Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2015

vegasvisitor

I've got a bit fed up with the charges on cash machine withdrawals, not just the banks who own the machine, but my own bank charging £4 maybe per time for a 'foreign transaction fee'. I use my Nationwide card, which used to be one of the best, but it seems it's not any more.

I need to have a rethink or take more cash with us (and use c/card for purchases and meals.

That said, I've ordered a LVA coupon book, have some MyVegas rewards, so far have $100 worth on Social Rewards (and hopefully some more) so it might be a cheap trip.

Another thing, has anyone stayed at Rio lately? I seem to be getting a good rate for 17th and 18th May $47 per night in a Samba Mountain View room. They look like nice renovated rooms, but I'm not sure what tower they are in. I'd prefer the Ipanema tower, as we won't have a car by then. We'll check in with the car then go drop it off. I was thinking of staying at Tuscany to try it out with a view to it being a cheaper alternative to Platinum.

photome

lesley74 wrote: »

I've got a bit fed up with the charges on cash machine withdrawals, not just the banks who own the machine, but my own bank charging £4 maybe per time for a 'foreign transaction fee'. I use my Nationwide card, which used to be one of the best, but it seems it's not any more.

I need to have a rethink or take more cash with us (and use c/card for purchases and meals.

That said, I've ordered a LVA coupon book, have some MyVegas rewards, so far have $100 worth on Social Rewards (and hopefully some more) so it might be a cheap trip.



Another thing, has anyone stayed at Rio lately? I seem to be getting a good rate for 17th and 18th May $47 per night in a Samba Mountain View room. They look like nice renovated rooms, but I'm not sure what tower they are in. I'd prefer the Ipanema tower, as we won't have a car by then. We'll check in with the car then go drop it off. I was thinking of staying at Tuscany to try it out with a view to it being a cheaper alternative to Platinum.

Nationwide hasnt been the best for a long time

Halifax clarity CC is one of the best, great rates, no fees other than minimal interest which can be negated by paying off quickly, ie withdraw $800(max) from an ATM at casino royale, I dont pay off till I get home,you could pay it off sooner but I only pay pennies in interest plus the $1 charge

You could use the Clarity for everything but we use PO CC (again great rates and no conversion fees) for purchases etc and Clarity for cash it keeps it simple

ferf1223

we finally took the Clarity plunge even though we have a 'good' debit card (Santander Zero which you can no longer get) and since MetroBank went into the 'meh' pile. We also have the PO CC but we like to have two options for withdrawing cash and while Metro is a back-up, it annoys us that they changed the overseas charges. Also suggested it for my in-laws as they went to Australia in Jan and are going to Vegas in March. Father-in-law is most impressed with it...how little interest he paid on his withdrawals and no fees.

I still do not like the idea of withdrawing cash on a credit card...but it's a throw-back to when I was not able to trust myself with doing so (many, many years ago). I said I would never withdraw cash on a CC...I am trying to update my thinking for this particular card in holiday circumstances only.

photome

ferf1223 wrote: »

we finally took the Clarity plunge even though we have a 'good' debit card (Santander Zero which you can no longer get) and since MetroBank went into the 'meh' pile. We also have the PO CC but we like to have two options for withdrawing cash and while Metro is a back-up, it annoys us that they changed the overseas charges. Also suggested it for my in-laws as they went to Australia in Jan and are going to Vegas in March. Father-in-law is most impressed with it...how little interest he paid on his withdrawals and no fees.

I still do not like the idea of withdrawing cash on a credit card...but it's a throw-back to when I was not able to trust myself with doing so (many, many years ago). I said I would never withdraw cash on a CC...I am trying to update my thinking for this particular card in holiday circumstances only.

I had never withdrawn cash on a CC in my life until the Clarity came along, I now only withdraw foreign currency on it when abroad and dont use it at all any other time

Raymondo111

photome wrote: »

I had never withdrawn cash on a CC in my life until the Clarity came along, I now only withdraw foreign currency on it when abroad and dont use it at all any other time

My thoughts exactly, I usually take cash and back up cards but the Clarity Card seems to cover everything I need, I still have cash for the first few days and then intend to pay for meals etc on the card and then withdraw cash when needed. This will do nicely for my upcoming trip to NYC in 4 weeks time, I still have some USD left over from the last trip so I may not have to withdraw much cash.

I only recently got the Clarity card and was a bit miffed not to have been offered the lowest interest rate as I thought I had an excellent credit rating but as I always pay off the bill every month on all my cards it wont be a problem.

vegasvisitor

photome wrote: »

I had never withdrawn cash on a CC in my life until the Clarity came along, I now only withdraw foreign currency on it when abroad and dont use it at all any other time

I also can't get my head around withdrawing cash from a credit card. It feels wrong. I wonder if I could make a payment before a trip though so that I had a credit balance on it and wouldn't be withdrawing money that wasn't there.

I need to sort something out. I'm sure I paid about £5 in fees to withdraw money (at interbank rate) in Thailand recently. And I'm only talking about £200 so it's enough to make a dent.

I should really look into all of this, as I probably need to change my c/card and debit card for travelling, both currently Nationwide because they were previously so good. I don't use them at home though, tend to use Tesco c/card at home for points but I don't think they're good abroad.

vanilla8

I tend to always have a cc that I require to meet a spend on for the points so accept the forex charges on food/shopping(Amex gold triple points on overseas spend too)

My gambling and tip money is normally already sitting in envelopes but this year I may need a rethink as we are going to be in Washington for a week before getting to Vegas and not the best idea to have all the cash with us.

I bank with Halifax so could easily transfer money to pay it off after I withdraw it, this may be the best option although may change if the exchange rate suffers.

On a side note I have changed my Mlife comp to Monte Carlo, mainly for the lazy river, mlifes website is not the best for cancelling reservations but Skype came to my rescue.

photome

lesley74 wrote: »

I also can't get my head around withdrawing cash from a credit card. It feels wrong. I wonder if I could make a payment before a trip though so that I had a credit balance on it and wouldn't be withdrawing money that wasn't there.

I need to sort something out. I'm sure I paid about £5 in fees to withdraw money (at interbank rate) in Thailand recently. And I'm only talking about £200 so it's enough to make a dent.

I should really look into all of this, as I probably need to change my c/card and debit card for travelling, both currently Nationwide because they were previously so good. I don't use them at home though, tend to use Tesco c/card at home for points but I don't think they're good abroad.

It is against their t and c and IMO not worth it
If you were to withdraw $800/£500 (i think thats the max per day) the interest on that at 12.9% assuming thats what you get, would be about 15p per day. You could pay it off while on holiday, so you can see that it need not cost you hardly anything while benefitting from the best rate at the time.

I usualllly withdraw $800 twice while away (depending on how gambling is going) and pay off when I get home at a cost of a couple of quid which is still way better than any other card and much better than paying commission on currency exchange before we go

stoneman

It's just as bad if not worse if you have an American bank account. I have a Bank of America account and just looking at the balance on a cash machine costs $2. Also if you withdrawal cash the machine operator charges an amount then BOA stick a couple of dollars on as well.

bubble113

I got a Halifax cc last year and used it to withdraw cash and intended to pay it off straight away to avoid interest charges but it would only let me do this if I banked with Halifax (which I don't) so I did a direct debit to pay full amount when due. It wasn't a lot of interest ( can't remember exactly but pennies rather than pounds) but I would have preferred to pay it off immediately...