Hotels in Las Vegas
Las Vegas has some of the nicest Hotels and Resorts on the Planet. 11 of the 20 largest hotels in the world are on the Las Vegas Strip. We have stayed at several properties and have some recommendations. In general, we've found that properties that 4 stars and above are very comfortable. Almost all of them have beautiful pools, casinos, world class entertainment, and very nice rooms. There are a smaller number of 4.5 to 5 star properties on the strip, but from our experience every single one of them is top notch. If you can find a good deal on any of these, we are sure that you'll be very pleased! Please remember that Resort Fees are a very real thing and that they are often included in the price at a later point. Go ahead and build in an extra $30 to $40 per night for your stay. Even with the high resort fees, we've found that the hotels, compared to the rest of the world, are still an incredible value. Here is a list of the top properties:
- The Cromwell - This is one of our favorite properties in Las Vegas. It is one of the most recent additions to the strip. It is located right in the center of the action and when you stay here, you are treated like royalty. Most Vegas properties have thousands of rooms, but the Cromwell is a World Class Boutique Hotel. It features a roof top pool which has amazing views of the strip, a small (but competitive odds) casino, World Class Giada restaurant, and a craft cocktail bar that offers free Moet Champagne to guests who are checking in on Friday and Saturdays! What more could you want? It's also part of the Total Rewards family, so every point that you earn here can be utilized for rewards and comped rooms at other properties like Caesars Palace, Paris, and the Linq!
- Vdara - This is a 5 star property located in the City Center Complex. Every room is a mini suite, and though it doesn't sit directly on the strip, you get the full advantages of a strip location and an off strip luxury get away! The Vdara does not have a casino but it is connected to the Bellagio, so with a short (connected walk) you are right in the heart of the action! There is also a free tram between the Vdara and Bellagio, that can easily whisk you south to Crystals, Aria, and the Monte Carlo! We got an amazing deal on these rooms, by utilizing Priceline. Please check out our strategies for how to get the best prices that Priceline offers on this 5 star property! You can also earn 2 free weekday nights here using the MyVegas app, so make sure you check out our strategies for that option as well!
- Aria - We haven't stayed here yet, but we've been here many times and it is beautiful. This is also part of the City-Center Complex and an MGM resort property. Everything is super modern in this more recent addition to the strip. You can also earn free weekday rooms here with the MyVegas App!
- The Cosmopolitan - This is the hottest place on the strip for clubs currently. The inside of the hotel is immaculate with pink crystals everywhere. The Chandelier Bar is an exceptional treat. Go to the 2nd Level and ask the bartender for "Buzz Buttons." They are little edible flowers that create an amazing sensation on your tongue. Water never tasted so good!
- Trump International Hotel - The Trump is a Hotel and Resort only with no casino included. It also sits slightly off the strip next to the Fashion Show Mall. With that being said, the property is gorgeous. The pool and spa are world class (there is a deal for the spa on our Groupon page!). Even with booking the room for a heavy discount (via priceline), we were able to upgrade to a huge suite for only a small upcharge (about $15/night). We had a full Jacuzzi, 2 rooms, 1 and 1/2 baths, and the most comfortable bed that we've ever slept on.
- Bellagio - The Bellagio was opened almost 20 years ago and it is still a masterpiece. From the pool, to the blown glass, to the chocolate fountains, to actual fountain show outside. The Bellagio still sets the standard for 5 Star Luxury in Las Vegas.
- The Venetian and Palazzo - The Venetian and Palazzo are stunning. They incorporate so many amazing elements from Venice like the canals, St. Mark's square, beautiful Italian Artwork, the Rialto Bridge, and there is marble everywhere. Our friends stayed here two years, and have vowed to never stay anywhere else again in Las Vegas!
