Meh, you shouldve booked flight and hotel together, you can often get great discounts at expedia, ebookers and a few other sites. At least that's for Germany but I'm guessing Norway is similar. And the best rates are usually 2-4 weeks in advance when the hotels and airlines need to fill the remaining slots, 3 months in advance or more I usually get crap rates. Personally I found these rates to be much better than any Total rewards, Mlife etc. deals. If you book at the hotel directly it might be easier to score a free (or 20$) upgrade but the rates are almost always much worse than combined flight/hotel deals. I'd never pay more than 100$/nt everything included for a room of Linq category. Exceptions are if you want to visit at a particular busy time or as others have mentioned if you have a high status at one of the rewards programs

I will definitely book through TR and adjust the rate as it gets cheaper, if it does. I picked the weekend by chance, so the run good has already started! Thanks for your tips.


I actually booked the flight separately because it was so ridiculously cheap. Norwegian airline is opening a direct route to Vegas from Oslo this winter, and the ticket was about three fiddy ($350!). Your point about hotels being cheaper 2-4 weeks in advance seems to be spot on. I will book through TR and call them to adjust the rate whenever I see it gets cheaper. Thank you.

Has anyone tried a two-bedroom suite, looking for some good rates for next summer, i know it will proberly be expensive - but just looking at options right now with a friend.

It will be more expensive than 2 single rooms, and in a traditional hotel, more than 2 1 br suites. The place to get them at a semi-reasonable cost is condotels like MGM Signature or whatever name the PHo place is going by now. Those may not be suites in the Vegas sense, but more like apartments.

Ive heard some good things about the MGM Signature, might be an option, rates seem fair.

Trying to figure out the hotel expense ratio. I know it's a personal decision, but how much is it worth spending on lodging if you are not really hanging in the room? Are the sleeping and modest hanging out moments worth the added cost? I'm in that semi-low-baller region of comps, Rio = free + ResortFee, Flamingo/Harrahs $22/night+RF, Mirage/MGM ~$70, Mandalay $90, Bellagio/Aria=$160/night+RF...So Aria, it's like $650 for three nights.

If I'm bringing $3000 for gambling, is that a reasonable ratio ~20%? Seems high. Thoughts? More likely to stay at a nicer place when I go with my wife, this time it's with a friend who is not likely to want to upgrade....so probably the hotel costs are on me.

I stayed at Flamingo last trip in June, mainly because of the location and the pool. In December the pool is not an issue, and Flamingo is still central to many things.

Trip is going to be mostly poker on the strip with one downtown night.

Oh, and Saturday is the only expensive night, in fact I think my $22/night at Flamingo is actually something like $66/0/0 for the three nights.

Thoughts?

I'd do Rio but I always have a car. Mostly always anyway.

Me personally, no way I'd do Rio unless it was a WSOP trip. Cab/Uber fares will eat up the savings. I'd hate being off the Strip. For a guys trip, Flamingo would be hard to beat because of the central location and price. With the wife, I'd say Mirage is a great option at those prices.

Under these circumstances, I'd go with the cheapest non-Rio, easy call. I wouldn't even think about it.

With the wife, it's a different story.

Yeah, the cheapest non-Rio is Flamingo. So even if it's boring and redundant, it's likely the best option. And centrally located.

There's a free shuttle from the Rio. You don't have to spend anything for transportation if you don't want to. But my perspective is from having a car because I like to run around a lot, so I dislike Harrah's/Flamingo because it's a pain to get in or out.

i'm staying at mandalay over christmas and nye

any tips? i haven't stayed there before

Avoid the buffet. Property well worth a slow walk around though. Burger bar on the walk thru to luxor is perfectly decent. Charlie Palmer cut of the day is an amazing deal.

My room on 8th floor at Mirage had a musty smell.

It takes me 15 minutes to walk from Bellagio to Rio. I think it is a shorter distance than something like Bellagio to Wynn. During the summer it is not fun, but this time of year it is totally fine, there are always lots of people walking there, and feels safe to me.

Bring your walking shoes. It's a huge place. I know, every hotel in Vegas is huge, but Mandalay Bay is on a different level. There are trams/indoor walkways to the other Circus Circus joints (Excal, Luxor).

The thing to fear most are the crazy drivers, imo. Walking the back way by Caesars under the freeway might be longer but maybe safer.

Ditto on Burger Bar recommendation. I'm kind of a nit, so if I'm cabbing, I usually take the tram to Excalibur and then cross over to MGM or NYNY.

Great pool, but not in December. Aureole is worth it if you can afford it. Mix Bar is supposed to be good but I haven't been. Poker can be fun but not too many games going. Nice view of the entire strip if you can get the right room.

Good idea. I once timed a cab from Mandalay to somewhere off-Strip and to just get through the Tropicana intersection the bill had run up to 10 bucks. If you don't mind walking a bit further and want to go to Venetian or Wynn, the monorail at the rear of MGM is 5 bucks.

I walked that way from Harrahs to Rio during the WSOP at night to see how bad it was and 30 minutes later started to regret it.

Where is the other shorter path he is talking about? Also any easy walkway to get to the in & out burger near that over pass highway? Thanks

15 minutes from Bellagio to Rio is straight down Flamingo. But I do walk very quickly, occasionally ignore traffic lights, and skip the pedestrian bridge over the highway entrance which is crazy long out of the way and walk on shoulder of road, so it could be a bit dangerous. I think it would only take 20 minutes even if I stuck 100% to the sidewalks and waited for all walk signals though.

Wasn't impressed with Aureole. StripSteak is underrated though, and Border Grill is always solid. Mix is now Rivea and the bar is the Skyfall Lounge. Haven't been up there recently.

StripSteak is solid, imo.

If you go, order the duck fat fries.

The boobs in black leather look good too.

Hi Guys,

I have tried to find this info on many sites, even the TR site does not specify and youtube room reviews are not consistent with the info.

Do the Mardi Gras rooms at Harrahs have room safes? And how about the updated Valley Tower ones?

Im heading back out there in late Feb, with hopefully another 5 star trip report in the works (#humblebrag) and this is sort of key information. Thanks guys.

I stayed in a Mardi Gras room in July, and it had a safe.