Business Conference in Las Vegas? Stay at the Renaissance.

In the last year I have gone to 8 different business conferences in Las Vegas. In the last month alone I have spent 12 days in Las Vegas at business conferences (Blogworld and Pubcon 2007). I have a real love/hate relationship for Vegas conferences. The hate comes from a few things... 1) Too many hotels - I hate that everyone stays all over the city. This makes trying to get a unscheduled meetup together almost impossible. Everyone goes back to their hotels and gets ready and it takes forever to do anything... 2) The time change - Its a 2 hour time difference coming from the Midwest and a 3 hour coming from the east coast. I am always dragging ass the first couple of days and just about the time I am adjusted I have to go home... where I sleep till noon for a week until I am back adjusted. 3) The Smoke - As a smoker in remission (I smoked for 10+ years before quitting 7 years ago) I respect smokers rights. But I hate that every night my eyes burn and my clothes reeeek of cigarette smell. 4) Tipping - in vegas everyone feels they deserve a tip. More then any city anywhere in the world. Yes, even that bell man that ignored you for 5 minutes will expect money when he brings your bags to your room. 5) The Food - At business conferences generally dinners are not plan in advance and that is a real negative for the vegas life style. Most nice places are going to be a 1-2 hour wait if you do not have a reservation. Unless you want to eat crap. So when staying in Vegas for Business here is my solution. Stay at the Renaissance. 1) Close proximity - its within walking distance to the convention center (like 100 yards from the south hall) 2) Price - Usually its the host hotel for every conference so you will get a huge discount of the normal rate. 3) Classy - its a 4 star hotel 4) Food - If their is better calamari on this planet I have not had it. Just last week for Pubcon 2007 I had at least 4 servings of calamari at the Renaissance. They also have the Envy steakhouse which has very very good steaks (this coming from a Nebraska guy is a big compliment). 5) SMOKE FREE - the Renaissance is the only smoke free hotel in las vegas. 6) Networking - being that its a short walk from the Las Vegas Convention Center (and they serve alcohol) most of the "rock stars" are found in the lounge networking. I have done more networking in this lobby then at all expo/conventions combined. This is where the idea for AuctionAds was conceived... this is where I met so many affiliate managers that cut me amazing increases... this is also where I heard a lot of bullshit =P While some hotels might seem cheaper after you factor in all the cab rides and the inconvenience of lugging around all your crap all night + just the value of your time your wasting. Also addressing the tipping issue you should always tip everyone even if its a dollar in Vegas. I know it Does not make much sense but its the Vegas way. By staying at the Renaissance and doing most of your drinking/networking there every time you tip you are gaining points with your door guy and server building value. When I was just there for Pubcon both drink servers recognized me and even remembered what I was drinking at the Renaissance. Also the door guy remembered I was from Nebraska which was surprising. So I can't really express how much money + time + headache it will save you by staying at the Renaissance in Las Vegas. Also the value of just being able to go to your room at anytime is pretty money.