I believe pretty much all poker rooms are non-smoking, but the opposite tends to be true in the rest of the casino, so often smoke can drift in from the rail.

At Harrahs though (at least last time I was there), the room is totally enclosed in glass walls, so no passive smoke.

Just wanted to say that I recently stayed at NYNY and liked it. I often read posts trashing it, since its one of the lower end MGM properties. Our room was clean, recently remodeled (I think) with modern looking furniture. No poker room, but its a quick walk over to MGM.

My wife had 2 comped nights, I expected it to be mediocre along the lines of Harrah's (better than pre-Quad IP, worse/comparable to Flamingo). I liked it at least as much, if not more, than a Flamingo Go room (hate Go room white vinyl and glass bathroom wall).

Having only stayed at Caesars properties (pre-resort fees), didn't know if a comped room from this offer would include resort fees (tho I think I asked when booking and they said it would be $15 per night).

We arrived 2 hours before check in, were told that our King non-smoking was not ready. BTW, this is thursday afternoon and there was almost no line/wait like at Caesar's properties.

I ask, whadya got now? How about 2 queens? Wife and I look at each other and go, nah, maybe we'll just wait. Clerk says hold on, let me see what I got. She says, about same standard room, but with a view for $15 more a night. I say, what's the view of, Excalibur? Meh. But my wife wants it, so I say screw it, we'll pay the $15.

Then, the clerk says, oh wait, I got a standard King non-smoking room (what we wanted originally), with a view, I can waive the upgrade fee and I can waive 1 night of resort fees. So, we end up with a slightly better room than expected and only had to pay 1 night of resort fee. Oh, and BTW, NO $20 "TRICK" WAS INVOLVED...which makes me think y'all are suckers that try the $20 trick, cause I usually get upgrades for free simply by arriving a little early, asking for it, and praying that better rooms just happen to be available.

Our window faced Tropicana (and the roller coaster), about as good a "view" as you're gonna get at that end of the Strip and we were not bothered by roller coaster noise. I'd easily stay there again, if looking for a cheap stay, don't mind south-Strip and don't mind a 10-15 walk to Aria.

Thanks for the hotel report. Glad to hear it was nice!

Very reasonable and quite possible. However, I'm in Vegas and gambling $20 before I even get to the casino isn't too big of a deal. Plus I'm sure there are some front desk clerks with the attitude of "no $20, no upgrade." I want my upgrade alot worse than I want to punish them for their bad attitude. $20 is well worth it for most of the upgrades if you ask me.

Even if I can get the upgrade without slipping the cash, I'm going to tip them $20 for it, so why not pre-tip as an incentive?

Having done some more research, my most likely options on the Strip are now Bally's, Harrah's, and Excalibur. A while ago Starberry wrote that Excalibur doesn't have wireless internet in their rooms, can anyone confirm that this is still the case?

Well said. I never thought of it that way. Most people refer to it as a trick, rather than a tip, but treating like a tip makes more sense to me. I agree gambling $20 can be worth it if you want an upgrade, especially since most upgrades would cost more than that.

I've never gotten attitude from any clerk, or even a hint that they're fishing for a tip to give me an upgrade. But I must admit that after walking away from this particular clerk, I felt like she deserved a tip cause she gave us what we wanted and more, without us really even asking for it.

On the other hand, I'm still kinda convinced that they're just doing their job and will try to find you the best thing they can if you just ask them to try and will give you what's available without expecting payment, but maybe i'm naive.

Would love to hear from someone who's actually worked that job.

NYNY had wireless internet (it was "free", part of the resort fee) and I had to call their help desk to get it activated in the room. The guy on the phone said they service all MGM properties's wireless, so maybe Excalibur is included in that. I'd check their website and see what's included in their resort fees, if they got wireless, it will be mentioned there.

Also, any of your choices above are good ones for an inexpensive stay.

I stayed at Excalibur last night and it's still wired internet there, and at least in the room I was in the wire came out by the TV and wasn't near any table or desk or anything, like you could only really use it while sitting on the bed.

The website says "wired" as well:

"A daily resort fee of $15.00 (subject to applicable lodging tax) will be added to the guest room account and includes the following: Free wired high-speed Internet service in the guest room; free access to the fitness center; free incoming faxes; daily newspaper; free domestic and long distance phone calls and 2 free drinks per stay."

I had it comped and wasn't charged the resort fee and still got all those amazing amenities. The 2 free drink coupons work anywhere in Luxor or Excalibur. I was only in the room for a total of 7 hours including sleep, but I was surprised at how decent it was having never stayed there before.

One other Excalibur note - The scent they pump into the casino smells like coconut, and while it doesn't exactly mace you like some other casinos it settles into your clothing like no other casino smell I've ever experienced.

Same sort of question as most here, but probably a slightly stricter set of requirements than some. Myself and 3 mates (3 x mid twenties and a "young minded" late 30's) are coming across to pop our Vegas cherries from Australia, arriving on the 30th of June, leaving on the 14th of July. We have looked at a few places, but are very open to suggestions.

Our requirements are;
Free wifi, or included in resort fee as per norm, must be of reasonable quality
Separate sleeping for each person in case of extra curricular night time activities
Strip view (seems like best option is to ask for that at check-in with the $20 if not standard or pre-booked?)
Centre strip location
Max of $65/person/night inc. resort fees
Happy to get 1 room or 2

Any suggestions would be fantastic, have had personal recommendations for the Flamingo, Bally's and MGM. MGM seems a little too far away to be an "easy walk" in 100+ degree heat?