- Caesars Palace - We had an amazing stay at Caesars on our most recent trip. We were upgraded to an updated King Bed Room in the Julius Tower. The view was spectacular as we drank coffee and mimosas over looking our very own Roman Forum and Pool. It's hard to believe that Caesars is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The property is still in great shape, and we highly recommend it. Check out our April 2017 Las Vegas Trip YouTube video for how awesome the room and view were!
- The Four Seasons - This is a luxury wing of the Mandalay Bay Complex. The rooms are supposed to be amazing and so is the pool!
- Mandarin Oriental - We haven't been able to stay here yet, but it looks amazing. We're going to keep hunting for deals on Priceline!
- Wynn and Encore - Steve Wynn took the best of his designs from the Bellagio and the Mirage and created Wynn & Encore. Every single detail is perfectly put together. Fresh flowers, koi ponds, waterfall, and Red/Gold accents everywhere. We haven't stayed here yet, but Steve Wynn definitely knows how to do luxury!
- Delano - We stayed at TheHotel for our honey moon in 2014, right before they rebranded the hotel. The room was huge! Almost 900 square feet, 2 rooms, 1 and 1/2 baths. There were really comfy bathrobes included in the room for us and the views back up the strip were pretty awesome.
Total Rewards/Caesar's Properties
Almost every property on the Las Vegas strip is owned by 1 of 2 parent companies, Caesars Entertainment (Total Rewards) or MGM Resorts (M-Life). The exceptions to this are Wynn/Encore, Treasure Island, Venetian/Palazzo, and Casino Royale. We recommend that you sign up for the free players card at each Casino/Company. The Total Rewards player's card works for Caesar's Palace, Paris, Bally's, Cromwell, Flamingo, Linq, and Harrah's in Las Vegas. There are also several Total Rewards Casinos across the country including the Harrah's Cherokee and Harrah's River Valley in North Carolina. By opening an account, you will save money in the properties by earning tier credits and rewards credits for your purchases and gambling. You can open an account online for free. Before you plan your trip and start looking for hotels, you should go ahead and sign up for a Total Rewards Card. Make sure that your travel partner has one as well. You can get additional discounts for having 2 Total Rewards members on 1 hotel room reservation. When you open an account, take a picture of the card so you'll always have the TR number. It's very important, because in general they will not release this information to you over the phone.
When booking a room, remember to put in a companion TR number, if they will be on the trip with you (even if they are staying at an MGM property). This saves you money, but they will have to be present (with you) to check in to your room. Let your friends who have gambled the most at Total Rewards properties, book your rooms and be the companion. Higher status and tiers credits will mean a better room rate (possibly comped). If you're friends have higher status, you should ask them to call Total Rewards and check their Friends and Family rate if you're booking separate rooms. Last year, we had a group of 8 people come out to Las Vegas. With the two highest Tier-Status players on the reservation, the rooms were 100% comped for 5 nights, almost $200 less. Another way to save money is to utilize promo codes for 20% to 25% discounts almost year round for Las Vegas with Total Rewards. Also, if you are a teacher, government worker, or student you should register your email address with your Total Rewards account because you'll receive an extra 10% off each reservation.
When booking a room, remember to put in a companion TR number, if they will be on the trip with you (even if they are staying at an MGM property). This saves you money, but they will have to be present (with you) to check in to your room. Let your friends who have gambled the most at Total Rewards properties, book your rooms and be the companion. Higher status and tiers credits will mean a better room rate (possibly comped). If you're friends have higher status, you should ask them to call Total Rewards and check their Friends and Family rate if you're booking separate rooms. Last year, we had a group of 8 people come out to Las Vegas. With the two highest Tier-Status players on the reservation, the rooms were 100% comped for 5 nights, almost $200 less. Another way to save money is to utilize promo codes for 20% to 25% discounts almost year round for Las Vegas with Total Rewards. Also, if you are a teacher, government worker, or student you should register your email address with your Total Rewards account because you'll receive an extra 10% off each reservation.
Priceline - Getting the Best Deal on their site!
