REQUEST - Las Vegas April 26-30, Hotel help

Hello, all! Long time lurker (6 years now), first time poster.

This site/forums has saved me boatloads of money the past six years when it came to Las Vegas. When I was getting quotes for $1,000 for airfare and hotel, this site was able to get me a trip for $250 for both. So in other words, I'm experienced.

HOWEVER...

This time, I am STUMPED.

Long story short, my sister and I are going to Las Vegas on Thursday, April 26 to Monday, April 30th. Yes, I know it's expensive on the weekends. I prefer to stay during the weekdays, however, both her and I are teachers, and we are planning a surprise for my mother for her 60th birthday, so it was the only time we could get off from work to go. My mother who has a muscle-related disease, is staying at the Flamingo, and used her points to get a free GO DELUXE room. That's cool. Here's where the problem arises, though. My mother refuses to use an electric scooter, because she doesn't want to have to keep moving the chairs away from the slot machines and whatnot. Stubborn, I know. So in other words, walking-wise, she is limited, especially over a long day, and I am already concerned about the four nights/five days she will be spending in Las Vegas. Either way, it was a dream come true for her.

My sister and I are looking for hotels very near the Flamingo, and we do not want to stay at the Imperial Palace. We are looking for something $350 or less. I was able to score the Monte Carlo for $325 for those dates before taxes, however, before I could confirm with her that it was okay, it was gone like that. I can't get those rates anymore Everything else, from Harrah's to Flamingo to Planet Hollywood to the Monte Carlo to even Harrah's was $450 or more. We really prefer to stay close to the Flamingo so it's not an issue if our mother wants to visit our hotel and use that pool (assuming it's nice).

Any ideas? Any suggestions? I've tried every promo code there is on this site and a couple other sites with the help of Google, but I can't seem to find anything that would be considered reasonable. Additionally, my sister and I were able to combine our Harrah's Reward Cards on Harrah's website and still couldn't score a nice deal (we are both gold tier, we really need to use it more instead of forgetting it!!) Any help, advice, suggestions? I'm assuming everything is high because it's still a weekend (as of last night and this morning) and with Valentine's Day being tomorrow, I'm assuming they're taking advantage of guys making last-minute trips to give to their ladies.

One more thing.... Is anyone else having trouble with the MGM Properties websites? It has seemed SO SLOW, like 28.8K modem slow for the past two days, and every time something finally loads up, it says there's an error because it's taking so long to load.

Thanks a bunch, guys!!!!

I don't know how many times you have been to Las Vegas. If you are a regular who gamble a lot there, you may be able to get a room for free, I was told.

If not, why not try "NAME YOUR PRICE" on Priceline? I like it a lot, but it takes time to do though.

You might want to try the Orleans or Gold Coast casino hotels. They are sister properties and have a free shuttle to the Strip at Flamingo Road. Check them out on Trip Advisor.

6 years and your first post is a request for help? You should contribute more.

Vegas is going to have a lot of walking; she should relent.
But you can get the Westin for $150/night then. It's not too far off the strip.

You might want to try Vegas.com. If you have a Costco near you, they may have Vegas.com $100 gift cards for $80.

Here is a pic from my room

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Still hunting, I want to stay as close to the Flamingo as possible. Is there ANY way to avoid the daily resort fee at the MGM properties? I do NOT want to stay off the strip, so the Rio will be avoided, especially if we are going to be swimming, returning to shower, and so fourth. Keep em' coming and I'll post whatever findings I get. Strongly looking into the Priceline/Hotwire bidding stuff. Just scared I'll get a crap hotel and/or my money will be wasted.

Dude, mom is staying at Flamingo..... you are not talking to someone that is looking to stay at the Wynn.

