How many guys are going? The Marriott Chateau is great if you get one of the 2 bdrm suites, kitchen and several sofa pullouts as well for about $250 a night. Its not the most contemporary, but youre 42 so Im not sure youre looking for that. Theres a lot of renovation occuring on the southside of the strip...meaning newer hotels esp around the city center area. MGM Grand was great...7 yrs ago. They are also in the process of renovating. Avoid IP, circus circus, riviera, and all the older casinos. Those folks havent pumped a nickel into their accomadations in the past couple of decades if not more. The Palms and Hard Rock are both slightly off the strip, and tend to have great specials to offset that. Honestly, youll most likely be cabbing it most places anyways. If you do want to go balls out with a nice suite, theres the palms place that has some decent deals on suites with great views. I was stationed 3.5 hrs from vegas for 3 years. We used to frequent that wonderful town every two weeks or so. If you can, avoid flying out of McCarran on Sunday..everyone and the moms are trying to high tail it out of town that day.