COSMO...Whats the big deal?

[Hungover]

Just looking for some insight here. Planning a big bachelor party for NFL Week 1. Our core group has been to vegas a number of times and we have stayed in cheap places like Luxor and Excaliber and have stayed in nicer places that past few years. The last two trips we got the 2 bedroom suites at the Mirage...It was a great pregame/meeting spot for everyone and was a good deal for the 4 or 5 people that went in on it. The mirage apparently has something going on Sept. 11th weekend this year as none of their suites are available and their rooms rates are much higher than normal(anyone know why?). Because of that I have been looking at other options and saw the Bella Suites right across the street for a decent price. I thought that was great...almost the same price as the standard 2 queen room at mirage for that weekend. A few new people to this trip cant seem to get over the Cosmo. No matter what I say they push for staying at the Cosmo. I have heard a few other people that have these same feelings. "I dont go to Vegas unless I stay at the Cosmo". I have never stayed...and with the price matching option I see, it looks like I can get a queen room there down to near what the Bella suite would be. But my question is what is so great about the Cosmo? Is it worth all the hype. We are all upper 20's low 30's, gamble a lot and will be doing the pool parties and a club or two at night. Venetian Bella, or Cosmo standard? Thanks for the help!

[zero]

I've only been to Vegas twice (in a few weeks will be my 3rd time) and so far I've stayed at the Flamingo, Cosmo, and will stay at a Bella suite coming up here. I really didn't see anything special with cosmo in my opinion. The crowd was young and the party type and it was upbeat, but when I stayed at the Flamingo, it was equally as upbeat if not even more. So I honestly don't know why everyone is so hyped on Cosmo. I assume it's just because Marquee is a dope club.

[Rival2378]

Cosmo pros:
1) Centrally located
2) Aesthetically it is new, beautiful and modern with excellent suites (with balconies) and amenities
3) Fantastic Nightclub/Dayclub
4) excellent dining options
5) Extremely lively and hip vibe with tons of young(er) folk
6) Hotel bars are usually very lively and energetic (Bond, Chandelier, Vesper)
7) Hotel pool (Blvd) is quite lively and a good time (for a non-dayclub experience)
8) secret pizza

[maxutilsperusd]

Cosmo Pros:
1. Marquee
2. Marquee Dayclub
3. Secret Pizza
4. Chandelier
5. STK, Rose. Rabbit. Lie., and Wicked Spoon
6. The unprecedented amount of public lounging space

Cosmo Cons:
1. Not known for their gambling options or comps

Venetian Pros:
1. Bella Suites are one of the larger room options for standard rooms
2. Rarely Tao has bigger Rap/R&B DJs or performers
3. Tao Beach is a low cost pool party that you can get to late
3. One of the closer hotels to Wynn/Encore

Venetian Cons:
1. Tao often an irrelevant club option with so many better clubs in town
2. Tao Beach is essentially only an option if you really want to minimize costs

To me it's essentially a no-brainer, the Cosmopolitan has one of the more relevant clubs and dayclubs onsite with Marquee, one of the most recommended bars with Chandelier, the best late night food option with Secret Pizza, a collection of top tier restaurants at different price points, and the many different areas of the hotel with chairs, tables, and even a pool table that anyone can just take a short break at.

Now if the question was the Cosmopolitan vs. Wynn/Encore things are less clear, but these days the Venetian just doesn't have anywhere near enough benefits to justify it's high cost.

[EastCoast]

I think I have posted an answer to the same question multiple times on different threads. I will keep it short this time. Cosmo is the best hotel for people ages 25-45 that want to socialize with other people. From an objective perspective Cosmo and Wynn/Encore have the best facilities to socialize - see max's post above. From a subjective perspective, and this is the perspective I preach, Cosmo has the best atmosphere. Very few kids or older people. Very few serious gamblers (at least at the tables I play). Most people are 25-45 and are there to meet other people. You end up with a very social vibe. I won't stay anywhere else on guys' trips and I have stayed at Wynn, Encore, Venetian, Palazzo, Caesars, MGM and NYNY. I expect your buddies like the social vibe.

[RayDay]

Agreed with all above points. I would add though if you are a serious gambler and that takes priority over the social vibe than Cosmo may not be for you. Very poor rules for most table games and no Identity points for table play.. And good luck finding a 3:2 BJ table under $100/hand. If you are a casual gambler this shouldn't be an issue though.

[ReasonableDoubt]

Now if the question was the Cosmopolitan vs. Wynn/Encore things are less clear, but these days the Venetian just doesn't have anywhere near enough benefits to justify it's high cost.

