there are some good deals at the vdara through lastminute.com, 5 star luxury all suites with kitchens and no casino, i just paid £670 each for 7 nights in september including gatwick flights

I did have a look at that one but I'm drawn to the Platinum. I see it also has no resort fees.

Platinum have got a deal on at the mo' for $99 a night

TC

yes- am now on their email list( along with Signature). I fancy the princess suite with strip view.

Yeah I'm waiting on a deal for the Signature, very little so far. I'm sure we'll stay there, just a question of how much we pay.

TC

Las Vegas is certainly a different destination than usual. Normally we have sorted out hotels by now but it seems you need to hang on to get the deals in Vegas. We don't go till October so have plenty time really

You don't necessarily have to hang on to get the best deals. If you see a rate you're happy with it's better to book right away, as long as it's fully refundable, and keep looking.

I often see people on other sites hanging on then missing out on a great rate when they could have had it booked as a fall back.

luci

Hi Fiona

Sorry it's taken me a few days to respond, busy time and not been on here.

Platinum is really good. I highly recommend it. The pool is small though, but very nice with padded loungers, indoor/outdoor pool with swim through bit, so you can go indoors and lie and relax if you need out the sun etc. There's also a nice seating area.

The Princess Suite has the extra benefit of the washing machine. We had a strip view, so we looked at the back of Flamingo and Bally's. You're just a short walk to the back entrance (sports book end) of Bally's to get out the heat too. There's also Ellis Island nearby if you want some cheap gaming or food. They also have an excellent Pizza takaway called Metro. We took pizza back to the room. We also got juices etc from the petrol station very closeby (like in front of Platinum). That way we had a stocked fridge, hubby got the drinks ready and did some washing and I went for the pizza to have on the balcony.

Also nearby is Tuscany (just behind around the corner) if you want some other gaming or restaurants. Westin Casuarina is closeby for gaming offers through the week too (think they do 25c roulette, they used to anyway). The strip really isn't far, it's a nice retreat. There were 6 of us who stayed there last time. All enjoyed it. We all had different rooms. We had Princess Strip view (they used our washer), others had Solitaire Strip view (much the same without the washer), and then others had solitaire without strip view and they had sun in the morning to go out and read their free newspaper which they quite liked. I sort of thought that might have been good too. The difference is +$10 for strip view and +$20 for Princess usually, so +$30 for the room we had if you get what I mean. So on a $99 offer it would be $129 but you could have the Princess for $119 without the view.

Parking is valet only which I find to be a pain. Depends what you like though.

Thanks both
I had read also that they had good happy hours and also that food and drink round the pool was much lower than elsewhere( and that you could also take your own drinks for round the pool). I love the idea of the balcony
Did you take taxis back at night?

Hi Fiona

No, didn't use taxis when we stayed there, we're happy to walk.

I don't know the pool drink and food prices as we never ate there, and took down our own drinks. Staff only pop outside once in a while so don't really bother you at all.

One day as we came back to the hotel though we popped up to reception to ask for late checkout and a bar staff member stopped by and gave us a free martini. We took it through to the bar and drank it and left a couple of dollars for her for their nice thought.

I highly recommend the hotel, we will probably stay there again if there is an offer on next year.

hi Lesley
sorry I never saw your reply till now. We didn't use taxis either. The local drunks were around but were no problems at all. Still wouldn't fancy the walk past them if I was on my own. Usually on the way back we went in to Paris and then through to the back of Ballys so it never seemed so bad.

Yes, from south strip it's a bit easier to go through bally's particularly if it's very hot.

I'm very keen to stay there next year. We've stayed there 3 times I think it is now, and definitely missed it this year! Only thing I don't like is the Valet only parking.

I would definitely stay there again if we were to return. It was funny seeing folks wandering through casinos with luggage and a map of the hotel Even funnier when you see road names inside a hotel!