I stayed at the HGVC Flamingo 3/22 - 3/27 2009. I had a studio room on the 16th floor. the room was very spacious. I enjoyed having a small fridge, microwave and coffee maker. there is an excellent whirlpool bath set up - there is a large opening between the bathtub and the main room, so you can have a good soak and watch TV if you want. There is a separate private shower and toilet area. The TV was a flat screen of decent size (42" ?) and the channel selection was good. service was good - daily maid service and friendly staff all around. Small grocery store and deli on the premises was useful, fair prices and good food and excellent coffee.
What really makes this place special is its location. It is at the backside of the Flamingo Hotel, and all the rooms overlook the Flamingo's expansive tropical pool grounds. You can use the flamingo pool (good for kids) if you want to hang with the crowd, or you can use the HGVC's small pool and hot tub. I chose to use the HGCV pool as the flamingo pool had all of the sunny chairs taken. There were kids in teh HGVC pool and they seemed to enjoy it. An earlier post on this site refers to the HGVC chairs all being "reserved" first thing in the morning. As far as I can tell, what really happens is that staff puts a rolled up towel on each chaise first thing in the morning and they are not being held for anyone. Great little pool bar too with reasonable prices. The grounds immediately adjacent to the hotel are a nice place to have coffee in the morning.
I used the monorail to get to the convention center each day. The monorail is right behind the HGVC. It is a little convoluted to get to it as you have to exit the Flamingo pool, enter the Flamingo, and then backtrack along the monorail walkway. Not too far and the monorail comes at least every 10 minutes.
I also found a really good pizza place in the Flamingo, over by the actual flamingo (the birds) exhibit. I got take out so I could watch a movie in my room and have a pizza and a couple of cold beers. Speaking of beer, I found a small microbrewery place in the Flamingo too - with stout on tap, which seems to be pretty hard to find in this town. The strip is readily accessible through the Flamingo hotel. I found it enjoyable to walk the strip and then take the monorail back and vice-versa.
I would recommend the HGVC for business travelers as it is quiet and they have free internet access and can print your boarding passes.
I would also recommend this for families, though I can't really imagine bringing my kids to Vegas. The Flamingo pool is the big family draw and the HGVC provides access to excellent pools and the all the Vegas sites without having to expose your kids to really drunk 20-somethings.
I am not giving the HGVC five stars because it is not a five star hotel. However, it is a solid four star in my book. I've stayed at the Golden Nugget (a four-start hotel), which is a low four star in my book, and the HGVC room and service quality are better. It just doesn't have all the bells and whistles (restaurants, nightlife, spa etc.) that must be required to be a four-star.
Not all was perfect and I have a few pet peeves. Bed was hotel standard - not one of those dream beds you get in some places. Nice down comforter and pillows though. Couch was a twin fold-out, and I find fold-out couches to be uncomfortable to sit on. I would have much preferred a good solid leather chair or two but I guess they are going for maximizing the guest bed potential. The TV is always pre-tuned to the commercial for the HGVC membership, which wouldn't be too annoying but the volume preset is too loud. The DVD player is a great touch, but the DVD rental kiosk downstairs was busted so I was at the mercy of TBS. On business trips I like to splurge for the overpriced new releases on demand and I was looking forward to watching the new Bond movie, but the HGVC doesn't offer on-demand and the DVD kiosk selection, when working, is limited. The room shares a private foyer with the adjacent one-bedroom condo. The foyer door is keyed too which is nice if you want to rent out the whole two bedroom set-up for a larger group. However, both the foyer door and the two split unit doors close really loud, and on my last night my new neighbors were coming and going from 11PM to midnight (they had friends in another unit, had just gotten in and were situating - yup I heard all their conversations in the foyer) and the loud doors kept me awake. I could not hear their conversations once they went into their room.
The key positive to me was the grounds - being able to sit outside and relax surrounded by vegetation and no crowds. I could not find any other hotel on my strip wanderings that offered such a relaxing outdoor area. They all seem to focus on the indoors, or close their pool areas at 5 (nice move for business people), or are so crowded as to not be relaxing.
So, if you are still bothering to read this rather lengthy review, I hope this has been of help in making your decision. It is a mellow hotel and is a good choice for mellow people.