Vegas Vengeance - An APAT Adventure........AKA "You're Gonna Need a Bigger Bar"

[RioRodent]

... I don"t really want to be connecting all over North America.

This is what I"ll be doing, use the money saved to stay an extra night or two and extra spending money.

It is a dilemma as to when to book though - don"t want to miss out on a good deal

Flying direct is spending money... on things like less time travelling, less time stood in immigration queues, no worries about missing connections or conversely sitting around in an airport for 4 hours waiting for a connection, no hassle, so that you can arrive in a deserted arrivals hall, sail thro immigration and baggage claim, in the middle of the afternoon and start enjoying Vegas immediately, rather than late in the evening. That"s essentially an extra day.

Rinse and repeat for the return leg and you get the best part of one and half extra usable days, without any extra for hotel rooms.

If I were going*, I would be prepared to have a small wager on the fact that I could win the amount you save by flying indirect, in the time I save by flying direct.

*Read - if I change my mind and decide to come along.

[Jon MW]

... I don"t really want to be connecting all over North America.

This is what I"ll be doing, use the money saved to stay an extra night or two and extra spending money.

It is a dilemma as to when to book though - don"t want to miss out on a good deal

Flying direct is spending money... on things like less time travelling, less time stood in immigration queues, no worries about missing connections or conversely sitting around in an airport for 4 hours waiting for a connection, no hassle, so that you can arrive in a deserted arrivals hall, sail thro immigration and baggage claim, in the middle of the afternoon and start enjoying Vegas immediately, rather than late in the evening. That"s essentially an extra day.

Rinse and repeat for the return leg and you get the best part of one and half extra usable days, without any extra for hotel rooms.

If I were going*, I would be prepared to have a small wager on the fact that I could win the amount you save by flying indirect, in the time I save by flying direct.

*Read - if I change my mind and decide to come along.

Missing connections is a slight worry, but I"m not bothered about waiting around.
The return leg is irrelevant because getting home quicker just means being at home quicker - i.e. no need to rush

The minimum of an extra night booked is because of the day lost to travelling, 2 nights extra will mean one extra day on the holiday.

It"s the economics that count for me, if the sales for direct flights are good enough then I won"t be able to book an extra night or 2 and still have extra spending money available from the savings - if that happens I"ll book direct. But the likelihood is I"ll save £100-£150 booking indirect which is plenty enough.

And I don"t want to arrive in the afternoon; I want to spend almost a day travelling, arrive late and go to sleep - that way when I wake up my body clock should have reset to Vegas time.

...
If I were going*, I would be prepared to have a small wager on the fact that I could win the amount you save by flying indirect, in the time I save by flying direct.
...

You probably could, but I only might - and I wouldn"t really want to risk my whole budget on the first day trying

[Paulie_D]

$392 + tax Deluxe Room (Daily Resort Fee c.$12...provides free wifi)
$760 + tax Paradise Suite* + Resort Fee

This looks to be a really good deal. I"m in favour as I"m not sure there will be much better than this. If fact I had a look on their new website and it says that it is a 72 hour sale. Seems like such a good rate to pass up??

If that"s where you want to be them it is a pretty good price....say $530 all in (inc tax) for a week.

As I said, my preference is mid-strip with easy walking access (for a fat bloke) to the Venetian. That"s basically Harrahs or, depending on what I can find, the Casino Royale.

I"ve not stayed at CR before but I think I know someone who has...I"ll have to double check with him and see what he says.

[mporter123]

Am considering joining the party and am trying to plan costs.

So far have come up with:-

Flight - Around the £500-£520 mark from STA travel with Virgin (discount for under 26 years old)

Hotel - Around £200-£300 on Expedia at the moment but perhaps cheaper nearer the time.

As a Vegas Virgin, I am trying to work out spending money requirements... can anyone give any advice?? Bear in mind that all I really want to do is play poker with perhaps an afternoon of seeing the sights.

[Marty719]

All I can say is....bring as much as u can afford!!  More than worth it, but if ur gng for poker, then make sure u are not going to run out!!  

[Paulie_D]

Hotel - Around £200-£300 on Expedia at the moment but perhaps cheaper nearer the time.

Which hotel might I ask

As a Vegas Virgin, I am trying to work out spending money requirements... can anyone give any advice?? Bear in mind that all I really want to do is play poker with perhaps an afternoon of seeing the sights.

