I am staying at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas in early May. I see that the pool opens at 7 a.m. Should I plan on getting down there before 7 to secure a chair? Or will the temp be too cold for swimming that early in the morning?

In early May, you won't have any problem getting a chair before noon ... or any time during the day except perhaps on a really crowded weekend.

Before 7am? It's vacation!

I know, 7 a.m. is early, but I have a one year-old who doesn't sleep that late. Plus I usually get up at 5 a.m. so 7 a.m. is sleeping in to me.

If you get there before 7 am you will have the pool to yourself.

You should be fine at any time in early May unless it is a hot weekend.

Nobody in Las Vegas is up that early unless they've been up all night.b-(

Yes, you'll be fine, as TTess pointed out nobody is up that early. We always got to the pool 10-15min. before it opened and it was just us and a handful of other people.

Should I bring my own beach towels or does the hotel provide towels for the pool area?

You do not need to bring towels from home. They will provide them at the pool.

Same question, but move the travel date to last weekend in September. I'm staying at the Venetian with some college friends (celebrating our 40th birthdays).

Anyhow, I'm much more sensible about the sun than in my teen years, but would like to spend an hour or two each day poolside. How crowded will the Venetian's pool be around that time of year?

We just left the Venetian yesterday, there are 7 pools and we never noticed any of them being more than half full at any time. We were having breakfast at 9:00 a.m. and hardly anyone was even at the pools. Most of the pools are in sun a good bit of the day, except for the Venetia Garden Pool which has a lot more foliage and a little more shade. I do think part of the reason the pools weren't more crowded was due to the extreme heat--it was 108 and way to hot to be sunning, IMO. They also have one smaller pool that seemed to be popular because beach chairs were able to be pulled into the pool to cool off.