Island for a few extra $$ because it's simply a better hotel than Paris. The rooms are nicer, the casino is better (who in the world decided to build a cobblestone floored casino (Paris) which caused a mass exodus of cocktail waitresses the first month due to leg fatigue?...I found the same thing in walking around there for a couple hours).
Anyway, Cathy, you may be pleased with your stay at NYNY as a first time visitor...it'll probably fulfill your expectations. If you find room rates within $20-30 a night, I think Treasure Island, Mirage, Mandalay etc. are worth the upgraded $$. Personally I think Paris is very 'sterile' and I really can't put my finger on a clear reason why. Bellagio (and a tad below Venetian) are well above the rest in my book, having stayed at all of the above. And remember: packages for summer are VERY competitive most weeks (it's low season in LV). Don't hesitate to shop around. Good luck!!

On pools in Vegas:
JULY is HOT. I have been surprised at the poor pool facilities at many of the hotels in Vegas. I say thumbs down to NYNY and Monte Carlo for sure. The pool at Treasure Island and Mirage are fine. Pools at Bellagio and Mandalay are incredible. Others I don't remember well.

More and more these days one has to justify their personal opinions on this site...Patrick, I didn't want to stay at the same property for the whole stay so we have divided our time up between the two...we like a variety of experiences, the teens enjoy checking out different properties and I thought our rates were pretty good and we could financially justify the moves.

I apologize. I guess I misread Annemarie's comment. I thought she said she was choosing Treasure Island over Paris BECAUSE the rooms at TI were recently redone. I just thought that was an odd reason. I agree that Treasure Island is a very nice hotel, have stayed there myself, and my room a few weeks ago at Mirage was probably the most tastefully and expensively decorated room I've had in LV (and I say this as a professional interior designer.) I would always be happy at either of those two hotels --and have also always found the staffs everywhere in those two to be extremely friendly and pleasant --not true in much of LV. I just read the comment and thought that she was thinking the rooms at TI would be nicer BECAUSE they were redone, when in fact, Paris's rooms are basically newer.

No problem, Patrick...it is often difficult to figure out what one is really thinking when you read some of these posts. Annemarie

Just returned last night from Vegas. We stayed at the Paris Hotel and found the room to be quite nice. The check in service was very slow (there were only two people ahead of me and it took 1/2 hr to get checked in!). We toured about the other hotels on the strip and found NYNY to be our LEAST favorite. We did not see their rooms, just the casino and common areas. We found it to be very noisy, crowded (the walking areas are narrow) and really were anxious to get out of there. We very much enjoyed the spaciousness and open air feeling of Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, MGM, etc. The MGM and Mandalay Bay both have pools with "currents" in them for great floating about. It really depends on the type of atmosphere you're looking for and what you want to spend your time doing. Let us know if you're into pool time, food, seeing all the hotels, shows, or just gambling and maybe we can help more. P.S. I LOVED "O" show at Bellagio.

Try the following website:
www.a2zlasvegas.com/hotels/rate-st.html
They have numeric ratings for a number of features based on responses from people who have stayed at that hotel. They average the responses and give a rating. There are also lots and lots of comments. Although, I do think the responses might be slightly skewed since it seems that people with nightmare stories are more likely to respond.

Wow, what great comments...thank you! My husband is the one who will enjoy the casino action, me, well, all I care about is a clean comfortable room with a great pool. Probably would like a good location because we don't want to rent a car. So pool matters. So does a nice casino. Busy is fine, it just adds to the excitement! At the risk of sounding like snobs, we don't have children and probably would not want to feel as though we are in the middle of Disneyworld. Thanks, again. By the way, how's the buffets? Which ones are good? I heard the Rio's is fabulous.

Pardon me if this post appears more than once, but it seems as though some responses just don't make it to the screen ... try www.lvol.com ... it has numerous opinions regarding hotels, buffets, shows, etc., and is not biased but is very informative. Wish I had known about it before we went last year!