6.4 KiB
Las Vegas — Where to Stay (shortlist)
Candidate accommodation for the Vegas leg. Nothing booked yet.
Dates: Wed Sep 30 → Sat Oct 3 (3 nights) Guests: 4 adults (2 couples) → 2 hotel rooms, or one 2-bedroom suite 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.
Location on the Strip
| Zone | Walk to | Hotels below |
|---|---|---|
| Center Strip | Bellagio fountains, High Roller, Caesars, Venetian | Horseshoe, Flamingo, Casino Royale, Jockey Club |
| South Strip | Sphere-side attractions via tram, MGM area | Excalibur, Luxor, Signature at MGM, Desert Rose, Grand Desert |
| North Strip | Fewer sights; longer walks or rideshare | Circus Circus, The STRAT, SAHARA |
Option A — two hotel rooms (classic Vegas)
Price shown per room / 3 nights, then the group total for 2 rooms. Resort fee extra.
| Hotel | Zone | Per room | × 2 rooms | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circus Circus | North | $250 | $500 | 6.8 (16,474) |
| The STRAT | North (far) | $257 | $514 | 7.2 (8,794) |
| Excalibur | South | $310 | $620 | 7.6 (30,951) |
| Luxor | South | $444 | $888 | 7.4 (22,988) |
| Horseshoe Las Vegas | Center | $469 | $938 | 7.9 (8,180) |
| SAHARA Las Vegas | North | $553 | $1,106 | 8.4 (11,717) |
| Flamingo | Center | $607 | $1,214 | 7.8 (24,171) |
| Best Western Plus Casino Royale | Center | $696 | $1,392 | 8.0 (3,579) |
Pick of the group — Horseshoe Las Vegas, $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 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, $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.
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 | 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 | 2 bed · 2 bath · 79 m² | $630 | 9.0 (59) | — |
| Desert Rose Resort | 1 bed + living room | $599 | 9.0 (4,724) | NO RESORT FEE · by far the most reviewed |
| GetAways at the Jockey Club | 1 bed + living room | $707 | 9.1 (2,859) | NO RESORT FEE · centre Strip, next to Cosmopolitan |
| The Signature at MGM Grand — All Suites | 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 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.
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
Still to sort for this leg
- Day trips — the through-rental is available for Hoover Dam, Red Rock and Valley of Fire (see
vegas_sights.md). - Shows — Cirque residencies sell out; book before arrival.
- Oct 3–4 return drive — choose MS's overnight stop / endpoint and coordinate the Oct 4 SFO car return with the SFO → YVR flight.
Prices checked Aug 31, 2026 for Sep 30 – Oct 3, excluding resort fees — re-check before booking.