Trying to do 5* on the cheap

The wife and I are trying to do a cheap, 5 day trip on the strip in a 5* hotel. On our first trip, we stayed at the Encore and she really liked lounging around in the room (not to mention that awesome bed).

I have more than enough SW RR points for 2 free flights. I was looking around the RR site and noticed that you can buy rooms using points. For instance, I noticed that for the time period we want, I can get a room at Vdara for 14,500. Since the rooms have a kitchenette (if I'm reading things correctly), we could buy some cheap food and make it ourselves.

I guess I'm looking both for whether anybody has used RR points to book a room and what the experience was like and for whether this seems like a good use of those points.

My main goal is to get her a 5* lounging room (she's spent the past year starting up and growing her own business, so could use a rest) for the least number of dollars out-of-pocket. With a new business, you never know when you may need a couple of those dollars.

 

Bonus points if you can tell me that Vdara has awesome beds.

 

I can't compare their beds to Wynn since I've never stayed there, but I can tell you we found Vdara's bed very comfortable.

 

So your wifes idea of a luxurious trip to is cook all the meals while on vacation?

I dont know if this has been addressed yet but you might want to run it be her. just a thought.

 

Actually...

If any cooking happens at our house, it's 99.9% sure that I'm the one cooking it. Her idea of cooking anything involves a microwave.

What I was thinking we would do is keep easy stuff for breakfast and lunch and have dinner out.

 

Vdara and The Trump are both great properties, and are often cheaper because they don't have a casino. Both rooms were great and have kitchens but may I ask, where are you going to get "cheap food" to even cook? No grocery store near the strip, and anything you would find would be overpriced. The rooms don't have pots and pans or dishes, I guess maybe you could ask. I think the most I would do it make coffee or maybe a bagel in the morning. Also both hotels have mandatory valet parking, so 2 or 3 tips a day...

I mean there are plenty of reasonable places to eat in Vegas. Sometimes we just have McDonalds or Subway or something quick. Or find discounts. Restaurant.com certificates, Groupons. There are plenty of ways to do Vegas reasonable.

 

We don't rent cars in Vegas so I'm not worried about the valet. That's why we want on strip. We hoof it to just about everything we do there. That's why the Trump is not that attractive to us.

I guess I distracted people by mentioning the kitchen. I appreciate the feedback but I'm more interested in the beds at Vdara and any experience booking with SW RR points.

 

Not enough info to determine if it's a good use of the points.
You didn't give dates, how many nights, what type of room, or whether the 14,500 is for a single night or covers multiple nights.

To figure out it's a good use of the points, you need to determine how much the room would cost if you were paying cash.

60 RR points = $1, so 14,500 is $241.67. That is how much you are being charged for the room if you pay with points.

 

1) Drug stores on the Strip have many "grocery" options.
2) "Real" grocery stores are easily accessible (east or west) by using the buses that run on Flamingo or Tropicana.

I almost always prefer a hotel room with a kitchenette on vacation- even if it's just for restaurant leftovers, beer & wine

I agree that the non-casino properties like Trump or MGM Signature or the "timeshare" hotels like the Hilton Grand Vacations can be a fantastic deal.

Sadly, cannot comment on Vdara beds

 

Seeing how I can get it for $87/night (not including the resort fee), It sounds like I might want to save those points for another flight.

 

I would suggest this option too, you could probably even sell the points to pay for the room and get a better deal.

Just booked a RR flight today and is was around 2cents to every point on a airline ticket. 10k points for a $200 was a great deal imo.

 

I do this when we stay at our timeshare. Make food for lunch and breakfast mostly. Occasionally we go out to dinner.

I spend under 1k generally for the whole week including beverages, food, gambling, and entertainment.

 

My 2 cents....

I've stayed at THEhotel, Signature, Wynn, Vdara, Trump.

Vdara was great the first time I stayed there, solo. I went back with the wife, and was extremely turned off. Front Desk was rude, the valet damaged our rental car, hell, I couldn't even pull off a successful $20 front desk tip. So I've seen both the good and bad of Vdara. I actually didn't find the beds all that comfortable, and ended up waking up at 6am (!) most days.

Trump has a much nicer room, but is way away from the action. There's a shuttle to/from Wynn, and it's easily walkable, but that's about it. It's also valet only (like Vdara), so keep that in mind if you rent. There's also a train that runs by there at night, very annoying.

I actually had no idea SW RR allowed hotel rooms to be booked using points. I assumed since they didn't allow their vacation packages to be booked that way, that it was airfare only. Then again, looking at how many points they want for 1 single night, I'd rather pay the cash and save the points for airfare, like you said.


Last but not least, didn't read every post, but you can always do priceline/hotwire and pick just one location on the map that has 5 stars....you'll end up at Vdara more than likely anyway, and maybe for a cheaper price.

Good luck!