The BEST kind
I'll try to address the questions above:
INVENTORY: hotels will make 'x' number of rooms available via PRICELINE / HOTWIRE based upon their expected occupancy levels (if the hotel will be fairly empty they will offer more rooms... if the hotel is expected to be full they may offer less or none at all). Typically when a hotel does make inventory available they do it in tiers... 5 rooms at $100, 7 rooms at $125, 3 rooms at $150. This way once all 5 of their rooms at $100 sell-out they still have a presence on the PRICELINE / HOTWIRE website. However, it's a very fluid situation, as hotels are constantly adjusting inventory based upon various factors (what are competitor hotels doing, where are prices at their competitors (both 'regular retail' prices as well as 'opaque' prices), is the hotel ahead/behind their inventory projection for a given date, etc, etc). For example, if they expect low occupancy and offer a bunch of rooms to the opaque suppliers at a low prices. However, at some point they realize they are about to get a contract for a wedding with lots of out of town guests, or they book a conference with overnite guests, or they just seem 'ahead' of where they should be in terms of expected occupancy... they could instantly pull all of the discounted inventory (or pull the lowest price inventory) given they are now in a better position to meet their occupancy goal for the given nite(s). So in short, there really is now telling how long a given hotel offer will continue to be shown... it could remain their until your check-in date or it could be gone the very next time you search.
ROOM ASSIGNMENTS: almost all rooms at the Venetian are awesome, imo (standard rooms start at 650+ sq. ft), but naturally some rooms are better than others in terms of view, proximity to the elevator (some like closer some like further away), etc. At any hotel you should expect the same level of service and quality as any other guest... if you ever have an issue at any hotel (especially a tangible issue, like something is dirty or banged up as opposed to 'the room feels tired') take a pic of it with your phone, head down to the front desk, and show it to the staff there and ask to be re-assigned. If you don't have any success with the front desk clerk ask for a manager and continue to move up the chain of command. Hotels are in the hospitality business and generally want to make you happy regardless of the rate you paid. Now, with this noted, there are some hotels (fortunately the numbers have been shrinking as PRICELINE / HOTWIRE have become more commonplace) that assign their least favorable rooms to the lowest priced guests, but when this does happen (again, it's been happening less and less) it's generally at older hotels in pre-war buildings that are not as uniformly built (take for example a older hotel in NYC which may have rooms that are very different from one another)... the majority of rooms at the Venetian are uniform/standard. They have two different towers, i forget the name of each (it might be Venetian Tower and Venezia Tower), but i prefer the one that is not in the same tower as Bouchon restaurant (which from a web search appears i prefer the Venetian Tower). Some people prefer the Venezia as it has it's own small pool area (other Venetian guests can still use), is closer to the front desk, and you don't need to walk thru the casino to get to your room... i prefer the Venetian Tower just from the standpoint that it is more centrally located in the middle of the hotel (rooms in each are nearly identical). So with all of the above noted, as you necessarily going to get that unobstructed view of the strip from a high floor... not likely, since those rooms cost more and are considered to be an upgrade from 'standard'... but your room should be nice, clean, and more than sufficient for your needs (i mean, when was the last time you were in a hotel room with remote controlled drapes??)
With all of the above noted, if a specific room type is desired, you can sometimes get it just by asking or sometimes the hotel may say such a room (like a Strip View) is available for an additional fee of $xx (usually the difference in price between the regular rate for a standard room you're booked in vs. the regular rate for the room type you're asking for). Likewise, this is Vegas, and you can always try the '$20 trick' which is, folding a $20 bill between your ID and credit card and then when checking-in and the hotel asks for your ID and credit card, you hand it over with the $20 in between and ask 'if there are any complimentary upgrades' (and you can add something like 'a high floor with a view of the strip' or whatever else it is that is important to you). The front desk as likely seen it before and know exactly what's up, typically if they can't get you an upgrade they will give you back the $20, but on rare occasions you may not get an upgrade and lose the $20 (or as they say 'you just lost your first bet in Vegas'). If you do try this, you should have a good sense of what it is that you're after by researching the different room types and the cost difference between them, as well as how busy the hotel is on your travel dates (if the hotel is nearly sold-out there may not be anything the front desk clerk can do no matter how much they would like the tip). It's also a good idea to try to find some rapport with the desk agent, be friendly, smile, call them by name and/or comment about where they are from (in Vegas most hotel staff have their home town on their name tags), etc, etc... but being kind and courteous is a good rule for life, not just when dealing with hotel staff.
OK, probably more than you wanted to read, but i wanted to provide some 'general' answers as well as specific to your Las Vegas location.
If anything above needs clarification, i left something out, or other questions come up don't hesitate to ask.
