r2i forum

All,

Am planning a 4 day trip with wife and inlaws to LVS towards the 3rd week of July..Also plan to do a road trip to Grand Canyon during day 4....Long are gone those days when could pack my bags in a hurry, book tix a week in advance and stay bunked up with 5 others in a single room...(i.e. keep expenses really minimal). I am sure a lot of folks here have faced this situation when they have had to plan out trips with parents/in laws and spouse to LVS etc and have tried to do it on a tight budget...
I would really appreciate if people could share their experiences on what's the most economical (read cheap") way to buy air tix (flying from chicago), where to stay (sure MGM would be nice but at what cost)...and then suggestions for shows at vegas..

Also any pointers on trip to Grand Canyon would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.!

Now if u have kids also along with parents then u might want to take a glance at my experience mentioned below-

http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/showthread.php/14950-Travelling-with-more-than-one-Kid-Vegas-and-Grand-Canyon

You can consider booking travel tickets for tuesdays/wednesdays and returning on saturday. Tickets are better priced that way, and u get rest on sunday to fall back into routine.

Ours being veggie preference we had planned for food. Cost wise it did not save any big bucks compared to restaurant food, but the comfort was more.

We had wanted to watch some shows 'O' and others. Good thing is we did not book tickets bcoz it wud not have been possible with kids.

Do not take trains for commutation. It will be tiring for elders with so much of walking. Take cab. It will be quick and convenient as they will drop u at the specific location. Cost will be almost same as 4 train ticktes.

Renting car for the GC travel is better. Not much use of car otherwise. We stayed in some Rosa Inn. It was at one of the ends of the Strip, and also a good one (very close to MGM). They had pick up and drop facility from air port.

We are doing a similar trip in a couple of weeks (though flying from San Jose to LV) with parents and a 3 yr old. Plan is to spend two days each in LV, GC and Bryce Canyon before we come back to LV and fly back. Not sure if we will be hitting the shows, as my 3 year old does not have the patience to sit in any one place for more than 15 mins. Might check out if somethings interesting.

Most of the hotels in LV allow only upto 4 per room. If its just the 4 of you you should find good deals on the strip. Check out vegas.com.

GC is about 5 hrs from LV. If you want to do it in one day you have to start early. Hoover Dam on the way is a good place to stop for a couple of hours.

oasis138;293233All,

Am planning a 4 day trip with wife and inlaws to LVS towards the 3rd week of July..Also plan to do a road trip to Grand Canyon during day 4....Long are gone those days when could pack my bags in a hurry, book tix a week in advance and stay bunked up with 5 others in a single room...(i.e. keep expenses really minimal). I am sure a lot of folks here have faced this situation when they have had to plan out trips with parents/in laws and spouse to LVS etc and have tried to do it on a tight budget...
I would really appreciate if people could share their experiences on what's the most economical (read cheap") way to buy air tix (flying from chicago), where to stay (sure MGM would be nice but at what cost)...and then suggestions for shows at vegas..

Also any pointers on trip to Grand Canyon would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.!

karadi;293244We are doing a similar trip in a couple of weeks (though flying from San Jose to LV) with parents and a 3 yr old. Plan is to spend two days each in LV, GC and Bryce Canyon before we come back to LV and fly back. Not sure if we will be hitting the shows, as my 3 year old does not have the patience to sit in any one place for more than 15 mins. Might check out if somethings interesting.

Most of the hotels in LV allow only upto 4 per room. If its just the 4 of you you should find good deals on the strip. Check out vegas.com.

GC is about 5 hrs from LV. If you want to do it in one day you have to start early. Hoover Dam on the way is a good place to stop for a couple of hours.

any pointers for flight tix?

oasis138;293279any pointers for flight tix?

I don't know if you already know this - check www.priceline.com -> Bid you prices options. You can bid as low as $1. We haven't used it, but seems singles and couples who have tried it found very cost effective.

