My wife and I made a last-minute decision to visit Las Vegas this weekend (1/19-1/21). I was unimpressed with the deals available via various travel websites, so I headed over to Priceline and was surprised when the winner was the Westin Casuarina (at $90/night for Sat/Sun nights) rather than Planet Hollywood, which is the normal Priceline 4* on the south strip. After reading the reviews here, I was a bit worried that I'd made a mistake, but after two nights here I can say we are very satisfied.

As most other reviewers have noted, the Westin Casuarina is about a 5-7 minute walk from the corner of Flamingo and Las Vegas Blvd. This has both advantages (quieter, easier to drive in/out) and disadvantages (farther from the action). Since we drove to Vegas and brought two kids, the tradeoff was a good one for us.

The lobby and registration area are typical high-quality Westin. The casino is miniscule by Vegas standards, which was fine by me since this was a trip w/ kids, not a free-wheeling adult weekend. Besides, I've never felt any great loyalty to gamble in the hotel where I stay -- it's more convenient, and helps you earn loyalty points, but I prefer to bounce around and visit the different casinos for variety.

The room was a typical 4-star business room. We got two queens, which had very comfortable, high-quality bedding. I have back issues, but had no problems on their very comfortable (soft, but firm - if that makes sense) mattresses. The room had a desk, two comfortable chairs, and a large non-LCD/plasma TV on the dresser. The bathroom was quite nice with high quality soap/shampoo. In general, the fixtures and furniture show some signs of age, but were fine, especially at Priceline prices. The walls seem to be well insulated, as we never heard a peep from people on either side. I hope the same can be said for our neighbors when our kids woke up at 6:30am Sunday morning!

The only downsides were that the internet was not complimentary ($12.99/night), the pool was closed for maintenance, and there was a $10 resort fee that provided no value to us (but might to others: two free bottles of water, access to the gym/spa/sauna, free phone calls, free incoming faxes, and access to the (non-working) pool).

Overall, we were very satisfied with the Westin. It's a solid 4-star business class hotel right off the strip. If you want to be in the midsts of the action, you'll want to go somewhere else, but if you want something quite nice and a lot quieter that's still very close to the strip, the Westin Casuarina is a good choice.

I can't explain why the other reviewers had bad experiences. Perhaps their advice was taken and improvements were made. I recently stayed at this hotel and can't wait to return. I travel frequently and have stayed at some of the finest hotels in North America (Four Seasons, Ritz etc.) so it is not that I have never experienced high style accommodations. My expectations were based on previous experiences at other Starwood properties and I felt that this hotel exceeded those expectations. All interactions with staff were friendly, polite and courteous. The in-room dining experience was delectable; the menu items were extensive. Request a pool-view room as the Flamingo Ave. view is basically a view of the Bally's parking lot. It is for this reason I did not rate this an Excellent. Also, the location is the perfect compromise between near enough to the strip to participate in that experience yet far enough to be more quiet when it was time to wind down for the evening. Also, the Hibiscus Spa is not to be missed; a bit pricey but remember this is Vegas. Last but not least...a completely smoke free casino open 24 hours. Wahoo!

I'm appalled that the Westin Casurina Las Vegas is now charging a $10/day "resort fee". There was no notice at check-in, nothing in the key packet explaining the benefits nor anything on the spg.com website. Going back, I do see a small line item in the taxes on the reservation, but this is sneaky and gives Starwood a bad name. But even more pathetic is that this hotel, which is surrounded by power lines and parking lots dares to call itself a "resort". They say it's to cover bottled water, valet parking, pool use, gym, etc. But water is given to SPG members in the past, parking had always been complementary and so is use of the small, concrete lined pool. If there was real value to the "resort fee" and better disclosure I would not be so upset, but this is a bad move all around for Starwood and the management of the Westin Casurina. Shame on them!

We decided in October that we wanted to spend New Years in Vegas. The hotel prices for this time of year tend to be pretty intense. I went on Priceline and selected a 4 star, and got the Westin for $185, which compared to other 4 stars in Vegas we saved a great deal.

When we 1st arrived there was a couple in front of us checking in with a golden retriever. I though, oh, that must be a seeing eye dog...
Then we are getting on the elevator to go up to our room and a couple walks out with their 2 dogs...
As it turns out, the Westin is a dog friendly hotel! I am sorry, but I'm on vacation and don't want a dog staying in my hotel.

We checked into a room on the 9th floor...and what do u know it smelled really awful...like a dog!! So I asked the receptionist what the deal was and she told me animals are only allowed on the 1st two floors (which is a lie bc I saw dogs on the 9th floor). She promptly gave us a room on the 14th floor (the starwood preferred guest floor) and honestly it didn't smell much better but after the 5 1/2 hour flight I gave up.

The room was small and the heavenly bed was more like polyester heaven. My brother and his gf las minute decided to meet us and with 4 adults in the room it was a bit crammed. Nice view of the strip at night (Westin, Venetian) but during the day it overlooked some kind of a lumber yard.

In proximity to the strip it was pretty good...close to bally's/paris/bellagio/cesars. This was nice on NYE after the fireworks (no cabs on NYE) we were able to walk back to the hotel.

I went to the spa to get a manicure and it was $60!!!!!!! This is outrageous as I only pay $15 for an amazing manicure in BOCA RATON!!! Total rip off, although they were very nice and attentive just WAY OVERPRICED!

I would say it is DEF. worth the money to stay at one of the nicer hotels with a good rep. on the strip. I am sad, bc this was my 1st stay at a Westin and they have a good rep. but it was not so great.