Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

stoneman

The Bellagio Fountains

Fragments_Of_Sanity wrote: »

This ongoing support is brilliant.

To address a few points;

Nobody in the group has been to Vegas before, so I should factor in what Ferf1223 said. I know the bride wouldn't be at all put out if I stayed somewhere else because she herself suggested it to me when we discovered the problem.

I could say to them at night to meet up with me at my hotel lobby at an arranged time but you can't factor in any unforeseen delays that way. Would need to find out about the cost of calls while away, and you need a triband phone too, I'm sure. If I flew myself that would definitely be a must, or else use the hotel phone (costly probably).

I'm not hugely bothered about the hotel being amazing, because I'm one of those people who's trying to make it manageable cost-wise. I am aiming to keep the cost of the trip to about £700 before spending money for the week. Flights seem to be in the mid 300 to 400 point just now (flying from Manchester that is. I actually live near Glasgow so could price those up). My ideal would be for Thomas Cook to allow me to keep just the flight part of the package and cancel the accom bit, to avoid the uncertainties of a novice flying alone, but I don't know how they woud view this. Will speak to them this week about it.

Do you think I should push it about her basically being dishonest about the underoccupancy fee?

So let me get this right. You went into TC and booked a trip that you were presumably happy with at the time. No one forced you to hand over a deposit, you could have gone away and had a think about it and done some homework, but you didn't. Then after the event you came on here and asked a few questions about what you have just booked (which you should have done before), and finding that you could have gotten the thing a whole lot cheaper by doing some of the legwork yourself you think it OK to go in and cancel?
Sorry, what if you had found out that you had in fact got a cracking deal and you would have had to pay more by booking separately, would you have gone into TC and offered the difference? No, I thought not.
I hope they hold you to it. TC might have had to purchase a block of rooms from the hotel and they make more from single occupancy, simple as.
Sorry if this is not what you want to hear but it gets my goat when people don't do there own homework first then want to find ways of wiggling out of a contract when it doesn't go there way. Just take it as a lesson learned. you were happy with the price in the first place and you will love Vegas.

nvh

The Bellagio Fountains

hey stoneman, there's a bit more to it - from what i can gather, the TA is saying it will cost more than the OP was initially led to believe:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=20185691&postcount=2950

I'm (supposed to be) going to Las Vegas this October to attend a wedding. As such, the dates of travel aren't flexible. My friend who is getting married was offered a deal from Thomas Cook for the trip (11th - 18th October flying from Manchester to L.V and staying in The Stratosphere) for £680 (inc insurance), which she said would be the cost for me too. I gave her my card details and she paid the deposit (about £70).

admittedly it appears it was the OP's friend that gave the quote but either way, you could see it being a bit of a surprise supplement

so from what i can see, they were led to believe it would cost £700, it's now £100 more... i think that's the crux of the matter

stoneman

The Bellagio Fountains

nvh wrote: »

hey stoneman, there's a bit more to it - from what i can gather, the TA is saying it will cost more than the OP was initially led to believe:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=20185691&postcount=2950


admittedly it appears it was the OP's friend that gave the quote but either way, you could see it being a bit of a surprise supplement

so from what i can see, they were led to believe it would cost £700, it's now £100 more... i think that's the crux of the matter

My appoligies then, read it wrong.
I'll get my coat:o

trets77

The Bellagio Fountains

Do you think I should push it about her basically being dishonest about the underoccupancy fee?

whats happening here is that the Travel Agent is charging you the Fee not the hotel. like stoneman says they are buying up blocks of rooms packaging them with flights and then selling them . they probably charge about twice what we can get the rooms for because they sell the package per person , assuming 2 people to a room . if they only have 1 person they then need to make the profit by charging the single occupancy.

so the Travel agent is being dishonsest only if she says the hotel are charging you the fee

The main thing I'm annoyed about r.e her comments regarding the single occupancy were to dismiss the online price I had found and state that it would be subject to the charge also, so I wouldn't be saving any money at all. She said that she phoned the hotel and spoke to someone there who confirmed this.

.

simple way to prove this is wrong goto the Statosphere own site here

http://www.stratospherehotel.com/

Price up your dates with one person , then price up your dates with 2 people . does the price come out any different for the room ??? nope . what you see is what you pay . sure you might pay extra at check in for a upgrade ( though i would think of you cannot achieve a Upgrade using the $20 trick stick with what you got ) or certain services ( gyms are not usually free in Vegas ) ....but only if you want to !!!.






as for the rubbish about reps sorting out problem and you might get a naff room if you book it yourself , that is pure scare tactics for people who are nervous about sorting things on their own. Okay for places in Greece and Spain it probably is handy to have a Rep , if you have a problem with your room , don't like the food ect . But Vegas ...nope.

we here know the hotels , we know what rooms at what places to book and what rooms to avoid . Example Caesars Palace is a great hotel and somewhere very nice to stay , but The classic rooms are Pretty Naff . where as rooms in The Augustus tower are superb .

even if you get room you don't like , if it had for example a leaky tap broken shower ect, there are so many rooms in these places that the hotel will find you one that is to your satisfaction pretty easily.