I would second the Westin. It is located 1-2 blocks east of the Flamingo. If you use the AAA rate, you can get a room for $99 per night for your dates. That is probably as good as it will get for a weekend with a convention in town and being that close to the strip. Westin is a great hotel, I stay there quite a bit when in Vegas. No huge crowds at check in, very manageable, and a free happy hour in the lobby in the p.m.,free beer and chips and salsa. Easy walking distance to the strip and the Flamingo. Hope this helps.

tragedytotriumph said:   

SMALL - Would you say a 300 room property is small ?
OLD - New renovation was completed 4 months back
GREAT LOCATION - That is exactly what he is looking for.
NON GAMING - Who the hell cares. Its a great place to go back to your room & relax & sleep. The 1 bedroom suite is almost 650 sq foot with a kitchen, living room & bedroom.

In Las Vegas, yes, 300 rooms is tiny.

I haven't visited since they renovated, but I'm pretty confident that they haven't turned it into the Bellagio.

I clearly said it had a great location; maybe you should read the post you're criticizing?

Many people go to Las Vegas for the "Las Vegas experience," which in my opinion includes a big flashy hotel with a casino and resort amenities, none of which are provided by the Jockey Club.

If you know what it is and isn't, and that suits your needs, then go for it. But to recommend it so highly without mentioning it's clear shortcomings is misleading. IMO.

Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon is right next to Flamingo. In fact, guests at Bill's have pool privileges at Flamingo since they're both owned by Caesars. I have not stayed at Bill's, but it gets decent reviews. April 26-30 come up at $365 total, around $408 or so after taxes. No resort fee.

If no one mentioned it already, have your mom call & ask for a rate on a second room. Normally they will do a deep family discount for an additional room. If she is getting comped, she should be able to get you casino rate on the second room. Give it a try. It may only be a standard room, but hopefully it will be a better rate.

Otherwise, and I may be sounding snarky here, which I don't mean to, but couldn't you switch Her Room to a 2 bed room & you and your sister share a bed? I think they are Queen size so you should have plenty of room. That way the most you would encur would be an extra person fee, and they waived that on our last trip with 3 people on a comp room. We stayed with myself & son in one bed & my mom in other (SHE SNORES). Another trip my aunt & I (same age) each had our own bed until her son & his EX (lol) girlfriend (still best friends) came for the weekend. They shared the other bed & aunt and I then shared a bed. I'm sure you shared a bed with sis a lot over the years, it would really make a big financial boon to your trip if you did it again. Or ask for a rollaway.

I would really fight mom on not getting the scooter. I got my mom one. When she wanted to play at a slot, she pulled up at the end of the bank of machines with the scooter, pulled out the key & then walked a few feet to the machine. So there was no moving of the chairs, etc. Most casinos are set up so there is room for the scooter to be pulled up at the end. A few were a bit more crowded.

UPDATE: My sister and I visited two seperate Harrah's properties over the weekend, on $40ish each and we got on a hot roll with the slots, accumulating over two hours and still breaking even.

So two days later, I combined my card with hers out of curiosity, and I was able to get the FAB LUXURY ROOM *FREE*. So we cancelled the reservation my brother in law had on file, and made a new one. Saves us $100 a person.

Point is - if you're planning on going in the weekend, and you don't have much on your Harrah's Reward Card, see if there is a Harrah's property near you, and if you have some cash to spare, playing the slots and breaking even each time (I played max bet with $40, 20 lines, at 3 cents per credit, with 5 credits per line). Doing this way actually allowed the both of us to combine over 600 in Harrah's Reward Card, when previously, we only combined for less than 90 points. So give it a shot, it can't hurt, and you might lose a few bucks, but it can help you save money in the long run, especially if you're going on a weekend like we are. The room we got is supposedly over $700 for the weekend, and the way I see it, we only actually paid $80 for it. (Actually, she ended up leaving with an $90 profit, I lost $40, so I guess we profit from the whole thing).

So long story short, my other sister and brother in law will be sending us their Harrah's card to play with and some money too, so we can possibly get them a free room too. Hey, it's better to have two people per room rather than four in one room... Less cramped.

Good luck, guys!