Family-Friendly Hotels

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Vegas is simply not a good place to bring your kids. Most of the major hotels have backed away from being perceived as places for families, no longer offering babysitting, much less exciting children's activities. Further, fewer hotels offer discounts for children staying in parents' rooms, and many of the others have lowered the age for children staying free.

In addition to the suggestions below, you might consider choosing a non-casino hotel, particularly a reliable chain, and a place with kitchenettes.

• Circus Circus Hotel & Casino -- Centrally located on the Strip, this is our first choice if you're traveling with the kids. The hotel's mezzanine level offers ongoing circus acts daily from 11am to midnight, dozens of carnival games, and an arcade. And behind the hotel is a full amusement park.
• Excalibur -- Though the sword-and-sorcery theme has been considerably toned down, Excalibur features an entire floor of midway games, a large video-game arcade, and more. It also has some child-oriented eateries and shows. It also now has a heavily promoted male-stripper show, though, so it's not perfect.
• Four Seasons -- For free goodies, service, and general child pampering, the costly Four Seasons is probably worth the dough. Your kids will be spoiled!
• Mandalay Bay -- Mandalay Bay certainly looks grown-up, but it has a number of factors that make it family friendly: good-size rooms, to start, which you do not have to cross a casino to access; a variety of restaurants; a family-appropriate show; a big ol' shark attraction; and, best of all, the swimming area -- wave pool, sandy beach, lazy river, lots of other pools -- fun in the Vegas sun!
• MGM Grand -- While decidedly no longer targeted toward families -- their high-profile nudie show Crazy Horse Paris! should be your tip-off -- MGM Grand is still frequented by families, thanks to an excellent swimming pool area, a decent arcade, and other goodies.
• New York-New York -- Overstimulating and hectic, for sure, but between the roller coaster and the Coney Island-style midway, not to mention just looking around, this has options for children (though going almost anywhere requires walking through the casino).
• Orleans -- With some kid-friendly possibilities (a bowling alley and movie theaters), a not particularly lascivious environment, and at a distance from the decidedly lascivious Strip, the Orleans is a viable family-appropriate hotel, with something for each age range -- including a casino for those of age and desire.
• Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas -- Like the Four Seasons, it's costly, but with so many recreational activities and the Lake Las Vegas setting (well out of the way of the path of Sin City), it offers a lot over the regular Vegas resorts.
• Stratosphere Las Vegas Hotel & Casino -- For families looking for reasonably priced, if not particularly exciting, digs, this is a good choice. Plus, it's not in the middle of the Strip action, so you and your kids can avoid that. Thus far it's not moving in the "adult entertainment" direction, and it has thrill rides at the top.

Who Kept the Kids Out? -- Some hotels -- notably Bellagio, which started the practice, and Wynn Las Vegas -- ban children who are not staying on-site from stepping foot on the hotel premises and ban strollers even if you are staying there. Child-free adults love the bans, but families who travel to Vegas (can we say yet again that this is not a family destination?) may be seriously inconvenienced by it. The policy doesn't appear to be uniformly enforced (hotels don't want to offend parents who have plenty of dough to gamble, after all), but we've seen families and teenagers get turned away from a hotel because they couldn't produce a room key. If you're traveling with your kids, or want to be free of someone else's, your best bet is to call your chosen hotel and ask what its policy is.