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Is a Las Vegas Vacation Too Expensive?

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by spdandpwr, May 22, 2018.

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  1. bnlphan

    bnlphan Degenerate In Training

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    with a little work Vegas can still be one of the cheapest vacations available.

    A quick breakdown of my vegas history involved in march trip and upcoming september trip.
    $400 gambling losses at local CET casinio got us room offers in vegas.
    $150 resort fee in vegas in march
    $250 for Sam's Town in March 2 days.
    $800in gambling losses in March.

    One free night Ellis Island in September.
    6 total free nights at Sam's Town in September 3 each from two players.

    Disregarding airfare that's two weeks in vegas for $1600 with the possibility of making a profit on gambling in september.

    By the third trip in July of 19 rooms should be free again So if we actually come out ahead in gambling.. will be 3 weeks for less than 1600.

    Just checked one week in Key West which would be one of the only other places I'd like to visit. Doesnt look much cheaper than 1000 for a week with no chance of getting free rooms in the future.

    I wouldnt even begin to look at what a Disney vacation would run.
     
    NYNY,Cannery,Sam's Town Jun4-11
  2. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    For a vacation destination of its size, Vegas is behind the curve -- and understandably so -- in alt-stay options, and that largely takes a great getaway tool out of the hands of vacationers: home/condo/private stay. What we are able to do in our travels using tools like vrbo.com is astounding. Yes, we still stay in hotels and resorts, too. It all depends.

    And for us, travel is not a zero-sum game. And we aren't locked in to one or two locales. We do not need gambling where we go; that's not even on the table unless we are going to Nevada. We value different stays and activities and locales on a variable scale, so if Banff is twice what a room in Vegas costs, we don't really care. Vegas isn't Banff and vice versa.
     
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  3. ardee

    ardee It's only money.

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    @luck.ofthe.draw, @Grid and a few others in this thread have been informative about how to make the most out of your Vegas visits with comps, @spdandpwr.
    If the Wynn properties aren’t making you feel like it’s worth the expense, there’s more than one way to get a bang for your buck. VMB is an excellent resource for all that too.
    Good luck on your upcoming trip.
     
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  4. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

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    For the BOLD above. Since I'm used to free rooms, I always rub my eyes when I have to pay for one in a non-gaming environment. An OK small room in downtown Chicago can run me $199 + taxes and fees. Sometimes it hurts my head thinking about paying for what I get comped elsewhere LOL.

    And try Living in Vegas on youtube. They do a lot of casino walk throughs and visit random places all the time. I like their channel.

    Then you are doing it all wrong my friend! Take a look at my blog, read through my Trip Reports. I like to play older games or games that are not very volatile. You wont find me playing any of the Walking Dead slots or chasing on Megabucks. I like to grind as much coin through as I can. And a $5K bankroll for 5 nights, all slots, will get you attention all over town.

    I'm willing to risk $1K a day. I rarely lose it all and I manage to grind through $10,000 of coin on the slots. Even if I blew it all, thats a 90% hold and the math is right. $10K of coin a day will get you noticed almost everywhere in Vegas. Wynn, Bellagio, V/P, Cosmo ETC. Not just Bally's or Excalibur.

    $50K ($10k per day X 5 days) coin is roughly $5K ADT loss on slots. I try to limit that by playing better games. You cycle more through without the full value of loss. A third back in comps is almost $1,700 in the pool. An decent room at rack rate might take $200 x 5 nights = $1K from that earned return. Leaving $700ish for other comps. And I usually see that as $450 in Free Play + $250 in dining credits.

    I always split my stay in half between clubs. Since most offers require a 2 night stay. That way I have 2 nights at resort A, with my $10K average per day, and 2 nights at resort B with the same. I collect 2 nights comped at each and harvest around $1,000 in total free play and resort credits between both.

    No clue how you can be getting hosed like this. It goes against every basic math model out there for comps.
     
