Las Vegas - Booking a Vegas Trip

Hi guys you all give out great tips and advice so any help for a newbie would be much appreciated.
I am planning a trip to vegas in jan hopefully the 16th to the 23rd and the sites i am looking on are Expedia.Lastminute,Orbitz,Travelocity and priceline
i am currently being quoted between £620-£700 for them dates, on the flight i want(virgin),and the hotels i want to stay at(MGM,Flamingo,TI,NYNY).
If anyone has any advice on these prices or time to book on these sites E.G now, 1 month before, 2 weeks before i would be gratefull.I really want to do a good job orginizing this trip as my gf lost her mother on christmas day last year so she's going to have it rough this year hopefully dropping tickets to vegas on the table boxing day will cheer her up because she has been before and loved the place(i'm a vegas virgin BTW).Thanks


Jay
Nottingham England

Aloha, jaytay, and welcome to FlyerTalk!

The nightly rates at the properties you mention are around $69 Mon - Thurs, and $89 on Fri ansd Sat, if that helps you compare package value.

Good luck in Vegas!

Hi guys you all give out great tips and advice so any help for a newbie would be much appreciated.

I am planning a trip to vegas in jan hopefully the 16th to the 23rd and the sites i am looking on are Expedia.Lastminute,Orbitz,Travelocity and priceline
i am currently being quoted between £620-£700 for them dates, on the flight i want(virgin),and the hotels i want to stay at(MGM,Flamingo,TI,NYNY).

If anyone has any advice on these prices or time to book on these sites E.G now, 1 month before, 2 weeks before i would be gratefull.I really want to do a good job orginizing this trip as my gf lost her mother on christmas day last year so she's going to have it rough this year hopefully dropping tickets to vegas on the table boxing day will cheer her up because she has been before and loved the place(i'm a vegas virgin BTW).Thanks

Jay
Nottingham England

Jay, welcome to FT!

If you click on the blue text you will be taken to a thread called Newbie Guide to Vegas (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=371487&referrerid=24296) which I wrote when researching Vegas from a similar perspective as yourself.

It may be less expensive booking your flight and hotel seperately.

Can I suggest you check out www.maxjet.com (direct from Stansted, all business class, £855 return incl. tax dep 15/1 ret 22/1, so not much more than economy on other airlines, flights on Mondays and Thursday only) and www.flybmi.com (direct from Manchester) as well as Virgin Atlantic.

Do also consider flying via LA as it can be less expensive to fly there and connect on Ted to Vegas.

With hotels, check out www.travelaxe.com and do not write off staying at the amazing www.wynnlasvegas.com with discount codes available on here by searching for "wynn".

But also, do consider the Hilton "timeshare" deal mentioned in my post which would save you quite a bit, but priceline is also good for the Venetian.

Vegas can be pricey at weekends, so maybe consider spening the midweek Sun-Thurs there and then hiring a car/flying and checking out Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Palm Springs or even San Francisco or LA all of which are nearby, and hotels in those places are likley to be a lot cheaper at the weekends than equivalent in Vegas.

Do book a show (Barry Manilow, the Beatles "LOVE", Elton John, the ghastly Celine Dion headlineright now) either ahead of time if you want good seats, or on the night at the half price booth for less expensive/popular shows.

For comedy, check out www.carrottop.com and www.ritarudner.com.

Consider taking a segway tour www.segwaylv.com and check out the rides on top of the Stratosphere if you like thrill rides!

Sounds an exciting trip, and really thoughtful gesture on your part ^ .

Just a friendly note; putting lots of paragraphs in your posts makes it easier for everyone to read what you have posted.

Apparently :)

I'd definitely price compare -I've never found a package come near what I find by combining a seperate flight with a hotel deal (I fly from LGW/LHR). Don't prepay for an airport transfer either-a taxi for the two of you works out a couple of dollars more and avoids the risk of making stops enroute to your hotel. friend of mine did this and it took an hour to a hotel on the south end of the strip in stead of 20 mins max direct.
Take a look at www.travelzoo.com and www.travelworm.com. I've got excellent prices for Vegas hotels from these recently.
The Virgin flight has nice times but as it is direct and offers free booze attracts large stag groups sometimes. Luck of the draw I guess but be aware if you are seated near a group like that it is a bit like sitting in Wetherspoons on a Saturday night !! FA will usually move you if there are available seats.
I'd certainly book the flight now-there are some good prices around. The hotel you may want to wait on-and book something cancelable and wait and see if anything better pricewise comes up closer to the time. General opinion is that Priceline is not very good for Vegas hotels and better prices can be found elsewhere with the added benefit of knowing what you are booking.
Hope this helps

