Las Vegas - What's the deal w/Saturday arrivals?

Just booked a trip for Labor day weekend - arriving Sat, departing Tues - staying at the Paris.

Their website, phone reservations, and almost every other online travel website will NOT allow Sat arrival. Since I'm not one to give up easily, I ended up booking the Sun & Mon nights through the Park Place website & the Sat arrival through Sidestep (Qixo was the only other website I could find that would sell me the Saturday night arrival - Sidestep was $20 cheaper).

It doesn't make sense if I can book it elsewhere, why can't I through them? In fact, Orbitz will not sell you just a room for Sat. arrival, but WILL sell you a vacation (air/hotel) for Sat. arrival at the Paris.

I even booked the Sun/Mon nights & then called back later to see if they would "add" Sat - got a big "no, we're sold out".

Was there another way around this?

I assume the reason for the restrictions on Sat arrival have to do with the hotel's fantasy about trying to sell out over the weekend. If you arrive Sat and they have a shot at being full, someone arriving on Fri for two nights may not be accommodated. They therefore lose out on an extra night's worth of revenue. I believe some places even try to charge a Sat arrival as including the Fri night into it, so you basically end up paying double for the Sat night.

As for being able to get around this, they basically sell through different channels just as airlines do. Packages have different availability compared to direct or through consolidators.

Haven't had this problem recently, but way back when we would call the hotel directly and ask for the reservation manager. Once we explained that we were not coming for one night, Sunday, the were happy to allow us a Saturday check-in. It is true that they want a full weekend reservation and don't want to lose the friday night reservation. But an explanation does help.

I just had this problem last week with a Sat-Sun stay. What I did is book a back-up hotel (that I could cancel) and then I kept checking the Park Place site daily. Less than three days before my departure they opened up Bally's for Saturday night (at $79/Sunday for $59), and I was able to book it.

Follow the money $$$$$...

JP

Right, they want to avoid empty rooms on Friday or Saturday caused by an imbalance of check-ins and check-outs. Paris is completely sold out just about every weekend, believe it or not.

QL