We are huge fans of Priceline! Not only because we love William Shatner, but also because we have consistently found amazing deals for hotels via their website (especially in Las Vegas). There are two tools on their website which can help you find some of the best prices on the internet. They are the Priceline "Express Deals" and the "Name Your Own Price" option. Full disclaimer, these won't always find you the best rate online. We've found that it is almost impossible to compete with Caesars Entertainment prices, because they will offer rates 10% lower than any advertised online to encourage people to book directly with them. If you're thinking about the Cromwell, Caesars, Paris, the Linq, or Harrah's, you'll definitely want to try our suggestions above first!
Express Deals
First, go to Priceline.com and search for Las Vegas and the dates you are interested in. We searched for two random weekdays in June, and filtered the results for 5 star properties only. The cheapest option available, is the Trump International at $113/night. This doesn't seem like a bad rate for a 5 star property in Las Vegas, but if you look under the "Express Deals" tab you can see that there are currently 5 other 5 star properties in Las Vegas that have deep discounts. The thing about "Express Deals" is that the site won't let you know the name of the property in advance, only the location, star rating, and price discount. In Las Vegas, this is enough information to figure out which 5 star hotel each "Express Deal" is. The cheapest express deal list is $76/night, it's a 5 star hotel, located Northwest part of the Strip, with a 32% discount. A 32% discount on $113 is $76 per night, and the Trump International is the only 5 star hotel on the strip designated as Northwest Part of the Strip. So in this case, you get the additional savings and know exactly which hotel you are booking. The lowest price advertised online anywhere for this room is over $100/night, that is huge additional savings.
Name Your Own Price
You may be thinking, "great I just found out how to stay at the Cosmopolitan, Vdara, Aria, Venetian, or the Wynn for less than $118/night." You're right, you have found that deal, but now that you've got those base line prices, you can take a few stabs at getting an even better deal with the "Name You Own Price" feature. First, go to Priceline.com and scroll down to the "Name Your Own Price" option and type in Las Vegas and the same dates from above. You're going to bid on 5 star properties. The designation for location on the strip is below. So you know that if you bid for a 5 star in The Strip - Northwest Area, Trump International is the property that you are bidding on. We already knew from above that we can get that room for $76, so if want to stay there, then drop the "Name Your Own Price" offer another $10 and see what happens! We've gotten some great rooms in the past doing this. Priceline can put a limit on the number of bids for the same area and star level per day, so be realistic, or use multiple email addresses. With the "Express Deal" and "Name Your Own Price" option, you do have to commit to the room before you see which hotel you get. That is the trade off. By using the Location, discount, and star level you should be able to figure out what you're bidding on in Las Vegas! We can assure you that you will be very happy with any of these properties below, especially at $70-80/night!
The Strip - Northwest:
The Trump International
The Strip - Central West:
The Bellagio
Nobu at Caesars
The Cosmopolitan
The Strip - Southwest:
Vdara
Aria
Mandarin Oriental
Four Seasons
SKYLOFTS at MGM Grand
The Strip - Northeast:
Wynn and Encore
Venetian and Palazzo
Express Deals
First, go to Priceline.com and search for Las Vegas and the dates you are interested in. We searched for two random weekdays in June, and filtered the results for 5 star properties only. The cheapest option available, is the Trump International at $113/night. This doesn't seem like a bad rate for a 5 star property in Las Vegas, but if you look under the "Express Deals" tab you can see that there are currently 5 other 5 star properties in Las Vegas that have deep discounts. The thing about "Express Deals" is that the site won't let you know the name of the property in advance, only the location, star rating, and price discount. In Las Vegas, this is enough information to figure out which 5 star hotel each "Express Deal" is. The cheapest express deal list is $76/night, it's a 5 star hotel, located Northwest part of the Strip, with a 32% discount. A 32% discount on $113 is $76 per night, and the Trump International is the only 5 star hotel on the strip designated as Northwest Part of the Strip. So in this case, you get the additional savings and know exactly which hotel you are booking. The lowest price advertised online anywhere for this room is over $100/night, that is huge additional savings.
