Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2012

rorylando45

CASINOS

Ohhhhhhhh I want these flight prices to go back down.....hurry up!!!!

dan28

Palms from $41.30
Promotion Details:
Name: 72 Hour Sale
Description: Double Rooms from $41.30/ night
Valid: October 30, 2012 – June 30, 2013
Expires: November 2, 2012
http://www.vegas-hotels-online.com/2012/10/30/palms-72-hour-sale/

rorylando45

CASINOS

It's been a bit quiet in here recently?!

Anyway...I HAVE BOOKED MY FLIGHTS! YAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSS! :beer:

What I have booked is a far-from-conventional route, but it is definitely MSE and I think it's a pretty good deal. For anyone who is interested, here is what I have booked:

There is an event I want to go to on Friday 28th June 2013 so I basically wanted to go for the week surrounding that, i.e. Saturday 22nd June - Sunday 29th June.

Flights from London for those dates were coming up at about £650 return, and they weren't at very good times, so I wasn't really prepared to pay that.

So I was checking the cost of flying out from other European cities, and Dublin was coming up pretty cheap. So for about £566 we could get the following:

Saturday 22nd June: Dublin 8.40am - London Gatwick 10am (Aer Lingus)
Saturday 22nd June: London Gatwick 12.30pm - Vegas 3.05pm (British Airways)

Saturday 29th June: Vegas 4.55pm - London Gatwick 10.45am on Sunday (British Airways)
Saturday 29th June: London Gatwick 3pm - Dublin 4.20pm

So what we are planning on doing is just "forgetting" to board the London-Dublin flight on the way home, and just leave the airport in London. This means we will effectively be on the direct BA flight home from Vegas-London!

The downside is that obviously we can't check in luggage but that's not the end of the world. I pack lightly, at that time of year will only need a few t-shirts, some shorts and swimming trunks.

However, the plot thickens; through Quidco you could get 2% cashback on flights with eBookers. Not bad, that would get us about £11 odd back per flight.

BUT, they were offering a massive 6% cashback on flight+hotel packages. So (and if I do say so myself, this was a stroke of sheer genius), we used the "I only need a hotel for part of my trip" feature on eBookers. We booked one night in some crappy motel on the Wednesday night which increased the cost of our booking by about £4 per person. But this then fell under the umbrella of a flight+hotel booking, and thus triggered the 6% cashback rate and saved us about another £22.

So overall it comes to about £536 for Dub-Lon, Lon-Vegas and Vegas-Lon. We will then obviously need to book a flight to Dublin from London but Ryanair go there for £20-£40. Not bad at all! Plus we will go to Dublin the night before our flights and have a bit of a night out.

Happy days all round..did anyone manage to follow that?!?!?!?

secretmachines

VALUE FOR MONEY

cracking bit of planning that rory, well done!

i'm hoping no decent prices for Vegas or Miami (where we're hoping to go at Easter) come up in the next few weeks, a just sent off the OH's passport renewal. so am going to try my best not to check prices so i don't get disappointed!

also, it's worth watching all of Richard E Grant's Hotel Secrets series on Sky Atlantic, ep2 was on last night and featured Vegas again. i think he's filmed in a set number of cities (inc LV) and doing different features each episode.

last night he was chatting to Paul Carr about people dying in hotels and casinos - sounds gruesome, but was really interesting!!

rorylando45

CASINOS

I don't think you need a passport number to book flights, do you? Or at least, I didn't last night when I booked with eBookers!

secretmachines

VALUE FOR MONEY

rorylando45 wrote: »

I don't think you need a passport number to book flights, do you? Or at least, I didn't last night when I booked with eBookers!

hmm i'm not sure, but always remembering entering them / have them saved on expedia/ebookers profiles - don't they need names and details for the flight booking?

maybe it's just the name you need?

StuieUK34

dan28 wrote: »

Palms from $41.30
Promotion Details:
Name: 72 Hour Sale
Description: Double Rooms from $41.30/ night
Valid: October 30, 2012 – June 30, 2013
Expires: November 2, 2012
http://www.vegas-hotels-online.com/2012/10/30/palms-72-hour-sale/

I wish these deals were true
Sadly, most of them never are... just marketing.

Were going back next year, however, i built a tool for recording room rates for 6 particular hotels, flights, packages, etc etc.
As were looking to book just after Xmas when hopefully the airlines cause a stir and brokers change costs for a short period

However, on the same website above (which i remember watching back in early 2011), the latest post is for the Excalibur hotel.... upto 55% off (states contemporary room)..

Did a search on the MGM site via the link, for the 6 nights i am watching, the rate shows total $328 (or around £213)
Do same search on Travelrepublic, and rate is £204

Looking back at my records, going back as far as mid September, the average rate for 6 nights in the Excal is between £200 and £209.. and has never rose above £209 via Travelrepublic (cant recall which US broker/booker they use)

Although, i guess the rates could work when its normally a super quiet week ? (i'm doing dates of 26th may to 1st june)

Hopefully i'll prove myself wrong when i book (when a deal properly jumps out! )

nvh

Good work Rory!

(incidently, you mentioned Sunday 29th June in your post - did you mean Sunday 30th?) - not being pedantic, just don't want you to have mucked up your booking

StuieUK34 wrote: »

I wish these deals were true
Sadly, most of them never are... just marketing.

They're true, they're just not applicable to when you wish to go.

Plenty of availability at Palms in December @ $41 per night

its not different than an airline saying 'flights from £10'

StuieUK34

good point, and very true!
Why do i always pick the expensive weeks! :doh: :doh:

Gonna spend 3 nights in Hooters, as when we get to Vegas, its that Memorial weekend, still, 9 nights with 2 hotels sounds a plan

rorylando45

CASINOS

secretmachines wrote: »

hmm i'm not sure, but always remembering entering them / have them saved on expedia/ebookers profiles - don't they need names and details for the flight booking?

maybe it's just the name you need?

I think actually it depends on which website you book through. I seem to recall LastMinute ask for passport number, but on eBookers last night I just needed names, genders and DOBs.