When traveling to Las Vegas, there are many extremes as to how you can enjoy the City. I am not what you would call a “Gambler”, because I don’t get a thrill from that, but I do enjoy the entertainment and dining.
I recently took a trip there and decided to go the least expensive, without giving up on quality of time and money. I chose to go at the end of September; because it fit my schedule, but I also thought it would be part of the off-season. As I investigated flights and hotels, I found that not to be so.
I always use the Internet to check for flights, hotels, and car rentals. After spending several hours, I found the best search engine to use for this was kayak.com, which searches hundreds of sights and gives you the lowest prices found. For my flight, I have a preference of U.S. Airways, because I have been loyal to them and their dividend mile program for many years. But this may change in the near future because of the change in miles needed to fly. I will soon be writing on this.
After checking with Kayak.com. U.S. airways had the best rates and I booked them directly with U.S. Air because Kayak.com does not do reservations, but only leads you to the sites that have the best prices. By booking direct with U.S. Air on the Internet, I received double mileage credit for using my U.S. Airways MasterCard, and I received miles for my dividend account.
I knew I wanted to stay on the strip, and the prices ranged from $79.00/night to $350.00/night for weekdays, and from $169.00/night to $579.00/night for the weekend. Because of my schedule, I had to stay two week days and one weekend night. The least expensive rooms on the strip were Circus Circus, Excalibur, and Tropicana. I chose the Tropicana because I had stayed there many years ago, at a time when it was one of the nicer properties on the strip. Since then the property has gone down in quality, (which I knew it would have), and it is at the south end of the strip, which makes the walk longer to get to the more popular destinations.
When I arrived at the Tropicana, I found the property to be overall clean, and it was what I expected for the price I was paying. Two things that disappointed me was that I was told there would be free Internet access, which there was not, and my safe in the room was broken and I had to check my lap top and valuables in at the front desk every time I needed them. This became annoying since I sometimes had to stand in a line for fifteen minutes waiting to check something in or out. I complained to the manager and asked to be compted for a show or something and I was told that there was no guarantee that the safe would work, which made me angry. I also had to pay $14.95/day for Internet access, and I found out that most of the other hotels offer it free to their customers.
I decided not to rent a car for transportation, but to walk, or use the monorail or bus. A rental car would have cost $150.00 plus gas, and I spent approx. $90.00 for transportation while I was there. I always ate a late breakfast and had an early dinner, which I could do for a discount at many of the restaurants. This allowed me to eat on approximately $40.00/day per person, which I thought was a good deal.
To sum things up, my next trip to Las Vegas will be a little different. While looking at the Tropicana as an inexpensive resort, I’m not so sure. Once you add in the extra expense for the Internet Service, the transportation cost when traveling up the strip, and the inconvenience of not having a safe, I would have spent more and upgraded to a hotel that was more expensive, but offered more as in location, amenities, and overall higher standards.
I would not get a rental car because all of my experiences with public transportation worked fine. I even went into Freemont Street where the original Casino’s were on public transportation and had no problems.
My eating schedule of late breakfast and early dinners worked well also. Not only did I save a large amount of money on the food, I also ate less and felt better for it. I did not have to wait for hours to get into a restaurant, and I enjoyed the same food that everyone else does in Las Vegas.
My Las Vegas adventure was a truly fine experience. I will not be returning in the near future, but I will be ready for trip out there in years to come.