Palms v HRH v other hotels

[Dyur21]

I am traveling to Vegas in late July with my wife. We are in our mid-30's and have kids so this is our 1st trip away without them in two years. We are coming out Thursday to Sunday. We come out to Vegas to basically take in some pool parties and clubs and have some great meals, we do virtually zero gambling. We have stayed at the palms, Mandalay and MGM in the past. We had a fantastic time at the palms four years ago but we visited two years ago and it was not as "fun" almost seemed stale. On our last trip we spent Saturday at the HRH pool and had a tremendous time.

My question is where would you recommend staying? I am leaning towards palms or HRH but I am intrigued by aria and Cosmo.

One gigantic advantage of staying at the palms used to be that you could get into ditch Friday's and the clubs for free with no wait, if anyone knows of other hotels that offer similar treatment their experience would be appreciated.

[iamkhai]

Here's my 2 cents for what it is worth. If I was going with my wife, I would go and stay at either Cosmo or Aria as they are nicer hotels in general and when it's the two of us, we like to stay in nicer places. As for Palms vs HRH, neither sound appealing at this time. Both have lost their shine and party atmosphere with the Palms closing all but Ghost Bar and HRH closing Vanity. Plus Cosmo is center of the strip which is nice.

[Dyur21]

Thanks for the take; what you are saying is exactly what I am worried about!!!

[Our man in the Desert]

I haven't actually stayed at Palms or HRH although I've been to both places gambling / drinking and in all honesty I just wouldn't consider them an option when looking for hotels. Aria and Cosmo are the top two hotels I've stayed in, both give modern clean rooms, great location, decent pools and a great choice of bars / restaurants withing walking distance. We've booked Aria again for our upcoming trip in August as one of the guys got a great deal through MLife but I would probably say if prices were similar the Cosmo would get my No. 1 vote but its a very close call.

[royaltywears]

Cosmo is really nice and the location is perfect being in the middle of the strip. You also have a lot of food options around Cosmo.

Also one of the few hotels I find great is the Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo

[kp3205]

Stayed at HRH at the end of this past April and don't bother. It has lost its luster ad was very quiet. Worked for me as it was an R&R from back to back conferences, very low key.

When I took my wife for her first time we did Planet Hollywood, then Paris, Monte Carlo, then Aria. All her choices as a happy wife makes it a happy life.

The strip is a better scenario. You may also want to look into Vdara. Non gambling property in City Center with quick access to everything.