Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2013

DaveyGee_2

StuieUK34 wrote: »

Hey all, didnt get chance to update last night, so doing it now:
IE: Resort Fee's

Lady from Netflights called me last night after that confusing email she sent me, but all works out good now....

LowCostUsa, QuickRooms & Netflights (and Virgin, and other brokers, etc), am guessing with some agents we use over here, the 'Resort Fee' is included (or excluded if it states it) in the price.
Am guessing the Room booking agent who the UK suppliers use have a deal setup which covers all costs, inc resort fees, etc....

The notes i've heard from 3 different suppliers over here (from seeing it to the sales agent reading it from there notes), states "Resort fee inclusive, except for Canadian & Mexican markets"

Specific wording and room/hotel descrption that Netflights have, is the same info as what QuickRooms have, and partially the same as what LowCostUsa have.....

Soooooo, worst case scenario, you cause a scene, and make a claim when you get back, but if that were the case, a major oversight like this would have been shot down ages ago!

Netflights will also price match (hopefully beat too) as was confirmed to me last night, so given i need to cancel the direct booking with Mandalay Bay due to them having zero brains when it comes to honouring there Best Rate Guarantee, think i'll do my booking with Netflights.....

So with Mandalay Bays Best Rate Guarantee in theory they should give you a room for £215.10 if you use netflights price as your price match (lowest price - 10%)? Never used the Best Rate Guarantee before but I'm guessing there's all kinds of opt outs for these hotels (basically excuses for them not to give you the deal) or am I just being cynical here? As I said I've got no experience of using it but thats how it works, find a price lower thats available to the general public on a website and in theory they should honour it?

Additionally has anyone used lowcostusa.co.uk? Just recently heard of the site and prices seem decent

StuieUK34

PriceLine/Hotwire/Last Min - Am staying away from, as i would be looking at the 4* south, and excal & luxor can creep in the list! erm, 4* u say sir ?! haha !!!
never hurts to investigate new avenues mind

As it stands, its been 52 hours since i booked direct with Mandalay Bay and submitted the 'Best Rate Guarantee' against Quickrooms (or lowcostusa, or netflights even!).
They have 20 hours to honour there advertisement which is 72 hours to respond....

Deep down, i know they wont honour it, but doesnt hurt to try....
As far as i can see, its only been ARIA who have honoured a Best Rate Guarantee from the MGM Resorts side of things.
Excalibur ignored my multiple emails for the BRG, Luxor messed up which resulted in me getting comped for 5 nights. M Bay havent responded as yet......
Golden Nugget did accept the BRG and were on it quick time, and although i didnt go down the Flamingo route, via email, they would have price matched if i booked direct....

Tomorrow, i will cancel my booking with Mandalay Bay and then wait a while for the $ to £ to pickup and then book with Netflights which does include the resort fee (when i got it in writing, thats good enough for me, and happy for legal dealings after if need be! )

I had a booking direct with Excalibur to which i emailed them stating i want to cancel. No reply back as yet, and am allowing till Friday to see a refund. I guess if nothing by friday, means i gotta waste time calling the hotel to get a refund....

ferf1223

StuieUK34 wrote: »

I had a booking direct with Excalibur to which i emailed them stating i want to cancel. No reply back as yet, and am allowing till Friday to see a refund. I guess if nothing by friday, means i gotta waste time calling the hotel to get a refund....

I thought you could cancel via their website?

StuieUK34

nope
the link on the excal website dont work (it links to nothing)
the email address u get your confirmation with, would appear they dont look at it....
And Mandalay Bay dont even list a mail address!!

I dont mind calling the states, as i have a landline number (0161) i can call, then dial the US number from there... Costs £0.00 !!

Triker

Hi all, back from a fabulous 10 night stay. Will post a brief report when I can. Got to say that jet lag hit quite hard both ways this time, just something to be mindful of for those who are doing multiple hotels and flights.

We flew Manchester to Gatwick then Gatwick to Vegas outward and Vegas to Manchester back via Virgin and stayed at Paris for the full 10 nights and were still exhausted without having to worry about multiple flights and hotel changes throughout.

If you have the energy and time that's fine but we value our precious Vegas time without having to worry about unpacking, packing and then driving to and waiting in hotel queues and starting the whole process again, but that's just us.

ox-boy

has anyone been to vegas via Lastminute.com and had to pay or not pay the resort fee?