I would not consider Venetian/Palazzo "high cost". They are fairly reasonably priced IMO. Now Cosmo, though I do love it, is GROSSLY over priced. Their basic City Room (which is SMALL) has an average nightly rate of $350+ on weekends and $180+ during the week. If you were to put that same money towards V/P, MGM, PH or even Wynn/Encore it goes wayyyyyy further...Basically the cost of Cosmo way out weights the benefits.

[maxutilsperusd]

I would not consider Venetian/Palazzo "high cost". They are fairly reasonably priced IMO. Now Cosmo, though I do love it, is GROSSLY over priced. Their basic City Room (which is SMALL) has an average nightly rate of $350+ on weekends and $180+ during the week. If you were to put that same money towards V/P, MGM, PH or even Wynn/Encore it goes wayyyyyy further...Basically the cost of Cosmo way out weights the benefits.

I haven't really seen that in my pricing out of various trips at all. Usually it's a tossup between Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo for the highest price and Cosmopolitan bring up the rear. For my next week long trip in July booking directly using the best publicly available promotion offered through each property the current prices for the most basic king room are:

$234.72 Palazzo
$222.58 Venetian
$209.00 Wynn
$209.00 Encore
$163.00 Cosmopolitan

Now you correctly argue that a City Room is significantly smaller at 420 sq ft compared to the Luxry King Suite at the Veneitn is 650 sq ft, so a Terrace Studio is better to compare with since it's 620 sq ft yet also has the 110 sq ft balcony. A Terrace Studio during that same trip is only $188.00 a night still making it the cheapest.

$234.72 Palazzo
$222.58 Venetian
$209.00 Wynn
$209.00 Encore
$188.00 Cosmopolitan Terrace Studio

Those prices make it pretty clear to me that the real choice is between Encore and the Cosmopolitan with the Venetian and Palazzo both unreasonably expensive. Now this is for one specific week out of the year, so obviously it isn't always this clear cut, but I've found these prices to be the norm rather than the exception.

[RayDay]

There are also many things that can contribute to hotel pricing on any given night when it comes to supply and demand... Events, conventions, trade shows, concerts, etc. I'm not going to do the research but from what I can remember from booking trips Cosmo, along with Wynn/Encore, is always the most expensive.

[Sensei Rob]

In my 30s I am one of those people! Wont stay anywhere but Cosmo and also love to gamble.

Great Vibe around the casino and its bars. Modern rooms and the terrace, Its something about a terrace that just gets me into a zone.

[Hungover]

$234.72 Palazzo
$222.58 Venetian
$209.00 Wynn
$209.00 Encore
$188.00 Cosmopolitan Terrace Studio

I cant even come close to those rates at the cosmo for Sept 11th weekend. Can anyone figure out what is going on that weekend? The rates I can find are Bella suite with 2 queen beds for 925 for 3 nights....or Cosmo 2 queen terrace room for $1600. What am I doing wrong?

[ponch62]

I cant even come close to those rates at the cosmo for Sept 11th weekend. Can anyone figure out what is going on that weekend? The rates I can find are Bella suite with 2 queen beds for 925 for 3 nights....or Cosmo 2 queen terrace room for $1600. What am I doing wrong?

Can't say for sure, but Mayweather usually tries to fight the second or third Saturday in September(Pacquiao rematch?). It's also right around when iHeartRadio show is in town usually. It may not be either of those things affecting rates this far out, entirely possible they have some kind of convention in the hotel at that time that is filling up a lot of the hotel, rates are usually based on how close to capacity a hotel is at a given time.

[AusVIP]

In my 30s I am one of those people! Wont stay anywhere but Cosmo and also love to gamble.

Great Vibe around the casino and its bars. Modern rooms and the terrace, Its something about a terrace that just gets me into a zone.

+1 what Rob said.

Cosmo is the shit.

Plus its not Massive so walking through it is easy even if you're staying in the west tower...

Unlike Venetian which is massive.

[maxutilsperusd]

There are also many things that can contribute to hotel pricing on any given night when it comes to supply and demand... Events, conventions, trade shows, concerts, etc. I'm not going to do the research but from what I can remember from booking trips Cosmo, along with Wynn/Encore, is always the most expensive.

Introduction:
I didn't say that the Venetian was never the right call, my point was people seem to underestimate the cost of the Venetian/Palazzo and overestimate the cost of the Cosmopolitan all the time. The original question was what makes the Cosmopolitan special which many people replied to touting the top notch amenities.

