I’m traveling to town next month on business (and a little fun I hope). I usually stay off strip at places like the Marriott Courtyard on Paradise (quiet, nice and less traffic), but with all the deals being offered it seams I shouldn’t pass up staying at one of the several 2nd tier south strip casinos for less money than the Marriott.

So how do you rank the quality and offerings of the standard rooms of the following (listed here from low to high price). Nice, quiet rooms are the priority and decent food a plus.

Flamingo
Ballys
Luxor
Monte Carlo
Hard Rock (ok, not on the strip. It's priced right but probably too young for my boss)
TI
Planet Hollywood
NYNY
Paris and MGM are up at the same price as the Courtyard.

Thanks in advance and hoping to see some old friends and make some new friends soon.

p.s. I wish my boss wasn’t so cheap because the top tier hotels have super low rates now as well. I’d pay the modest extra out of my own pocket but he’s coming with me, LOL

I would go with Hard Rock,NYNY,or Planet Hollywood.Do not care too much for the Flamingo they call themselves remodeling but the inside looks quite dated to me.Bally's is okay they have some nice rooms with big jacuzzi tubs if you upgrade.Paris is okay as well.
Good luck!

Flamingo: meh.  GO rooms better but getting old.  Margaritaville is the only place on site that sticks out in my mind.  Other options nearby.
Ballys: meh.  Don't care for much in terms of food here but many options close by.
Luxor: meh.  The resort fee sucks.  Some decent food options.
Monte Carlo: meh.  Also has a crappy resort fee.  Food options OK and the free tram to take you to CityCenter/Bellagio if you like.  Cosmo/Planet Hollywood/MGM Grand are a bit of a stretch.
Hard Rock: no.  Paradise and HRH towers are newer and in better shape.  Also has crappy resort fee.  Food options OK and some interesting places close by.
TI: meh.  Oh my god, another crappy resort fee.  While the food options on site are meh, you have Mirage, Venetian/Palazzo/Grand Canal and Fashion Show Mall and if you stretch, Wynn/Encore food options that close.
Planet Hollywood: meh.  Getting dated.  It's in the upper tier of Caesars property but I think it's overrated.  Plenty of food options on site and in the Miracle Mile.  With Cosmo/CityCenter across the street, some good choices nearby.
NYNY: meh.  More crappy resort fees.  Food options OK and more nearby.
Paris: meh.  Good food options and lots more nearby.
MGM: meh.  Can we dump these crappy resort fees?  Food options getting upscale and more reasonable ones close.

One alternative to Paris/MGM: Tropicana.  As long as you get one of the recently remodeled rooms, it's good.  They also have a resort fee.  Food options on site are pretty good and you can walk to other options.
Another interesting choice near the Hard Rock: Rumor.  Rooms are nice and recently remodeled and while they don't have much on site, plenty of food options nearby.  Also has a free porn channel on their TVs.  I believe they also have a resort fee.

The resort fees start to hurt the longer you stay since it's a daily charge (anywhere from $10-25 for the list).  The Caesar properties will allow you to charge restaurants on sister properties to your room (not sure if MGM does the same; do not think it works for attached mall restaurants like Miracle Mile and Forum Shops).  If you notice, the Caesar properties are pretty much the only ones on the list that don't charge resort fees.  Wifi is usually a fee (roughly $15/day give or take) but it's usually included in the resort fee (check individual properties to see what's included in the resort fee).  There's some decent websites that consolidate that resort fee info if you google vegas resort fees.  If wifi is going to be a big deal, you should call each property and ask if you can use more than 1 device for a single fee/resort charge.  Either that or getting some kind of 3G/4G personal hotspot might be a better choice.  4G coverage by Verizon/MetroPCS/Sprint/Clear+others available in Vegas at the moment.  T-mobile/AT&T offer their version of 4G too.

If you're a sports better, Hard Rock and Tropicana sportsbooks are being run by Cantor Gaming which has some interesting options like mobile devices they'll loan you and in game betting.  Since Cantor recently took over both, the sportsbook looks nice and clean.

Bob

IMHO Mandalay Bay is the best true 'south strip' - I"m stopping over for 2 nights coming home from a biz trip and after signing up for their 'newsletter' I got 30% off - so I'm staying Thur and Fri for abou 250.  I've stayed there many times - TONS of eye candy - great resturants.  I used to stay a the Luxor but to me it just cheezy almost family oriented...  Flamingo - to dated and tired..  MGM - just too big and impersonal - NYNY not a fan of the crowd there - HardRock - tries too hard to be 'hip' and the rooms are in my opinion ghetto - even the remodeled ones try to be cool.  To me its where you go right after you turn 21 as you don't care much about the room.  And same for the Palms.

I do know with a little research you can get a sick deal on hotwire - if you do 5 start hotel in vegas on the stip there are only 2 or 3 hotels that are 5 star.. typically everytime I have use it I have always gotten the Wynn - which is soooo very nice.  And i save 30 - 40% off the published rate.  What you do is search HW then write down all the little ammenities they offer and post that on betterbidding dot com and they can tell you with 99% accuracy what hotel it is.. but every time i have used HW did 5 star mid stri its always been Wynn.

But for the money, IMHO Mandalay Bay is the best value on the south side.

-- Modified on 5/24/2011 7:54:21 AM

My persoal opinion is :
tHE Planet  Hollywood,Hard Rock, MGM..
Its truly about your company you keep not so much the hotel..: ) smile n wink
xoxox Lovely lorena de leon

Older hotels in the group you mention include Flamingo and Ballys - both those would be on the lower end of the quality spectrum from my experiences. Monte Carlo has a great location - it is connected to ARIA and the whole CityCenter complex (you will find great food there), and you can take the free tram from there to Bellagio if you so desire. Haven't been to TI since Ruffin took it over from MGM. As far as the Paris, MGM and NYNY - if they are the same price as the Courtyard be careful to include the daily resort fees at those places - they can drive the price up and you probably won't get as much value for your money as you would at the Courtyard (esp. at NYNY). Personal recommendation would be the Monte Carlo out of that group.

Hi,

Just stayed at the Monte Carlo last month and was really surpised at how nice the rooms are and it is a great location.  

I've stayed at MGM a million times and it is good too, nice pool area if that is important.

You're certainly right about those resort fees. They don't show up anywhere until the next to the last step in booking.

See you next month. At least the weather will be nicer than during my usual January visits.