Las Vegas on the Cheap – Cheap Hotels

In these days of credit crunch and high gas prices I thought I would write a few posts showing how to save money in Las Vegas and still have a great trip and am kicking it off withover 40 trips to Vegas some on a large budget and some on very small budgets a post on Cheap hotels.

I have stayed at almost every property from Bellagio, Wynn and Encore to Excalibur, Circus Circus and Sahara. I have eaten at places on every level of the spectrum from Eiffel at Paris LV and Mix at Mandalay Bay to Peppermill and the Circus Circus buffet. I have had best seats at Cirque Shows and front row seats to Vegas “A list” headliners I also been to shows where tickets cost $5. Whilst I would not say that my most enjoyable ones have been the ones where I have been on the tightest budget I have still had great trips without, spending  very much money. I have discovered that the cheapest options do not always save the most money, in this post I hope to give you some pointers from my experience on how to get the most out of a trip to Las Vegas when on a budget. You can make huge savings  on how you book and when you come there is a post all ready on this here.
 

Your room will take up some of your budget but not as much as you think, in Las Vegas there are rooms that will suit every pocket and in most cases you generally get what you pay for. Now the cheapest rooms on the Strip can  be found at Rivera, Circus Circus , Sahara and Stratosphere. The problem that you have with all of these resorts is that the location will mean that you will end up spending money on transportation to get to the parts of the strip that you want to be at, even if you buy monorail or Deuce bus passes the cost of these can be as much as the difference between staying in one of these hotels and staying at a better hotel in a better location.

Excalibur, Tropicana, Bills, and Imperial Palace are the cheap options with good locations Luxor is also worth a mention as some of the offers  that  they have make bring the prices on a par  with these. I have stayed at all of these hotels and unless there is a great offer on at Luxor Excalibur is my budget choice. The rooms are large  and the hotel is clean, not too smoky and it has a great location., with good staff, good cheap eats and also they have some of the best offers around offering not only rates as low as $25 per night but also often include food or entertainment credits. I once stayed at Excalibur on a $40 a night rate for 2 nights this included 2 free buffets, 2 free spa passes, 2 free drinks and some 2 4 1 coupons the value of this  was about $120, more than I paid  for  total for my stay. Wherever you stay if you get any extras included make sure you use them millions of dollars worth of these coupons are thrown away each year.

If you get a very good rate at an expensive hotel you will spend more money than you would if you stay at a cheaper hotel, as everything is more expensive, coffee, breakfast, water or soda in the shop and of course meals and drinks at the bar. Even if you try not to spend money you will spend more if you stay in an expensive resort than if you stay in a cheaper one.

You can of course stay in a cheaper hotel Downtown (Fremont Street) or off Strip, whilst I will on a longer trip have a  couple of nights downtown its not where you want to stay for your Vegas vacation. I have stayed off Strip once and would not do it again as it just does not fell like you are in Vegas and the transportation to where you want to be is inconvenient and can be costly.

To find out how to ensure that you get the cheapest possible rate read the post here