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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.