I have sent them numerous emails now asking the question but have had no response.

photome

Triker wrote: »

Hi all, back from a fabulous 10 night stay. Will post a brief report when I can. Got to say that jet lag hit quite hard both ways this time, just something to be mindful of for those who are doing multiple hotels and flights.

We flew Manchester to Gatwick then Gatwick to Vegas outward and Vegas to Manchester back via Virgin and stayed at Paris for the full 10 nights and were still exhausted without having to worry about multiple flights and hotel changes throughout.

If you have the energy and time that's fine but we value our precious Vegas time without having to worry about unpacking, packing and then driving to and waiting in hotel queues and starting the whole process again, but that's just us.

Glad you had a good time, but dont really see how multiple flights make a lot of difference if any with jet lag. A multi stop flight can mean you arrive in Vegas at about midnight their time so go straight to bed and if that saves £200 plus in the process, its all good (this is MSE)

Changing hotels isnt a worry to us, in fact it is exciting, and again doesnt impact on jetlag

vegasvisitor

StuieUK34 wrote: »

PriceLine/Hotwire/Last Min - Am staying away from, as i would be looking at the 4* south, and excal & luxor can creep in the list! erm, 4* u say sir ?! haha !!!
never hurts to investigate new avenues mind

As it stands, its been 52 hours since i booked direct with Mandalay Bay and submitted the 'Best Rate Guarantee' against Quickrooms (or lowcostusa, or netflights even!).
They have 20 hours to honour there advertisement which is 72 hours to respond....

Deep down, i know they wont honour it, but doesnt hurt to try....
As far as i can see, its only been ARIA who have honoured a Best Rate Guarantee from the MGM Resorts side of things.
Excalibur ignored my multiple emails for the BRG, Luxor messed up which resulted in me getting comped for 5 nights. M Bay havent responded as yet......
Golden Nugget did accept the BRG and were on it quick time, and although i didnt go down the Flamingo route, via email, they would have price matched if i booked direct....

Tomorrow, i will cancel my booking with Mandalay Bay and then wait a while for the $ to £ to pickup and then book with Netflights which does include the resort fee (when i got it in writing, thats good enough for me, and happy for legal dealings after if need be! )

I had a booking direct with Excalibur to which i emailed them stating i want to cancel. No reply back as yet, and am allowing till Friday to see a refund. I guess if nothing by friday, means i gotta waste time calling the hotel to get a refund....

You really have to do a wee bit of research with this, it can so easily go wrong with Priceline. I'm glad you now know you can't back out if you don't like the deal. You just bid what you want on the zone and rating you want and if it is successful you will get a hotel name and printable receipt to take to the hotel. There is no backing out.

I think you would find though that the price you would get 4* south strip would be a good price, and quite fitting for Luxor and Excalibur. You could possibly get Planet Ho. It sounds like you're already booked for Luxor and Excalibur though, so not sure why you want to avoid those (unless you're just saying that you would have liked one of the others instead which is understandable, but unfortunately they have effectively blocked those out by having low value properties on the list with them).

You have to be happy with any property withing the zone/rating list you are bidding on. I like Platinum and Westin, but I didn't try 4* East for fear of getting Hard Rock. I'm sure Hard Rock is a lovely hotel, but I just can't see myself staying there. About to post separately regarding this evening's bidding. :rotfl:

ferf1223

Triker wrote: »

stayed at Paris for the full 10 nights

welcome back, Triker! Look forward to your trip report as I always do. How did you like Paris? We're there for 8 nights next month...have stayed before, said then we'd probably go back to Bally's and did...but it came up so much cheaper than any of the other CET properties so went for it...one month tomorrow we fly and sooo excited!

oh, and we used to be adverse to changing hotels but now we have done it a few times we find it OK - I can completely understand how some might prefer not to though...it's one of those personal preference things...sometimes being settled for the duration is more relaxing.

ferf1223

lesley74 wrote: »

You have to be happy with any property withing the zone/rating list you are bidding on

that's so important - and while I think that the lists compiled by betterbidding are really good they do say that the list is not exhaustive - another hotel could pop up.

The times I have used Priceline (not for Vegas) I have done sooo much research on betterbidding and various review websites in order to know as close to 100% certain I will be happy with the outcome if my bid is accepted... and even then there's that period where you're waiting to see the answer and my heart always starts pounding thinking 'have I missed something and will I regret this?' So far have always been pleased and some excellent deals to be had but you read so often of people who didn't understand and are now stuck with what they got.