• What's elliott?
• About elliott
• Contact us

t o p i c s

• Business
• Commentary
• Destinations
• Help
• Leisure
• Technology
• Vault

Copyright Elliott Publishing. All rights reserved. For more information, call (305) 453-4781 or send e-mail to us.

Online Savings in Las Vegas
The Travel Tightwad · March 21, 2002

I have a confession to make. This is going to sound a little strange, but when I lived in Southern California, I used to make the 4 ˝-hour drive to Las Vegas for what most people would consider a very strange reason: breakfast.

Breakfast in Las Vegas is incredibly cheap. You can order a large plate of eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, and toast with coffee for $1.99 or less. Better yet, go to one of the big hotels and stand in line for one of the buffet breakfasts. The food is inexpensive and plentiful.

That was before the commercialization of the Internet. Now, the same thing could very well be said about almost everything in the worlds' gambling capital. If you search on the Web, you'll find a lot more than a coupon for a cheap (or even free) breakfast. Rooms, shows, and restaurants are all on sale online. In our continuing Travel Tightwad series on how to save money at a particular destination, here are my favorite URLs for Vegas deals:

The Cheapo Vegas Guide to a Better Vacation is a hilarious, slightly kitschy dot-com guide to the hotels and casinos in town. You can find good leads on bargains, but I like to read the reviews to get the scoop on the best spots to stay (and the places to avoid). Unlike other sites that publish nothing but glowing reviews, this guide sometimes goes out of its way to post unflattering-but useful-information. For example, here's a review of The Magical Empire at Caesar's Palace: "Blah. One price gets you up-close magic and large-scale illusions while you eat a mediocre piece of meat…makes for a pretty boring evening, and an extremely annoying one if you don't want a hack to 'magically' pull a quarter from your ear." Ouch!

Funbook Coupons are a necessary evil, because like Orlando, Las Vegas is still crazy about paper. You can find these coupons everywhere once you arrive in town-at restaurants, gas stations, and other public areas. Some offer pretty good discounts, like $30 of free slot play at the Tropicana. But if you're trying to plan your itinerary in advance, you'll want to click on a coupon resource to get a better idea of where the savings are. Stay flexible, though, because the discounts on these "click-and-print" sites are by no means the only ones, or for that matter, the deepest ones. You might do better with the real-life coupon racks that you find in town.

Quikbook.com, which has always been a solid resource for hotel bargains, earlier this year began offering Las Vegas deals that are pretty impressive. Not only can you get up to 50 percent off a room, but if you book a Vegas trip before June 30, you'll also be entered in its "Trip to the Strip" sweepstakes. The grand prize is a three-night stay in the Glitter City. I've liked Quikbook since I included it in my Forbes "Best of the Web" write-up on top hotel sites last year, but with rates like these, I just may follow my own advice and book online. These rates are almost too good to be true: a night at the Monte Carlo, starting at $50 a night or at the Flamingo Las Vegas starting at $39. Are they giving those rooms away?

Not to sound like a broken record, but don't rely entirely on the Internet for your bargains. The Web is a tool that can help you get a better price. However, you shouldn't rule out the phone or the help of a professional travel agent.

Reader Dave Davis, for example, saves money by calling a casino's gaming department or slots membership desk to check on discounts and "comps" that are available. "Even if you're not a high roller, you can get an observer rate which is 40 to 60 percent off of the best discounted rate that you could find for a promotion, coupon, show rate, or on their website," he says.

He makes an excellent point. In your pursuit of Las Vegas discounts, don't discount any opportunities to save money.

Good luck.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.