Tropicana Las Vegas

Tropicana Las Vegas was built in 1957 and is one of the few Las Vegas strip resorts that isn't owned by MGM Mirage (owners of about a dozen properties) or Harrah's Entertainment (owners of seven properties.) New room towers were added in 1979 and 1986

While it's currently known as a "budget property" (having lower rates than most strip resorts), Tropicana has big plans. Tropicana Entertainment has stated it will add 10,000 more rooms in five new room towers over a four year period... originally planned for completion in 2010 but placed on hold during the 2008 economic downturn. One of the five new towers is to be branded as a separate hotel, in the same way that Mandalay Bay re-branded their second room tower THEhotel.

If you're on a tight budget and cannot afford one of the mid-level (such as Luxor or MGM) or upscale (such as Wynn or Venetian) properties, Tropicana is a good choice; mainly for its location. While travelers looking for the lowest price on a hotel room often end up off the strip at Palace Station or Orleans, or downtown at El Cortez or Gold Spike, or on the remote north strip at Sahara or Circus Circus... Tropicana offers similar pricing with an almost infinitely better location in the "South Stripolopolis" as we call it.

Tropicana is attached to Excalibur, MGM Grand and New York New York by a network of elevated pedestrian walkways. Excalibur in turn is connected to Luxor by an indoor tunnel with a pedestrian conveyor belt; Luxor in turn is connected to Mandalay Bay by another tunnel - which used to have a pedestrian conveyor belt but is now the Mandalay Place shopping mall. Staying at any one of these six properties is almost like staying at a huge six resort megaproperty. You've got access to six casinos, at least six different shows, about sixty different restaurants, a few dozen casino bars, at least six swimming pools (although you may have to show a room key and not be able to use the pool at other properties)... everything offered by these six MEGA resorts is all within close, easy walking distance. You never have to cross a street (the pedestrian walkways and tunnels go OVER the streets) and rarely have to step outside (the tunnels are air conditioned; the walkways take about five minutes to traverse from one property to the other.) Tropicana is also very close to the airport (code LAS, the proper name is McCarran International Airport). Unless the taxi driver long hauls you by taking the freeway, Tropicana is a straight shot from Paradise Road leading out of the airport westbound on Tropicana. The Nevada Taxicab Authority web site shows the distance as exactly 3.4 miles at a fare of $13 to $15 (the meter starts at $3.30 in all Las Vegas taxis, and there is an extra $1.80 tax for trips leaving the airport.)