Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2014

Winter_Jasmine

Apologies if everyone already knows this/it's already posted but thought it was worth mentioning just in case it helps someone....

You can convert up to £50.00 of TCB into Tesco Clubcard points per year - by taking your cash back in this way you also get a 5% bonus. This is done on a 1:1 basis, so £50 TCB gives you 5,000 Tesco points

250 clubcard points = 625 Virgin miles (when there's no special offer on)

Therefore 5,000 clubcard points = 12,500 Virgin Miles

We've just used around 33,000 miles to pay for our flights next summer, so 12,500 gets you fairly close to half your return being paid for! If this continues, we reckon that, after including normal spending using our Tesco credit card, we should hopefully be able to get a pair of 'free' returns to Vegas every two years :j

nvh

How much in taxes did you pay, and how did you find availability?

Winter_Jasmine

£223 each in taxes (including a credit card fee of a couple of quid)

We had no issues at all with availability. We were lucky that we were very flexible with dates (any time June - Sept 2015 would've been fine) but we got our first choice of dates in June. I was expecting a bit of difficulty, especially as we wanted two seats on the same flight but it worked out perfectly. We booked on the first day of the reward seat sale but I kept checking back after as I was interested to see what availability was like (as in, did we get the only two seats) but there was still availability on our flights when I last looked

pebblesmax

Just finished the Laundry here at Tuscany.

There is a 50+ offer at Downtown Grand on Thursdays now. Don't know if it's permanent, or just for October. We had a lovely meal at Stewart and Ogden and the whole bill was halved. We had Calamari appetiser and Ribeye Steaks. The bill came to $36 after discount. It was a very nice meal indeed.

Triker

Has anyone ever stayed at a side of or off strip motel that they can recommend? Friday 31st of October, our arrival date, is turning out to be very expensive night and I'm looking for a more budget minded option seeing as we'll probably be awake at 3am as per usual!

We have a car so travelling is no problem.

John259

Triker wrote: »

Has anyone ever stayed at a side of or off strip motel that they can recommend?

Try the Super 8 on Koval Lane, a block east of Bally's/Paris.
http://www.super8.com
Expect something roughly comparable with typical mid-price US motels.

Or even less expensive, the Motel 6 at the intersection of Koval Lane and Tropicana, a block east of the Tropicana itself.
http://www.motel6.com
Simple and basic, but adequate IMHO.

It might also be worth exploring other properties from these and other chains further from the Strip. You could try a search in Google Maps for:
motel near las vegas nevada

It would be worth having a look at any place you're considering in StreetView mode of Google Maps. Here's the links for that Super 8:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Super+8+Las+Vegas+Strip+Area,+Koval+Lane,+Las+Vegas,+NV,+United+States&hl=en&ll=36.112137,-115.164034&spn=0.009552,0.01929&sll=37.6,-95.665&sspn=38.050549,79.013672&oq=super+8+koval&hq=Super+8+Las+Vegas+Strip+Area,+Koval+Lane,+Las+Vegas,+NV,+United+States&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=36.111959,-115.164038&panoid=ZhOIeWdrt0NHw_1IlsgZ9w&cbp=12,33.19,,0,-1.76

And that Motel 6:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Motel+6,+E+Tropicana+Ave,+Las+Vegas,+NV,+United+States&hl=en&ll=36.100989,-115.16367&spn=0.076423,0.154324&sll=36.111963,-115.164034&sspn=0.009621,0.01929&oq=motel+6+trop&hq=Motel+6,&hnear=E+Tropicana+Ave,+Las+Vegas,+Nevada&t=m&z=13&layer=c&cbll=36.100991,-115.163539&panoid=zJIKmaMsXCkGq4SsBpm3sw&cbp=12,231.55,,0,-2.73

Hope this helps.

Triker

Thanks John259, great suggestions, I was having a look at Motel 6 and Super 8, just need a safe, clean room for the first night.

photome

Triker wrote: »

Thanks John259, great suggestions, I was having a look at Motel 6 and Super 8, just need a safe, clean room for the first night.

what is expensive? bearing in mind it is a friday night.

Orleans is $130 the closest motel 6 is $105

silver sevens (was terribles) is $99 that night

https://ustlv.webhotel.microsdc.us/bp/search_rooms.cmd

the cafe in silver sevens does a good cheap breakfast...at least it used to when it was terribles, or if you stayed at super 8 opposite ellis island the steak special bfast in ellis island for $5.99 is a steal

vegasvisitor

Triker wrote: »

Has anyone ever stayed at a side of or off strip motel that they can recommend? Friday 31st of October, our arrival date, is turning out to be very expensive night and I'm looking for a more budget minded option seeing as we'll probably be awake at 3am as per usual!

We have a car so travelling is no problem.

Some suggestions (from Trivago)

£73 Silverton
£73 South Point
£74 Tuscany
£30 Stratosphere
£41 Silver 7s
£80 Harrah's

Do you have any discount via TR, or maybe Social Rewards points you could use?

Triker

Hi and thanks Photome and Lesley74.

We had booked via Trivago via Travelrepublic who then pulled a fast one and after the booking was confirmed said there were no rooms and offered unknown motels at three times the price so I cancelled.

Im juggling comps back to back pretty much for the rest of the stay so its not such a deal breaker. Shame as I have numerous 2 free nights to use in October but you have to use them togther and we don't arrive until the last day of the month. Plus there's the hugest of huge conventions in town.

Im not doing Social Rewards yet, plan to though.

We also tried via MYVegas to book a room for that night but you have to buy the reward, then ring US only for them to notify us there is no availability. Argh!

I'm enjoying this pre-planning though, I am absolutely aiming to 'get back to uber MSE' tricks and use what I can to be as frugal as possible.

I'll keep looking.