Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

duchy

August

Woo-hoo it's packing time
Just a quick hit and run trip with a bit of shopping and a show or two.
So far the packing consists of 10 packs of Smints and two tubs of gentleman's relish (for a local on another board who got me free rooms on another trip -he's a local and doesn't use his tournament comps) have 3 CDs reserved at HMV at Terminal 3 to pick up for friends who will be in Vegas at the same time .....just need to add clothes to the list now LOL

KickandRun

Thanks Duchy, really the Sahara is a better choice than Circus, that's good to know. I stayed at Circus 10 years ago and thought it was quite pleasant and Sahara is a good 10 minute walk in the wrong direction.
It now has it's own monorail station which should make things easier and
I believe you can buy a 3 day pass for about $30 and they run every 15 minutes or so. I didn't like Riviera, it looked too out dated even though Austin Powers bigged it up.
I was planning to go 6th April for 10 nights, so I am I looking too early?
Ideally we should be mid strip, but paying $200 or so less for a less desirable location seems better.
As it's two of us and the dollar is fairly reasonable at the moment I might change hotel choice.

duchy

August

folkestonelisa wrote: »

All together with flights our budget is about £1300. Want a hotel that we dont have to walk to far for everything. Went to florida a few years ago and though we stayed on international drive, the hotel was a long walk from anywhere and just dont want the same again. Hubby wants to play poker some nights so dont want him walking home too far on his own.

I'd consider Bill's -was $40 a night for most of this year. It is right next door to the Flamingo and you can use their pool as a guest there. Prices are comparable with a "deluxe" Flamingo room (which despite the name are their basic rooms) but Bill's rooms are nicer than those. It's bang in the middle of the Strip right opposite Ceasers so lots of hotels very easy walking distance for the poker nights. I know Bill's has poker but no idea if it's "good" there or not as I'm a slots girl
Bill's is a smaller hotel however -so may not suit if you want one of the mega sized hotels.

Flights-if you'd consider indirect you may get a better deal. I like Kayak.co.uk for flights but it's a bit early for the best prices yet

duchy

August

KickandRun wrote: »

Thanks Duchy, really the Sahara is a better choice than Circus, that's good to know. I stayed at Circus 10 years ago and thought it was quite pleasant and Sahara is a good 10 minute walk in the wrong direction.
It now has it's own monorail station which should make things easier and
I believe you can buy a 3 day pass for about $30 and they run every 15 minutes or so. I didn't like Riviera, it looked too out dated even though Austin Powers bigged it up.
I was planning to go 6th April for 10 nights, so I am I looking too early?
Ideally we should be mid strip, but paying $200 or so less for a less desirable location seems better.
As it's two of us and the dollar is fairly reasonable at the moment I might change hotel choice.

Check out MGM for deals -and also Bill's if you can push the budget a little more. I do like the monorail far better than the Deuce as it's so slow.

April is US college Spring break-I'd definitely avoid CircusCircus then !
I rather like the "Old Vegas" feel of the Riviera and like the way they always seem to upgrade (without the $20 trick). This time last year I was booked there on Priceline and they upgraded me to a suite despite my super cheap rate

Yes you're a bit early for the good deals yet- keep an eye on the sites like www.travelzoo.com (take the US option not uk) to keep an eye out for when the April deals go on sale. Most people book something acceptable as a fallback which has no cancellation charges then keep watching the deals and rebook elsewhere (or at the same place at a better rate) when the rates drop.

$200 soon gets eaten up with extra taxi fares over 10 days so you may be better putting that $20 a night to the hotel cost.

Just got back from the beautician -she's planning on Vegas next summer so guess what we were talking about LOL

trets77

folkestonelisa wrote: »

All together with flights our budget is about £1300. Want a hotel that we dont have to walk to far for everything. Went to florida a few years ago and though we stayed on international drive, the hotel was a long walk from anywhere and just dont want the same again. Hubby wants to play poker some nights so dont want him walking home too far on his own.

good choices would be Ballys , Imperial palace , and if you are prepared to risk the construction next door Monte Carlo .

it all comes down to what deal you can find though . After you have sorted your flight use the links in post 1 and book a fall back hotel you can cancel later . worst comes to worst the Sahara isn't the end of the world , but does not fit your criteria of some where near everything .

closer to your dates you should find some deals ( 12 weeks out as a rough rule of thumb) . we can advise on the hotels , but you have to do your own homework to find the deals that work for you and your dates . i would do some hunting once a week until 3 months out then as often as possible before you go . you just need to be okay with the fact that you won't have where you are staying set in stone until close to departure .

Froggitt

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

IMHO MGM at around $50 midweek is better option. Or NYNY for even less. Or Luxor for sub $40.

bobbyo

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

trets77 wrote: »

good choices would be Ballys , Imperial palace , and if you are prepared to risk the construction next door Monte Carlo .

.

I thought that was now finished, as the Citycenter development was now open?

SimbaSimon

October , November

KickandRun wrote: »

Thanks Duchy, really the Sahara is a better choice than Circus, that's good to know. I stayed at Circus 10 years ago and thought it was quite pleasant and Sahara is a good 10 minute walk in the wrong direction.
It now has it's own monorail station which should make things easier and
I believe you can buy a 3 day pass for about $30 and they run every 15 minutes or so. I didn't like Riviera, it looked too out dated even though Austin Powers bigged it up.
I was planning to go 6th April for 10 nights, so I am I looking too early?
Ideally we should be mid strip, but paying $200 or so less for a less desirable location seems better.
As it's two of us and the dollar is fairly reasonable at the moment I might change hotel choice.

We stayed at the Stratosphere recently and enjoyed it there which is quite close to the Sahara. We used the monorail quite extensively as it was a 5 minute walk from the Stratosphere and they are very quick and come regularly.

The monorail station does make it compliment the Sahara nicely. We staggered off the monorail then had a 5 minute jolly down the strip to the Stratosphere which after a few of the longer days sometimes would have been nice to avoid by staying at the Sahara.

Although some will complain its not centre of the strip it suited us fine and it wouldn't bother us to stay there again. Was very short drive to downtown Vegas too.

folkestonelisa

I know that im miles too early to be even thinking about hotels and whatever, but im so excited.
Was meant to be going in march for my 40th but didnt want to leave son and daughter at home, also we fell out with the friends we were going with. so have decided that september would be great, son wont have started uni, daughter will be at school, i wont have started uni either and hubby is flexible with holidays so thought lets go for it.
Will keep looking on here over the course of the coming months just to pick up some ideas.

but thanks for all your help. (just off to check out the hotel recommendations:j)

Froggitt

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

Im off in two weeks and havent booked hotel yet

Fancy the Siggy......