An afternoon...wow, I think you"ll need more than that, it kind of depends on what you want to see..post up your bucket list and perhaps I can find some ideas

Spending...it"s usually a good idea to separate it between actual expenses (food/transport etc) and bankroll.

Bankroll depends on what you are planning to do.

Cash at $1/$2, probably around 3 buy-ins per day (just in case) that"s $600 per day(ish). Of course, ideally, you won"t need that much but bad runs happen.

Tournaments, well, plan out a schedule and you can work it out how much you"d need. I have a couple of resources I can point you out if you have some specific plans in this regard.

[mporter123]

I have looked at:-

MGM from 17/11/2011 - 24/11/2011 is currently £353.54

Hurrah"s from 17/11/2011 - 24/11/2011 is currently £300.44

Would be hoping to pay less than £300 for a hotel but don"t want to be too far from everything.

Sight seeing wise, probably a trip to the Grand Canyon and perhaps catch a show. Would expect to spend the majority of the time in the casino though.

I expect somewhere in the region of 2K for the whole trip with spending money and poker money as part of that. That"s probably a bit tight but for the level I would be playing at, should work.

Will start putting a plan together and get some more details on tourneys e.t.c. Binking a tournament would be nice in the mean time!

[Paulie_D]

Would be hoping to pay less than £300 for a hotel but don"t want to be too far from everything.

Seriously, check out the Imperial Palace, granted it"s not everyone"s cup of tea, but you"ll have trouble finding cheaper that"s better located.

Sight seeing wise, probably a trip to the Grand Canyon and perhaps catch a show. Would expect to spend the majority of the time in the casino though.

The Canyon is a LOT further way than you might think, just getting there (by car, bus) for a reasonable amount of time will take at least a full day. The tours I"ve seen involve a 6am pickup and a 9pm return.

You can fly which would save you some time but that adds to the cost.

Personally, to do it right, I"d plan on leaving mid-morning, doing an overnight at the Canyon, and getting back mid-afternoon the following day. I confess, I"ve not done it this way, on the two occasions I visited the Canyon and Vegas it was part of a tour that went from the Canyon to LV.

Google Search

[mporter123]

Thanks for the advice, will keep an eye on this thread and continue my fruitless attempts at saving money!

[Paulie_D]

Thanks for the advice, will keep an eye on this thread and continue my fruitless attempts at saving money!

No problem, if I see any deals I"ll post them up.

In the meantime, take a look at http://lasvegas.caesars.com/.

Select "Las Vegas" and "All Casinos"...bang in your dates and it will show you all Harrahs/Caesars Group Hotels (and all room types) in Las Vegas (except Bills)...which you can find here [LINK]

Just remember the prices they quote do NOT include 12% tax until you click the "Book" button (which you can as it doesn"t confirm anything).

A rough £1 = $1.5 should be close enough.

[Paulie_D]

Unfortunately, the MGM-Mirage Group don"t have such a handy tool but if you go to MGM Resorts.com you can bang in your arrival date and number of nights. Select your hotel, click book and it will pop open a new page/tab for that hotel.

Rinse and repeat for multiple hotels to compare.

[RioRodent]

The return leg is irrelevant because getting home quicker just means being at home quicker - i.e. no need to rush

It"s not irrelevant if you have to be at the airport at say 8am to get your 9am internal flight, as opposed to 2.30pm to get the 4pm Virgin flight... an extra 1/2 day to enjoy.

And I don"t want to arrive in the afternoon; I want to spend almost a day travelling, arrive late and go to sleep - that way when I wake up my body clock should have reset to Vegas time.

I always find that just staying up til midnight"ish on the day I get there, followed by a good night"s sleep does the job for me. Coming back the other way is a different kettle of fish of course, always bo11oxed for 3 days when I get home.

But whatever, each to their own.

[duke3016]

direct is good for all the points mentioned, land at a good time - leave at a good time.

[Delboy]

Why is there such a disparity between hotel prices direct and those through an agent at the mo?

Example:

Direct

IP Deluxe Luv Tub - Direct price $669.76=£446.51
                        - Through Asda travel=£240.31

There must be catch, but I can"t find it.

anyone know why and how they can do it?

[Paulie_D]

Why is there such a disparity between hotel prices direct and those through an agent at the mo?

Example:

Direct

IP Deluxe Luv Tub - Direct price $669.76=£446.51
                        - Through Asda travel=£240.31

There must be catch, but I can"t find it.

anyone know why and how they can do it?

I can"t find the IP at Asda Travel for the selected dates (17/11 - 24/11). Is that what you"re looking at?