I'd snap book my own room if I were faced with that group scenario, couple or single. With a $5k budget there's really no reason to make it into one big slumber-party.

unless it's going to be an orgy, obvs

I couldn't give a more detailed explanation earlier but here is a breakdown of why the 15 people in a suite idea is not very good.

A suite will probably have a max of 3 bedrooms. So what ends up happening is the couples stay in there and the rest crash in the common areas. If you have more than 3 couples, you have a problem. There is the splitting of cost issue. If I am paying $300 a night, I don't want to be sleeping on an air mattress with 7 other guys. None of the guys can bring anybody back since once again, air mattress with 7 other guys, so you lose out on the impressing people aspect of the suite. Sure, the girls can post pictures on Facebook but thats about it (probably the principle reason they want the suite).

This is not even getting in to the logistics of limited bathrooms, some of which are probably accessible only by walking through one of the bedrooms. Do you really want somebody knocking on your bedroom door late at night because he needs to take a dump/vomit in your bathroom and the hallway bathroom is occupied? With more people on the hook for the room, you are also only increasing the probability of someone being short on the money/not happy with how much they are paying. Then you have the issue of somebody getting drunk and breaking something/doing something dumb/ordering mad amounts of room service/etc, which again now you are partially responsible for because you are in the same room/on the same bill.

Its a terrible idea and inevitably leads to somebody in the group getting mad at somebody else.

Have guys split some 2-queen-bed rooms, get the girls a big fancy suite. There are probably 1000 different ways to configure this among the strip hotels that would be awesome and within the budget.

and +1 to the situation creating all sorts of drama (Amoeba explained above)

With $250 to $300 a person, the guys don't even have to share a room. Can each get his own room at arguably any hotel in Vegas. The couples save even more money since they are spending $300 altogether instead of $600.

So unless if you can find nice 3 bedroom suites for $2500 or 2 bedroom suites for $1500, I would just skip the suite idea altogether.

Just block off a section of a hallway at Cosmo and the girls will love it. It's a step below super baller, but as far as I know, Cosmo doesn't have the equivalent of baller places like Bellagio's Villas or Palms specialty suites (like having an indoor bball court)...and those are probably out of your range (or you have to be a special guest or something).

I think 1 Wraparound Terrace Suite (which I just saw in person for the first time a couple of weeks ago) and multiple rooms to get enough beds is more than enough niceness and comes in far under budget. Just my thought...and the views and balconies really are spectacular, which is unmatched on any strip hotel.

Flamingo - Fab deluxe

Pro's

Location
Pool very nice and tropical
Price

Con's

My room had to be the noisest I've ever stayed in you could hear people talking DOWN the hall way down footsteps on top, the adjoining room
Might be me but food choices weren't great for price and where's the starbucks not sure how you get a cup of coffee without hitting restaurant
Room definitely used

If you want Starbucks or Starbucks-quality or Starbucks-comparable near the Flamingo, go next door to Bill's for Seattle's Best or down to Carnival Court for actual Starbucks.

Bills cool. The Carnival Court one is closed for the construction work

Stayed there for a few nights couple of weeks ago and the mid-week poker rate was $118 per night, not including resort fee. Not sure of weekend rate. The poker room booked it for me. Rooms were sensational, the pool spectacular, and the poker room one of the best in vegas imo. They have rockin 2/5 $1500 buyin tables and most importantly for me it's all 9-handed (I hate 10-handed cramped tables). Class act all round.

Anyone know which of the 5-star casinos offer poker room rates? And roughly how much you need to play there to get the rate?

Wynn and Venetian do go to there websites look under casino -> poker -> poker room rates or call them. fyi Venetian also does email deals that are better than poker room rate without poker play requirement.

They all do, most have the info on their websites.

At the Golden Nugget, do the new-ish Rush Tower. We stayed there earlier this year, and it was really top shelf. Very nice room

+1. Stayed there last year. Staying again next week. I stayed in a premium room (which was like $5 more a night?)

I am going there from July 4th to July 9th, 5 nights. I've never stayed at the Flamingo but I have a GO Deluxe room too. I'll post my hotel review after I have stayed there with some pictures I hope. The nice thing about the room is it requires no deposit to stay there. You only have to put down a deposit if you are turning on the phones and the room charges. I'm looking forward to staying there.

