I stayed here for 5 nights in late October, part of my 2 week vacation in Vegas. I needed a cheap place to stay so tried here the first time. Rooms were around $25/night, fri and saturday was around $70, still a good value.

I liked the hotel very much, probably the best hotel out of the 3 I stayed at. Rooms were basic and clean. They had 40-inch LCD HD tv, but no HD channels, so picture wasn't the greatest. i was able to hook up my laptop to it though with a HDMI cable. The only real negative I can think of is they don't have any room service-- but the week I was there a Fridays Resturant just opened up in the casino with a take out counter so if you like eating in the room they came in handy. The elevators were fast and maid service was good. There's also a Walmart Supercenter right across the street which was handy. It is a few easy miles from the strip (just drive straight down Flamingo), but if you don't have a car they had shuttle buses out back that went downtown and to the strip.

Played and ate at Sam's Town often but never stayed there until now. Got a great ($25) rate on-line (better than casino rate) for a Thursday night. Room (879) with king bed was perfectly adequate. Not as fancy as Caesars Palace but not as much of a let down as we might have expected. Very basic, clean room. Bathroom had tub/shower and sink/vanity in same room so mirror fogged up extremely bad after shower...an electric mirror defogger would have worked wonders.

Bed was standard hotel type and a bit firm for our taste but when you don't go to bed until 3am it does not matter. View was south down Boulder Hwy so even number rooms face the atrium. LCD TV but the old style amoire TV cabinet was still in the room...they put the ice bucket and plastic cups where the TV used to be. The room was clean and the temp controls worked great. We've paid a lot more for far worse accomodations.

One big contrast we noted at Sam's Town in general from places on the Strip is the lack of newbie first time Vegas visitors. The people at Sam's Town knew what they were doing and were obviously regulars. The slots were fare more friendly than on the Strip and we accumulated enough points to probably have had the room entirely comped had it not been booked (and paid for) on-line.

We ate at Billy Bob's Steakhouse (really good) and at the buffet for breakfast (a classic bargain)...see seperate reviews. All around Sam's Town is a great value unlike the huge rip-offs on the Strip...example the $5.49 breakfast buffet was every bit as good as the $15,99 buffet at Caesars Palace.

One downside....taxi to airport is more expensive than from Strip. If just staying at Sam's it might be worth renting a cheap car. Plenty of parking. Make sure taxi to airport takes Nellis to Tropicana to Paradise...much faster/shorter than Flamingo.

I think we have found our new Las Vegas "casino home" for when work is not paying for staying at Caesars.

Way better than we expected---what value---resort has everything

We stayed at Sam's Town because of my boyfriend's bowling league sweeps. I've never been a fan Vegas - I don't get the whole too much drinking and too much smoking all the while throwing one's money away. Not my idea of fun, but I understand other's have a great time of it.

Sam's Town is about 7 to 9 miles away from the strip/downtown. That suited us on such a quick weekend trip. Plus, the casino is less crowded. However, Sam's Town does offer free shuttles between its casino and several sites along the strip and dowtown, which is nice for those who either do not have cars or do not wish to drive.

Our room was nothing terribly special, but it was clean and comfortable. It is almost time for the bed to be changed (it's a little old and soft), but we managed to have a couple of good night's sleep so it was serviceable. Plenty of clean towels, clean carpeting, and everything was dusted. We didn't have the 42" plasma TV spoken of in another review, but the TV worked just fine and was standard hotel fare.

There are several restaurants in the casino. We managed to eat at Billy Bob's Steak House, which had large portions but was rather expensive for what was received and the service given. Unless a very special event, I would skip this. We did eat at the buffet for breakfast and dinner, and thought it did quite well, although we were more impressed by breakfast with lots of choices. Dinner was okay, but when it came to dessert, some of them were leftover for quite some time and had gotten a littel "crispy."

Mystic Falls in the center atrium is a relaxing parklike place to walk through or sit and relax. It is covered and air-conditioned, yet it feels like one is outdoors. There is a light and water show that gets a little loud, but is pleasing to watch - once. If kids are in tow, they might enjoy this.

The bowling alley (a place we spent quite a bit of time, actually) was quite nice. One of the better places we have bowled. The lanes are nicely set up and feel comfortable. Hey, I bowled a 189! But seriously, this offers a nice respite from the typical Vegas scene and allows one to get a little exercise as well!

The casino is, well, a casino. I stayed away from the tables, as the table minimums appeared rather high to me. But then, the last time I was in Vegas was 1991 (hey, I don't "do" Vegas, what can I say??), and these might be normal. The minimums were $5, $10, and $25. More than my budget allows. I stuck with the machines, which bore me after about an hour, and lost more than I won. (which is typical for me) My boyfriend played the penny slots and did quite well, though. My major beef with the casino (and this true of any casino anywhere in Nevada) is the smoke. I am a non-smoker, and smoke gives me a headache after a while. Even sitting in the "non-smoking" areas (which are right in the middle of the smoking areas - makes sense?) doesn't help, plus there are limited machines. There is a second floor casino, and this was a little better, only because there were fewer people up there so less smoke.

So, all in all, if you are looking for a less crowded, comfortable, clean Vegas experience with access to the Strip and downtown, Sam's Town might just fit the bill. It is huge (I kept getting lost), but there really is a lot to keep one occupied. However, if one has difficulty with cigarette/cigar smoke, then perhaps a casino vacation/getaway is not what you want to do.