Thanks for answering, its gunna be our first time going and I was looking at the signature but I would prefer something on the strip. I was looking at the mgm, paris, ballys, and the excalibur. Ill keep researching.

really think the signature is your best option out of the ones you've listed and its not that far from the strip.

Definitely leaning towards the signature, do u think its a safe distance to walk to and from the strip at night, not totally sure what to expect.

this post should say stratosphere is decent. Circus circus is a dump.

Yes it will be safe. Along E. Harmond it is only a 0.4 mile walk and will take 9 minutes (according to google maps).
But I might cut through Planet Hollywood. (Go take a look on google maps.)

The Trop charged me $16/night in resort fees a few weeks ago. My first time setting foot in the place. Was pleasantly surprised.

I got rated at $65 dollars a night for a west wing king at the mgm grand in late november, have any of u tried the 20 dollar trick there or does that have no chance of working there. Any overall experiences at the mgm grand from you guys would be great too.

Did they call you back? Aren't you in customer service? How would you feel if you received a novel.

Most importantly, why the hell didn't you ask for a new room?

Planet Hollywood

Stayed here in a normal (non-upgraded) room for 3 nights. The only king-size non-smoking room they had available was near the elevator which the clerk steered me away from (i'm assuming it is loud near the elevators considering all of the people plus the fact that the elevators play music), so I got suite with 2 queens which was fine.

Pro
Great location. (walk right across the street to Aria/City Center)
Earl's Sandwhich shop is here and is the best meal value on the strip.
Good price (but it does vary a lot from week to week..i paid $70 a weeknight, but the following week it was $40-$50 more per night)
Bathroom - was way beyond my expectations for a regular room. Seperate tub/shower. Toilet in it's own room.
Overall look/theme was nice (each room has pictures from a particular film which I thought was cool)
Clean
Very quiet.

Cons
Water pressure in Shower was really bad. Wouldn't be a huge deal, but this just meant that the shower took like 10 to 15 minutes just to warm up (strangely, the tub's water warmed up immediately)
Comforter/sheets on bed were just generic white. It was ok, but could have looked a bit nicer.
No TV channel listing and the TV was a bit quirky regarding channel changes.
Housekeeping wouldn't replace my shampoo/conditioner/lotion every day! Sure, I didn't need it, but I specifically hid my bottles so I could get more and they never replaced them. IMO, when people take these bottles home it's a good marketing tool for the hotel so perhaps they should reconsider that policy.
My room was themed with pictures from the movie: "2 Days in the Valley" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115438/). This movie is from 1996, has some big names in it, but I had never even heard of it and it only grossed $11 million. Hopefully next time I will get a better movie room!


Summation
I'll be back.

Jockey Club

Stayed here for 3 weeknights.

Pro
Great location. Nestled in between Cosmopolitan and Bellagio.
No resort fees.
Good price. Paid $70-$80 per day at a time when Planet Hollywood was going for well over $100
Access to pool, gym, table tennis (I used none, but there was access to it).
Includes full kitchen, living room, 2 HDTVs, dining room table. Couldn't believe how large it was considering location.
Walk in closet, all of the normal amenities you need (hair dryer, ironing board, coffee maker, etc etc)
There is a "home away from home" motto here and the staff will do what they need to make you comfortable.
Shuttle service to grocery shopping. I didn't take advantage of this.
Very quiet (lots of retirees here).
Had a community atmosphere with fun events planned etc if you wanted to be social.
Didn't try to sell me a time share or anything like that.
Allowed me to check in 5 hours early at no cost.

Cons
Have to walk 100-200 yards from strip to get to entrance. There is a walkway most of the way, but part of the way you are walking on the alley and no fancy entrance/signs etc).
Quiet hours...not a good place if you have a bunch of jackass partying friends.
May have to walk a long way to your room (ie from front desk I would take elevator to lvl 2...then walk a ways, then go up some stairs, then walk to another elevator and take it up to my floor).
Bathroom is small. It is perfectly serviceable but not nearly as large or balla like the Planet Hollywood bathrooms.
Guessing many of the rooms have a great view of Bellagio fountains but my room only had a view of the concrete side of cosmopolitan (garage maybe?)

Summation
A real hidden gem on the strip with an outstanding location. I will definitely be back.

Never even heard of this place. This sounds awesome.

Pictures?

Hi guys,

This is way early but when the excitement is on, you tend to plan way ahead.

I'm traveling to Vegas (first time ever) in April next year for a week and started to read a lot here about Vegas and Hotels and having a hard time to decide on where to stay, so hoping for some help. I'll be playing poker, but I'll also just trying to gather as much "Vegas experience" as I can in that time.

-I will most likely be traveling solo
-Playing $1-$3 and $2-5
-I like nice hotels
-Price range: I'm staying for 6-7 nights so something around $800-1300. Would rather not pay more than $1500 for 7 nights.
-I'm young (24)

I found on Expedia, MGM Grand Hotel - Petite king for $876 and the pictures looked nice but I have absolutely no idea if that is my best option, poker / Location wise. (Would the $20 trick work here f.x.?)

I'm very open for any suggestions you guys might have.

That's a pretty comfortable budget for 7 nights. MGM Petite King is fine but you could do better especially if you're coming for your first time since MGM is far on the south end of the strip. I'm going to go ahead and say Aria; it's more mid-strip, newer, and you'll have 1/3 and 2/5 games right downstairs all day. Also book directly with the hotel, not Expedia. That way if you change your mind or find a better deal you can cancel your reservation with no penalty.

