Hey guys,

So I've decided having seem some cheap flights from Aus to move my grind trip forward to next week. I'd like some advice from people as to what offers a better solution to my accommodation questions.

Cliffs of my situation-

- Planning playing 3 sessions a day, main session at 2/5 Bellagio/Aria/Caesars and a smaller one either side potentially at smaller rooms but 99.9% on the Strip
- Travelling alone, am not huge on creature comforts as long as the room is acceptable and clean and I can get some peaceful rest.

I've narrowed down accommodation options to Four Queens on Fremont PLUS hiring a vehicle for the time I'm there vs Excalibur on the Strip and utilising the Monorail for my trip. The combined totals for each are comparable, not different enough to be any sort of factor.

It's been years since I've done a full on grind trip in Vegas, my most recent visit was a short stay as a tourist with my partner so I'd like some input from the field on the following;

- I know Fremont is wild and can be a bit loud, but I will be planning on sleeping 8am-3pm most days due to schedule. Do we anticipate Fremont disturbing my sleep significantly or is this more of a nighttime thing?

- Are the monorail stations significantly far from property doors (>15 mins)? Not including the free one between Aria-Bellagio as I've used this before, just the pay one on the other side.

- Would you suggest staying off strip and using a car to be more convenient than utilising the monorail from this end of the Strip if Im planning on playing at the far end (Wynn, Venetian etc)?

And then ultimately I'm mostly interested in which you'd choose given both options are the same price.

Cheers!

Forget the monorail. You'd have to walk from Excal to the back of MGM and then from the back of Harrahs to the Wynn or something like that, this will take forever. Public transport in LV like most of Murica is really crappy and expensive, just use Uber/Lyft. The car used to be a good option until they introduced the parking charges.
If you play primarily at ABC just get something nearby. Even if it is, say 30 bucks more a night it is a better deal because you save transport costs + time. It might also by + RestEV, I've never been there but the walls at Excal are said to be pretty crappy, not sure about the other one.

Yeah was a consideration but including resort fees its a bit more than 30 bucks more/night and with it being a worktrip I want to consolidate accom costs as much as possible as its unreasonable enough as is :P appreciate the input!

For your rental car calculations, did you include parking fees at MGM/Ceasars properties?

I am pretty sure for most people it's significantly faster to walk from Excalibur to the center Strip instead of taking the monorail.

Did not, this was something I wanted advice on. I was intending on utilising free parking options even if it meant a bit of a walk as much as possible. If this is a bad idea/time wasting, an estimate on what I should expect would be v helpful

Check out Harrah's. Central location on Strip and should be relatively inexpensive.

Dealing with a car would be a hassle and time waste.

Kinda sounds like the choice is between
a)staying downtown, renting a car, driving to the Strip and walking from the Miracle Mile parking garage to the Bellagio area
b) staying at a cheap Strip hotel and walking to the Bellagio area

I'd definitely do b) unless there was another really good reason to have a car.

Mmmh, quick look at Google maps, not sure when you are going, but e.g. next Monday to Thursday Excal is 29 US/nt + RF, Flamingo is 33 and the Linq 42 (all on ctrip). Resort fee difference can't be that much. Not saying Flamingo is a great hotel, but it's not more of a dump than Excal

Uber is great in Las Vegas. Often cheaper than the Monorail, and definitely more direct.

The only downside in my experience of 100+ Uber rides in Las Vegas, is 1 out of every 10 or so, the drivers are dumber than a box of rocks and they often can't figure out where the Uber pick up spot is in some casinos.

Most notably MGM, Harrahs and Planet Hollywood, in my experience..just allow yourself a bit more time when they are picking you up from one of these casinos..

Playing on the Strip and staying downtown doesn't make sense. If absolute cheapness is the goal, there are dozens of motels within a mile of the Strip that don't charge resort fees or parking fees. You miss out on the casino "experience" though.

If all your play is at Bellagio, Aria, and Caesars you won't need a car or transport if you stay at Harrahs or Flamingo, probably the two cheapest hotels in the area. Otherwise you need transport of some kind, the costs of which could push expenses over what staying at the above places would cost.

It wasn't that long ago (5 years) that you could play poker at 5 different places downtown.

The Golden Nugget, Binion's, The Plaza, Fitzgeralds (now The D) and the El Cortez.

Now it is pretty much just The Nugget..someone in LVL recently posted that Binion's doesn't even offer poker anymore except for an occasional tournament..is that true?

If I wanted to be cheapass, and still play on the Strip, I would get a B Connected card and stay at either The Orleans or The Gold Coast, just off the Strip.

Both offer cheap rooms with a reduced resort fee and offer a free shuttle to mid-strip.

Also, The Orleans has a big poker room and offers some pretty good tournaments in the $100 range..

+1. The man knows his stuff.

this is what I would do. easy trip to aria/bellagio from here, more so from the gold coast.

also, if u stay at the gold coast, the Rio poker room is literally a walk across the street. the room is hit or miss busy-wise, but they do get some loose good games there from time to time; would literally take u a minute to check out before heading elsewhere. the orleans poker rooms is OK and busy but often is filled with grouchy local nits.

Third for GOAT COAST if that's your plan. Rooms are fine and shuttle frequent.

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

What everyone else has said, plus....

The weather is great right now so walking on the strip is easy and comfortable. If you choose Harrah's / Flamingo / Linq, it's an easy and comfortable walk to Bellagio / Aria and Caesars and not a bad walk to Venetian. Wynn is still reachable too, but less so in summer.

Car hire has been made almost redundant by the car parking fees, unless you are heading to and from downtown / strip frequently. Lyft and uber are both easy and cheap but unless you stay at Excalibur, Circus Circus or Gold Coast, (but still stay on the strip), you may need these a lot less than you think.


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Grunching: it is not a bad walk from Excalibur to Bellagio and even shorter to Aria. Caesar's just a bit farther. If you're lazy there is a free shuttle from Monte Carlo to Bellagio. Monorail is on other side of the strip and would be useless to you.

lol yes it is. I'd stay at excal before flamingo unless you want the pool or location

I see there are a couple of motels next to Hooters, across the street from the MGM monorail which could serve as an option.

I stayed at the America's Best there for a few nights 2 years ago; it was really one of the worst experiences I have ever had with a stay anywhere, and I wasn't expecting much and had been satisfied with other stays at the same brand motel in the past.

I would do the opposite--Flamingo over Excalibur. But to each his own.

Oh ok. What was so bad about it?

I wouldn't do that unless you found a place with some good reviews somewhere. There are a lot of horrible dumps in Vegas. Hooters itself has been reported to be quite the dump itself.

I think they survive because naive people just book off the intarweb or through travel agencies.

Heater didn't work; when guy came in to fix it he spewed dust all over the room. Both ice machines were broken. It was the smallest room with 2 beds I have ever been in; both up against walls with a foot between them. If me and my buddy had gotten out of bed at the same time we would have run into each other. Don't remember many other details, but it was a crappy place in general with beds and pillows that weren't very comfortable also.

no no no