Hotel of Choice

[wrexter]

Hi all

Vegas newbie from Australia here

Having a hard time deciding what hotel to book for our time in Vegas, will be visiting from 1-6 October. My wife and I are young (28) and looking to experience the Vegas nightlife

Looking at the following hotels

Aria
Cosmopolitan
Encore
MGM Grand (purely for Hakkasan)

Hoping to also catch a few shows there too

Thanks for any advice and guidance

Cheers

[maxutilsperusd]

When booking hotels in Vegas the best plan is usually to double or trip book your top picks, and then cancel bookings when you are closer to when you travel with more information about what specifically is going to be happening. Most hotel bookings can be cancelled with a full refund of your deposit if cancelled more than 72 hours before the start date. Also make sure to book through the actual hotel instead of a third party booking site since they often have special deals like stay 2 days get 1 free, or stay 4 days and get a $100 resort credit. Usually I'd have my mind made up about a month beforehand since that is when the lineup for DJs at the clubs and pools are usually released, but waiting till then to book can be a mistake since hotels can drastically increase in price if you wait that long. Early October is an especially hard time to plan for since the pool parties end right around then, so depending on how early this winter gets colder determines which pool parties will remain open.

While it seems to be a forum favorite I wouldn't even think about Aria if you are willing to spend the extra to stay at the Cosmopolitan or Wynn/Encore. MGM Grand also shouldn't be a favorite just because of Hakkasan, they have KA, the Wet Republic pool party, and a regular pool complex that is larger than either the Cosmopolitan or Wynn/Encore.

If which DJs are playing where matters less to you, then it comes down to how much cabbing you are wanting to do and subject preferences in rooms. If you are wanting to mostly stay in your own hotel for dining, clubbing, and shows the best option is staying at Wynn/Encore since it has 3 great clubs compared to the Cosmopolitan's and MGM Grand's 1 each while also having great dining and Le Reve. If you are more interested in trying out different clubs and entertainment options each night, the Cosmopolitan's central location and amazing balconies could be a great call. The MGM Grand would usually be a cheaper option, but again a perfectly reasonable one since the hotel has a lot going for it.

It really depends on your priorities and preferences.

*Other hotels to consider: The Delano, a newly remodeled THEhotel at Mandalay Bay; The Signature at MGM Grand, larger suites with with full kitchens; The SLS, a brand new resort with lots of dining and entertainment options.

[artedm]

FYI- all of the nightclub/ pool parties sell presale tickets and some have guestlists (free entry) Sunday-Thursday
Meaning you don't have to stay at a hotel just for there club. You could stay in the cheapest room in town and go to whatever nightclub/pool party you want.

My advice is have a look at nightclub lineups-what djs playing and then go from there or book really low end if your going to be spending a lot of time away from the room.

[maxutilsperusd]

If money still has meaning to you, I actually totally agree with artedm. I originally assumed that since you listed mostly ~5 star hotels and you were doing a longer trip from Australia that your income was likely off the charts.

I usually stay at a low - mid end hotels since they are more reasonably priced and a lot of time I get comped rooms at those since I gamble a relatively small amount. While Encore and the Cosmopolitan might be in the $300 per night range, I would rather save my money and stay at a hotel like the Flamingo for ~$100 per night. If you do try to save money by staying at one of the more reasonably priced 3-4 star hotels, have an idea of which end of the strip you'll be going to more often since cab fare can eat away a lot of your savings if you stay at the wrong end.

If you are planning on frequenting XS/Surrender/Tryst I'd look into SLS, TI, and the Mirage.

If you are planning on frequenting Light/Hakkasan I'd look into Luxor, NYNY, and the Monte Carlo.

If you are planning on frequenting Marquee or maybe you are split between going to the North and South end then perhaps stay somewhere in the middle like the Flamingo, Bally's, Paris, or Planet Hollywood.

If you aren't planning on walking to get around, a personal favorite of mine is Palms Place. It has amazing end to end views of the strip and a decently sized balcony to enjoy that view. It has modern decor and a mini-kitchen that makes a longer stay easier, but the attention to detail with things maintenance, like most non-top tier hotels isn't quite up to par: usually there might be a scuff here, a scratch there, that you would never find at Encore. I personally don't go around counting the scratches on floors though, so it's never been a problem for me, lol.

