The Best Hotels in Vegas

Gabe Weisert June 20, 2007

 

Pick your poison

In 2001, fresh from a $200 million dollar renovation, The Desert Inn imploded into a towering cloud of dust, courtesy of its new owner Steve Wynn. In its place now stands his flagship enterprise, a massive jade arc that contains a rear-projection waterfall and a Maserati dealership. Make way for the new.

Last year, 40 million visitors spent over forty billion dollars in Las Vegas (you do the math). They stayed in the city’s 135,000 hotel rooms at an occupancy rate approaching ninety percent – that rate hovered in the high nineties on weekends. Room rates in Las Vegas are still relatively low—around $120 dollars.

But when you’re deciding on a hotel in Vegas, a decent room rate only answers one part of a larger question. Namely—what are you in the mood for?

See our slideshow of the Best Hotels in Vegas.

We polled ten luxury travel agents who live and breathe Vegas. They visit several times a year to keep their clients apprised of the latest developments, and they have strong opinions about what’s worth a visit, and what’s not.

“If a client comes to me with a hotel where they want to stay, I always ask ‘why,’ to try to find out how much they know about the property, and if they would really be happy there,” says Monika Dystart of Sixth Star Travel.

Are you a high roller? Try Wynn Las Vegas, which features the only golf course on the Strip, or the Bellagio, where highly liquid visitors are given their own playing rooms. Partial to swimming pools? Check out the minor ocean at the Mandalay Bay, replete with waves lapping against a powdery sand beach. Is this a romantic trip? The Four Seasons takes serenity very seriously.

“Las Vegas is constantly evolving,” says Anthony Adler of Cruise and Resort, Inc. “New isn’t good enough anymore. Each new property has to successfully raise the bar on luxury guest offerings. And the best part is, you can now find luxury options in Vegas without getting a penthouse suite.”

See our slideshow of the Best Hotels in Vegas.

Case in point: the MGM Skylofts, which wins high praise for its sleek, airy rooms and boutique service—a concierge calls before your visit to make dining and entertainment arrangements. While weekend rates for a one-bedroom can hover around $2,000 per night, during the week those rooms run for a decidedly more reasonable $600.

And while Vegas will always be synonymous with gambling (the house politely accrued over $10 billion last year, thank you very much), hundreds of thousands of its visitors take more interest in Nemo than Keno. “I think that Vegas is often overlooked when families are planning vacations,” says Nancy Yale of Cruise Resort & World Travel. “I think it can be a great stop for a few days while visiting the Grand Canyon or Hoover Dam.”

Several agents recommended New York-New York for its rides (including the Manhattan Express, which hurtles patrons across a faux Manhattan skyline at seventy miles an hour), but the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas was the top choice as a family hotel. This Tuscan-themed resort is about as far away from the old, off-the-strip Binion’s as you can get: scenic hiking trails, panoramic lake views, and a robust array of camp activities for the kids.

For folks who like to play the ponies, a trip to the sports book at Caesars can constitute a near-religious experience—you could easily spend all day gazing up at dozens of jumbo plasma screens while lounging in their narcotically comfy recliners, and many people do. But when it comes to live events (and reports of boxing’s demise have been greatly exaggerated), the Garden Arena at MGM Grand is the place to be.

But in the end, it’s all about picking your agenda.

“The best advice I can give is to choose the hotel that is best for your visit—don’t base your choice on the ads that you see, or where your friend stayed,” says Nancy Yale. “Also, it’s always a good idea to secure show tickets ahead of time.”

See our slideshow of The Best Hotels in Vegas.

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