Edit: I guess my Aria recommendation depends on whether you're staying across two weekends, it might get close to going over $1500 after tax and resort fee.

Basically going to disagree with everything Thousand Tiger says here.....

MGM Grand
MGM's Petite King = West Wing King. It's very good for 1 person and I have stayed there many times.
-They are newer than the "pre-renovated" MGM rooms, but not as new as the rooms that just got done renovated this year. Never the less, decor is fairly modern etc (view sux)
-Since you are doing so many nights, you can probably also use $20 trick and get a nice upgrade to a renovated room/suite etc.
-Of course, also ask them to roll-up a fridge for you
-There is both 1/2 and 2/5 @ the MGM, and Aria is just down the Street

Expedia
-Again, I have priced out the options many times, and usually end up booking via Expedia actually
-Why? Because you save pretty big on the flight
-When I book separately, even with a big discount, Expedia usually comes out the same... but then I earn Expedia points + airline points
-If you book the hotel, you still won't be able to cancel your flight... unless you buy travel insurance etc.
-Via Expedia, you have that same option to buy a waiver voucher for $26

Poker Rate
-Since you are going for the first time ever, DO NOT take the poker rate
-Why? Because you want to go around and try different places!!! You don't want to be stuck playing at one place

Other Considerations
-Since this is a relatively long trip, you might want to consider something that has a little kitchen etc.... not sure you want to be eating out EVERY meal

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Cheers,

S

Well I'm going to agree with Thousand Tigers then, for that budget Aria is a much better choice. Also look into Venetian/Palazzo.

Aria > MGM Grand in every single way. MGM is mid-tier, Aria is above it. If you like nice hotels and you can afford it, don't stay at MGM. The location sucks, the place is enormous and pretty soulless, the clientele is a bit sketchier on that part of the strip.

And the beauty of the poker rate at most places (including Aria and Venetian) is that you don't have to commit to it beforehand. Your room rate can be adjusted after the fact for however many days you have the hours for. What I can't answer is whether they can adjust it if you booked through a third-party. I do know that you are almost always better off booking directly through the hotel, and the advantage of being able to cancel and rebook when the rates get lower is a huge one.

See, you have to take dude's budget into account.

Aria is at the v high end of his budget range.

Realistically though, I recommend to try staying at a couple different places. Do a nicer hotel for the weekdays and cheaper hotel for the weekends.

And as big as MGM is, the poker room is literally right next to the exit of the West Wing, where the Expedia booking is.

I didn't take any photos, but there are some on the hotel's website (renovation photos are accurate): http://www.jockeyclubvegas.com/

The style/decor is definitely more appealing to an older crowd, and as I stated it's not a good place to stay if you are a partier, but it did a great job of meeting my needs.

So basically... Solo trip playing @ Aria....

Thanks so much for the information guys, highly appricated.

As I'm a Vegas rookie I hardy knew about them resort fees. Are they higher over the weekends?

But I'll be staying only over one weekend, Thursday-Wednsday most likely. I've read so many nice things about Aria, everything from the hotel itself to the poker room seems to be highly liked here in in the "Las Vegas Lifestyle"

For 6 nights at Aria the price seemed quite abit higher than the MGM - 6 nights for $1114 and thats probably without them resort fees? So I'm definetely at the max there for my price pudget.

So I guess the question is: Is Aria worth going to you're absolute max price budget instead of staying at the MGM petite king for probably around $200-400 less?

I've read a lot here about staying at different places. But in my mind it's so much of a hassle, maybe im just lazy

Side note: Do you think it matters booking the hotel couple of months ahead to try to get the room any cheaper?

Almost always answer is no. So if poker rate is something you want to consider, don't book room through expedia, etc.

MGM and Aria will both charge a daily resort fee (all MGM properties and a some non-MGM properties will). Both are $25/night I believe, so that will add $150 to each. If you book directly you might as well just reserve now and glace at prices once a week until your trip. If you see a price drop or decide on a different hotel that fits you better you can just cancel and rebook. You'll enjoy either MGM and Aria, but I strongly agree with the recommendation of staying 3 nights at two different places especially with it being your first time in town.

Yea, I want to stay at the Jockey Club next time now. Sounds cool.

Aria resort fee is $28 now I think.

Is the Mirage or MGM Grand really that bad compared to Aria or Vdara? The rooms don't look too bad in the photos.

Aria=Vdara>Mirage>MGM.

The rooms at Mirage and MGM might be similar, but the properties and location aren't- Mirage wins that battle handily. And yes, Aria and Vdara rooms are indeed that much better.

It depends on your budget....

My first choice for..

5 Star: Aria
-Newly built. Great location, great place to play poker
-GREAT poker rate. It's a fixed rate, long weekend or not, with very few blackout dates, so on long weekends when rooms are $$$$, it's amazing value

4 Star: MGM
-Newly renovated. Good location, great place to play if you don't play above 2-5

3 Star: Trop - Newly renovated. No poker room, but you can walk across to MGM and Arian isn't too far.

I wouldn't recommend Mirage as I find the casino floor VERY lifeless.... it's almost always empty...

As for Vdara... as long as you know there is no Casino and you go to Aria, and you are ok with that...you are fine.

It's all suites... so I wouldn't recommend it for say a solo poker trip... but if you are bringing gf/wife, it's a good place to be.... So while it's good like Aria, it serves a little different purpose?