Which site(s) is best for downtown casinos

I've often wondered of all the sites available for casinos (downtown) to name a few Best of Vegas, Vegas.com, Priceline and others which might be the better/best of them ?

 

I typically will try priceline, hotwire and hotels.com. They have different specials, so it's good to check a few. I haven't noticed one better than the other on a consistent basis for Vegas or beyond. I used to use travelaxe which displayed prices from 8-10 different resellers. It saved a lot of time, but was bought out a few years ago.

I could have gotten comps for my entire upcoming trip, but decided to just claim a comp at The California.

I booked two nights (Thursday and Friday) on Priceline for $134 total ($37 room + $22 Resort Fee + $8 tax per night, or $67 per night, not bad for everything including a Friday night). I'm moving from The California to Downtown Grand to end the trip.

I have four nights the prior weekend at Arizona Charlies on Boulder Highway, via hotwire, for $157 total, or under $40 a night. I didn't want to put a lot of action in at CET (if they had 9/6 JOB I wouldn't mind, 9/5 3 play $1 is their best game in Vegas). I have 10 nights booked in December (5 at Paris and 5 at Caesars) and will concentrate my play there (or end playing at their casinos if I don't run well and maintain Diamond status for 2017).

Both bookings were "blind" bid selections, thought it is very easy to identify what you are getting based on the information provided in the bidding process (location, stars, casino or no casino). I was very sure (about 95%) I was getting both DTG and AC before bidding. If you are dead set on staying at a certain property, this won't work for you, but if you are flexible in terms of a specific hotel but are happy getting a certain type and location for your hotel based on your budget, then bidding will save you substantially vs. booking directly either with the hotel or the reseller websites.

If you do plan on both playing AND staying at the same place, then you shouldn't use a reseller, since it is much harder to get your room comped on the back end with a reservation paid to a reseller. You can get it done at certain properties, but your chances at success are much harder.

 

I would book with the hotel directly. With table limits and comp value better than that of the strip, it would be much easier to get something taken off your bill on the back end by booking directly. Booking with one of the other websites like vegas.com, etc doesn't allow you that flexibility.

Now, if your gambling habits are very low and you don't think you'd warrant anything on the back end, then I'd check out Expedia/Hotels.com or Priceline (to bid on a 4 star hotel to get Golden Nugget.)

 

book direct with hotel

 

I believe the prevalence of resort fees arose because the hotels were paying huge commissions to the booking sites and they realized that anything they add at checkin is exempt from the commission. The hotels are usually contractually obligated to charge the same price through their own website, but they can and do include extras such as dining credit, room upgrades etc. That you won't usually get from the agency websites, as an incentive to book directly with the hotel.

 

I think it depends on which hotel you are talking about. I find for the lower end hotels like El Cortez or 4 queens you could use kayak to find a site which offers better rates than trying to go though the hotel itself. I usually like kayak because they can direct you to sites like booking.com that doesn't require an upfront payment (they only require the first night's payment). Other sites like hotels.com and vegas.com require you to pay for your entire stay upfront so you ending up paying for your hotel well before you arrive, but if you have to cancel then you have to try to get your money back from the site. Not too much of a problem but even then I rather pay for my stay when I get there.

For hotels like the Cal and MSS I find their rates to be similar to the booking sites so I rather book directly with the hotel (plus they only charge the first night).

But then I usually check on all sites to find the lowest prices for rooms. Even the El Cortez site may offer good rates so when I plan my trip I usually check with all the sites daily.