If the rate looks good, book it. If it looks too high, tell the reservation clerk that you have a better deal somewhere else and will they match it, or at least come close. Let's look at some of these. Downtown Much maligned, downtown Las Vegas offers fantastic bargains in food, rooms, free entertainment, and gambling oportunities. The casinos are all clustered together and that makes it easier to hop from one to the other.
People complain that downtown Vegas is dirty, tacky, crime ridden, and that parking is hard to find.
Some of the casinos are not as well kept as the posh places on the strip, but most of them are just as well run and as clean as any other place. Tacky, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Some people think the whole city is tacky, some people think it is great, it depends of your point of view. I wouldn't say downtown is tacky as compared to the strip, maybe just more colorful. As for the 'crime problem'.