Las Vegas – the city that never sleeps. Very well know from TV and movies. Heat of the city in the desert is its famous Las Vegas Strip. The boulevard, almost 7 km long has many hotels and casinos. But which one should I book?
I don’t recommend many hotels. Usually, we do not stay more than 2 nights at the same place but keep moving all the time. We only spend more time in cities. In this case I want to recommend the Flamingo Hotel Las Vegas.
Just FYI, some general information in what we book: We want to have an affordable room which is clean, a clean bathroom, decent beds and the hotel has to be located conveniently, as close as possible to the center. Luxury travel, expensive food, and fancy suites are not important to us. We try to find a regular hotel with good rooms and regular, preferably low prices. If you prefer 5-star-places, luxury, spa and wellness, my recommendations are probably not right for you.
Flamingo Hotel: Located Perfectly at the Center of the Strip
The Flamingo Hotel has 3626 rooms and a colorful pink name sign. The hotel is a bit old, built in 1946. When the hotel was built, the Strip didn’t even exist. In fact, the Flamingo Hotel was one of the first ones on the Strip and the Strip kind of built itself around the Flamingo.
Because of that, Flamingo nowadays has cheap rooms in a very central location. Ceasar’s Palace is on the opposite side of the street, with the Mirage hotel on one side and the Bellagio on the other side. (Mirage is well-known for its Siegfried and Roy show). All the Strip hotels can be reached easily from the Flamingo Hotel, even Stratosphere Tower in the North and Mandalay Bay in the South. All the close hotels are in walking distance, everything else by bus or cab. In this city, in the middle of the desert, it’s important to have only short distances everywhere. Most of the time, it is so hot that you cannot walk far, in summer really only a few steps. In winter (Nov – Jan), taking a walking tour is easier. But even then, Flamingo’s location is perfect to walk either North or South along all the shiny Las Vegas Lights.
Lobby and Interior of the Hotel
In the lobby, there is no deeply impressive luxury interior (as opposed to Bellagio), no spectacular architecture or extravagant designs. There is the complimentary casino, restaurants, and cafés. Enough of everything for me, indeed more than enough. Anyways, the hotel seems to be a bit older and a bit outdated sometimes.
On the backside of the hotel (opposite the Strip) there is a garden with a pool and the animals that gave the hotel its name: the Flamingos. A huge breakfast buffet with panorama windows to the garden can be found here. I enjoyed this buffet very much and would definitely recommend it. You will anyways not be able to eat everything they offer 😉
Rooms, Equipment and Furniture
The rooms are not spacious but big enough, furniture is not brand new but also not old. The bathroom was clean and in good shape. I think these rooms were renovated several times. Their condition is good. If you are lucky, you get a Strip-View-Room and get to see the Bellagio Fountains.
We paid 20 dollars for the room, not per person but per room. That included a 15 dollar breakfast voucher. The price is very good, almost unbeatable. Don’t expect to pay that little too. We were there on a weekday in very low season.
Breakfast Voucher
The breakfast voucher had its own rules: unfortunately it was not valid for the breakfast buffet mentioned above. We could use it for a coffee place that uses the Starbucks system. That means, you wait in a long line, place your breakfast order and they call your name when your breakfast is ready. All kinds of food were available: sweet baked goods (cookies, donuts, and muffins), sandwiches, bagels, Panini but also cereals, fruits and dairy products. All kinds of hot beverages were there. Everyone finds the right thing here. 15 dollars for a breakfast sounds a lot but the prices are high. For example a regular milk coffee is as much as 5 dollars.
The thing that did not really work was the ordering system. It was quite a mess. The line was very long, the ladies from the coffee place asked very early what I wanted. Most of the time, I was so far in the end of the line that I could not even read the signs of see through the window which muffins were available. Seating is not really available. Because of the mess the ordering system creates, many people stand and wait everywhere. All that chaos is a bit too much first thing in the morning. I think, for a free breakfast it’s an ok compromise you need to take. When we were booking the room, the emphasized that breakfast is not included. So I was mainly happy to get a free breakfast. It was always good quality; no one in our group had to stay hungry.
If you don’t feel like doing this, you can always go to the big breakfast buffet. There you get silence, space and no chaos. Anyways, you need to pay extra for that.
Final Remarks
What you get for your money in the Flamingo Hotel is good. (We are calling it money/performance relationship). That means you pay little money for a good standard hotel in a very good location. If you like that, Flamingo is the right place for you. The breakfast voucher was a surprise and an plus for us.
Expect a bit of chaos at the free breakfast place and be aware of the fact that the hotel is not a new place. If this doesn’t bother you, go there. Its location is a major asset. But be aware that for 20 dollars, you cannot get a luxury 5-Star-Place.
Flamingo Las Vegas
3555 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Tel: (702) 733-3111
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