Vegas trip guide: tips for the first-time traveller

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If you’re making a pilgrimage out to Vegas for the WSOP and it’s your first time heading for the Strip, a couple of common sense tips combined with some legwork and planning can make your trip a lot more affordable (and enjoyable). Here’s a quick guide to preparing for your virgin visit.

Airfare

With rising gas costs plane tickets are getting more expensive, but thankfully there are a number of options for seeking the cheapest tickets. Our favorite is www.farecast.com, in which you input your travel dates and get four pop-up windows showing comparable rates from Hotwire, Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline. Usually there isn’t much difference between the four, but you will often save $5-$10 (like if one of the services is waiving the booking fees for a promotion) that can be used at the buffet line. A recent look at the site uncovered a number of round-trip flights from several East coast cities for $350-$400 so it appears those $200 tickets are a thing of the past. To save the most money the trick is to fly between Sunday and Thursday. Rates are generally higher on Friday and Saturday.

Another great option is to install Southwest’s DING program on your computer and select Las Vegas and your home airport. This program will pop up daily with one-day only specials for the airports you choose. There are different specials each day and flights to any one city aren’t that common so you will have to be vigilant in checking this, but you can often find a pretty good deal.

Another piece of advice, especially for you first-time Vegas fliers, is to fly at night. The view of the brightly lit neon lights of the Strip after the sun sets over Vegas is a sight to behold as you descend into the airport.

Hotels and houses

In the city that has more hotel rooms than any other in the world choices abound. It’s just a matter of what part of the city in which you want to stay and how much you want to spend. If you plan to be in Vegas for a month or more and your pockets aren’t overflowing in Benjamins you probably want to start cheap. Let’s consider some of those options.

Unless you are renting a car it’s advisable stay on the Strip or in Downtown (where you can ride the city bus to the Strip for $2 if you’re frugal. Otherwise it’s at least $10 each way for a cab). Even if you rent a car it’s still nice to be able to walk out of your hotel room and be within walking distance to the Strip or Downtown, and it’s even better to be able to walk out of your hotel room and into a poker room without leaving the premises. None of the casinos with really good poker rooms come cheap, unfortunately. Your best bets for reasonably priced casino hotels with poker rooms include Binion’s, which offers a poker rate of around $30, and the Sahara, which has some summer specials with rooms under $50. Some other cheap options with poker rooms in the downtown area include El Cortez and Fitzgeralds, though neither poker room features much action.

For those willing to spend a little more Harrah’s is offering discounted rates at its Las Vegas properties, including the Rio, Bally’s Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Imperial Palace and Paris. The lowest rate is $89 on weekdays and $159 weekends at Imperial Palace. You’ll pay $139 weekdays and $279 weekends at Rio for the luxury of walking straight from your hotel room to the WSOP. If you pre-register and pay for WSOP events, you get $20 to $30 off of your room rates each night.

The Venetian is offering discounted suites this summer during the Deep Stack Extravaganza. The prices are $139 for weekdays and $199 for weekends.

Budget Suites, which has several locations in Vegas, offers weekly rentals. For $239 a week for one bedroom and $339 for two bedrooms, you get a full kitchen and living room and private bedrooms. You can get similar accommodations and rates at Extended Stay America, including a location on Flamingo not far from the Rio.

Another choice is to rent any number of houses and condos during the summer. If you really want to party, you can rent a 5,000 square foot condo with full bar, game room, pool and other amenities for hundreds of dollars a day. Split four or five ways, the price might just be right for you. There are numerous options out there, but you can start at this site: www.travellinkunlimited.com to see a handful of choices.

If you are unsure what type of rental property might be right for you, go to www.myvegaspokerhost.com where you answer a few questions that help match you with a property that will best suit your extended stay needs.

Car rental

The easiest way to rent your car is to use one of the online travel sites listed under airfare. You can get a compact or economy car in Vegas for under $100 a week in many instances, and unless you’re planning a lengthy trip out of town you probably won’t need more than a tank or two of gas during your stay.

One last thing

Our last piece of advice is to get a copy of American Casino Guide for its fantastic coupons. For $15 you get a book filled with discounts for 2 for 1 rooms, 2 for 1 buffets, match play coupons and other casino sign-up bonuses. This year the book includes a $10 chip bonus for playing poker at the Golden Nugget, which almost pays the cost right there. You should get your money back out of this investment several times over.

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