New hotels such as the Wynn take their cues from the metropolitan hubs of New York, London and Los Angeles, and every second restaurant seems to be run by a celebrity chef. That’s all very well, but at the heart of almost every one there’s still a vast, windowless room, filled with the DING-DING-DING, WIN-WIN-WIN inanity of the slot machines and the financial suicide of the roulette wheel. You can serve as many chateaubriands as you like, but when your main product is an activity as stupid as gambling, you’ll never be more sophisticated than a bottle of Babycham.

Thanks very much, guys, but I’ll stick with Hooters any day.

• Sean Newsom travelled as a guest of Virgin Atlantic

  Travel details: Virgin Atlantic (0870 574 7747, www.virginatlantic.com) operates a daily service from Gatwick to Las Vegas, from £522 return.

  BMI (0870 607 0222, www.flybmi.com) also flies nonstop, from Manchester, three times a week, with returns from £379pp.

  To book at Hooters, call 00 1 702 739 9000 or visit www.hooterscasinohotel.com. Double rooms start from £57 a night.

  What else is new in Vegas?

  THE HUGH HEFNER SUITE

  The Palms casino hotel (00 1 866 942 7777, www.palms.com) may be off-Strip, but it’s slap-bang in the middle of the latest trends, thanks to the themed suites in the new Fantasy Tower. In keeping with the city’s new sinful spirit, there’s an Erotic Suite, a Playpen Suite (complete with poles for dancing and strobe lighting) and even an apartment modelled on Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion. Prices start at £810 per night for a Playpen Suite, and soar upwards to £21,620 for the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa.

  PUSSYCAT DOLLS

  The latest in a growing band of high-end “burlesque” nightclubs and lounges that offer scantily clad staff and floor shows as well as cocktails and music. Pussycat Dolls (702 731 7873, Tue-Sat, 6pm-4am; cover price varies) is next door to Pure, the ultra-chic lounge at Caesars — and both are all but impossible to get into on a Saturday night, even if you’ve already got your name on the VIP list. Your best strategy is to be leaning on the door when it opens, dressed to the nines. Or be ready to slip the doorman a $100 bill.

  JET

  Las Vegas now rivals New York and Los Angeles as a clubbing venue, a status confirmed by the first in a new breed of mega-discos — Jet, at the Mirage (702 492 3960; Fri-Sat and Mon, 10.30pm-4.30am; £10.80- £16.20). There are three rooms on offer, each with a different music style, and a total capacity of 1,500 revellers. And don’t think that means wall-to-wall midwesterners: on a Saturday night, Las Vegas plays host to an elegant, metropolitan crowd.

  THE DESERT PASSAGE

  The latest in the new line of megaplexes is the Desert Passage (www.desertpassage.com), which will suit the average holiday budget far better than the unrelentingly upmarket shops on offer at the Wynn Esplanade (www.wynnlasvegas.com), which opened in 2005. Laid out in a mile-long circuit, around the Aladdin resort, the Desert Passage features such familiar names as Gap, Ben Sherman and Quiksilver, and is themed to look like a North African town.

  THE BEATLES LOVE

  Broadway shows find it hard to bed down in Las Vegas. Instead, audiences here have an almost limitless appetite for the surreal extravaganzas laid on by the Cirque du Soleil circus/dance troupe. There are currently five on offer in town, the newest being The Beatles Love, at the Mirage (702 792 7777, www.cirquedusoleil.com/love; tickets £37-£81). If you’ve not seen a Cirque show before, it takes some getting used to — essentially, it’s a series of dazzling tableaux, set to the Mop Tops’ songs, with no discernible narrative. But relax: once you abandon yourself to the spectacle (which is much more Strawberry Fields than Help!), it’s an intoxicating experience.

  JOEL ROBUCHON AT THE MANSION

  The celebrity chefs of America have made Las Vegas their second home, and such is the prestige of Sin City’s restaurant scene that the biggest names in France are setting up shop there too. The hottest table right now is at Joël Robuchon at the Mansion, in the MGM Grand (702 891 7925, www.mgmgrand.com), which opened last autumn. There’s room for only 64 diners, and the 16-course tasting menu will set you back £190pp. Next door, L’Atelier du Joël Robuchon (702 891 7358), modelled on the maestro’s more informal restaurant in Paris (there are also branches in London and New York), offers a slightly cheaper experience — with mains starting from £16.50.

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