Usually I stay at the quad (imperial palace). I love that their luv tubs have massive cheesy mirrors everywhere for when I am getting ready. Perfect for selfies
. I never thought the elevators were that bad (mirrors there too).
I have also stayed as stardust (gone), Luxor (too far south), Paris (love it but $$$), balleys (almost Paris) and planet hollywood (ok but during construction). On my vegas honeymoon we stayed at the Hard rock which is convenient on paradise blvd and has nice modern rooms. Our experience was biased because they gave us a free upgrade to their deluxe HRH tower.
This might be the year I finally stay downtown at Freemont st. Right now you could get 6 nights + flight from LA for $200-300 as a vacation bundle on expedia. Only drawback is that it is nonrefundable. I will be renting a car again but it would be great to have a coordinated group downtown so we could car pool or meet up for spontaneous late night trips to Denny's. Could we have a official DLV recommendation downtown as our budget option? what would it be? I am still looking at the flamingo, hard rock, and quad which are in the $600-700 range. the Question is whether I want to pay an extra $300+ to be close to the strip.