Las Vegas Travel Tips - 2017

[KarmaDope]

Las Vegas Travel Tips

Flights from the UK:

Direct:
Flying direct means flying from the following airports.

London Heathrow - BA
London Stansted - Thomas Cook
London Gatwick - BA & Virgin
Manchester - Virgin & Thomas Cook
Glasgow - Thomas Cook & Virgin

Choose your own preferred airline. I"ve flown BA and Virgin, and in economy, I prefer Virgin, but others prefer BA. Travel time is approximately 10hrs, and prices vary but a dummy booking between 1st-8th June 2017 (coincidentally covering Mr Pilgrim"s wedding) come out at £633 from Manchester, £710 from Glasgow and £800 from Gatwick, as of 27/09/2016.

TIP: If you fly with Virgin, pay the extra charge and book one of the following seats: 79A or 80F. These are on the slightly more private Upper Deck, are window seats which have extra storage space due to window compartments, nobody behind you so no worries about reclining and you get off the plane quicker. Also recommended are 79B, 79C, 80D and 80E. You don"t get the window compartments unless you have 79A or 80F but still worth it for the comfort.

Indirect:
Flying indirect (i.e. with a stop over / change at another airport) often works out cheaper than direct flights. Should you consider flying indirect there are many choices available, and far too many to cover here, but please be sure you know what you are letting yourself in for. Flying times are 12 hours+ involving "changing" at another airport during the journey (for example Amsterdam or Atlanta).

Getting a good fare is not straightforward, factors which can see you getting that good fare are:
•   Flexibility: Be prepared to travel midweek, not at the weekends like everyone else.
•   Preparation: Look into your flight NOW. It might be worth thinking about Xmas sales and being ready to pull the trigger when you see a decent price.
•   Airline Sales and Offers: Airlines know when people start thinking about booking trips, keeping very regular tabs on the airlines websites for sales and fare reductions is a good idea. Some airlines offer reduced fares for frequent flyers and members of their flying clubs.

As a target, I wouldn"t want to pay any more than £500 for an indirect flight.

DUBLIN:
Dublin is a bit of a special case and more complicated, however, this is, by far, my favourite way to travel. A flight from Dublin to Vegas generally costs around £350 for the flight. Obviously, you have to take into account your costs to get to Dublin, but I find you can still make it work.

The flight from Dublin to Vegas is indirect. The attraction though, is that the stopover airport you want to book is either London or Manchester. Then you get on the same plane as all your mates who have booked direct, at half the cost.

The downside is that you have to start your journey in Dublin. Miss that first flight, and you lose ALL the flights. I often find it"s still worth it though. Plus there"s that night before in Dublin, with the Guinness

If anyone wants to know more about Dublin, let me know.

[KarmaDope]

Hotels:

The Strip

Most people stay on The Strip. The Strip is the name given to Las Vegas Boulevard, the road that runs through the centre of Las Vegas, where many of the hotel-casinos are located, such as Harrah"s, Caesars Palace, MGM, Bally"s, Bellagio, Aria to name a few.

Always book direct with the hotel, as it cuts out the middleman but you can cancel and rebook if you see a better deal, as long as it is more than 72hrs before you are due to check in. Some links to check for good deals are here:

vegasmessageboard.com
vegastripping.com
vegas-promotions.com
vegashotelhunt.com
vegashotelspecial.com
totalrewards.com/hot-deals
vegas-hotels-online.com
smartervegas.com
earlyvegas.com

Most APATers tend to stay at Harrah"s. It"s quite cheap compared to the rest of the Strip, has a good central location and Ger loves the place. Other hotels I would personally recommend are Flamingo, Bally"s and Aria, but of course, it"s always worth looking into it yourself. Be wary of Tripadvisor reviews, they have a lot more "hotels" than there actually are, as they have all the motels etc in Las Vegas!

Hotels people tend to avoid are Stratosphere (location is not great at all), Circus Circus (full of kids!), Excalibur, Luxor and Hooters. If you"re not sure, just ask in here and I"m sure some of the guys who have been before will help you out.

Downtown

Downtown is "Old Vegas". It has its own charm (and is a lot cheaper than The Strip) and I would recommend it for people who have been before and are looking for somewhere different. Again, follow the links above and the rules above. Can personally recommend the Four Queens and the D. Avoid El Cortez, it"s in a really dodgy part of town!

Off-Strip/Others

These are hotels that aren"t on The Strip or Downtown, such as Orleans, Rio, Palms or Sam"s Town. Most of them are affectionately referred to as "Local"s Casinos" but they"re not. These tend to be better for gambling but I would recommend having a hire car if you stay at one of these!

Resort Fees

Nearly all hotels charge a "resort fee", a mandatory amount per room per night that covers the cost of things like Wi-fi or Gym access. This is not usually included in the room rate prices you will find quoted online. For Strip hotels, resort fees range from between $15 and $35+tax/night. This is important to factor into your budget as this could add up to over $200 for a week"s stay.

Current Resort Fees as of 27/09/16 are here (these numbers have the tax included): http://www.smartervegas.com/resortfees.aspx

[KarmaDope]

If anyone else wants to add more then do so. I was inspired to put this up when Kev O"Hanlon messaged me asking about travel next year, but couldn"t find one that I thought Paulie had done!

I have taken bits of this from the mega thread over at Money Saving Expert - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5380434 and that thread has a hell of a lot more detail, well worth a read of the first few posts!

[Chipaccrual]

Would be interested in anyone"s experiences of Norwegian.com

Currently only taking bookings up to March 2017, but at less than £600 return, direct from Gatwick to Vegas, gotta be worth a look.

Oh, and that"s on a Dreamliner

[fandango]

Nice write up Adam I"m sure it will help a lot of people.

I took the plunge last month and booked my stay through Virgin Holidays, it wasn"t cheap but I do have the piece of mind that all the donkey work has been done.

We fly out from the new North terminal Gatwick on May 30th and return on 13th.
We originally booked at Excalibur for 13 nights but with resort fees and car parking fees to add on after, we opted to pay more to stay at Tropicana for 13 nights, Virgin have a contract with them and all resort fees are paid up in front, no car parking charges, free wifi, 2 for 1 on selected cocktails (winner for Emma), also voted best pools in Vegas.
All in it cost £3,160 for the two of us, not cheapest but as stated no extra resort fees to worry about after stay has ended which is nice to have in back of mind.
Also as not to hijack thread but... wedding has been booked!!

A little white wedding chapel on Tuesday 6th June at 7.00pm

[BOINGBLITZ]

This year, DIRECT flights came down to as low as £477....may be worth waiting a while....

[redsimon]

With Virgin , definitely worthwhile joining their flying club, maybe signing up for Virgin Air miles if you have a Tesco club card and watching out for seat sales, got a return Economy flight for £230 taxes last year with airmiles earnt just thru Tesco Club card normal shopping and the reductions in the seat sale.

For downtown can really recommend the "D" and in 2016 you could get it with no resort fee through booking.com