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  5. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

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    If anyone ever wanted to peel the onion on how comps are generated, I spent some time on this wordy post not long ago. Its worth a read for anyone that is curious as to "Why" or "How" the comp game works. The more you know, the more you can turn things to your advantage.

    https://sites.google.com/site/lvgrid/how-to-get-the-most-from-your-players-club/how-you-rate
     
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  6. farkingidiot

    farkingidiot High-Roller

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    I'm personally done with Vegas. This will be my last trip. (My wife reluctantly agrees)

    The tipping point, for me, has been the resort fees. I stayed in Feb at the Linq and my resort fee cost more than my room. And my go to hotel, the Cosmo, has a resort fee of $40 a nite. Are you kidding me? I don't know if any of you have noticed, but some of the restaurants are quietly taking on their own version of a resort fee. Now add to that paying for parking now. And it's $50, just for me to step foot into a nightclub? You bleed out money paying fees and not really getting anything for it. It's just too, too much.

    I'm an absolute low roller and never had any interest in playing the comp game (that's a whole other discussion). Yeah, I use my players card at Cosmo, so I got a free nite out of them (of course, resort fee is NOT waived) for this trip and a free buffet, but overall, I feel like I'm just constantly getting slammed in Vegas. Like I said, it's just gotten to be too, too much.

    Coincidentally, I'm planning a trip to Paris myself for the fall. As it stands, I have a condo in walking distance to the Seine, with two beds, washer and drier and full kitchen for $190 a nite....and gasp...no resort fee. Went to Vancouver last Jan and it was way more price friendly than Vegas and they had three casinos, if I chose to go that route. There are way to many other places out there that are more appreciative of my dollar.
     
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  7. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    San Francisco a few months ago ... a $100 room went well north of $200 with tax, fee and parking. We looked at it as a $200+ room in an amazing city.
     
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  8. parallax

    parallax High-Roller

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    I'm not sure I understand all the complaints. When I run out of money in Vegas, I wade into one of the cement ponds that has all the free change.
     
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  9. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

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    I'd be more pissed off over resort fees if Vegas was the only one doing it. Florida, New York, California, Mexico ETC. Nearly every "resort" town now has a fee. What they call it, A resort fee, a facility fee, a destination fee. an amenity fee or a resort charge. You are still eating it. I'm in Chicago. We have no real fees YET. So what does my $349 room cost per NIGHT? $410 after the ridiculous 17.5% hotel tax is added. You want to park your car at the Palmer House? Sure, thats $50 a night. You want Valet? Make it $90 a night. WiFi? Absolutely! That will be $15.95 for a basic hook up. Oh, you want faster? That will be the executive WiFi and just $29.99 per day.

    I'm just saying there are fees, hidden or not, nearly every where you stay now. You got a good deal in Paris. But dont forget the tourist tax per night you will be asked for at checkout. Its a hidden fee, but you will pay it. And that fee goes up in value depending on the type of place you stay at. Fees fees fees everywhere!


    Sad, but 100% true. Just the way it is in the age of Expedia. Rip out all fees and add ons and just show the bare rate, in order to be listed higher in a $ search. The airlines pulled this shit too...
     
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  10. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Not really sad. Hotel tax is not remotely new. Parking fees in major cities? Standard fare for eons. So none of that was really my point. We stayed in a great hotel in a fantastic city for under $250. That's pretty cool. And drop it $75 if we'd not driven in, which we understood in advance.
     
  11. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

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    And a free bath!
     
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  12. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

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    Its sad to me. Hotel tax in Chicago was 11.5. That was bumped to 12.5 a few years later. Then a couple years after that it went to 16.5. And now, it is 17.5. No fees, yet a steady stream of tax increases that you need to cough up to spend the night. My point was, your $100 a day room doubling after taxes, fees and parking is just the sad state of tourist travel in the US now.
     
  13. luck.ofthe.draw

    luck.ofthe.draw VIP Whale

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    Precisely! This, all the way. As someone who lives in San Diego, ask me about resort fees. Ask me about tourist tax - don't even get me started on our gas prices and other taxes, the price we pay for sunshine to live here, let alone to visit.

    Check out prices in Hotel Circle for perspective. They're right off the freeway, close to downtown, sure, but you'll still have to rent a car to get there - (and honestly, our downtown area is shit - they clean up the streets on a bi-monthly basis). Mission Valley and even going east into La Mesa the prices are still absurd.

    These resort fees are not some new thing that appeared overnight. I've been going to Vegas regularly for the past 8 years, and it's just fact. Those that complain about resort fees "being higher than the room price" - hold up. The majority of places in Vegas are charging $35 - $40/night sure, but they include services like wi-fi, which as @Grid noted, can cost upwards of $29.99 elsewhere (for just wi-fi. Want to use the gym? That's extra).

