**Car available** — the group drives in from LA on Sep 30. KT & VT fly from LAS on Oct 3, while MS starts the drive back to San Francisco and returns the car at SFO on Oct 4. **Position on the Strip still matters, but hotel parking must now be included in every comparison.**
> ⚠️ **Resort fees.** Nearly every Strip casino resort adds a mandatory daily resort fee (typically ~$45–55 per room per night) charged **at the property**, on top of the rates below. For 2 rooms × 3 nights that is roughly **$270–330 extra** — enough to reverse the ranking. Confirm the exact fee on each property page before comparing. Listings marked **NO RESORT FEE** below are the ones that avoid it.
> ⚠️ **Parking.** Confirm the nightly parking charge and in/out privileges for every option. The rental remains with the group throughout the Vegas stay.
| [Best Western Plus Casino Royale](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/best-western-plus-casino-royalecenter-strip.html) | Center | $696 | **$1,392** | 8.0 (3,579) |
**Pick of the group — [Horseshoe Las Vegas](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/bally-s-las-vegas-casino.html), $938 for two rooms.** Dead centre of the Strip: the Bellagio fountains are across the road, the High Roller and LINQ are next door, and almost everything in [`vegas_sights.md`](vegas_sights.md) is walkable from the door. Ratings are middling-but-honest (7.9 across 8,180 reviews) and it is far cheaper than the resorts either side of it.
**Cheapest sensible — [Excalibur](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/excalibur.html), $620.** South Strip, connected by free tram toward the MGM cluster; 30,951 reviews at 7.6 make it a known quantity. Costs an extra ~15-min walk (or tram) to reach the centre.
**Skip Circus Circus and The STRAT** despite the price — both sit at the far north end, where every evening ends in a rideshare.
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## Option B — one suite / apartment for all four
*Whole unit, 2 bedrooms, kitchen. Often no resort fee, which closes most of the price gap.*
| Property | Layout | 3 nights | Rating | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **[Grand Desert Resort 2BR Villa](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/grand-desert-resort-2br-villa.html)** | 2 bed · 2 bath · 4 beds · 95 m² | **$596** | 9.6 (29) | Best value on this page — but only 29 reviews |
| [Wyndham Desert Rose 2BR Apartment](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/wyndham-desert-rose-resort-2br-apartment-with-resort-access.html) | 2 bed · 2 bath · 79 m² | **$630** | 9.0 (59) | — |
| **[Desert Rose Resort](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/desert-rose-resort.html)** | 1 bed + living room | **$599** | **9.0 (4,724)** | **NO RESORT FEE** · by far the most reviewed |
| [GetAways at the Jockey Club](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/getaways-at-the-jockey-club.html) | 1 bed + living room | $707 | 9.1 (2,859) | **NO RESORT FEE** · centre Strip, next to Cosmopolitan |
| [The Signature at MGM Grand — All Suites](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/the-signature-at-mgm.html) | Suite + balcony | $889 | 8.5 (1,567) | Non-smoking, no casino in the tower |
**If the group would rather share one place** — the way they have all trip — [Wyndham Desert Rose 2BR](https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/wyndham-desert-rose-resort-2br-apartment-with-resort-access.html) at **$630** gives two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen for less than two hotel rooms cost once resort fees land. Desert Rose sits on Harmon Ave, a short walk east of the Strip. The Grand Desert villa is $34 cheaper and better rated, but 29 reviews is thin.
The two 1-bedroom options (Desert Rose, Jockey Club) only work if one couple takes the living room — fine for three nights, worth agreeing in advance.
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## Not on Booking for these dates
Bellagio, Caesars Palace, The Venetian, MGM Grand, New York-New York, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Park MGM and The LINQ did not return availability on Booking.com for Sep 30 – Oct 3. Other MGM/Caesars properties did (Excalibur, Luxor, Flamingo, Horseshoe), so this is an inventory quirk rather than a sold-out Strip — **price those directly on mgmresorts.com and caesars.com** before deciding.
**Own search:** [Booking, Las Vegas Strip, 2 rooms, Sep 30 – Oct 3](https://www.booking.com/searchresults.html?ss=Las+Vegas+Strip%2C+Las+Vegas&checkin=2026-09-30&checkout=2026-10-03&group_adults=4&no_rooms=2&group_children=0&order=price)
