Hotel and car questions

DEBBIE WRITES:

I checked the web site for the Orleans but they didn't have any reservations information up yet for December. Any thoughts on that? I'm so not into spending a lot of money on hotel rooms. I just stayed at a Super 8. It was clean, the bed was comfortable -- what MORE do people want for an extra $50 or more? There must be places like that around Vegas, but are they readily accessible, or would I have to have a car and be way out of the way?

DEWEY ANSWERS:
Try this for the Orleans in December. If you have trouble navigating, let me know.


Go to this site:
DEW
http://las-vegas-hotels.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g45963-Las_Vegas_Nevada-Hotels.html


1. In the left hand menu click on "Las Vegas Hotels"

2. put in your dates ( I did Dec 10-20)

3. The Orleans comes up first for under $100 hotels.

4. Hit Quickcheck under the Orleans

5. A box should come up on the left. HIt “Go” in that box.


If this works right, you should get a half dozen discount prices for the Orleans. I see it from $46 to $53 a night for this entire period.

Now if you booked thru one of the discounters, you would have to pay a fee if you rebooked later.

But if you call the Orleans (1-800- ORLEANS) and tell them that the discounter named "I4Vegas" has those nights for $46, they will give you that price and you can cancel up until about 72 hours of arrival. This means that next week if you find it cheaper there, you can rebook the new price and then cancel the old price. So if you are nervous and want to lock in a price today, you should be able to do that even if the Orleans web has no prices yet. And you will be able to change it later.

GOLD COAST

I did the same nights for the Gold Coast:

Same deal as Orleans.

i4Vegas has them for $32 a night. Nice price. You do the same thing. Call Gold Coast 1-888-402-6278. Tell them i4Vegas has $32 price and they will match it. i just called and checked that they will do that and book into December.

This casino has nice rooms and is in walking distance to the Rio and the Palms and has the same free shuttle to the strip or to the Orleans until about midnight.

Cab is under $10 from strip to Gold Coast so even if you planned on one cab fare each night you would beat the Strip prices.

Wow, same kind of prices for the Barbary Coast. That puts you right on the strip for $46. Sweet.


***************

Whether you want to rent a car usually depends on whether you want to do a day trip away from Vegas or whether you like driving and being able to get around quickly from place to place.

I am less stressed with no car, but I have all the time in the world to ride buses. I like to get those free drinks and the bus is better than driving then. On the other hand, it might happen that a hotel deal somewhere will be so cheap that car rental will be almost free. Then it is nice to have one. I'll probably have one in December just so I can coordinate a birthday meal, gamble, walk, or whatever with everyone who comes.

Don't worry about hotel rooms. Just be ready to act when I hit a good deal. I'll find you a nice place for cheap money. If you want to be very sure of that, aim your times for after the cowboys leave, December 10th and afterwards. That will be the cheapest time to visit Vegas all year. The Orleans hotel that we would not book on April 22 (at $235 for that night) we booked for $20 on a weekend in December. But some of the good deal hotels host the cowboys so prices are up while they are there and some places are just filled up completely. conventions drive prices up but no on has a large convention just before the holidays so there are usually lots of deals.

Here is another way to save money. If you can go Sunday thru Thursday, the rooms will be a third of the price that they are on the weekend. And whatever you do, do not arrive on Saturday as they all bundle Friday and Saturday together and won't rent just the Saturday or will charge you for both days. Most won't rent at all for Saturday arrivals. They want you there to gamble not paying for an empty room.

One other cool way to check for hotel rooms is to download this software:

http://www.travelaxe.com/Information_Overview.asp

What it does is compile room offers from discounters and then spit all the info back to you in a neat spreadsheet. I can't run it on my MAC because I don't have a high operating system, but regular PC will run it easily. It is good for some other cities too, but it is great for Vegas. But don't book through it until the last minute and then only if you have to. Once you book there, you must pay a cancelation fee if you change your plans, so it is way too early to do that. It is just a good way to see some cool deals and to get a sense of what nights may be underbooked and available. Some of the hotels will take the price of the discounters if you call them and tell them the discounter who is selling. Orleans, Gold Coast, and Barbary Coast all do that. They match the same cheap price and you get potential cancelation without penalty.

The key thing now is to get your times in line. Then if I find a deal for those times, you can hit it. Some really good deals only last a day or two and then they dry up. Once the bulletin boards tell everyone, the cheap rooms are sold out. And if you can, stay flexible by a day on either end. I might be able to add a day for ten bucks. It happens sometimes in December.

You can at least start looking at air prices. Out of Albany, I recommend Southwest, but Jet Blue used to have a great flight out of NYC. Try to avoid layovers, so you don't get stuck in Chicago in a snowstorm. I also like Southwest because you can change your travel plans with no penalty. So if you find a sale there, you just rebook.