I've got some time to get some more data points to show the sometimes very high price of Venetian/Palazzo and the sometimes low price of the Cosmopolitan. I randomly selected a couple of different weeks using a random number generator of the week numbers to compare. I used the lowest rate directly through each first party website along with whatever relevant promotion was available except as noted. I didn't use the pricematching for the Cosmopolitan except where noted.

Data:
This coming week March 29th - April 5th:
$223.00 Cosmopolitan Terrace Studio
$199.43 Cosmopolitan City Room
$189.00 Venetian
$184.00 Encore
$179.00 Wynn
$169.00 Palazzo

May 10th - 17th:
$417.14 Cosmopolitan Terrace Studio
$319.00 Venetian
$315.71 Cosmopolitan City Room
$309.00 Palazzo
$295.00 Wynn
$271.00 Encore

August 16-23rd:
$232.29 Palazzo
$229.00 Wynn
$222.00 Encore
$220.15 Venetian
$198.00 Cosmopolitan Terrace Studio
$173.00 Cosmopolitan City Room

And then I went on to look at the weekend mentioned in the original post so we're not completely off topic, September 11th weekend. I'm going to do Friday-Monday morning since missing Nightswim is a sin according to pretty much everyone I've gone with so this one will be September 11-14th

September 11-14th:
$370.00 Cosmpolitan City Room
$352.00 Wynn
$352.00 Encore
$329.09 Cosmpolitan Terrace Studio *Using the Marriott Price Match
$273.98 Palazzo
$245.65 Venetian

Analysis:
So from those 4 new data points along with my original July 19th-26th point we now have a bit more evidence, not enough to say any single one is the best deal, but enough to say that Venetian/Palazzo are not always cheaper than Wynn/Encore and the Cosmopolitan and that the Cosmopolitan isn't always "GROSSLY overpriced".

My original point was that with how much subjectively better Wynn/Encore and the Cosmopolitan are in terms of property amenities than the Venetian/Palazzo, the Venetian/Palazzo doesn't deserve it's high price. I also stated that Venetian/Palazzo are usually toward the top of the price spectrum with Wynn/Encore, while the Cosmopolitan was usually toward the bottom.

If I had to pick between these properties (and only these properties) for each of these data points I would pick Encore twice, the Cosmopolitan twice, and the Venetian once. Out of those 5 data points the Venetian and the Palazzo was the highest priced option twice, almost exactly tied with Wynn/Encore 2 more times, and a clear lowest the last time. Now I was wrong about the Cosmopolitan usually being at the bottom, it was at the bottom 2 times and at the top 3 times, so it has a chance to go either way.

Final thoughts:
Every hotel has drastic fluctuations in price due to demand, but not every hotel is equal in quality, and not everyone has a reasonable average price. Hotel prices also change over time, which mean a hotel that has great deal today for a specific week or weekend could have terrible prices tomorrow, or somewhat more rarely a hotel will decrease the price of it's rooms through rate adjustment or an additional promotion to make it a better deal.

Specific issues with blackout dates on the only promotion the Cosmopolitan offers so far for September led to very high prices for those dates, but future promotions could change that. No matter where you book for the weekend of the 11th, if you are looking to book now, I suggest you book at a refundable rate since prices easily could go down with how far out the trip is.

TL;DR:
1. The Cosmopolitan in my opinion is a better hotel option than the Venetian most of the time due to the superior amenities.
2. Usually if you are want a 4.5-5 star hotel the question should be between Wynn/Encore and the Cosmopolitan, with Venetian/Palazzo being the occasional right call if they are significantly cheaper.
3. The Venetian is often toward the higher end of the price spectrum for high end hotels.
4. The Cosmopolitan is either toward the higher end or the lower end of the price spectrum for high end hotels.
5. As of right now for the specific weekend of September 11th it might be one of those times where one could consider the Venetian/Palazzo, but that easily could change if a better promotion is made available for the Cosmopolitan or better rates for Wynn/Encore.

[maxutilsperusd]

With respect to why it is somewhat high that specific weekend it's a bit unclear.

iHeartRadio doesn't make sense since it's usually the 3rd weekend in September.

Last year there was Mayweather VS. Maidana II so that could be influencing it.

Then I looked at conventions. So far you have CTIA Super Mobility Week being a really large one but it's ending September 11th. Then I looked into it and it's a cellphone tech one, an industry with a ton of workers with money to burn, so it makes sense a significant number of them would be staying through the weekend in the higher end hotels.

Otherwise yeah it's a bit of a mystery, I don't know of any large events typically held that weekend, and no concerts have been announced yet.