Hi guys you all give out great tips and advice so any help for a newbie would be much appreciated.
I am planning a trip to vegas in jan hopefully the 16th to the 23rd and the sites i am looking on are Expedia.Lastminute,Orbitz,Travelocity and priceline
i am currently being quoted between £620-£700 for them dates, on the flight i want(virgin),and the hotels i want to stay at(MGM,Flamingo,TI,NYNY).
If anyone has any advice on these prices or time to book on these sites E.G now, 1 month before, 2 weeks before i would be gratefull.I really want to do a good job orginizing this trip as my gf lost her mother on christmas day last year so she's going to have it rough this year hopefully dropping tickets to vegas on the table boxing day will cheer her up because she has been before and loved the place(i'm a vegas virgin BTW).Thanks


Jay
Nottingham England

Jay, I recommend you take Flamingo off your short list - it is in no way comparable to your other choices. MGM, TI and NYNY are all similar in room condition. Regarding geography on the Strip, TI is diagonally opposite to Wynn; MGM and NYNY are closer to Bellagio.

TravelAxe is good for checking prices, but it does require you to download software to use it on your 'puter. I've found a better alternative to be www.kayak.com, which is entirely web-based. For your dates, TI is showing at $139 and is the lowest rate of the choices you mentioned.

I would agree that of the places you mentioned, I would pick NYNY first, then the MGM Grand...although both are quite good.

I list the hotels/casinos on my website if you want to compare as per my humble opinion - plus I mentions shows, and if there are any particular shows you want to see, it might be wise to book them early, just in case. Some of the more popular shows sell out, and if nothing else, booking early would get you better seats.

January can be a bit chilly here, so be sure to bring a few sweaters and a light jacket at least (go for the layer effect). It can be toasty warm by day, when you are walking in the sun, but as soon as the sun goes down, you will be grabbing for those sweaters and light jacket! And don't forget to bring the most comfortable shoes you own, as you will walk more here than you ever believed you would walk!

Have a great time! And I am sure GF will be thrilled, and just the thing to perk her up and have something great to look forward to a few weeks later! Very classy of you!

Hey guy's thanks for taking the time to reply

All the advice was really helpfull just to let you know how it's going I've
decided to go down the build my own flight hotel package.

I have booked virgin flights 16-23 jan £298 which I thought was a fair price(hope i hav'nt jumped the gun).

Also signed up for the players club at the MGM and partner hotels so hopefully
will be getting a few offers off them soon. I believe you cannot do this for
the Harrah's hotels but if someone knows different could you post a link please.

Any way I have saved all the site's you all mentioned and will be checking these over the next few weeks

Thank's again hope i'll be able to repay the favour someday ^



jay

£298 with tax is great-I think you'll definitely get a better deal booking hotels direct with such a good start.
Don't forget to book a Grand Canyon tour it's one of the must dos for a Vegas virgin :)

;) The virgin deal is excellent - I always book the flight and the hotel seperately - got great advice from this site before my hols in July - got a great deal on at the aladdin (go for fountain view room) Luxor has some very good deals on -$69 per night - the Wynn is phenomenal could get a rate of around $159 - code on this site - with free panoramic view and $20 dining credit - Bellagio also has some deals on as does the venetian (which I dont like personally) so its whatever takes your fancy - join the hotel sites direct and they will send promos - and atleast you will get "room rates" unlike the packages which do "per person - rip off rates" Gwen - have a great time

Hey guy's thanks for taking the time to reply

All the advice was really helpfull just to let you know how it's going I've
decided to go down the build my own flight hotel package.

I have booked virgin flights 16-23 jan £298 which I thought was a fair price(hope i hav'nt jumped the gun).

Also signed up for the players club at the MGM and partner hotels so hopefully
will be getting a few offers off them soon. I believe you cannot do this for
the Harrah's hotels but if someone knows different could you post a link please.

Any way I have saved all the site's you all mentioned and will be checking these over the next few weeks

Thank's again hope i'll be able to repay the favour someday ^



jay


Hi Jay!

You can sign up for Harrah's Total Rewards Card which will be good at all of their Sister properties as well (Caesars, Paris, Rio, etc). They will send you tons of deals.

I will be in Las Vegas during the time you are there. I'm at Bally's for 2 nights then at the Venetian.

As others have said, Vegas can be quite cold in January, so bring a jacket and some warm clothes.

I go to Vegas quite a bit. Just got back from a 5 night stay last weekend and heading back for a quick stay next weekend then back January 17 - 21.

Have fun. There is lots to see and do there! :)