The strip vs. downtown. Which do you stay at and why?

I know we get comfortable with where we land but why? Do you venture out and explore or do you choose to pick one shop and settle in? Does downtown give you better offers or does the strip?

 

When you live in the East, as I do, it's easier to be comped through CET because they have properties back here. Baltimore, AC, and NOLA are all routinely accessible to me through cheap trains or Rapid Rewards points and the free rooms I get upon arrival. Hence, I build up my points in the East and cash them in out west so I can get a free room in Vegas once a year. The Fremont properties, alternatively, are tougher to build up points with if you're all the way out here in DC.

That said, the older I get (41 and counting), the more I like staying on Fremont. The next time I can't earn a comp on the Strip with CET, or maybe even if I can, I'm staying in an El Cortez cabana room.

 

I'm a strip person

While I enjoy some time downtown (or try to) the strip just screams "Vegas" to me. I enjoy the craziness and over the top activity and sights.

V/P takes good care of me and I always casino hop on the strip. Absolutely love it

 

Always been fond of the strip, but now as I go with friends, downtown is the choice. It is be
tter for their wallets. We do still travel each day to the strip. Mostly, during the day to site see, hit and run gamble, or hit a show. But the night time partying and hard core gambling sessions are downtown.
I am not a comp chaser, and just casino hop. If I was I would probably say downtown drink service and compare better.

 

On our trips we normally stay downtown the first few days and then move to the strip for the last portion. I like the smaller hotels of DT, Your room is not 700 yards down a hallway and waiting for an elevator for 5 minutes as with some at the strip. We do walk up and down Fremont stopping at most of the casinos at least once on our jaunts. As for the strip, typically stay mid-strip. We stay at the Cosmo. Love the rooms and the casino. We will gamble at hotels in that area Aria, Bellagio, and across the strip at PH, Ballys and Paris.
Just returned from a day trip with all days comped. Had no luck on anything downtown for 3 days. Things started slowly on the strip but the last couple of days were great. Hit a $5299.57 JOB progressive at Cosmo. Another $1080. on sizzling 7's. Many nice wins at Aria. Not much at the Harrah's properties.
Keep telling ourselves that we are going to get out and see some of the other things Vegas offers. Pawn shop, RIck's Restoration and the Vamp's place. But, like always we just did not do it. Some shopping but that was about it.

 

I started as a strip only guy with a visit downtown for an evening every other trip or so. With the gambling taking such a nose dive on the strip and the tightening of comps we have moved more and more downtown. I still am able to get a comp for 3 nights on the strip if I choose to but the atmosphere downtown coupled with the cheaper better gambling it hasn't made me want to go back to the strip at all.

 

Downtown has not evolved enough for me in the quality of the hotel and casino to compare with the strip (but they are getting close). Downtown Grand and The Golden Nugget have evolved the guest experience downtown with their properties.
I have been willing to carve off a couple of days a year in my vacation to stay downtown.

Still its the drunk masses and undesirables that tarnish my downtown experience (but its getting better). The city of Las Vegas is trying hard to keep the pandhandlers, crazy drunks, and generally mentally unhealthy people away from the tourists.
I feel safer around downtown (more so then the strip lately).

The experience of the strip is still pretty cool with its energy, diverse hotels, and luxury available that keeps me there for the most part. The eroding gambling conditions, declining comps, and costs have me constantly re-evaluating. I think if the nickle and diming continues by strip operators, I may try a downtown only trip to Las Vegas to test the waters. Downtown desperately needs a visionary operator who could take the best of a strip resort and drop it downtown to raise their profile. Until that happens the masses will stay strip side and will still be the primary choice for Las Vegas visitors.

 

I stopped Downtown for about an hour on my last trip and I couldn't get away from there and back to the Strip fast enough. Junky, rundown, tiny casinos full of desperate locals. Homeless people manhandling me when I tried to ignore their begging. "Gift Shops" full of overpriced cheaply made plastic Chinese crap. It was absolutely horrible.

The Strip is where you find really nice places to stay and play. Caesars Palace made me feel like a king. I will never go Downtown again.

 

Moved downtown in 2012, and never gone back, other than for the odd meal.

I just prefer the atmosphere and vibe downtown, but I do miss eating at CUT 2-3 times per trip :evillaugh

Was a Palazzo regular every trip, but now I always stay at the Nugget, and love it there.

