So I want to take my wife to vegas in March. I've spent the last 12 hours or so looking at info about the various hotels and have made very little progress. It just seems that there are SO many bad reviews about all of the reasonably priced ones lol.

I would prefer a room/suite with a jaccuzi. Luxor, TI, Monte Carlo, and NYNY all have that for around 1200 for a week. But every review that talks about the hotels seems to slam them. Mandalay Bay isn't that much more expensive, but I read nothing except about how hard it is to get around from there.

Harrah's seems to have good prices but their website f'ing blows and I have no idea what I'd be buying.

The next step up seems to go all the way to Ceasers Palace and Bellagio at WAY higher prices. Is there nothing in between?

I mean, seriously... I'm not looking for luxury. Just what I could get at a Country Inn and Suites for 70 bucks a night lol. I only went to Vegas once, stayed at the Mirage, and basically lived in the poker room for a week. That's not an option with the wife along

So... any helpful insights would be helpful. Are there any professional review sites? Instead of reading pages of comments about how people's rooms weren't ready and there were bloodstains on the sheets. Am I missing some places? It just seems like jacuzzi's aren't very common in vegas?

Any tips for getting better rates?

Thanks if anyone actually takes the time to read and respond to this.

Stay at the Signature (MGM)...

Best rooms for the money, plus you get a whirlpool bath and a balcony (on request).

A bit of a walk but worth it. Plus you have a kitchenette.

Stayed there at least a dozen times before I moved here.

Agree about Harrah's horrible website. Would be better off just going to priceline.com or something and "naming your own price".

First off, you're considering going to Vegas smack in the middle of Spring Break. If money is your main consideration, try pushing your vacation forward or back if that's at all possible.

Go to Smartervegas.com Awesome deals are nicely compiled on that site. Use this as a tool to generally gauge the best rates. I say generally because it's really not worth your time and effort to shop around for a fare that is 2 dollars less a night. If smartervegas shows you a promotion that gets you a rate at 70 dollars a night at Caesar's through a friends and family promotion (as is being offered this winter), compare it to typical rates at that hotel. It's an awesome special rate and one should be very tempted to take it. But one shouldn't try to surf around and try to find a 68 dollar rate. The rates are likely to rise sooner than you'll find a lower rate. It's not worth the hassle.

Lastly- ignore tripadvisor.com. Tripadvisor is really only useful for bored housewives with nothing better to do. So WHAT if the Mirage has four people who experienced bedbugs? Welcome to every hotel ever created. Who cares if the carpet was worn near the dresser? Again, welcome to every hotel ever built. What are you really seeking to find out from sites like that? That service was bad? 100 people could stay with the Queen at Buckingham Palace and 20 of them would report some type of problem.

Finally, generally speaking, you get what you pay for.

Anyways sorry to ramble, here's what to do:

1. Establish a plan for what type of hotel room you're looking for. (Spa rooms you say)
2. Pick a couple hotels that offer them
2. Go to smartervegas.com and compare
3. Ignore very small price differentials
4. IGNORE Trip advisor
5. Book and do not reconsider your choice unless you just randomly happen upon a rate or deal that is just that much better.

Some people complain about everything. Others only write reviews when they have a complaint.

I would guess its the vast minority who stay somewhere, love it, then write good reviews.

thanks for a good post

Money isn't the prime factor- just seems like too much of a gap between say the luxor and the bellagio, was looking for something in the middle PH and the Mirage would probably be about right... but no spas?

I may not be able to hit March at all. The reason my wife is in for Vegas instead of Hawaii is because of Celine Dion lol... and Celine happens to be taking a break from March 19 until sometime in June. But I don't want to move it up too much because I figure I'm already cutting it close on being able to use pools in the middle of March.

The tripadvisor thing isn't because I like those sites, but because I hate them. I would love to read a professional review like from a magazine article about some of the hotels when the decision is close. But I have been completely unable to find ANYTHING other then a hundred short comment sites.

I don't think I understand the best way to use smartervegas.com. It has a list of coupons, but when you click through on them I can't really see any relation from the listed rate to what they actually charge you


... edit... calling it quits for the night Wanted to ask about Vdara... how much of a hassle is it to get from there to one of the casinos or the strip?

vegastripping.com has some great resort reviews including photos and room walkthroughs. Not comprehensive coverage, but interestingly written stuff without all the negativity from 1mn tripadvisor commenters...

Read the Sticky on Vegas websites.

Hitting the right person with the right info in this forum can make the difference.

Try i4vegas.com. Their site is pretty useful. Once you isolate a group of possibly acceptable accommodations, it's pretty easy to track the rates. The rates DO change. It's good you're looking now. That gives you time to get an idea of what is a good rate, and then pull the trigger when you see the right deal.

