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Get the Best Hotel Rate in Vegas

If you are like me, then getting to, and staying in Vegas, on a budget is quite important. After all, the more money that can be saved here, the more can be spent when I actually arrive. This page is going to give you some advice on how to get the best hotel rate possible as an ordinary guest. This guide wont be applicable to you if you are: A high roller (phone a casino host to get your free room), a 12-hour-a-day poker addict (try getting a poker room rate at the casino you will be staying at - www.allvegaspoker.com has details of these), or simply someone who doesn’t care how much they spend (spare a dollar mister?)

For those who do want a good rate, the first thing to do is: SHOP AROUND. Vegas hotel rates are notoriously erratic even when booking direct with the hotels, add to this the numerous other companies who block book rooms in advance, and the price differences available are astonishing. So, where to look?

The first place to look would be the hotels website, do a search for the dates you are wishing to stay in Vegas for, and see what they come up with. If your trip is still a long time away, then sign up to any mailing list they may have - you could get some good deals sent direct to you.(if you’re not sure where you want to stay then simply skip that part). Then it’s time to start searching the agencies who are selling rooms in Vegas, and seeing if a better deal can be gotten elsewhere. There are quite a few to look through, but a handy little site called Travelaxe will do the work for you. Simply enter your travel dates and it will return a list of all the hotels, with available rates from different sites, in an easy to view format. If you wish to check the prices manually, some good sites to visit are:

• Tripres
• Travelworm
• Vegas.com
• HotelDiscount
• Hotels.com

It’s also worth having a scout round some of the forums and message boards on the internet as people often post deals they find there, the only problem being that there is not a lot of organisation and some of the time it can seem like they are talking in some secret code, especially to the newbie. There’s a good Deals Forum over on Las Vegas Talk which is a good place to start if you go down this route

So, you’ve found the best deal and are all ready to book your trip… hold on a minute. Before you do that, phone up the casino using their toll-free number from their website, or if you are already a member of the their slot/players club, the number on the back of the card. Ask them if they have any special deals on for your dates. If they give you prices more than those you’ve already found, tell them, and see if they can at least match them. The reason for this is when booking through the hotel you only need to pay one nights deposit to secure your room, if you book using agencies you will normally have to pay the whole amount up front - often with harsh cancellation restrictions. Also any comp points you earn whilst staying at the hotel can only be applied against your room bill if you book directly.

Note: If you have the time/inclination to check prices across the different websites you will often see that even if the total price for a particular stay is similar, the cost for individual nights are different. Jot down the cheapest of each and quote these to the hotel, this should hopefully save you a few more dollars.

And thats it. Now you just have to wait until you arrive, and try to get a room upgrade by using the $20 trick, something I’ll discuss on another post, NOW ONLINE, but which for now I recommend you visit FrontDeskTip.

Ladbrokes Sportbook and Casino

Ladbrokes is the first bookmaker I ever used, way back at the birth of my gambling ‘hobby’. They are one of the biggest bookmakers in the UK, with shops on just about every high street, offering punters a wide variety of events to bet on.

Ladbrokes are also one of the first online casino and poker rooms I ever tried. For this they use the Microgaming software, which is generally considered to be the industry standard and leader.

Overall they are a very safe place to play, you should never have to be worried about funds kept there, and although they are an extremely large company the service they provide is still very efficient.

Payment methods they accept at the current time include: Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Western Union, Neteller, MoneyBookers, Wire Transfer and Ukash.

Their website and software is available in a wide variety of languages.

Mirage Fountain to Feature on Cops

A famous Las Vegas landmark makes a showing on Cops in the US tomorrow. During the show you will see police detain a man for walking through the fountains at The Mirage. The officers gave the suspect a warning for stealing money and make him empty his pockets and return the money to the fountain.

This must happen regularly all over Las Vegas in the various fountains there are - with people throwing coins to try and get good luck, and people who have already run out of good luck collecting the cash. This guy just has to be lucky the volcano hadn’t started erupting!

