Have you ever put a group together to go to Vegas

Someone has asked me to put a group together to go to Vegas. Which would be air and hotel. I would do them separately. The question is how many would one need to have to make it viable ? Thanks.

 

Yes I have ......and NEVER again!!!! A group of our family (11, all women) went to Vegas in Sept, 2011. You can't get anyone to agree upon anything. They all told me to make the arrangements since I am the "Vegas expert" in the family. Finally a decision on date and hotel was made. Then try to get money out of them. Everyone has a different reason why they don't have the money on time. Then they don't all show up on time at the airport and you worry if they will miss the plane. Then you act as a baby-sitter for 4 days. No one is on time for anything so you finally take a small group and go about having fun. And on and on and on. There' always a few who will NOT cooperate.

I would tell you to tell everyone when you are going and where you are staying and if they want to go to make their own arrangements. And when you say viable I'm not sure what you mean. Anything is possible. Are you wanting your air and room comped? If so I don't know how to go about that. Just be prepared for lots of logistic headaches.

 

family and friends/16 of us

We take a large group to vegas once a year in October. I go to babysit the night the group goes to Jimmy Buffet. Everyone makes their own travel arrangements, because they come from different states. As far as rooms go we book those ourselves at the same hotel. Most years we have stayed at the Flamingo. Some of us pay for the go room, others for the deluxe. I usually call to make sure my room is located next to or across from my son's because of the kids, but the hotel is very accomodating about trying to get the ones that book the same type of room in the same hall. Last time we stayed at Bally's which treated us all very well, and got our rooms right next to each other. Some of play enough to get rooms comped others pay.

 

The Caesars properties seem to think that group rates begin with 5 rooms, at which point you get access to concierge service. Doesn't mention anything about room discounts one way or the other, but I can definitely see an advantage of having somebody in town taking care of your itinerary.

http://www.totalexperiences.com

 

My mom ran a senior activity group at an old job and had to organize something like that. I got to tag along. She did it with Funjet and they arranged transportation and a daytrip to Laughlin. Depending on the size of the group and assuming you all want to be on the same flights, I would probably go with a travel agent. Even the hotels can arrange air travel if that's the way you wanted to go.

If flying together didn't matter to you, my hunch is you may get a better deal on the hotel rooms if you did them separate.

 

What do you mean make it viable? Are you looking for discounted air and hotel for a very large group?

I go with a group of 6-10 every year and I usually book the whole thing (air/hotel) for everyone. It certainly makes it easier for them but it also makes it so everyone is paying the same amount. We all want to stay at the same hotel and have gone to many different places over the years. They are all incredibly trustworthy so that I don't have any issues getting payment from them.

We do a fair amount of gambling but most don't gamble enough to get any rooms comped so it makes sense for us to book air and hotel packages. Coming from our location, Southwest Vacations is clearly the least expensive of any site that offers packages.

 

The best is to work out dates, and let everyone make their own travel arrangements individually.

 

I always seem to be the planner in our circle of friends and have put together 5 or 6 trips to Vegas for groups. My thoughts:
* Once we agree on dates, I do the homework and find the best room options.
* Everyone books their own airfare because they all have different thoughts on which airline, some want to use miles, different cities, etc.
* I also find options for dinners for us to all eat together.
* Other than that, my rule is people can do whatever they want to do. You want to stay by the pool while others gamble or play poker? Cool. Some want to sleep in while others get up early? Great!

Key is that with a group, everyone needs to understand that they don't have to do EVERYTHING together. That's what seems to cause a lot of problems.

Also, it helps to have a group with similar views on gambling.

Hope this helps.

 

I also was the go to guy for Vegas group trips. I was always able to get as many rooms as we needed at casino rate and everyone wanted to go. Most of the time over half would back out and some would back out and back in and back out again. It was a real headache for me booking rooms and then canceling them and sometimes booking them again.

After several trips I came up with an idea that worked out very well. We would put together a slot machine group with a non-refundable $25 entry when I booked the rooms. We would play this money on a Megabucks or something like that. Here was the catch, if you weren't at the machine at a certain time to sign in, you would not share in any winnings that we won, if any. After that my cancellation rate dropped down to about 5%.

We played until we went broke or reached a pre determined amount and then split the money.

 

I like this idea and thats how I would do it.

The more people you involve the more likely you are going to get some issues/problems like one guy who backs out and just says "Yeah, sorry man, I can't make it... cancel my flight and hotel" and then when you tell him its a non-refundable airfare you get something back like "Oh, that sucks... well see what you can do!" or you get somebody who you have a hard time tracking down for the money to pay for their air/hotel and when you finally get a hold of them its like "Yeah, money is tight right now... I'll have to owe you for it for now" and of course money is tight: he has a trip to Vegas coming up and he is saving up for it!

For a group trip one thing I would suggest and that is: don't over plan. If you try to plan and coordinate all this stuff for the group to do together, even if its just a small group of 5-6 people, it just won't work out. People will have different interests, different wants and needs, different schedules and different budgets. If you are going for a 3-4 day plan you might want to schedule a couple of things there (a nice dinner, an attraction, a night out) and then let everything else just happen... and if everybody has cellphones they can all just message or call eachother to give updates or see whats going on and where people are at if they are looking to meet up.