[HazePurple]

The Cosmopolitan is great, but not for everyone. But you can't go wrong with the MGM Grand.

[AusVIP]

If you want to save some $$ Planet Hollywood is central and has enough going on around it.

[tperk]

The MGM is my go-to... You can usually find pretty good rates, not to mention it's huge so there is plenty to do within the resort.

The main reason is that I just can't justify spending $300+ a night on some of the hotels, when I spend such little time in my room.

[Cirilo Medina]

The above are why me and my friends/family love Excaliber! Good location, fun rowdy environment, cheap rates. The room is basically a glorified locker storage for our stuff. If we wanna "up" the stakes a little, it's Planet Hollywood

[wrexter]

Hi all, thank you for all your replies.

To be honest yes money means something to us but we are also treating ourselves in Vegas as for most of our trip we are staying Airbnb and/or $100 a night hotels. So for Vegas we wanna party like rockstars so to say

Looking at Staying 1st to 3rd Oct at the Cosmpolitan ($170 a night from lmtclub.com - Marriott wont price match here, already tried) and to stay at Aria or MGM Grand from 3rd to 6th Oct. We dont mind the swap and that way we experience both hotels and features.


Also, we are looking at doing an all day grand canyon tour, anyone reccomend what day we should do this?

Should we do it on the 4th (Saturday) to avoid the busy and hectic club in Vegas or are we missing out an the big atmosphere that the big crowds bring?


Thanks all

[artedm]

Keep in mind all of the hotels you have mentioned have resort fees/ tax on top
So your $170 base could really be $215+

For grand canyon tour- I think you are talking about a south rim bus tour. South rim is the main point.
http://www.grandcanyontourcompany.com/bussouth.html
I would do this on a slow day for example Wednesday/Thursday/Monday then when you get back go to a nightclub

You want to do pool parties Saturday and Sunday afternoon

[maxutilsperusd]

Changing hotels in the middle is what I usually do since it breaks things up, and if you get stuck with a subpar room then you get a second chance for something better. If it's Aria vs MGM Grand I would prefer MGM Grand.

Depending on when the all day Grand Canyon tour arrives back in Vegas you could still go to a show or a club afterward and you would only be missing the pool parties. Pool parties are much quieter on Friday than Saturday, so I would think Friday would be the day you would want to go to the Grand Canyon. You don't have to be front row jumping all night at a club so if you think you'll be too tired for that Light has a nice elevated area near the bar with a view of the DJ allowing for a more low energy night, while plenty of shows have start times as late as ~10pm.

For shows I'd recommend Absinthe, it's a nice eclectic mix that most people will like if then aren't too prudish.

[wrexter]

aware of the resort fees

This is the tour we are doing, being a sunset tour we will arrive back in Vegas quite late

https://www.grand-adventures.com/gra...n-sunset-tours

Since wednesday we arrive and Monday we leave, that only leaves Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun to do the Canyon tour.

I just dont want to book the tour and realised i booked it on a night that someone good was performing at the clubs.

[maxutilsperusd]

9:30pm is quite late if you have to go home, change, and presumably want to rest for more than 30 seconds. I personally wouldn't want to miss a pool party at EBC at Night on Thursday night or XS Nightswim on Sunday night so then I would do Friday for the tour, but both Friday and Saturday are when you are most likely to find the top DJs, so that's a tough call. If you want to leave Friday night open then I would definitely do Thursday over Sunday since the Sunday pool scene is much larger than Thursday.

[artedm]

I would switch to the tour I mentioned its half price $80 each compared to $160 each.
Plus its on a real bus- I wouldn't want to go on that long trip in a van and you will get back earlier.
I think that sunset stuff is a gimmick- you want to be there in the day to see everything/ the color of the rocks.

For nightclubs headline djs start at 1am. So if you got back at 930pm you would have like 3 hours in between.
I would do Thursday. Friday/ and esp Saturday/Sunday have pool parties that you shouldn't miss.