Stayed at the Cosmo June 22-26. The $20 trick did NOT work, front desk still wanted to charge me to upgrade out of a city room, which I didn't do. Rooms were nice and well-appointed, and my gf absolutely loved the place. Drink service for video poker was super fast (used the $100 rebate on slot losses that Cosmo offers and actually came out ahead).

Marquee was awesome, and when I ordered jack and diet coke at 2 different bars, it ended up being all jack with a splash of diet, which is great. Drinks at $14/pop seem standard for clubs. Pro tip - buy tickets ahead of time and pick up from will call. Then when you go to the club at midnight or later, go to the third floor and bypass most of the massive line.

Ate at China Poblano. Solid tapas, but not as good as the DC Jaleo (did not try the Jaleo in Vegas because we have it in DC). Wicked Spoon buffet was solid as far as buffets go, and not a terrible deal.

Bally's - quick note

I stayed there last week and as unbelievable as this may sound my room had...wait for it...

...a flat screen tv.

No, really. Apparently there has been an upgrade at some point. All of the rooms aren't done though, so if this is important to you get a room on the 25th floor of the North tower.

This year's WSOP trip hotels:

Gold Coast (First 10 days). I found the Gold Coast to be perfectly adequate and a good value for the money. My only real complaint was that the smell of the water used when shaving etc. During this time of year the location is outstanding. Cost approximately $30.00 a night.

Platinum (Three days during the EDC). I booked here primarily because the prices at all hotels during the EDC were very high. I did get a pretty good deal through a special on Pokernews.com. I had an 1150 sq foot suit for $122.00 per night taxes included. I found the hotel to be very nice and comfortable. There is obviously not a casino at the Platinum so if that is an issue it is not a good place to stay.

One outstanding feature for me was the in room washer and dryer. After 10 days in Vegas I had plenty to wash!!!

Terribles (Final 12 days). Much like the Gold Coast I found Terribles to be very adequate. I was pleased that the water did not smell; however, there were far more issues with the air conditioning (Two different rooms) than at the Gold Coast.

During this time of year Terribles location was far less desirable than Gold Coast. Twice I found the drive down Flamingo to the Rio took over 40 minutes. Perhaps there was a better route that I could make use of in the future. Cost approximately $30.00 a night with free wifi.

Mods,

If this is going to be a long-term sticky, should we consider moving all the rando questions about specific trips to the General Vegas Discussion thread and leave this thread to just be Hotel Reviews? Just a thought, as it seems to me that no one coming to theis thread in a couple of month wanting to know if Harrah's is any good is going to care about higher visions' orgy trip or "which 5* resorts have poker rates."

Not trying to down those discussions in particular, I just think the Hotel Review thread should be for, well... Hotel Reviews.

Or even better, TripAdvisor should be for hotel reviews.

From what I hear, the Mandarin Oriental has smaller rooms than WynnCore/Venetian/Palazo/Bellagio but the service is really the nuts even if you are in the most basic of rooms and they are very well furnished rooms. The only downside is its not a very "Vegas" hotel. You are somewhat isolated from the noise and excitement of Vegas.

Here is a pretty good review of the Mandarin Oriental from Vegastripping though it is from 2 years ago. I usually rely on that site for hotel reviews since they have a lot of pictures.

http://www.vegastripping.com/feature..._id=190&page=1

Anyone else staying at the rio have a room that smells disgusting. It's smells like smoke and some other crap that u shouldn't be breathing in. I requested room change but they are all sold out. Not sure if they are all like this and I'll need to find a new place to stay.

Just got home from 3 nights at Rio and 2 at Vdara. Rio was fine, I'd never stay there without the WSOP being there though. I thought the room was fine but the casino kinda sucks and I ended up shuttling to the strip a dozen times. The food options were awful except the Sports Grill or whatever it was called, that place was unexpectedly good. I could barely choke down the nasty buffet. But damn I loved Vdara and I'll stay there again for sure. Really comfortable quiet room, excellent service down to the smallest details. I was extremely impressed.

What does this mean? Does it simply mean

or does a "Vegas hotel" mean more. If so can we try to define this concept?