This episode will be shown tomorrow, Saturday 19 Jan from 8-9pm ET/PT on FOX. Us viewers in the UK will probably just have to wait for about 5 years.

Paris Hilton Celebrates Her Birthday in Las Vegas

Paris Hilton celebrated her 27th birthday last weekend, with a Las Vegas party extravaganza that well and truly lived up to her reputation. She started the night in the Pussycat Dolls lounge in Caesars Las Vegas, taking to the stage to introduce the band wearing a raunchy outfit.

She managed to have a costume change, presumably the high point of her act, to try and keep the crowd interested in her antics, and also did a show swimming around in a massive Martini glass. By the way, for those of you who have seen the pictures and think it may have been worth seeing it probably wasn’t. I’ve watched entertainers in the same ‘glasses’ in Pacha and Ibiza, and the novelty very quickly wears off leaving the observers as bored rigid as those in the glass.

After her ‘perfomance’ she thanked her ‘fans’ and moved on to the Pure night club next door where much drinking would have inevitably have taken place.

Paris is of course no stranger to Las Vegas, often spending time in the city when she isn’t in trouble with the law. Her most recent brush was tame by anyone’s standards - she is being investigated by animal welfare officials in California for having too many pets. According to the state law each household may have only 3 pets, and Paris admitted to having 17. Although she didn’t know where they all were.

Staying with Paris, her recent film, The Hottie and the Nottie, has been voted the worst movie of all time according to users of IMDB, but of course that wouldn’t stop her enjoying herself in Las Vegas. The Paris Hilton saga continues…

Monte Carlo Casino and Hotel Re-Opens

MGM Mirage announced today that the Mote Carlo Hotel and Casino has re-opened in time for President’s Day, after the fire last month which closed the hotel. The loss to the company due to the fire that affected the top of the Las Vegas hotel is estimated to be around $100 Million.

Currently around 1,200 of the hotel’s over 3,000 rooms are open, more are due to open on February 22nd, although the last 500 rooms on the upper floors will need to undergo complete renovation and will therefore take longer to open. Most of these were suite, meaning the company will be losing out on it’s high-end residents which could have a knock on effect on the gaming floor.

Some stores and restaurants have opened already, but all will be open by the 22nd along with the increased room capacity. Master Magician Lance Burton will resume his long running Las Vegas show immediately.

Fire workers are blaming the fire on construction workers using a cutting torch on the roof.

Wynn Reports Flat Results for 4th Quarter

Shares in Wynn Resorts Ltd fell on Wednesday as the Chief Executive Steve Wynn warned that Las Vegas would not be immune from a recession. Executives blamed the less than anticipated growth on higher than expected wins from table game player and a reduction in pedestrian traffic due to the closures of the Stardust and New Frontier Casinos in Las Vegas.

Overall profits were healthy however due to the company’s operation in Macau, indicating how much the Chinese market is important now to the large Gaming companies - in fact earnings from Macau were greater than the Las Vegas operation.

These reports will further dampen the mood and feeling of Las Vegas, increasing fears that the city may be facing a hard time in the coming months and years. With less wealthy people now being more budget conscious and not prepared to spend as much as they have recently, and with Las Vegas recently having been announced as the posting the 3rd highest metro foreclosure rate in the US, things may not be so rosy for the big gaming companies, and there may be an added reliance on Macua to produce profits.

Victor Chandler Sportsbook

Victor Chandler has become one of the top UK facing sportsbooks in recent years and continues to offer great odds and an exceptional service to it’s users. Victor Chandler himself is know as ‘the gentleman bookmaker’ as he believes in fair-play, quick payouts, and never likes to refuse to take a bet.

The site takes wagers on a massive range of sporting events as well as offering poker, casino games, skill games and also betting through the use of a mobile phone. Live results are available for major sports, and they offer a radio station through the site also. However perhaps the best feature is the ability to watch live horse racing after you have placed a bet using their services.

Victor Chandler offer a range of sign-up bonuses across their products including a £100 free bet for new customers. They accept deposits and process withdrawals using credit/debit cards, western union and neteller among others and are very quick to payout winnings when players have profited from their great odds.

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