    IF your resort fees are higher than your room cost, especially on The Strip, you're getting a fuckin' deal. Yeah, you may sink money into these casinos to get those comps, but that's your prerogative. I have tiered up at the Cosmo by eating food, because I love it. This has enabled me to score free parking, a slot multiplier, and 2-for-1s at their lovely buffet. If I wanted, I wouldn't need to spend a dime on gaming, and would still enjoy their lovely establishment at a discounted rate. The same, if not even more so, goes for Caesars Entertainment or MLife properties. I play maybe $100 annually ($20 here, $40 there) and score free rooms all the time. Do I complain if I have to "pay" a $40 resort fee to get a room that's better quality than my $69.99 Motel 6 at home? Nah, because to me, that's value. The hotels I stay at in Vegas (yes, even the base rooms) are so much better than what I can get for a price at home, or in numerous other cities.

    /endrant
     
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  14. Marky147

    Marky147 VIP Whale

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    Popped up on mine, but haven't watched it yet. It's definitely gotten more expensive, but I'd say my perception is skewed. When I first visited (2006), the exchange rate was £1 = >$2, and now is £1 = ~$1.33.

    I don't gamble, so have to pay for all my hotels, and even then it's still cheaper than it would be for me to spend the same length of time anywhere in Europe, or the UK. I've not been anywhere in the US, bar Breckenridge in the last 10 years, so can only go by what I've learned here, which is that Vegas is great value compared to other cities in the US.

    I'm paying ~$1.5k all in for 2 weeks in the Rush @ GN, and ~$2k for 10 nights in a 1br FV @ Cosmo. I could have gone with a base room, and stayed elsewhere on the strip cheap, but paying for a nice room is always worth it, to me. I have to stay on top of work while I'm away, so do a bit of working/chilling in the room during the day. If I wanted to spend a month in a Travelodge here, it would probably cost me the same as I'm paying for Vegas, and I'd be looking at a carpark!

    Food is something that isn't all that expensive, unless you want to spend a lot of money. Yes, in the fine dining restaurants, you're going to be hit with a 'celeb chef' tax, but the food is good, and I don't mind taking the hit. When I'm at home, I'm happy enough having a steak in the pub, or just cooked for me at home :p
     
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  15. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Travel costs. Tally it up, go or don't go.
     
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  16. farkingidiot

    farkingidiot High-Roller

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    I hear ya about the fees not being just in Vegas, but the huge difference is that Vegas is tagging us with ever increasing fees AND asking us to throw thousands of dollars at them on top of it, in the form of our gambling. It used to be, "Hey, since we're asking you to gamble here, we'll throw free parking your way, etc." Now it just seems to be gimme gimme gimme. Now I try to reconcile this with the fact I've been going to Vegas for 20 years and remember when I could get anything for fee, even talking my way into nightclubs, when they started emerging, so I try not to fall into the, "in the good old days trap" but it still feels like Vegas has become beyond opportunistic.
     
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  17. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

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    No doubt! People used to go to Vegas and gamble. Then the crowds started showing up for conventions, shows, pools, clubs, shops, restaurants ETC. And hardly any of them dropped a dime in the casino. Vegas learned they can sell and fee these groups, and the gambler became collateral damage.
     
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  18. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Vegas is cashing in on its success. Can't fault them for doing that, can't fault folks for moving on as a result (and being pissed off). Often times good things do come to an end.
     
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  19. Tatertot

    Tatertot Low-Roller

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    Vegas is only expensive at first, once you have drained thousands obtaining status, it becomes cheap again for a while. I haven't paid for a room in forever, no resort fees now, rarely pay for a meal, 2 free show tickets for a random show for some entertainment, and most things charged off on the back-end of the reservation.

    My thought is that an average 4-5 day vacation will cost me $2,500 - I just allocate that towards a gambling budget.
     
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  20. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

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    Yup! This is me to the T. I dont look at it as spending thousands to offset future vacations. I look at it as I'm going to gamble anyway, it makes me happy, and knowing that leads to all this free stuff takes the sting out of losing. I would never shit away thousands just to get a future free trip. But if I'm shitting away thousands because I love the thrill of gambling, I'm happy that my "investment" pays off in the way of comps.
     
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