Which hotels should we forget about going to?

[Mark91]

as the title says, which hotels should we forget about?

staying at flamingo. we will hotel hop for gambling, drinking and some snacking. this is for daytime activities. no clubbing or show advice is needed. like tropicana..thats a place i will not visit..never even been to vegas and ive come to that conclusion already.

but i need help on shaving a few others off the list. we will be there for a week but will have a few days booked up for other activies so maybe 3-4 days of hotel hopping. we will divide the strip into sections per day.

[dictator]

Well its a tough question as it's hard to judge, i only dislike Circus Circus. However i don't fancy Flamingo either but thats just a decent place but with an old casino feeling. So i rather write what you should visit:

- Wynn/Encore
- Venetian/Palazzo
- Mirage
- Caesars
- Belaggio
- Paris
- Planet Hollywood
- Cosmpolitan
- Aria
- MGM
- New york New york
- Mandalay Bay
- Luxor

Okayish:
- Stratosphere
- Treasure Island
- Flamingo
- The LinQ
- Bally's
- Monte Carlo
- Excalibur

Not been there yet:

- Tropicana
- Riviera (closing May 2015)
- Cromwell (newish hotel)
- SLS (newish hotel)
- Palms
- Rio

You can also consider the old Vegas (downtown)

[AusVIP]

Tropicana has been re-done and completely re-furbed... might not be a complete writeoff

[maxutilsperusd]

The Las Vegas Strip has 2 main groups that own a majority of the casinos. Caesar's Entertainment (CET) keeps track of all your gambling through their Total Rewards program and MGM Resorts International (MRI) keeps track of all your gambling through M Life. Typically people choose to either gamble heavily at one group and not at all at the other so they can get better future offers, or moderately at both groups so they can get offers from both groups. Other independent casinos have their own reward programs. Before gambling at each casino you should sign up for the players card (rewards program) but remember that if you've already signed up for Total Rewards or M Life you don't need to do so again for another casino also affiliated with the group.

Must-See:
Wynn/Encore
Cosmopolitan
Venetian/Palazzo

Not Worth Going To:
Bally's (CET)
Circus Circus (MRI)
Harrah's (CET)
Monte Carlo (MRI)
Rio (CET)
Riviera
Stratosphere
Tropicana

All the must-see casinos are independent so each one has it's own players club. All the other properties have something somewhat unique about them, but those top 3 are guaranteed to wow.

[Mark91]

Thanks guys. You really made a list of "to visit" resorts much easier

Regarding the strat..we want to visit the top for the view and the rides. We still stop off to do so on our "downtown day"

I've signed up for Mlife..just new to collect the card when m there. I've s few 'myvegas' rewards to redeem with the card

I've seen circus-circus being bashed a lot online so I kind of knew not t bother..now you guys confirmed it

Oh and BTW..our flamingo hotel is really just somewhere to sleep with a decent pool and location. We didn't need classyness etc. Cheers for the lists guys!

[dictator]

No problem, if you have any questions feel free to post them. Are you just on the strip to "see" hotels, or are you willing to play at all those casino's? Or are you more visiting the strip to see the famous casino's. Every list is different by each person. But the posts above give a clear view of the general picture.

For example i played an hour or so at Bally's and as a European we don't have that "jazzy soul feeling" what was around Bally's. However the casino is old and not special in any other way except the atmosphere which could be a local ribs restaurant combined with soulfood

[Mark91]

Its hard to say. We want to SEE the hotels and walk through but also gamble at a few too and visit bars and the buffet in a few.

I'm also European too..Irish

Can't wait to see the strip and experience Vegas!

[Mark91]

For example... The venetian..that seems amazing to walk through and soak oj the atmosphere... Not sure if we will gamble there or not. Nt sure her we will gamble..no special plans..but we defibetly want to at least experience the best hotels.

[dictator]

Cool, im going 6 days and this a rough guide for shifts of each day to show to my girlfriend. It's her first LV experience. The planning within 7 days is as following. Each new line takes about 4hr total time. Each alinea is a day. This is def not a "solid guide" but it has some points where you could set "blocks of visits"

Caesars Casino + Bellagio
Caesars Shops

Mirage + Treasure Island
Wynn / Encore
Venetian / Palazzo

Casino Royale + LinQ + Flamingo
Bally + Cromwell


New York New York + Monte Carlo
Mandalay Bay + Tropicana
Excalibur + Luxor

Aria/Vdara
Cosmopolitan

Planet Hollywood + Mall
MGM Grand + Paris
Show?


Downtown
Stratosphere + Circus Circus + SLS
Rio + Palms

[Mark91]

Sounds like a good plan. I may take it on board!

Thanks for the tips man

[Cappaccinodagreat]

Personally, I always visit Rio during my trip to at least pregame at Voodoo lounge. There always seems to be someone new with me when I go and I love introducing the Vegas newbies to that view in the early night time. And being outside with the cool, night time breeze on the roof is awesome. Add in a cheap ass bottle, or even a legendary "Witchdoctor" drink......... its a great spot to visit and pregame.
IMO

[ccc]

The thing to remember is that most of the casinos are more interesting from the outside than the inside.

Cosmo, Wynn/Encore, Venetian, Bellagio, Shoppes at Caesars, hell even Luxor are great to see the inside of. The rest can be kinda boring on the inside to be honest.

[Hurricane]

WynnCore, Bellagio and Cosmopolitan. By all means, stop in them all (you have the time), but I don't think any other hotels/casinos are a "must-see" in their own right. Instead I would focus on the particular restaurants, shops, shows, bars, lounges and clubs that you are interested in.

[maxutilsperusd]

I think the point is that those hotels along with the Venetian have things you can just go look at for free. Just seeing Chandelier, or the Venetian's Grand Canal, or the flower displays at Wynn/Encore are worth it on their own. So yeah, he should probably order a drink at Chandelier, maybe go on a gondola ride at the Venetian, and check out Parasol Up and Down at Wynn, but even if he didn't, it's more fun being at those properties than wasting his time gambling inside a nondescript casino like Harrah's.

I think a lot of us on this forum forget how absolutely different Vegas is from most people's cities and towns. The spectacle of it all does wear off after a bunch of repeat trips, but for a first timer I'd say it's a great question.

[kp3205]

When are you going? If it is during the month of June or the beginning of July Rio is hosting the WSOP. I enjoy poker and went over there while the Main Event was going on just to check it out and say I walked into the room. Quite a crazy scene seeing so many tables at once.