But The Important thing is to get a hotel you are happy with in the first place . your friends may get to The Strat and realize they have made a big mistake in staying there . i very much doubt a Rep could move them to a different hotel without them stumping up over the odds cost of paying for the upgrade. ( and everything but Circus Circus , Hooters and Tropicanna will be classed as upgrade over The Strat )

Of course you guys don't know the hotels , but you can bet pretty much all of them have been stayed at by Regulars on here , so we can advise you if you see a good deal come along .

BTW CONGRATULATIONS SEW

:T :T _party_ _party_ _party_

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

nvh wrote: »

2) right then you April vegas nuts, the cirque 25% discount for April is now up - think we're going to try Mystere have fun!

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/lasvegas/en/promotions/index.asp

Thanks for the link - much easier than going through the Cirque Club login and seems to have more offerings than Cirque Club and seems to be the exact same links to booking. Excellent!

mysparrow

The Eiffel tower

I was sent this link via my brother who lives in NY & is a Vegas nut.
Don't actually know if they managed to make the payment!
It's interesting as I was looking on Expedia for prices November 2009 & both the Vdara & Aria were bookable...May be more cheap deals are on the way folks?

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/mgm-mirages-city-center-hires-bankruptcy-counsel/
MGM Mirage’s City Center Hires Bankruptcy Counsel
March 26, 2009, 10:26 pm
CityCenter, the troubled residential and casino development in Las Vegas, has hired a law firm, Dewey & LeBoeuf, to prepare for a potential bankruptcy filing, people briefed on the matter told DealBook on Thursday.
Its developers, MGM Mirage and Dubai World, will likely fail to make a $220 million debt payment due Friday, these people said. The sprawling and unfinished $8.6 billion project may file for bankruptcy within days, though an agreement could be reached before then.
Talks among the developers, MGM Mirage and Dubai World, and their lenders are already under way. Last week, Dubai World filed suit against MGM Mirage, claiming that the beleaguered casino operator’s finances have imperiled CityCenter’s fate. The project — the biggest privately financed construction project in United States history — was meant to be a crowning achievement for MGM Mirage, a 67-acre site with hotel-condominiums, a casino and a 500,000-square-foot shopping center.
MGM Mirage, which is controlled by the billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, reported a $1.15 billion fourth-quarter loss earlier this month. The casino operator, burdened with more than $13 billion in debt, has hired the investment bank Evercore Partners and the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges as advisers.
The company has already agreed to sell its Treasure Island casino for $775 million.
Many of the big Las Vegas casino operators, including MGM Mirage, Las Vegas Sands and Harrah’s Entertainment, have been hit hard by the drop in business caused by the recession. Now they are hard pressed to meet their debt obligations after years of rapid expansion when times were flush.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

trets77 wrote: »

so the Travel agent is being dishonsest only if she says the hotel are charging you the fee

I agree, but at one point the OP said:

The main thing I'm annoyed about r.e her comments regarding the single occupancy were to dismiss the online price I had found and state that it would be subject to the charge also, so I wouldn't be saving any money at all. She said that she phoned the hotel and spoke to someone there who confirmed this.

So that sounds to me like the TA making stuff up to suit her needs.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

mysparrow wrote: »

Don't actually know if they managed to make the payment!

They did.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090329-700511.html

TangoBunny

The Secret Garden

sew109 wrote: »

I am pleased to say that all my trips to Las Vegas this year (and probably for several more) have been cancelled. We have just found out that Mrs Sew is expecting our first baby, we had no idea and she is 13 weeks into the term, all the scans look good and we have even worked out that we think that the little mite was concivied most likely at Encore ;-) I never thought that I would be glad to have to cancel Vegas trips but you bet I am now ;-)

Congratulations Mr & Mrs Sew

Fragments_Of_Sanity

stoneman wrote: »

So let me get this right. You went into TC and booked a trip that you were presumably happy with at the time. No one forced you to hand over a deposit, you could have gone away and had a think about it and done some homework, but you didn't. Then after the event you came on here and asked a few questions about what you have just booked (which you should have done before), and finding that you could have gotten the thing a whole lot cheaper by doing some of the legwork yourself you think it OK to go in and cancel?
Sorry, what if you had found out that you had in fact got a cracking deal and you would have had to pay more by booking separately, would you have gone into TC and offered the difference? No, I thought not.
I hope they hold you to it. TC might have had to purchase a block of rooms from the hotel and they make more from single occupancy, simple as.
Sorry if this is not what you want to hear but it gets my goat when people don't do there own homework first then want to find ways of wiggling out of a contract when it doesn't go there way. Just take it as a lesson learned. you were happy with the price in the first place and you will love Vegas.

I'll be the first to admit I didn't research the holiday myself, but I am going as a bridesmaid to the person organising the holiday and was told the original price was a really good deal by others who travel a lot.

I know you have since apologised but the problem is that I later found out the price for me was going to be greater, which she didn't mention to the person booking at the time. Also, the travel agent fobbed me off with a story that it was the hotel charging extra and not her/ Thomas Cook which is an outright lie.

I would rather lose my deposit than deal with a person like that.