Need to keep this near the top.

going to vegas for the first time in the summer, my husband has gone plenty of times, it will be just the 2 of us and it will be our honeymoon finally (14 years later), he will be getting back from his deployment so dates are not set in stone but grandma watching the kids are; so we would like to watch a show, gamble, eat and i want to do a spa type thing, 3 nights and would like to explore only vegas, any thoughts will be appreciated, about to go through those links you posted, very excited, thanks

Have you booked your hotel or anything yet? If not and you want to splurge for your honeymoon, I'd recommend the Cosmopolitan.

havent done anything yet, so i will look into that thanks!!

Fixed dead links

Added new discussions, organized show threads by date

So we were in Vegas all of last week, stayed at the Mirage like yall suggested. Was surprised by the number of bums, beggars and tent villages around Vegas. All around good stay, is pretty darn expensive. We will probably do it again some time when we are in the US again.

Going to Vegas next weekend for a batchelor's party. Staying at the Venetian. Hopefully I can put some of the plans into action.

Quick question about comps: I've built up some decent comps with Total Rewards over last year or so since I've been to Vegas a handful of times. I'm pretty knowledgeable about how the whole game works, but there's one thing I was wondering.

I've heard over and over that comps are based on your average daily play. So is that a hard and fast rule of thumb, or do they look at other things, like how many days your are on their property, etc? For example, let's say I'm staying 4 days, and have a $1000 gambling budget. Would my comps be the same if I gabled $250/day for 4 days verses doing 2 days of $500 each, or just one big day of $1,000? Seems that based on what I've heard, you'd get more comps with the last one, but wouldn't they be able to just as easily look and see that you stayed with them for 4 days and average your play over the length of your stay?

MGM is shutting down the Lion Habitat at the end of January. I wish that they would get rid of the Rainforest Cafe instead.

My host looks at ADP at the end of my trip. So it doesn't matter how you gamble.

If you are looking to build a history, I'm sure they prefer that you play consistently, but just explain to them what you are doing and they will work with you.

Thanks... I guess what had me confused is that I had heard people say that if you had, again using my earlier example, $1000 for 4 days, that essentially if you had a day that you didn't gamble at all, that day wouldn't count in your ADP. That essentially, if you spent $1000 one day, your ADP would $1000, but if you did it over 2 days, $500, and so on, even if you stayed there for 4 days. But that wouldn't matter right?

They are going to look at your stay to figure ADP. If you were trying to build reputation with a casino other than your hotel they could only track you for your play. Bottom line? You aren't going to game the system for comps over the long haul.

Oh I realize that. All I'm interested in is making sure that I'm being smart about things.

Any suggestions on getting cheap airfare to Vegas? I'm pretty wide open as to what time of year to go.

Airfare to vegas has really gone up over the last year. When I went last January and July I paid less than $250 for each round trip; in November I paid about $300. I'm going back in May and the best deal I can find is $360 for the days I want to travel.

Are you open to traveling any way of the week?

The cost has definitely skyrocketed in the last year. Very sad. Depending on the day, you can still find it for $250-$300 sometimes, but only if you don't care too much about departure times and such.

just got back yesterday. booked a 48 hour package on travelocity staying at vdara for 450 (all in).

place was ok. a distance from hotels, but not a big deal to me.

i went to the monte carlo for the first time this trip. i was very underwhelmed. it had the smokiest smell of the casinos we went to, and the service was lackluster. the most disappointing part to me was the bj dealers. very dry and didn't say a word. not that i want dealers to talk your ear off, but when you ask them how they're doing and they give you a cold stare, it's upsetting. doubt i'll find myself back at that venue.

on a positive note, i went downtown the first time, and was very impressed. part of that was we ate at hugo's, which gave me the stiffest martini i've ever had, and the other part was winning a grand at four queens.

a short, successful trip.

How was the room at Vdara? I've stayed in a basic room and a corner suite at Aria and am curious how they compare to Vdara's rooms. What kind of square footage did you have, and what was in it? And how was the rest of Vdara? I love Citycenter...

[This message has been edited by watty (edited 2/9/2012 4:11p).]

the room was good. a nice suite, very modern...around 500 sf.

suites are not as nice as the venetian, but this is to be expected. still very clean

if you are intolerant of smoke, then this is a good bet. i ventured through aria, and thought it was nice, but did not go to the rest of city center.

i will probably not stay at vdara again, unless going with this same group (older crowd that was not big into gambling) or getting this good of a deal.

will finish the rest of your questions. in the suite,

kitchenette (large sink area with burners) two little fridges (one with minibar), sitting area for two. two ~46in tvs. the tv area divided the living space from the bedroom. one tv on each side. king size bed, retractable curtains/black out curtains.

bathroom area with shower and tub.

i'm the type that doesn't care about the room for the most part because i don't spend much time in it.

were staying at Bellagio in a couple weeks (wife booked it) ... is it even worth trying the "20 dollar trick" anymore, or is it so played out that hotels dont do it anymore?

Ive seen the link on the front page, was just curious if anyones been successful lately on here.

It's worth it.

I did it for a 3 night stay at the Bellagio back in October and got upgraded to a full lakeview room. Was initially booked in a spa tower room.

Bellagio is so customer service driven, I'm pretty sure you can just ask them if there are any complimentary lakeview upgrades and get it that way...then tip them afterwards if you feel like it.

Successful 9 months ago. If they can't abide, they should not take your 20

I did the $20 trick at Aria last weekend. It got me a 28th floor strip view, $50 resort credit, and 2 free buffets. I'd say it's worth a shot at any hotel.

We stayed at the Vdara this past June for our anniversary. we had a great stay. I told them it was our anniversary and used the $20 sandwich. she gave us a strip view room also had a view of the Belagio Fountain. She returned my $20 and said enjoy your stay.

As my wife and I agreed, if we were there with a group of friends we would have wanted to stay somewhere else. But since it was just the 2 of us, it was great. It was pleasant to come into the hotel after going out all night and it being very quiet with no rift-raft (and smoke free). We would stay there again if it were the 2 of us...if it was a guys/girls trip, we would stay somewhere else.

I got the $20 trick” upgrade for free at the Cosmopolitan this past weekend. I booked 2 double beds since I was staying w another friend and we were there for a bachelor party and didn't want to gay it up in a king. When I checked in the guy was real friendly and I asked, those rooms with the double beds are the only ones without balconies correct? He says, yes but the cityview terrace rooms have 2 queens with a balcony and he was going to check to see if they had any available and sure enough he hooked me up. So I threw him $40 because those rooms are a pretty significant upgrade to what I had originally booked. Here was the view from our balcony…




In short, it never hurts to try.

Puddy, How was staying at the Cosmo? The wife wants to try it there next time we go but I haven't talked to anyone that stayed there yet.

Man, I loved it. I normally stay at the Wynn but I'm a convert now. Prepare to get some dirty looks from the wife though....there is a bunch of good scenery that you can't help but take a peek at walking around there. PM me if you need any additional info.

[This message has been edited by David_Puddy (edited 2/29/2012 9:17a).]

I love Aria and have heard that Cosmo is even better than Aria. That said, we're trying Cosmo when we go in June. Can't wait!

$20 trick got upgrade to suite at Bellagio!

Got any pics of the suite? It's never worked that good for me there, only a room overlooking the fountains.