Choosing a hotel room in Las Vegas can be overwhelming. There are hundreds of thousands of rooms around the city ranging from palatial suites with butler service to a plain old Motel 6. Even after you’ve decided which hotel you want to visit it can be confusing deciding exactly which room to book. The differences in location within the property and level of furnishing and decor among room types can appear small online but may be quite glaring once you arrive.
Downtown’s El Cortez is a prime example of one property with various different room types available. The Cabana Suites rooms are positioned in the middle between the premier Tower rooms and the less desirable Original 47, which are located directly above the casino floor and absorb a great deal of noise.
Being Las Vegas, prices vary wildly and are heavily dependent on the dates you book. You should check the latest prices on Expedia.
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El Cortez Cabana Suites Location
Frequent visitors to Vegas tend to have a strong preference for either the Strip or Downtown. The only way to really know which you prefer is to try both. But if you do want to stay downtown the El Cortez has a good location. Hotels that are part of the Fremont Street Experience can be quite loud inside the rooms, particularly the less expensive rooms. El Cortez is in the Fremont East district; safely far from the live music on weekends but close enough to walk to the center of the action in just a few minutes.
The Cabana Suites rooms are even quieter still, being located in their own building across Ogden Ave from the main El Cortez property. In a lot of ways this is the best of both worlds. You get the perks and convenience of staying at a casino resort and the low-key experience of a small boutique hotel.
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I’m not sure the exact history but it looks like the El Cortez bought a completely separate hotel and incorporated it into its property. The Cabana Suites building has its own lobby, ice and vending and fitness center. So coming and going is achieved without massive crowds in the elevator or traversing a smoky casino floor. It’s just a few steps across the street into the main property, and the rest of downtown is very easy to reach on foot.
Property Overview
The El Cortez is one of the oldest casino properties in Vegas, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s been kept nicely and exudes old school vibes everywhere. The casino floor feels more like a gambling den than a luxury resort. It’s as close as you can get to the old mobbed up days. After you check out the old photos in the hotel’s history hallway you can see that more is the same than has changed in the last 80 years.
It’s not large, but part of the charm of being downtown is that you’re not ‘stuck’ in the property where you’re staying. Fremont Street feels more like one big resort. Directly across from the Cabana Suites building in the main property an old Subway location is currently being upgraded to a Starbucks. A big upgrade in my book.
At check in the El Cortez provides a “fun book” which can save you a few dollars around the property. At the very least it’s good for a free drink during your stay. The room key is, for some unknown reason, a wristband. It’s dumb and inconvenient but not ultimately a dealbreaker.
El Cortez Cabana Suites Guest Rooms
perfectly adequate and highly functional hotel rooms with an extreme design sensibility. It’s not old school exactly. Nothing in old photos of the Sixties looks like this. But it is vintage and mid-century inspired and turns that energy up to 11 with bold patterns and stark colors.
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It’s extremely rare in Las Vegas to find a hotel room with both a fridge and a coffee maker. These basics can start to feel like a luxury when you’ve been in enough rooms without them. The supplied K-cups with the Keurig were not good at all, but for a stay of more than a couple of days you could easily get your own at the nearby Walgreens. Even just the ability to have hot water is a big plus.
My room was clean and comfortable and an overall great value. The bathroom was particularly nice with vintage inlaid floor tiles, subway tile and a fully enclosed glass shower stall. This bathroom had plenty of room and would not have been out of place in a Pre-war building on Park Ave.
Cabana Suites Bottom Line
The main knock against the El Cortez is the property’s lack of a pool. This won’t matter if you’re visiting in the winter or otherwise aren’t concerned with a pool. You’re also probably not getting much of a view anywhere in the El Cortez, and definitely not in the Cabana Suites.
If neither of those things bother you, and you happen to like the decor, these rooms are a fantastic value in Vegas. The weekend I was there hotels were at a premium all over town because of a large Google-sponsored conference. I was able to get this room on short notice for $102 per night average starting Wednesday with a Saturday check out. Most other rooms in the city were over $300 at the time.
They can often be had for even less than that. Take a look at current prices and you’ll likely find these going for considerably less than the much noisier rooms on Fremont Street.
