snowbirds

My husband and I will be in Vegas the end of April, celebrating, college graduation and turning 40. Having a hard time deciding where to stay, too many choices. Any adivce is appreciated, the last time we were there was in 2000. We stayed at the Luxor, so this time we want to stay in a different part of the strip. We're considering the venetian or the flamingo. But open to other options. I have been reading a lot of other postings, and I've seen some very low rates mentioned for the flamingo (55$,69$ etc.) how do you get a rate that low? I wouldn't mind the lower quality of rooms at the flamingo, in exchange for such a great price, but how. Also, on another topic, how long does it take to get to Zion from vegas? And, as long as I'm asking questions- what was your favorite show? Thank you for any help.

jlm_mi

I can't make recommendations on where to stay without a budget and knowing what is important to you. But the best rates you'll find at most hotels is directly from their web sites. Those low rates at flamingo and others are only for specific dates, generally mid-week, and probably not many dates at the end of April since that's probably a pretty busy time.

You should see what the best rates you can get are at each hotel web site that you're interested in. Also, if you're so inclined, you may want to try priceline. Venetian is the only known 5* on the strip working with priceline. You could check www.biddingfortravel.com and read their FAQs carefully when deciding how to bid and how much.

Our favorite show was, hands down, Cirque du Soleil's Mystere. But, we've only seen a few shows and that's the only big one.

Once you have prices for a few of the hotels that you're interested in you can probably get better input on where to stay here, based on value for the money. But be sure to also list what you want in a hotel (pool, room size, specific amenities, location, etc.).

tracys2cents

If it's weeknights, April 24 to 28 there is a good deal at the Aladdin listed on Travelzoo, $89 per night. Otherwise, late April is expensive due to conventions and the much-anticipated grand opening of the new WYNN resort, so you won't see those low rates at the Flamingo (and those rates are never seen on WEEKENDS, anyway).

Zion is about a 2.5 hour drive and well worth it. If you want to drive it on your first night after arriving in Vegas, you could save some $$$ by staying in Mesquite nevada instead of Las VEgas on that first night. It's about an hour north of Vegas and the casino hotels go for about $30 on weeknights in MEsquite. In the morning, you'd have an easy drive to Zion and a full day for seeing the park.

Favorite show: The Scintas at the Rio, and you can get 2-for-1 tickets from vegasresource.com

We also loved MYSTERE.

snowbirds

We enjoy nice rooms, but the less we spend on the room, the more we can spend on the 'bandits'! So, avg. of 150/night would be good, we are there tues/26-sat/30, so friday is the $$$ night. The flamingo is ~250 less for our stay, and has a better pool, the venetian has an exceptional reputation for great rooms. So far it's a toss up. I hadn't thought of driving an hour the first night, I'm going to look into that. I've heard mixed reviews of the Aladdin, but the price is right.

joesorce

Don't waste half of your budget on the room. You can go to any big city and get a spectacular room if you fork over the bucks. This is Vegas, you are going to spend all your time having fun, not looking over the furnishings.

Since it sounds like you'll have a car...consider orleanscasino.com. You'll be off the strip, but you'll save about $150 over the Flamingo and will have a short drive or free-shuttle-bus ride to center strip. You can have lots of fun with that $150 at the machines, or use it for a show. You'll also save on dining because the Orleans has some of the most reasonable restaurants in town, and a great buffet. The rooms are topnotch, and the pool area isn't as vast as the Flamingo's but is nice, and practically private on weekdays in April. Checking in on a Tuesday, you'll probably have no problems getting a free upgrade to a strip-view room. And the "bandits" are a little more liberal OFF the strip.

gail

We stayed at the Flamingo summer 2003. Great location - right in center of Strip. Rooms were fine - I gather not as elaborate as some other hotels. Grounds are really nice - live flamingoes and penguins.

dsm22

I was sent to Vegas for our convention in 2003 and we satyed at Mandalay Bay and it was very nice. I cannot say how much it was because my employer took care of all travel arrangments. I can only say that everything we did took place on the grounds there and everything was great. The food the staff the room.......etc. We saw only
one show outside of all the entertainment arranged by our company. That was MYSTERE and it was awesome.

simpsonc510

Mandalay Bay is lovely, yes, but very expensive! We were just in Vegas for a convention at MB. Room rates were going to be $250/night+ and that was on a weekday... weekend rates are much higher. We ended up staying at Orleans for about $89/night, had a rental car, and drove back and forth to BM. Orleans is a great off-strip hotel with casino (I won $250 on a slot) and nice restaurants. I'd recommend Orleans, as did a previous poster. Nice large rooms, easy to navigate, not too overwhelming like some of the mega casinos.

jlm_mi

Great deals can be had at the Mandalay Bay sometimes. But, it's right next door to Luxor, so definitely not in the other area of the strip that snowbirds is looking for.

As to Orleans - I've heard both good and bad, but would not likely choose to stay off strip. If you rent a car, that's quite a bit more money per day that you could put toward a room on the strip instead. And if you don't you are either at the schedule of the shuttles, or have to pay a cab each time you want to go to the strip.

From http://www.lvcva.com/finder/conventioncalendar it doesn't appear that there are too many conventioneers in town while you'll be there, so that's good.

If it were me, I'd probably save the money on the rooms and go with Flamingo (if pool matters) or Aladdin (if pool is less important). To be fair, though, I've never stayed at either of these or Venetian. It's just the choice I'd make with the research I've done so far.

But, whichever you think you want, reserve one (or more) now through the hotel (be sure it's a cancellable reservation as most are). Sign up on the hotel web sites for their email notices, and also sign up at www.travelzoo.com to receive their weekly top-20 email. Through those you may find just the deal you're looking for sometime between now and when you leave. Most Vegas hotel reservations made directly through the hotels are cancellable up to 48 hours before check-in.

LoveAnguilla

We stayed at the Treasure Island and loved the location. The hotel is was excellent in every way, we thought.
We say Cirque de Soleil's "O". This is the show with the stage being a swimming pool. This is well worth the cost of the tickets. The pool retracts somehow and becomes a stage again. We felt it was so intense, you will talk about it for days. Great show!!! I hope you see it. Travelocity has good package deals to Vegas.
Enjoy!