Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

Someone was thinking about staying at South Point.

They have 50% off at the moment. No promo code needed. Just go to their website and the sale is advertised on the main page. 50% off most dates through 30 September. Must book by 2 July at 9am.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

MGM Grand rates from $59

https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?pid=001&host=promo&code=INB275

jackieblack

The Bellagio Fountains

c_l_a_i_r_e wrote: »

Finally booked our car hire, and went with carhire3000 this time as for the first time in all our trips they were cheaper than netflights. We got a dodge charger with dollar, 8 days rental for £184 (including full tank of petrol). I'm very pleased as the same car with netflights is £197 without the full tank of petrol:D

2 weeks today and i'll be on my way to vegas:j

This is one of the things i don't understand.... (just one, there are many others !)

I've read posts on here from people saying don't take Virgin Holidays car hire, that it's always cheaper to book tha car yourself etc etc

But you get one week free car hire and even with Platinum Insurance, one week's insurance only comes to £168 for a full size, less for fully inclusive insurance (£154) or an Intermediate size (£133 Plat /£119 FI)

Am I missing something?

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

Entertainer wrote: »

Where can I get stamps for postcards? I'm talking about one or two, not a whole book from Wallgreens. Are there boring things like post offices in Las Vegas?

Hotel business centres will sell either stamps or franking labels for postcards. I know Bally's used to have a machine which gave change in Sacagawea dollar coins which was cool since America has yet to embrace dollar coins in any extensive manner so rare to see them...but I think they took the machine out - but you can still buy postage at the counter. There's also a stamp machine at the airport just after you clear security - and a post box for those 'oh, damn ! we never posted the postcards moments'.

The closest post office to the strip as far as I know is the one on Industrial which is one block west of the strip - just north of where the Stardust used to be - so pretty much between Fashion Show Mall and Circus Circus but one block west...we've always driven so not sure if it's reasonably walkable - seems it would be, but being Vegas you never know. The PO is good if you want to send anything home - business centres will do it, but will charge a handling fee.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

jackieblack wrote: »

This is one of the things i don't understand.... (just one, there are many others !)

I've read posts on here from people saying don't take Virgin Holidays car hire, that it's always cheaper to book tha car yourself etc etc

But you get one week free car hire and even with Platinum Insurance, one week's insurance only comes to £168 for a full size, less for fully inclusive insurance (£154) or an Intermediate size (£133 Plat /£119 FI)

Am I missing something?

I think one thing may be that if they call that 'one week free car hire' it's a bit cheeky as the prices that claire got were for fully inclusive (and may be for platinum type packages even)...so you're not really getting much free - seems your paying pretty close to the same as people who don't have a car as part of a package...we got ours down to about £154, 4 door intermediate, 9 days...fully inclusive (no platinum package)...so if I was with VH, I'd be wondering what part of the car hire is, in fact, free.

Indout96

The Fremont street experience

Hi Jackie
The reason is that Virgin would have locked their prices in last year before the price of car hire in the US soared, It has gone up a lot lately, I booked our convertable for September back in January and the price has shot up since.
So at the moment Virgin are slightly cheaper for the car hire due to this. I am guessing that next year they will be more expensive again due to having to lock in at 2009 prices and IF the economy starts to recover then prices for car hire should start to drop.

jackieblack

The Bellagio Fountains

Entertainer wrote: »

Where can I get stamps for postcards? I'm talking about one or two, not a whole book from Wallgreens. Are there boring things like post offices in Las Vegas?

When we were there in April we hunted high and low for International postage stamps (asked at every gift shop/hotel we went to, Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart etc - they all only sold regular Us postage stamps) and the only ones we saw were in vending machines in hotel lobbies - $2 for one 94c stamp!

Gave up in the end and bought ours at the PO at the Grand Canyon!

jackieblack

The Bellagio Fountains

Indout96 wrote: »

Hi Jackie
The reason is that Virgin would have locked their prices in last year before the price of car hire in the US soared, It has gone up a lot lately, I booked our convertable for September back in January and the price has shot up since.
So at the moment Virgin are slightly cheaper for the car hire due to this. I am guessing that next year they will be more expensive again due to having to lock in at 2009 prices and IF the economy starts to recover then prices for car hire should start to drop.

Glad I've already booked for next year then:D (not LV though, into SFO out of LAX)

pebblespop

do hotels in vegas charge rack rate if you turn up on the day you want to stay?

it seems there are lot's of cheap deals on expedia etc. would these deals work out a lot cheaper if you book before travelling?

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

pebblespop wrote: »

do hotels in vegas charge rack rate if you turn up on the day you want to stay?

it seems there are lot's of cheap deals on expedia etc. would these deals work out a lot cheaper if you book before travelling?

Don't turn up in Vegas without a reservation...while it's possible you'd get a good deal if occupancy was low - more likely you'll get stung.

Most of us book direct with the hotel using the various deals that are available through the links on the first page of this thread - normally these are cancellable up to 72 hours before arrival...and many times are better rates than 3rd parties and have the option to cancel if something better comes up.

But lately it seems some of the 3rd party deals are better - so best to check both options - direct and 3rd party...with some 3rd parties you cannot cancel or cannot cancel without a fee...so if something better comes along, you can't change without losing out.

And remember the best deals come out 2-3 months before your travel dates - so if your dates are aways out, you may not be seeing the best rates for your dates yet.