My brother and I(both single and in our mid-40's)would like to stay on the strip,have a nice,uncrowded pool,not a lot of walking to the pool or fitness area,a fitness area(prefer not to have to pay),want a large hotel room with two double beds,good air-conditioning,good water pressure,exhaust fan in bathroom,and a good breakfast buffet,or hotelrestaurant with a nice breakfast.Neither of us are party people,although we like to drink margaritas,tropical drinks,and red wine. We are not gamblers.The casino is not important to us.Naturally,we would prefer adjoining bedrooms,but realize this might be too expensive. Besides the pool during the day,at night we plan to see Blue Man Group,Second City,Jubilee,and the IMAX attractions at Caesar's and Luxor's. We might catch a movie one night. We'll see the volcano at Mirage,TI sirens,Fountains of Bellagio,and time permitting,other free shows. We also plan to eat at the top of Stratosphere one night. We will be renting a car,but prefer to stay on the strip in case we drink too much. While I know all of this criteria cannot be met,where would you suggest I stay?(I hope I didn't put anyone to sleep while reading this). Thanks in advance!!!!

Sometimes it helps to list a place in a posting. When are you travelling to Vegas?

Sometimes? It ALWAYS helps to mention the place you are traveling in the title (if the question is about a place)

circumfrito: "need advice about the following" could be asking anything about anywhere in the USA. Some folks will read your thread just out of curiosity - but if you want Las Vegas experts to open and read your thread you have a much better chance if LV is in the title.

OK Welch and Janis--- This is in regards to Las Vegas. thanks to both of you for quickly pointing out my error.Now....any advice from either of you?Thanks.

Lets try again- When are you travelling?

Welch-I'll be traveling to Las Vegas April 7-14.(I could easily change this to anytime in March through July if less crowded and better rates are available).I have perused numerous websites,messageboards,etc. The more I read,the more confused I become. Therefore,I decided to enter my extremely long list of criteria;in hopes that someone could somewhat advise me.

I'm not trying to be difficult. Many people come to the area in the winter not realizing that LV is in the high desert and it snows- making that swimming pool a lot less important! April is a nice time of year to travel there. Do you have an amount you want to spend- and would it be more important to spend that on 2 separate rooms or one more deluxe property? There are so many things to prioritize!. Many of the less expensive hotels off the strip offer shuttle service to the strip making it convenient but less deluxe than a Bellagio or Four Seasons experience.

We probably would enjoy a suite-even if that meant I had a sofa bed and he got a bedroom with a door separating us. We already have vouchers for airline tickets through Southwest which are good through the end of april. I guess we are willing to spend about $2,000 apiece.By the way,we can live with two double beds.In that list of criteria,I would have to say:good air conditioning,good water pressure,exhaust fan in bathroom,uncrowded pool,good fitness center,and easy access from hotel room to pool and fitness area would be our top priorities.Alot of this has to do with my brother being in a very bad carwreck seven years ago. although healed,he works out daily,but hurts if he walks a long time.

Whoops!!!! I meant my voucher is good through the end of August.(One of these days I am going to learn not to post when I've had very little sleep).(smile)

circum, book your airfare FIRST!! Vegas and Hawaii are the two hardest places to fly into on FF miles and other freebies.

Once you get your flight booked, then start looking at hotels.

I once flew on a buddy pass to Vegas and it took me three days to get out. I spent so much on extra hotel room nights, I could have paid full price for a first class ticket.

I'm sure that my opinion will be wrong (it always is), but here's a place you might try...The St. Tropez. It is a small two story all suite hotel located on Paradise and Harmon. The Hard Rock is directly across the street and has continuous shuttle service to the strip. The pool will not be crowded, they do have a workout room, and you can park just outside your room, which makes for easy in/out. The strip is about 1 1/2 miles down the road - a five minute jaunt. The place used to be pretty nice, but again I have not stayed there in years, so maybe someone else will post as to their recent experience with the St. Tropez. Their web site is www.sttropezlasvegas.com.

Also, you might look into the Hilton Grand Vacation time share rentals. There are three of these in town...one hooked to the Flamingo, one hooked to the Las Vegas Hilton, and one brand new one on the north end of the strip. Perhaps they have two bedrooom units available. And as an added bonus, you would have a kitchen, which I always find super-convenient when traveling.

Lastly, I'm sure all hotels can offer adjoining rooms.

Thank you so much,VegasLocal. I will certainly check into your suggestions.Both of these places sound good.(smile)

A few other places that are a little off strip are Alexis Park and Tuscany. I've seen commercials for Tuscany- they say they're an all suite hotel. They have a few restaurants there, so it might be worthwhile. I haven't been there, but it's pretty new 1-2 years old.

We stayed at Alexis Park for our anniversary last year- it was a suite (I guess) with a living room, bedroom, kitchenette, and bathroom. They were remodeling when we were there, so they should be nicer now. The bathroom was good- we had no problems with the pressure, etc. They give vouchers to the Hard Rock Cafe for breakfast- we didn't indulge (didn't want to get up that early). My only complaint was the pillows. They were terrible!! We ended up running home to get our own. Good thing it was only 20 mins.

The Tuscany is located about 2 blocks east of the strip on Flamingo and Alexis Park is on Harmon, east of the strip, across from the Hard Rock Hotel. Hope this helps!

circumfrito -- I agree about using FF...book your airfare first. Have you ever used Priceline for hotels? I recommend trying for the Venetian. It's all suites and the only 5* on the strip Priceline works with (I believe). Great location and you can probably get for $100/120 depending on weekday vs. weeknight and conventions in town. You can get virtual of the rooms at http://www.venetian.com

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to respond to my post and for all of the excellent suggestions!!!!!

Re Priceline and the Venetian, if you're lucky you can get it for $79 + tax + service charge = $90 a night. I got it for that price recently and had a really good stay. But you usually have to leave it until max 7-10 days before you need it and obviously the hotel will need to dump some rooms this way so no big conventions etc.

I'll admit I didn't read every word of this thread, so maybe I'm missing something, but if circumfrito and brother are willing to spend up to $4000 for a week they can stay wherever the heck they want to.
Beautiful Bellagio suites usually gor for $350-400 a night and that would still leave over $1000 for food and other things.
And of course no one need spend $350 to get a nice room in LV.
And why are people recommending cheap off-strip hotels? That won't be much fun for someone who wants to enjoy the atmosphere of LV.
My recommendations would be: target April to early May (usually great weather), look at places like Mandalay Bay, Venetian, Paris and Aladdin.