picking a hotel in las vegas
 

I have narrowed my choices down to the Luxor, Monte carlo, & Flamingo. Are the rooms clean, staff friendly, how loose is the casino? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

All are about the same on those levels, I'd go with the best price.

Flamingo is older but better located, and easier to navigate if you like to venture in-and-out to other restaurants and casinos a lot.

If you will not have a car, Flamingo would be the most convenient, even more so when the monorail starts up.

If all other factors are equal consider
what shows you intend to see. To avoid rushing through diner, being stuck in gridlock, and looking for parking while trying to make showtime, it is easier to see shows in the casino you are staying in.

If you are interested in Blue Man Group or Midnight Fantasy, stay at the Luxor. If you intend to see Lance Burton or try the brew pub stay at Monte Carlo, If you are a Jimmy Buffet fan and intend to go to Margaritaville or see Gladys Knight stay at the Flamingo.

We stayed at the flamingo last year, and I would do it again in an instant. The pool area, especially was great. Totally surrounded by palm trees, there were several pools connected by water slides. The people were friendly and helpful, the room was clean, it was on the tenth floor and overlooked the pool - great spot. It was very convenient to everywhere we wanted to go. Also, if you want to go further out you can take a bus or taxi. On another topic, there are people all over the place who will try to get you to go see a time-share place. We went to two, while our son was sleeping in and swimming. We told them up front we weren't interested in buying, but we would go for the money and that's what we did. Spent a total of about 4 hours (which included seeing sites out of the strip) and got $160. which we spent on other fun stuff.

I generally go with the theory of "new is better", particularly with mid and low end properties. As such, I'd recommend the Monte Carlo, which is relatively convenient to NY,NY, MGM Excalibur, and Luxor/Mandalay via the Excalibur tram. Also not that much of a hike to Bellagio, Aladdin and Paris.

Although I've never seen the rooms at the Flamingo, the public areas are in need of an upgrade, all very 70's IMO.

The Luxor is nothing special, and considering its location, it falls short of the Monte Carlo.

Stayed at the Flamingo in 2002 and thought it was great for about $69 a night. We could watch the "volcano" go off from our room and we were able to go out walking and easily get to the Ventian, Treasure Island and several others. The Chinese restaurant there is good, and they gave us a coupon for a discount on the workout and spa area, which was a nice treat. Great sauna. Bastitas Hole in the Wall restaurant-- fun mainstay Italian in Vegas -- is next door.