Name Your Own Price
You may be thinking, "great I just found out how to stay at the Cosmopolitan, Vdara, Aria, Venetian, or the Wynn for less than $118/night." You're right, you have found that deal, but now that you've got those base line prices, you can take a few stabs at getting an even better deal with the "Name You Own Price" feature. First, go to Priceline.com and scroll down to the "Name Your Own Price" option and type in Las Vegas and the same dates from above. You're going to bid on 5 star properties. The designation for location on the strip is below. So you know that if you bid for a 5 star in The Strip - Northwest Area, Trump International is the property that you are bidding on. We already knew from above that we can get that room for $76, so if want to stay there, then drop the "Name Your Own Price" offer another $10 and see what happens! We've gotten some great rooms in the past doing this. Priceline can put a limit on the number of bids for the same area and star level per day, so be realistic, or use multiple email addresses. With the "Express Deal" and "Name Your Own Price" option, you do have to commit to the room before you see which hotel you get. That is the trade off. By using the Location, discount, and star level you should be able to figure out what you're bidding on in Las Vegas! We can assure you that you will be very happy with any of these properties below, especially at $70-80/night!
The Strip - Northwest:
The Trump International
The Strip - Central West:
The Bellagio
Nobu at Caesars
The Cosmopolitan
The Strip - Southwest:
Vdara
Aria
Mandarin Oriental
Four Seasons
SKYLOFTS at MGM Grand
The Strip - Northeast:
Wynn and Encore
Venetian and Palazzo
Budget Airlines
Budget airlines can create good value. We took a $99 flight from Cologne, Germany to Miami last year with EuroWings. It was great. We were very comfortable and couldn't have been happier with the purchase. The more money you save on hotel and transit, the better. Our best trips to Las Vegas, have been when we've come home from amazing world-class vacations and realized that we didn't spend a ton of money in the process. If you are considering a budget airline, our advice is skimp on the way out to Las Vegas and splurge on the way home. You want to come home refreshed, not dead. The key to budget flights is to fly direct (without connections) and book early.
They charge for everything on these flights, so find ways to save. On our last trip, checked bags and carry on bags had additional charges, so we packed 1 large checked bag together for the trip to share. It saved us almost $100, both ways.
They charge for everything on these flights, so find ways to save. On our last trip, checked bags and carry on bags had additional charges, so we packed 1 large checked bag together for the trip to share. It saved us almost $100, both ways.
SkyScanner
SkyScanner is a discount travel site that has some really cool features. You can search for the cheapest flight to Las Vegas from anywhere in the US or other countries. Find the best deal, and see if you can get there easily and cheaply. For April 2017, the cheapest flights were $500 round trip per person from Raleigh, NC to Las Vegas. This was way too expensive, so we got a little creative. We used SkyScanner and found that some of the cheapest direct flights to Las Vegas were from Atlanta, which is about a 6 hour drive from where we live in Raleigh. We had the week off, so we rented a car one-way, stopped in the middle at a hotel for the night (very easy drive), woke up the next morning and finished the drive. We dropped off the rental car at the airport, checked our bag, and boarded our direct flight to Las Vegas! On the way home, we found a flight with Delta for only $40 from Atlanta to Raleigh, so that we would get all the way home smoothly. The total for the Return flight (Atlanta to Las Vegas), checked bag, rental car, Gas for the car, hotel room, and Delta Flight was only $200/person. We have flexible work schedules, with 10 days off for Spring Break, so we saved the money, and made a little road trip out of it.
IOS App Link for Easy Download - It's 100% Free and you'll save a ton with the Application!
Android App Link for Easy Download - It's 100% Free and you'll save a ton with the Application!
IOS App Link for Easy Download - It's 100% Free and you'll save a ton with the Application!
Android App Link for Easy Download - It's 100% Free and you'll save a ton with the Application!