VegasChatter

Back in January, as we were anticipating the re-opening of the Paradise Tower (which reportedly had not been touched since 1985), we hoped this would be the year the Trop flipped the switch on the Strip as we were looking forward to a smaller but still modern casino-hotel to retreat to. And we got it.

JuliaB spent a night in the Trop's new Paradise Tower in April and here's what she thought:

We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but for what we think of a cheap Vegas hotel, we found it pretty revelatory. This is a standard (they call it deluxe) room but it has a chaise lounge, shutters instead of fugly curtains, and nice decor. It has rattan drawers instead of boring wood, a carpet we approve of and a cute candy striped bathroom.

Even better, the Trop has consistently offered reasonable rates on these new rooms--well under a $100 during the week (ranging from $49 to $69) and around $109 and $119 on the weekends. There is a resort fee of $9.99 but thankfully that includes free internet.

In addition to the rooms, the Trop also unveiled in this year alone Brad Garrett Comedy Club, Marley Taylor's new act (formerly of Zowie Bowie), the Ambhar Lounge, Cafe Nikki restaurant, and a new quick check-in service. Damn, that's a lot for one year.

Coming in 2011, The Nikki Beach Club and a new sportsbook! So when do you want to meet us there?

Runners-Up
We had a tough time choosing between Wynn/Encore and the new Cosmopolitan but we're going to give the edge to the Wynn/Encore because well, we haven't yet spent the night at The Cosmo.

Wynn/Encore continues to be a safe haven for us on the Strip. Yes, we hate the $20 resort fee (although it includes WiFi) and yes, we're annoyed by the higher prices found inside the hotel, but the renovated rooms at Wynn are really, really nice. And we're still in love with all the pretty public spaces. Even a few years later, they look so clean and new.

It's not all sleepytown here. Wynn and Encore have been changing up their bar and restaurant offerings to be a little more lively (there's now dueling pianos in the Eastside Lounge and the new wine bar, La Cave) and we can't forget about the crazy Surrender and Encore Beach Club scenes.

Still, if you can get a room on the opposite side of the party music, either Wynn or Encore will always be a classy respite on the Strip.