The thing about the i4vegas site is the descriptions aren't consistent and there's some guesswork involved. For example, I found that the Palms has rooms with a "Jacuzzi Tub with jets", and the IP has rooms with a "Luv Tub". Would the Luv Tub be roughly equal to the Jacuzzi? To get exactly what you want you're probably going to have to make some calls, and even then the info may be sketchy.

If I was going to pay for an in-room Jacuzzi, I'd want a new or recently renovated room, with a premier Maid Staff. Sucks to check-in and find the Jacuzzi doesn't work, or the maid did a crappy cleaning job.

Just make sure to cross the luv tub rooms at IP off your list.

I fully agree with the comments about Tripadvisor - in fact there was a programme on TV here recently about people who seem to go out of their way to deliberately find a "bad" hotel so they can complain about it.

I'm a big fan of www.cheapovegas.com for its reviews, which are all done with a touch of humour and recognise each hotel for it's plus and minus points.

The front page of it is sadly now trying to sell rooms, but simply scroll down to the bottom and click on the hotels for the reviews.

My wife & I go to Vegas couple times a year, would highly recommend staying more to strip than MB - Wynn, Venetian I'd recommend 1st - assuming 6 nights/7days - $1200 total is close - but i usually get couple nights free & balance at poker rate, as i still play
, 6 hours can be done pretty easily i think - but then again my wife plays, and understands when I go play - lucky in life

If not those 2, we have stayed several times at Paris, very nice and great locaiton. Planet Hollywood & Ceasers i'd put in same category.

Cosmo has been great, but no idea on cost - stayed at Aria - i just do not like location myself, as we tend to be on the go and play several poker rooms.

I'd suggest call poker room direct and see what they can do - Venetian has been great to us, last trip had $150+ comp they gave us ticket to take to Table 10

This. Some of them are downright pathetic too. 1 star reviews (from non guests) complaining they couldn't find where to buy tickets for a show.

What I do like about tripadvisor is all the user pics of all the different rooms at a hotel. Most hotel sites dont have pics of all the room types.

Also I have been looking for a 5 day trip and cant seem to find any better deals than vegas.com packages if you buy the $100 costco gift cards for $80. This is for flying from DC area tho. If you are getting comps/rated room discounts this may not apply as well.

come in June-play in the WS..swim in the pools..stay at Caesars ..has awesome pools..spa is great..shopping is incredible..spend more money and make it a vacation of a lifetime..oh and cash in the WS-trip paid for..

ignore reviews-ask on here who has stayed where and how it was..

Not only is all the information confusing, some hotels are hit and miss. Like Ceasars for example - you could pay $200 per night and get their crappiest un-renovated tower and you will HATE it, or you could be given a nice room in the renovated tower and love it. Ceasars dont charge resort fees but most of their properties are not-so-nice in my experience (though cheap).

My suggestion:
Venetian or Pallazio (but pref. the Venetian).

Im a big fan of the Venetian - I've stayed in almost all the strip hotels many times and the Venetian about 25 times, and about 24 times were fantastic. Heres the pros:
- mid-priced hotel (cheaper than Wynn, Bellagio, similar to Ceasars, more expensive than Harrahs, MGM, Flamingo, Mandalay Bay etc.)
- every room has a deep jacuzzi bathtub and seperate shower - the bathrooms are huge and all marble so very luxurious
- every room has seperate sleeping area and lounge area, with seperate tvs, a large sofa, tables, mini-bar, fax machine etc.
- hotel is mid-to upper class and the Canal in the middle of the shops is awesome for the women to see.
- the poker room is about the best in town
- its centrally located.
- great clean pool complex

cons
- the resort fee is a bit high (I think about $25 per night now) but is mandatory and includes the wireless internet
- no buffet (but restaurants are great and casinos accross street have buffets).

Seriously (and fyi I dont work there or have any interest I am a fanboy of the Venetian and highly recommend it to you.

As for the Pallazio its next door to Venetian, owned by the same people, has the same size rooms and fittings, but for me its a slighty longer walk to the poker room so I prefer the Venetian. But they are joined by an interior walkway so no big deal.

Also fyi I just go to expedia.com and search for hotel rooms in Las Vegas to get the best deals. Then I compare this to the hotels own website. If this is spring break weekend you're smart to book well ahead as rates will be inflated. If you play a fair bit of poker, call the hotel receptionist and ask for the poker room, then ask about the poker rate - this tends to stay flat even when normal rates are inflated BUT you must put the hours in they want in the poker room (I think 5 or 6 hours a day or something similar) otherwise the rate reverts to the normal room rate. Finally sign up on Facebook, twitter or just email updates - they email me offers about once a month although the offers nowadays are not great (I think the latest was $109 per night, compared to 4 comp nights a few years back).

Good luck..