Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Hotel Spread
Cheapskate's choices:
Hotels such as
El Cortez (p. 46), Terrible's (p. 55),
Wild, Wild West (p. 58)
$16-$25/night
$32-$36
$24-$35
$60-$130
Slightly plusher choices:
Hotels such as
Sam's Town (p. 55), Orleans (p. 60),
Stratosphere (p. 43), Circus Circus (p. 41)
$25-$40
$45-$75
$30-$67
$140-$170
Mid-range choices:
Hotels such as Bally's (p. 36),
Paris (p. 38), TI at the Mirage (p. 38), and
New York-New York (p. 30)
$49-$80
$200-$270
$100-$150
$200-$399
Most expensive choices:
Hotels such as the
Bellagio, Caesars Palace, and Wynn Las Vegas $130-$180 $350-$450 $200-$270 $350-$500
Please note that the rates above are averages, and there are times when they have dipped slightly higher and
lower; I've excluded New Year's Eve and other insanely pricey dates from this chart.
to ask specifically for these very old rooms, as they only go to those who request
them. One other suggestion: Find out what specials they're running. Recently
they offered free 2-night stays in September to anyone who bunked here 3 days
or more in July or August.
As I write this, there's no pool or gym, but the owners recently bought the for-
mer Ogden Hotel across the street to handle overflow guests and will be adding
those amenities there. Along with a '60s-style casino, famous for its $1 roulette,
there are four restaurants (Miss Kitty's is the best, avoid the “Chinese” Buffet). Be
sure to take a good look at the outside of the casino—it has the largest number of
original neon signage of any casino in Vegas (and they're pretty cool looking, too).
$-$$
The second cheapest decent option is the
Vegas Club
(18 E. Fremont St.;
%
800/634-6532 or 702/385-1664; www.vegasclubcasino.net; AE, DC, MC, V),
a
sprawling casino right on Fremont Street that's as close as you get to a theme hotel
in Glitter Gulch. In case you can't guess from the decor—and to be honest, it will
take a while for the theme to emerge—it's sports, and there are some nice pieces
of memorabilia here (signed baseball bats and the like) as well as a mural or two
with cheerleaders and other sporting types. Other than those touches, this is the
usual dimly lit, low-ceilinged, cramped downtown casino. But guest rooms are
quite roomy, ranging in price from $30 to $50 when it's slow, up to $110 when
a convention's in town. When I last dropped by, there were complaints that the
new owners were putting the kibosh on reckless comping and that it was getting
more difficult to turn in points to get free rooms here. It's too early to see whether
that will be a trend, but the other rumor is that the owners will be upgrading
rooms, which is good news since the older ones look like they still have the same
furniture and carpeting from the '70s and the “newer” ones have a distinctly '80s
vibe. They're all clean, but pretty threadbare at this point, and are missing items