Find out the old threads, under the MSN Group forum, at that time
titled links - " Places to be visited before R2I " .

There remains a wealth of info. and experiences on this subject. This topic was discussed, to its death.

If you have flexibility on timing of the day then try priceline / if you want to know the airlines/time before you purchase try orbitz/expedia/kayak. Mid-week travel is always cheapest. Check to see if southwest has direct flights from midway.

oasis138;293279any pointers for flight tix?

Las Vegas
========
Las Vegas map http://www.lasvegashotel.com/map.htm
Most casino hotels are not kids friendly, they charge extra ($25 or $30) per person per night beyond 2 adults, some of
them let kids under 12 stay free but some of them treat kid as extra person in room.
Excalibur is most kid friendly but is 3* and at end of strip.
I stayed at Venetian 5* , all rooms here are suites i.e. king bed and sofa bed, no extra charge for kids
http://venetian.com/

Fancy casino hotels are Bellagio, Venetian, Caesar Palace (has nude paintings in its halls), Wynn, Paris
2nd tier : Treasure Island, New York, Mirage, Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo
3rd tier : excalibur, circus circus

There are non-casino hotels as well.
I am on mailing list of lot of these casinos and regularly get email for their stay offers, if u r interested then pm me
and i can fwd u those.

for air tkts , check www.kayak.com

here are my general hotel booking guidelines
There are several ways to do hotel booking
1) start with www.kayak.com , put your dates and it will search several online reservation sites and also direct hotel websites and
give u idea of what is the range, u can sort and refine your search.
2) If you are staying 3 or more nights then lot of hotels offer 3rd night free or at 50%, for this check hotel site directly , check their
special offers section
3) Check http://hotels.travelzoo.com/ for any special hotel deals for your destination city
4) Check expedia, orbitz (there is 10% off coupon FABSAVE10) , travelocity, hotels.com
Cancellation policy is generally 1 day before check in without penalty, some hotels do by 6pm on day of check-in. CHeck it before
u book hotel.
5) There are 2 sites priceline.com and hotwire.com, hotel once booked cannot be cancelled
Priceline
=========
u can name your own price on priceline.com, once u enter your destination city they have different zones in the city or around the city.
u specify which zone and which star hotel u want to bid on and u name your price, they will take your credit card no and if they agree
on price they will charge your credit card and tell u the name of the hotel. if your bid is unsuccessful, then u can either change a parameter
and bid again or wait 24 hrs to bid again. Parameter change could be adding a zone or changing star level. Lets say u r bidding for 3 star hotel in Zone A
and your bid gets rejected, u can add zone B if u are sure there is no 3 star or higher star hotel in Zone B and bid again. So effectively still they can only give u hotel from
zone A since zone B does not have 3 star. WHen u click on zone, the star level for which hotel is not available in that zone is grayed out.
To get an idea of which hotels may be considered by Priceline in your zone and recent winning bids , u can look at
http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showforum=441

Hotwire
=======
In this model, u enter city and your dates and no. of guests, it will show u star level and price and zone where it is located and amenties.
once u pay then they will tell u name of hotel.
To get an idea of which hotels may be shown by hotwire in your zone and recent booking , u can look at
http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showforum=441
If from the list mentioned on this site, the amenities of a particular star hotel match exactly with one shown on hotwire website in your search
then there is strong chance it is this hotel.

So here is what i do
1) narrow down on couple of hotels based on above searches, then look at www.tripadvisor.com for reviews of
these hotels.
2) Based on reviews, I finalise 1 hotel and check its rate on various sites (expedia, kayak, orbitz, travelocity, etc) and hotel
website directly to see if any packages available, call hotel to find out rate (more than once i have seen calling directly gets u better rate).
3) CHeck cancellation policy and then book hotel
4) When dates comes nearer, then look at hotwire or priceline to see if I can get same hotel for lesser price.

thanks to all for their replies. btw i didint relaise its crazy hot in LVS in July with average temps >100f....so now re thinking!