Hotels aren't usually a big deal to me. I stay frequently at Orleans or South Point, both nice enough but I wouldn't call them fancy.

I have a trip coming up in early September where I'm looking for a much nicer hotel, without necessarily paying more per night than a house payment! I'll be traveling with someone.

I haven't stayed at that many high-end properties in Vegas. There's a fairly nice hotel across the street from Fashion Show Mall but I find the name of the hotel offensive. I think the nicest I've stayed at was Venetian, with Delano second. I think I stayed at Aria once, and maybe Signature at MGM.

I pretty much don't use hotel search sites, but this time I tried using Kayak. They didn't even have Venetian/Palozzo and I don't think they had Delano.

I'm not sure of my exact arrival and departure date, but it won't be earlier than August 31. I went to the Venetian site and the rates by day, starting 8/31, were:
8/31: 322
9/1: 397
9/2: 599
9/3: 292
9/4: 127
9/5: 127
9/6: 127
9/7: 127

$127 (plus resort fee of course!) is pretty good, but some of those weekend rates, especially $599, are kind of off-putting. It's possible I could stay somewhere else for a few nights then go to Venetian, but I'd rather not.

What recommendations do people have? Yes it's quite far off, but it never hurts to have a cancellable hotel reservation.