Thanks.

1. Probably at least a week too long unless you're doing the WSOP.
2. Hotel prices higher on weekends and on 4th of July, a US holiday featuring big fireworks on Strip.
3. For that length of stay you might want a timeshare condo or other apt. with a kitchen, Strip hotel food is expensive
4. 100+ July heat brings down hotel prices but is not conducive to walking
5. You will need 2 rooms unless you can find 2br condo

1 - We are doing WSOP - I am looking to play the little one for one drop, $1500 NLH, and possibly Main, depending on some things - as are 2 of the others, one is primarily a cash player and intends to grind that. Planning on 1st week poker mostly, 2nd week running amok. Understand some people think that is too long in Vegas, but since I probably won't be back for 2+ years, I intend to make the most out of it. Worst case scenario, we can shoot down to LA or San Fran or something for a few days.
2 - Understand hotel prices are higher around that time, with 4 full time employed people, some with families it is the only time we can manage that suits all of us.
3 - We were originally looking at vacation rental sort of things, but the vendors who replied did not give the best impressions, and the ones that didn't either....
4 - Should we rent a car? Most activities will be fairly "Strip-centric" I would think, and as none of us are physically handicapped apart from a couple of extra pounds, that shouldn't be a big issue.
5 - That is what I thought, 2 rooms it is.

Thanks for your input eobmtns, appreciate the candid advice.

Does anybody have any specific recommendations that would fit with my previous couple of posts?

i don't think you will find a casino hotel that comes close to meeting those requirements especially the wifi one

Is this the way to go about finding packages: go to Southwest Airlines, Orbitz, etc., and select "Air/Hotel"?

That ends up getting me good hotels like Wynn/Bellagio/etc. for around $700 per person for 4 nights (including airfare). There's two of us.

Just wondering if there are better deal sites or promos I'm missing. Is it better to call the reservations # instead? Like, do the reservations people on the phone give more away than the websites do?

Whats the name of the former Westin prop connected to the Miracle Mile shops?

Thatd probably work for v_v in a 2 or three bedroom unit. Also has a full kitchen and seems pretty cheap iirc

Looking for somewhere to stay on May 25. Thought I was going to get a room on myvegas(the date wasn't blacked out), but they won't give it to me.

Considering the Hampton Inn on tropicana. Not sure about the area though. Its pretty cheap in comparison to the $150+ being charged on the strip that night.

Just want something sub $100, airport shuttle is a plus.

LA is only about 3-4 hours away (depending on traffic) but SF is much further, about 8-9 hours, so you can't just "shoot down there".

I'd say plan on renting a car for a few days, see stuff like the Hoover Dam and drive to the LA / Orange County area and check out the beaches and stuff. Could even throw in Hollywood or Disneyland in if you guys are into that (though be warned that Hollywood will be much different than your expectations).

LA isn't really a great touristy city. Not that there isn't stuff to see, but it's all over the place. San Francisco is a better place to visit, but it's also much further away.

What is the issue? My wife and I just started the MyVegas deal a week or two ago and our main goal is to get rooms. We don't play FB games or any of they stuff but we started the MyVegas because it looked like a decent deal. If they are going to jerk us around for the comps, I'm bailing out....

Its probably one of the worst nights to try to get a room. I don't know if excalibur is sold out, but its likely and no promo rates are available that night either.

My guess is someone just goofed and forgot to put it in the black out dates on myvegas.

Thanks for the info!

Was Planet Hollywood Towers. Now its Elara.

I've stayed in the 2 BR suites & 3 BR penthouse. Full kitchen, 8ft projector screen, floor to ceiling window, generally younger crowd. Pool is tiny/crowded but overall nice place unless its changed along with the new ownership.

Thanks for your advice all, we have booked.

We decided to sacrifice a couple of things in exchange for location and price, so we are at the Flamingo for our stay. Was tossing up between this and the MGM Grand once it was all said and done, but decided that way.

Looked at Elara, a little pricey, but would have been pretty perfect for what we were looking at, I was happy to stump up the extra $$$, the other guys were not.

Once I get back hopefully I can offer some advice as well, will let you all know how the Flamingo Go 2 Queens are.

One thing I like about the Flamingo is the interior "free wildlife habitat" (birds and fish) its relatively quiet and peaceful. A nice escape from all the noise.

I hope that isn't the only thing to like about it....will find out in the not too distant future.

Stayed at Flamingo a few weeks ago and was complimentary upgraded from a Go Deluxe room to a Go Luxury with View room. So make sure you ask if anything is available. My room was located on the second to highest floor and had a great view of the Bellagio fountains. The room was nice, had a mini fridge, and the stereo system was surprisingly loud. Never went to the wildlife habitat and the casino itself was meh, the location is great though.

View of the room.

I was just surprised to find it one day. In the same habitat area is an interesting chapel with some history and also a swimming pool. I have heard reports that it is one of the better pools. But I am always in LV in October or March and not using the pools. I sort of like the poker area now. With the inclusion of Jimmy buffets Margarita casino it went through a renovation that made it seem less smokey and worn out. It does attract an older crowd. I also like that you can exit the Hotel part onto a side road and walk up to the strip, thereby avoiding the Casino. It is for me ideally located. Otherwise I don't know much about it. To me these are just places to sleep, my activities are usually elsewhere.