 

Since me and one of my friends were the ones who regularly went to vegas we were nominated to plan everything on 2 different bachelor parties. Both trips, just like others have said, the group agreed upon the dates (which we strategically figured out based on cheaper room rates and cheaper flight dates).
For the flight..... we figured out what flight we wanted... typically non-stop. Here is the flight number, here is the price... book it now or later... its your risk if they run out of room or the price goes up. Or pick you own flight....

Did the same thing for rooms. This is where we are staying, here is who you are pair up with, here are the best offers or prices.... book it yourself.... if you wanna be the cheapo that stays at casino royal or the High Roller at wynn, so be it but realize you are walking to meet the rest of us every day. Obviously if we had discounted rates besides our comps that were better than advertised we would book the room a couple of the guys, but only for the ones we knew were definately going.
As for planning on doing things while out there. We just played it by ear... we knew we would do one downtown night, one steak dinner with everyone, but the rest of the time you were on your own.... but we usually all met up at some point or another.
Like Buckeye Bob said... you don't need to do everything together all the time. (but there are always one or 2 guys in the group that just don't get it).

 

yeah - I co-ordinated one a couple of years ago but after reading the horror stories I did the following.
got the dates agreed (the focus being st paddys day)
told people what flights I was going to be on in order that those travelling with me could also book those if they wanted.
those travelling from elsewhere had to make their own flight arrangements.
booked two hotel rooms (downtown) and told people that thats where I would be at and I'd recommend they did the same (naturally one couple ignored this and booked at the Luxor...).

arranged a couple of meeting times and places for everyone and the rest they were by themselves. I also picked a couple of poker tourneys that I would enter and let everyone know.

basically I sorted out the framework of the trip and let everyone else do thier own details. If they wanted to hang with us then that was fine - everyone had phones so they could catch up iof they wanted..

even then it seemed like a lot of hassle as the same questions were being asked time and time again.,..

 

Yeah I put a group together for a bachelor party once and I'm telling you it can suck depending on the type of people involved. Others here have posted VERY GOOD advice about just agreeing on the basics like dates and general location to stay and then letting everyone fend for themselves. The fact of the matter is a lot of people are ungrateful and even if people know for weeks what the plan is they'll pop out in the last second and decide they think everyone should stay somewhere else, or make a big change to some group activity, whatever. The worst was the fact that between me and a high-roller friend we had a couple of big suites and a bunch of rooms comped for everyone (I think maybe a couple at just cheap casino rates). Not a single thanks, show of gratitude, or even acknowledgement from a lot of people, and on top of that some would even complain that they were in regular rooms while others were in suites. Even though they're weren't paying a penny out of pocket. Some would complain about the choice of lounges, strip clubs, restaurants, etc. even when they knew the plan for weeks and should know its not easy to change reservations for a large group on the fly especially when you're booked for private dining rooms or so forth. When you take responsibility for something there are a lot of people who forget to respect that and instead just feel entitled to being looked out for.

Seriously, coordinate some of the basic details but let everyone fend for themselves.

 

Since we are the "regulars" or 'vets" - we have traveled with up to 17 folks from our home poker club. We set the dates & I watch for flight specials and alert everyone when I find something that fits. Give the flight times and everyone makes their own reservations. We all usually stay at Paris or Bally's and I work everyone's TR # on the CET site under reservations to get them the best deals & they provide their CC # to secure the rooms. Many move around to different casinos together & most meals...if not, several folks just do their own thing. The only irritiant seems to be when we plan a time & place to meet - someone is always late. We have a great time with our group and try to do it once every year or two. Smaller groups go in-between.

 

This is the very reason that Vegas is, IMO, the best destination for a large group of people. Beyond there being a huge variety of entertainment options, it's so easy for everyone to do their own thing or, if they choose, do something with the group. There are no rental cars (and driving) to coordinate, there are 5 star restaurants next to fast food joints, 5 star hotels next to dive joints. A group could have some staying Casino Royale, with others at the Venetian, and they could still spend plenty of time together, despite having two completely different budgets.

This is why Vegas is so great, simply because you DON'T have to coordinate everything. Because of the density and variety of things to do, places to eat, hotels to stay at, etc. of Vegas, it provides the flexibility for everyone to do what they want, without having to stay at the same hotel, eat at the same restaurant, play at the same casino, etc. and there's no coordinating rental cars and definitive meeting times, etc.

 

Not sure what you mean by viable?

You can go with just any amount of people ,but if you're talking 20,30 or more you may want to consult with a travel agent or at least call one of the airlines travel departments that services the area that you leave from.
The time frame matters somewhat also,are you talking next month or so or in the distant future? This matters because of how soon the money has to be paid in full vs. just taking a small deposit and paying the balance by a certain date assuming your group is all travelling together and whatever options are offered to you if you have a large amount of people.
A professional can give you several air(depending on where you live) and plenty of hotel options to suit most people AND do the financial record keeping incl. invoicing ,posting payments, receipts which can be a pain if you are dealing with a lot of people and dont really enjoy that kind of thing.

 

Money talks and bull$hit walks.

I planned group ski trips and it was a nightmare collecting money. One of the most often lines I would get: "when do you need to know for sure" or "when is the latest I can send in my deposit?" My answer was all the same: "the day before I get the last deposit".

 

Not worth the hassle.
Once a date and hotel is set then have everyone get on the e-mail list for specials.
One would think its simple because you are dealing with adults.
Not so.

 

Don't you love when someone starts a topic with a question and never returns to follow up?