 

We've visited Las Vegas regularly since Aug 1995 and we always stay on the Strip. So far we don't have an interest in downtown. The only times we have been downtown was when part of Fremont Street was on the route of the old Las Vegas Marathon in the early 2000s.
We stay on the Strip because it has the things we like to do and the sights we enjoy.

 

Strip for me.

Rooms, restaurants, bars, shit to look at, ambiance...it's just many times nicer (plus I'm single... and the ladies...well, come on, you can't even compare).

It's also many times more expensive. And I can certainly envision a time in the not too distant future when I become fed up with strip prices. But downtown needs to come a long way in the food and room categories to get me to fly all the way across the damn continent just to stay there.

 

It really depends upon what you are looking for. If you go to vegas to go to clubs, party at pools, and walk a mile and a half to your room, then the Strip is definitely for you. If you are looking for the best gambling at reasonable minimums, Downtown is the place to be. There are no dancing fountains Downtown, but there is 3-2 blackjack and 10X odds on craps. There are no wild pool parties, but you don't have to pay $10 for a Bud Light.

The hotels Downtown are generally smaller and the rooms are smaller. Personally, I don't care. Some people like a 300 sq. ft. bathroom. I don't need much room to do my business. I go to Las Vegas to gamble and have a good time. I spend very little time in my room. There is no doubt that downtown cannot compete with the nicer strip properties when it comes to luxury, amenities, and choices. If those are important to you, you will be disappointed staying downtown.

 

This is how I feel.
I don't get "free" rooms so I don't care about comps, it's a regular vacation to me. I hunt for the best deal at a nicer hotel, and different from where I stayed the last time.
I do enjoy downtown at night though, but not during the day - don't care for the canopy because I don't want to walk around in the shade during the day; it's like having a big cloud overhead.

I do wish the strip would grow northward instead of southward, however - and not have the creepy area between the strip and downtown. Just have one big "strip"!

 

Strip for me. I've been to Vegas 10/11 times & my last trip we decided to venture downtown.
I know people really like downtown, but it just wasn't for me. I am a craps player and the odds are better, but Vegas isn't all about gambling for me, it's move of the experience, and the strip provides a better one.

In addition, CET comps me like crazy, so I can stay at Paris, Flamingo, LINQ for free.

 

I pretty much share this experience. We made an hour or two stop at fremont street on our 2nd trip and I hated every single bit of it. I had read a lot about the place from here and elsewhere and I had no expectation about the place, I even had sort of museum/vintage kind of approach to it, just wanted to see a glimpse of what once was. Having said that, the place was filthy, people were aggressive(ly begging) and it seemed miserable.

Everyone to their liking but unless it's about money, I can't see any reason why anybody would go there, let alone actually book a room. I don't think I will ever go near it again.

 

I totally agree with Funkhouser....couldn't have worded it better myself.

 

I like both and lately we have increased our trips to 4 nights and spend 2 on the strip and 2 downtown.(not this trip). I get free rooms at most places on the strip, but at the GN I am also RFL. I enjoy playing craps at GN and MSS.

 

Off-Strip for us -- JW Marriott, M, Red Rock, PointCoast -- followed by the Strip. Over the years have stayed most everywhere, including downtown, not much compelling about a downtown stay.

 

I do both. I am trending towards downtown, but CET rooms, plus a few of the shows and the steakhouses have kept me from abandoning the strip completely. But one of these days, I will probably become a more or less complete downtown person. Fancy dining options and headliners are about the only thing I'd miss.

I find that Downtown I always have fun and can have fun with no plan or agenda.

I have a lot of fun on the strip too, but that is fun that needs to be more prepared for. Where to find good games, new shows I care about and have not seen, and exciting places to eat. And while I don't mind the walking and could use the exercise, the constant solicitation (nightclub pass guys, timeshare, what have you) and gawking crowds there can occasionally annoy me. Downtown everything is so much smaller and closer, that similar things are not only less frequent, but annoy me less.

 

I guess I am a chameleon I love 4 Queens and MSS Downtown, and I really enjoy the vibe of Downtown as well as the effortless access to everything.

On the Strip I prefer Palazzo & Cosmo. Oddly, when I stay on Strip I am a room snob, but Downtown I am fine with basic (but clean!) rooms.

I also really enjoyed Rampart when I stayed there last year.

My trips tend to average 6 or more nights, so to maximize comps I often start Downtown and move to the Strip.