Has anyone stayed at Palms recently? I believe they were doing some remodeling last year. I like the new Cantor sports book and poker room but I've never stayed there, thinking about crossing it off my list and might stay for a weekend during the series. I'm imagining rooms similar quality to Rio (hopefully newer)?

TI not the best casino but not bad, the rooms are nice in my opinion. I stayed at The Bellagio June 2011 and had some friends staying at TI. we had an old style box tv and it was just way more aged than the TI room which was remodeled. TI really good spot for the money

So I booked five days at Ballys, all of them comped. I am probably only staying for two days though but reserved for five just in case. A regular reservation must be cancelled three days in advance but does that apply to me? Can I cancel the day of and not receive any charges?

FWIW there was no deposit to reserve the room.

Thx

I've stayed at both. MGM is certainly better than the Flamingo, but not by an amount that's really worth the extra money in my mind (though I prefer either lower tier places like the ming/harrahs/ballys or top tier like Cosmo or Wynn). Pool at the ming is probably best you'll get in that tier, and location is awesome (far far better than the MGM, which has a **** location). I also prefer to do my degenning in low level places where I can get wasted and be obnoxious and nobody cares, so my vote is heavily on the Flamingo.

MGM, not close.

Especially since the renovation with the new rooms etc.

Also, hakkasan will be open by then!

Awesome.

Riverfish, the money difference is pretty minor, about 10%, since I have a better offer at MGM.

Starberry, Flamingo also has recently remodeled rooms, called the FAB rooms. I haven't seen those yet but did see a GO room when a friend stayed there one time and that was pretty decent. I have stayed at the new rooms at MGM and while they were nice and new, they weren't anything special.

Yeah the lower level degenning and location has me leaning Flamingo even though the MGM is nicer. Might just put it to a group vote.

So Hakkasan is a combo restaurant/club? I'm not usually a fan of trying to go to the newest and hottest clubs since I personally don't find it worth the extra money/hassle over a lower tier club.

I'm going to Vegas the weekend of May 3rd. In looking around, some hotels like the Wynn are insanely expensive ($450/night). Is this because Mayweather is fighting that weekend?

I stayed at the Wynn last summer for something like $150/night.

5 de Mayo probably

And $150 for Wynn is a super cheap rate in general, I wouldn't use that as my baseline. But yeah, that's the weekend I'm going, and was surprised to see how much the lower-mid tier places like Flamingo were.

I assume that the improving economy has slowly been driving up prices over the past year. That a fair assumption?

Sounds like a toss up. Assuming you do some degenning, stay with the company where you'd like future comps from. Also, I'm pretty sure CET will generally offer lower room rates vs. MGM for low rollers.

I admit the MGM is nicer, but how much time do you plan on spending in the room? And are you willing to do most of your activities at the MGM (which is admittedly huge and has a ****ton to do)? If not, the Flamingo has a far better location. Venetian is close, Caesar's is across the street, City Center isn't that far away (Cosmo for clubbing, eye candy, Aria for poker if you're so inclined).

MGM has NYNY and Tropicana across the street.

Edit: I should say the MGM poker room is my favorite non top tier room. Flamingo's poker room is full of old fat guys who haven't showered in 3 days.

Cool, appreciate the feedback guys. I spend the most time in the Venetian and MGM poker rooms, but I probably won't get a ton of poker in due to the group I'm going with so it's not a huge consideration.

Last question - I know both pools are good, but is one just a bit better than the other? Sadly, for how many times I've done Vegas, I've spent very little time at the pools. The girls in the group want a good one, and we're planning on spending a day there. Would the answer change whether we get a cabana or not? I don't think we want to do a day club, more just drinking and relaxing.

Nothing. I'm typing this from my hotel room at TI right now. Awesome room, very nice, super view, my wife and I love it. The casino isn't that great, the poker room is a joke but otherwise the place is really nice and perfect if you want to play poker at the Venetian.

I gave a full review of TI somewhere previously in this thread.

Opinions why the Mirage poker rate is higher than Venetian? Worse poker room for sure. Are the rooms that much nicer?

No, from a poker and hotel room point of view, there is nothing about the Mirage that is as nice as the Venetian.

next time try to book as few nights as possible and extend as needed so you don't take any unnecessary hits to your ADT.

If you do decide on the Flamingo, definitely go for a GO room, as I've heard some bad things even about the remodelled FAB rooms (cleanliness etc) but we stayed in a GO room in November and it was excellent for the money.

Hey guys, stumbled upon this thread and have a few questions for a friend of mine who is going to Vegas in June and staying for about a month. Here are some the of the key aspects of what he's looking for:

• Close to the Venetian (MTTs and other poker games)
• Affordable (maybe monthly rates?) but not in the complete ghettos.

Thanks for any input.

LiarsDice....any chance you might read through the posts? Just an idea.

Flamingo/Harrahs/Quad are all easily within walking distance.

I didn't realize until my last visit that Casino Royale has a hotel. I think that's the closest to the Venetian and it absolutely has to be dirt cheap. No idea about quality though.

It's actually not that cheap. Well, it is, but not cheaper than the Quad, and probably not cheaper than a lot of deals you can get at other places. It's a Best Western now, and from what I could tell shopping around prices are pretty solidly within the $80-$100 range.

For that money I'd stay at TI. Directly across from the Venetian and I was there last week for 4 nights and didn't pay over $81 any night. Granted there is a $25/night resort fee but the front desk girl almost acted as if it was optional....I needed wifi for business or I would have asked if I could have skipped it. No better location for playing at the V, short of staying at the V.

I emailed PH about the availability of a Panorama Suite for our trip there in June and they basically said you can't book suites here in advance you have to upgrade/book them at check-in, is that right? seems ridiculous. Is there any way of getting around that by going through a Host or whatever?

They won't ever guarantee those rooms to you. If a big player comes in last minute, you'll be bumped out of that suite faster than you could pack your **** and leave. They try to avoid that by just not letting you book the suite this far in advance.

So the best bet is just to book a standard room then try to sort it out when we get to reception to check in?