What these guides are, and what they are not
Each resort on the Strip already has a destination guide on this site under The Strip, covering the fountains, the conservatory, the shows and the restaurants that make it worth visiting. These stay guides answer a narrower question: should you sleep there, and if so, in which room? They are written for the moment you have three browser tabs open with three similar prices and need someone to tell you which tower is the renovated one and which pool is the loud one.
They are independent. Las Vegas Compass does not take money from hotels for placement, and where we link to booking or tour partners it is disclosed on our affiliate disclosure. Prices are ranges as of 2026 and change constantly, so always confirm the current rate, resort fee and parking policy on the hotel's own site before you commit.
How we assess a hotel
We weigh the same nine things for every property, in the same order, so the guides are comparable:
- Location and who it suits. Walk times to the center of the action, and whether the property works for couples, families, groups or conventions.
- Rooms and what to book. Towers, room categories, views, square footage and the floors worth asking for at check-in.
- Resort fee and parking. The all-in nightly cost, not the headline rate.
- Pool. Size, season, whether it is a resort pool or a dayclub, and how early the chairs are gone.
- Gym and spa. Whether the fitness centre is worth the fee that pays for it.
- Dining on property. What you can eat without leaving the building, from the coffee counter to the steakhouse.
- Casino floor and front desk. Smoke, noise, how far the elevator is from the exit, check-in queues, early check-in and late checkout.
- Rewards program. Which loyalty program covers the hotel and how to use it for waived fees or better rates.
- Pros, cons, price and verdict. A plain-English answer.
How to read the resort fee in every guide
Every guide gives the resort fee as a range rather than a number, because the amounts move a few dollars most years and sometimes mid-year. As of 2026 the luxury tier on the Strip charges roughly $50 to $60 a night plus tax, the mid-range tier roughly $40 to $55, the budget Strip resorts roughly $35 to $45, Downtown roughly $25 to $45, and the suburban locals' resorts anywhere from nothing to about $50. Tax on the fee runs about 13 percent, so add that to the range.
Treat the fee as part of the room rate. A $79 room with a $45 fee costs more than a $109 room with a $15 fee. Add parking too: most MGM and Caesars resorts charge for self-parking, while several others still do not. Our resort fees explained page covers the disclosure rules and the legitimate ways to get the fee waived, and this list tracks the hotels that charge nothing.
The tiers we use
Luxury. Wynn, Encore, Bellagio, Aria, The Venetian, The Palazzo, Fontainebleau, Caesars Palace (the good towers) and the boutique hotels inside larger resorts such as NoMad, Delano and Crockfords. Expect roughly $250 to $600 a night midweek before fees and far more on event weekends, big rooms, real spas and staff who remember your name.
Upper mid-range. The Cosmopolitan, Resorts World, Park MGM, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Paris, Circa Downtown and the suburban leaders Red Rock and Durango. Roughly $120 to $350 midweek. Rooms are renovated or new, pools are good, fees are the same as the tier above at some of them.
Budget Strip and Downtown. Luxor, Excalibur, New York-New York, Planet Hollywood, Flamingo, The LINQ and Golden Nugget. Roughly $50 to $180 midweek. Location is often excellent; room condition varies by tower, which is why the guides spend so long on which tower to book.
Off-Strip value. Virgin Hotels and the locals' casinos, where fees drop or vanish and parking is free, in exchange for needing a ride to the Boulevard. See off-Strip hotels.
Weekday versus weekend pricing
Las Vegas hotels price by demand, not by the calendar month, and the swing between a Tuesday and a Saturday at the same hotel is routinely two to three times. A convention can push a Wednesday above a normal Saturday; a fight, a festival or a holiday weekend can push a Saturday above $1,000 at properties that ask $200 on an ordinary Tuesday. Every guide gives a midweek and a weekend range to make the pattern visible, but the honest answer is that your dates matter more than the hotel.
If your dates are flexible, check the best time to visit guide and the events calendar before you fall in love with a hotel. If they are not, the trick is to pick a lower tier on the expensive nights and a higher tier on the cheap ones; many regulars split a stay between two hotels for exactly this reason.
Rewards programs at a glance
Most hotels in these guides belong to one of a handful of programs, and joining before you book is free and immediately useful. MGM Rewards covers Bellagio, Aria, Cosmopolitan (with Marriott Bonvoy), MGM Grand, Park MGM, NoMad, Mandalay Bay, Delano, Luxor, Excalibur and New York-New York. Caesars Rewards covers Caesars Palace, Paris, Planet Hollywood, The LINQ and Flamingo. Wynn Rewards covers Wynn and Encore; Venetian Rewards covers The Venetian and The Palazzo; Hilton Honors covers Resorts World and Virgin Hotels; Fontainebleau, Circa and Golden Nugget have their own programs, and the Station Casinos program covers Red Rock and Durango.
Membership alone gets you member rates and occasional free-night offers. Mid and upper tiers waive resort fees, and status matches from other programs can get you there before your first trip. How to get a hotel deal explains the mechanics.
Using the guides with the rest of the site
Start with the area. Where to stay explains why the center Strip costs more than the ends and when Downtown or the suburbs make sense. Then narrow by style: luxury, family, quiet or cheap. Then open two or three stay guides from the list below and compare the tower, fee and pool notes against the prices on your dates.
If you want a shortcut, the hotel picker asks a few questions and points you at a shortlist. The guides are listed below in rough order from the luxury end of the Strip to Downtown and the suburbs.
