Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

stoneman wrote: »

Ferf, you mentioned being in the Dollar priority club and you usually book direct. Is that with Dollar U.K. or U.S.? We always use scrappers to find the best deal, have looked at booking direct before but have trouble adding up all the extras we need(CDW,Taxes, etc) and then it always looks more expensive than booking all inclusive from here. Any info on the best way to go about it would be helpful as the priority thing looks good. I find almost the most stressful part about arriving in Vegas is the line for the car hire. Honest, you can have 3 people in front of you and it could take 45 minutes to get to the car with the clerks trying to sell add ons and the numpties not having the correct documents

Hi - I have a US credit card with primary rental car coverage which is lodged against my Express account so it is used to pay for all Dollar bookings on the US site - so I don't need to buy any of the the insurance waivers...on the main Dollar site once you pick your car, it then gives you the total including all taxes (before you book). so booking direct works out cheapest for me in most cases (though I don't have any of the coverage included in the inclusive packages so if something goes wrong, I would have to faff around with getting my credit card to sort it out instead of handing the keys back and letting Dollar sort it out). Pebbles said that she books through 3rd parties and just goes down to the Express booth downstairs and they sort it out there for her since she's a member, so maybe worth trying that?

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

Went looking for recent info on how ESTA is shaping up and found this specific to Vegas:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=19281343&postcount=252

Good info to have I think, to avoid being the 'I'm not filling out the forms 'cause I don't have to!' person.

mrnomoneybags

The Stratosphere

sew109 wrote: »

Where are you staying ? Peppermill does the best 24 hour breakfast other than that every hotel has a 24 hour coffee shop that offers a good range of food the breakfast sandwhich at the Grand Lux cafe is great

We're staying at the hard rock, thanks for the info Will deffo look into that.

FloozyLime

The Bellagio Fountains

ferf1223 wrote: »

Went looking for recent info on how ESTA is shaping up and found this specific to Vegas:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=19281343&postcount=252

Good info to have I think, to avoid being the 'I'm not filling out the forms 'cause I don't have to!' person.

Thanks ferf, did my ESTA online and printed it off, but handy to know the forms need filling out on the plane aswell.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

FloozyLime wrote: »

Thanks ferf, did my ESTA online and printed it off, but handy to know the forms need filling out on the plane aswell.

Indeed...especially if a lot of people on the plane are stubborn and don't do it - pass to the front of the queue for those who do!

trets77

The Bellagio Fountains

loveabargain13 wrote: »

Can anyone offer any advice?
I was looking to fly to Vegas direct but looking at 2 airlines I can fly with ( I have skywards points to trade in ) means I can't fly direct to Vegas. First stop is LA then Vegas, I thought about staying in LA a few days before flying off to Vegas, can anyone recommend LA? I was only thinking about a 2/3 day stopver and 4 days in Vegas and looking to get to Vegas 2nd week of May.

Many Thanks

LA is strange place but somewhere you have to visit once in your life . and you will definatly need a car if you stay there .

agree with Ferf .. Warner Bros studio tour was one of the best things we have ever done as holiday activity . make sure you book it before you go .

a word of note , we had a long wait at passport control at LAX ( over and Hour !!) and were told the queue was over 2 hours earlier in the day. personally i would stay in LA for a day or 2 rather than fly ( or drive ) straight on .

TangoBunny

The Secret Garden

davenpearsall wrote: »

It will be our first time in Vegas in August.

Do you think an "It's our first time in Vegas" will work when checking in to get us a nice room at PH or will a $20 bribe be needed?

If you tell them it's your first visit to vegas most will give you a strip room.....ask what you've been allocated and if it's not what you want then offer the $20

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

trets77 wrote: »

a word of note , we had a long wait at passport control at LAX ( over and Hour !!) and were told the queue was over 2 hours earlier in the day. personally i would stay in LA for a day or 2 rather than fly ( or drive ) straight on .

That's useful to know. We have taken an hour when we flew direct into Vegas with bmi, but another time we were in the taxi 30 mins after landing.

We are due to land in LAX at 2.15pm and our flight to Vegas is at 4.40pm so we have a bit of leeway.

winner3131

gadget_man wrote: »

Anyone have any experience of using the $20 trick in Bellagio, booked standard room 5 nights late May. Was thinking of trying $50 for a complimentary upgrade.

Just to bring this back to the fore. I'm stopping at the Bellagio in a couple of weeks for 6 nights and am also wondering if $50 would be a better figure to try for an upgrade.

I've also pre-empted things by mentioning that its our honeymoon when i booked (which it is), and after double checking the booking was confirmed by email (always like to double check on things like that rather than relying on a computer reservation system) had an email back saying the Bellagio is looking forward to us staying there for our honeymoon.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

davenpearsall wrote: »

It will be our first time in Vegas in August.

Do you think an "It's our first time in Vegas" will work when checking in to get us a nice room at PH or will a $20 bribe be needed?

We have had good success at the PH and also when it was still Aladdin. The first time we stayed there I booked a fountain view room and it was important to me. After that I just asked nicely if they have any complimentary upgrades and each time we were lucky. One time we got a resort room with a view of the fountain which had just been remodelled as they were still in the process of doing all the rooms. I tipped $20 each time as we were there for 3 nights.

I'm sure you can get it without a bribe, ie showing the money first, but you might as well get used to the tipping culture in Vegas from the start. :rotfl: