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Finally going to Vegas!! Few budget friendly questions

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by Dis2cruise, Jun 21, 2016.

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  1. Dis2cruise

    Dis2cruise Tourist

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    Planning on going to Vegas July 20-23 for the very first time!!!
    .Looking for help since this is our 1 st time we would like to stay on the strip however...we are on a budget. So, which hotels in your mind are budget friendly and do any of the hotels on the strip deal with hot wire or Priceline and if they do is this a smart route to use??

    Also we will be coming from Yosmite national park area with a car rental should we drop it off and just use there transportation and when we head back home take a cab to the airport??
     
  2. drewskijones

    drewskijones Tourist

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    Use this deal, its a lot cheaper than booking on any of those travel sites.

    What are you looking to spend on a hotel for 3 nights?
     
  3. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    My #1 tip for you? Spend a few hours reading through posts here. You will learn lots.

    Check various hotels on the strip on their website. Look at the MONTHLY rate calendar and you will see a wide range of rates. From $59 a night to $1000 a night for the same room. Pick your dates carefully. You are doing Wed, Thur and Fri night. Look at rates for just the first two nights while researching. Sometimes they will price each night, and sometimes they just pick the highest rate for all three nights. Rates jump on Fridays. You might consider moving off strip if Friday is too expensive.

    Lower price hotels are Linq, Ballys, Harrahs, NYNY, Excal, Luxor. But, sometimes rates make no sense. Check a few of them.

    I am not big on Priceline for Vegas. I want to stay ON the strip and know where. YMMV

    Car? We stopped doing a car as it was too much hassle. On the other hand, if you are on a weekly rate, the cost to keep or turn in might not vary much. You can usually drop off at a hotel downtown vs the airport.

    The MGM group of hotels now charge for parking. Harrahs group does not.
     
  4. vegasvic

    vegasvic VIP Whale

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    For a Vegas virgin definitely stay on the strip. I'd ditch the car. I always rent a car but I do a lot of things around the area. As a first timer you'll have a lot to see and do right on the strip. If you want to check out downtown just take a bus or Uber. My number one recommendation for a newbie is not to try to cram too much in. You can't do it all. Rushing through things just to check them off a list is no good. There are good hotel recommendations above.
     
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  5. Dis2cruise

    Dis2cruise Tourist

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    Thanks for your help!
     
  6. npom

    npom VIP Whale

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    Also check prices at the Orleans and Gold Coast. Both are off strip but there is a free shuttle that runs to the strip about every 20 minutes. Another thing to take into consideration when checking prices is the resort fee. They vary from hotel to hotel and can add as much as another $35 a night to your bill.
     
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  7. bigalbr

    bigalbr VIP Whale

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    I have no experience with Hotwire or Priceline, since I generally want to know exactly where I'm staying. I generally use Hotels.com to find the lowest rate for a suitable hotel, then book directly with the hotel. The last time I was doing this, Hotels.com had no cancellation policy, whereas the direct websites not only had very good cancellation, matching policies, and rebooking policies. For example, I booked Barbary Coast in the mid 90's for $69 weekday/$119 weekend. I saw the rate go down to $59/$109, so I called them and got the rate reduced. I finally ended up at $49/$99. Aggregators now have better cancellation policies, so YMMV. I still wouldn't book through an aggregator in Vegas.

    One benefit of booking directly is that if you do any gambling at all on your players card, you can use any comps you earn against your bill. This may be only a couple bucks if you're on a budget, but it's still something.

    For a first trip, I strongly recommend just staying on the Strip and walking. If you're tired and end up not wanting to walk back, you can bus/cab/Uber/monorail back to your hotel for a lot less than a rental car + parking. If you're going to drink, all the more reason not to keep a car you can't use. If you want to cut the cab fare back to the airport, you can always just ask in the cab line when you leave if anyone wants to share a cab. I've had success with that most times I've tried it.

    Also, depending on company, some hotels have rental car locations on the Strip.

    Good luck and have a great time! There's really nothing like your first couple of trips to Vegas!
     
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  8. Darreningreenwood

    Darreningreenwood Low-Roller

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    I think they covered the basics...the lower end CET and MGM properties, not doing it all, no car, and resort fees. I would just re-emphasize going directly through the hotel to reserve a room, not any of the third party sites.

    Also, for the CET properties (Linq, Bally's, Harrah's, Flamingo, Paris, PHo, Caesars), you can sign up for their Total Rewards card. If you sign up for a card and enter your number on the webpage, you will get slightly better rates than a non member would get (and lower than your third party sites). And it allows you to earn credits for the money you spend and gamble on site. Can help to lower the cost. And if you like Vegas, they will usually give you really good rates when you come back again.

    So yeah...book directly through a hotel's website, and sign up for the card and use that account to make the reservation. Definitely the short and long term budget solution.
     
  9. Irishkicker23

    Irishkicker23 Low-Roller

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    Treasure Island is pretty budget friendly and good value for the price. There is a free tram that links with the Mirage and a good way to beat the heat.
    I would like to add that if you book your stay through a secondary website, the resort will not be able to back end comp you on the hotel charge. This is not a problem if you don't plan on gambling much.
    If you do plan on gambling, charge everything to your room and before you checkout, ask to talk to a host. Sometimes they will remove some of the charges based a gaming activity.
     
  10. dreric

    dreric Low-Roller

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    I would recommend smartervegas.com. Sometimes they have codes to use on the specific hotel websites to get lower rates, food and beverage credit, etc. My first trip using them I got a Monaco Suite at Monte Carlo for $63 a night, plus $75 in food and beverage credit. Then if you play where you stay, don't hesitate to ask if they can take something off the bill on the backend. They ended up comping our room for all the nights. Nowadays I like Bally's, especially the Jubilee tower. Those rooms are larger, have fridge and coffee maker, not to mention mid-strip.
     
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  11. Geogran

    Geogran VIP Whale

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    Really good advice from previous posters especially hotels/resorts that would fit someone on a budget - weeknights are cheap - weekends get pricey. Even if you don't gamble much on your budget, do get a players card for the property you are staying at and always use it for the reasons noted in previous posts. Staying on the strip is awesome for a first timer, you can always branch out after that. Scan all the forums on here for subjects of interest to you and read, read, read - lots of helpful info everywhere - then feel free to ask specific questions here so that you will have the best experience possible. Check out the Las Vegas for the Frugal thread on this board. Vegas can be daunting as there is so much to see and do, so focus on those things that are most important to you! Lots of awesome things to see for free!

    As a first timer, you will be shocked at traffic gridlock at various times of day on the strip - I'd say ditch the car for this trip. Look into Uber/Lyft thread for discounts specifically in Vegas. Or hang out on the strip this trip as much as possible.
    It will be super hot - carry water and stay hydrated!!
     
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  12. KnowItAll

    KnowItAll VIP Whale

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    Have fun
     
  13. Dis2cruise

    Dis2cruise Tourist

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    Wow!! Thanks for everyone's info! This will help me & my husband out a lot for our planning
     
  14. golfer1903

    golfer1903 MIA

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    First would like to know what type of hotels are you looking for or used to. Holiday inn? Marriott? Motel 6? This will determine area. I agree book thru the hotel or join the players cards for the hotels. This is my first trip not driving also. Due to the crazy parking fees now in place.
    How many days and what days of the week. Weekends are crazy expensive.
    A good no resort fee hotel is the Hilton at Planet Hollywood.
    Real motel 6 type hotels Luxor excailpier flamingo ballys. If you want no casino noise we like Vdara but that's a little high at times
     
  15. ardee

    ardee It's only money.

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    For a first trip look at places center-Strip like Monte Carlo, Paris, Ballys and such. That way you can walk to most of the Strip without too much effort. If you want to go beyond Planet Hollywood or Harrahs, cab it.

    Late July, it is going to be hotter than Hades. No, hotter than that. Plan accordingly and hydrate. I recommend trying the military way: drink a bottle of water every hour on the hour if you are outside, whether or not you are thirsty. Your lack of hangover will thank me.

    Dump the car when you arrive and cab it until you leave. Hit the "Frugal" forum here and read up on free/cheap things to do/see while in town.

    Most ot all, don't try to do it all and have fun while you are here. You'll be back!
     
  16. benbrownjr

    benbrownjr Low-Roller

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    Location is really important on the strip since the phrase "next door " and "across the street " will involve a half mile walk in each direction so a place like ballys, flamingo, nyny and harrahs are good starting spots and you're not going to be in the room for a long period of time
     
  17. BarelyHangingOn

    BarelyHangingOn VIP Whale

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    We have flown in from Canada twice and here is my take on the car situation.

    Our first trip we visited most of the main Strip casinos and visited Fremont St. We utilized the free Tram system that runs behind the MGM casinos. You can essentially go from Bellagio down to Mandalay Bay for free only having to walk from the Monte Carlo to Excalibur as it breaks up. People either love it or hate it be we found ourselfs drunk and tired and used it quite a bit. It's free. We also bought three day bus passes and used the bus to go to Fremont St and back and do travelling more directly once we got our bearings. Passes are fairly cheap and the bus runs frequently.

    Second trip we used the Bus quite a bit more, the Tram a few times and took advantage of free Shuttles like from Harrah's to the Rio and back to see Penn and Teller. We used the Tram less because we didn't venture down that south part of the strip as we did it our first time through. We did rent a car but only because we went to the Hoover Dam. Otherwise we would not have needed one.

    Wear comfortable shoes we averaged at least 8 miles a day walking from the Aria up to Caesars, crossing the road and coming back to Planet Hollywood and back to Aria. We toured through a lot the casinos.

    You have a month. If you and your other start playing MyVegas now on facebook and the apps you should be able in a month get a couple freebies or buffet deals. Search out what you want to do and check Groupon and Travel Zoo for deals. We went hard on these two on our second trip and got some really good deals on ziplines, golf, food and show tickets.

    We use a Shuttle service for airport travel but I would look into Uber or Lyft as cheaper alternative.

    Have fun. There's lots to do!!
     
  18. Natural21

    Natural21 Low-Roller

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    This is the BEST advice!

    Good luck.:beer::beer:
     
  19. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    And for sure - not NEW ones.
     
  20. Multifarious5

    Multifarious5 VIP Whale

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    Since it's summer, any hotel with a free tram or indoor a/c walkway, is a major plus. These include:
    1) Treasure Island to Mirage
    2) Monte Carlo to Aria to Crystals shops to Bellagio
    3) Mandalay bay to luxor to excaliber

    MC was our first hotel for budget-friendly yet still comfy, but it's gone up some in price with the Tmobile arena, even though rooms aren't renovated yet. I know Lux and Excal are decent on price, but no experience staying there. If mlife, book it on mlife.com and keep watching for reductions after booking. You can call and have them adjust the price if it drops. Don't forget daily resort fees and mlife chares parking in addition to resort fees.

    Have a GREAT trip, and like it was said, make sure to wear comfy shoes and drink lots of H20!

    P.s. totally agree, dump the car.
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2016
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