My Top Travel Saving Tips for Las Vegas

Saving tips for Las Vegas

I really love Las Vegas. We first went when I was 25, so that was 2002. I stayed in one of the cheapest hotels on the strip, the Luxor and spent 3 days wondering around in amazement at the wonder of the adult playground. We didn’t gamble or eat expensive meals we just wondered around the incredible hotels and walked up and down the strip. The problem was we didn’t get any advice we just winged it and didn’t really know what to do so here are my top travel saving tips for Las Vegas.

Since 2002 I have been back 8 times. Excessive maybe to some but not to us. I returned in 2005 with my now hubby and have since stayed in MGM Signature, Vdara, Bellagio 3 times, Cosmopolitan and the Aria twice.

My Las Vegas Savings Tips

So I think I am qualified now as a bit of an expert! Whatever your budget or likes/dislikes I could recommend you an itinerary. For now, I am going to share with you my top tips on saving some cash.

Booking you Las Vegas Holiday

1. Book your Las Vegas holiday at the right time of the year. It is located in the middle of the dessert and it get REALLY hot much of the year. I have been once in July and it was like opening an over door when we walked out of the airport! April or September are great times to go. Temperature should be about 25-30 degrees. Nice. I have always booked our Las Vegas holidays with Expedia. They consistently return the best prices on the direct flights and strip hotels when booked together. I would suggest £1100 to £1200 per person is about what you are looking to pay for 5 nights in March/April time.
2. Pick a hotel mid strip to minimise the amount of money you need to spend on taxis. The hotels are really far apart. We once walked from the Bellagio all the way down to the Stratosphere. Its maybe 3 miles, it doesn’t look it but it’s a loooong walk! If you are on a budget go for Planet Hollywood or Tropicana. If you can afford a bit more go for Aria or Bellagio and if you want to spend lots, then go for Caesar’s palace or the Cosmopolitan. The Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo hotels are all really nice but just a bit of a distance down the strip.
3. Both Virgin and BA run direct flights every day which leave London at around 11am and get to Vegas at around 2pm in the afternoon. Great timing. We have flown both but I have to admit I prefer Virgin. We like to book the upstairs economy seats. It’s nice and quiet and you seem to be a bit better looked after. Hubby who is 6 ft. 3 thinks Virgin has more room than BA too. I don’t get the Virgin air miles though. I have thousands of them and I can never seem to be able to do anything with them??
4. For other pre-holiday savings tips such as travel insurance, luggage, foreign currency, airport parking hotel stay, check out this Mrs Mummypenny post on pre-holiday saving tips.

Savings when you are in Las Vegas & Activities

1. Get a loyalty card. We like to stay in MGM group hotels so we always have an M-Life card. You just show it every time you spend money in any MGM group hotel, and there are loads, Bellagio, Aria, Vdara, MGM, Mirage, Monte Carlo, NYNY, Luxor, Excalibur, plus more. A hotel for every budget there. Anyways use the card for everything and then when you check out ask them to check your points for any discount. I got $50 off the hotel bill in April. Nice. Ask for it when you check in.
2. Get planning before you go and try to book things you are certain you want to go to. Your hotel concierge will help you out before your holiday. Email them a list of restaurants and they will book up for you, and they are great at securing the best tables. One of our favourite restaurants (maybe in the world) is Cut at the Palazzo. To get a table there you need to book a few weeks in advance.
3. Book theatre tickets and trips in advance too. We wanted to go to Britney Spears, I booked maybe 2 months before holiday with Ticketmaster and tickets were £90 each. If we had bought whilst on holiday at least double it. And I also would say don’t bother with Britney, she mimed the entire show. Bad form Britney b!tch. Check out my YouTube clip;-). Apparently Jennifer Lopez is much better!
4. A helicopter trip to the Canyon is amazing and if you can spare the $$$ do it. We did a trip with Maverick to rim of canyon and walked the skywalk. It was amazing, possible my favourite bits of our holiday. Our pilot was lovely (and quite good looking, I sat next to him;-)). These helicopter trips are pricey…but I pre-booked using Live chat and I got a 10% discount as I was a previous customer. I am not sure I am but I said I was and they took 10% off, saving us $100.
5. Taxi ride from the airport, tell the driver to take Tropicana avenue. If you don’t they take you on the highway and it costs $40. Tropicana way will cost you $15/$20.
6. At check in slip the agent a $20 in your passport and ask if there are any upgrades available. It doesn’t always work but it has a couple of times. We have got fountain view rooms twice in Bellagio using this method. It just depends on their availability at that minute in time!!
7. Make friends with the concierge. I am very lucky to have a great friend Mildred, who is concierge at Aria. We met 3 years ago when she worked at the Cosmopolitan. She organised everything for my buddies 40^th birthday celebration, really made the holiday amazing. A great concierge is amazing. Mildred sorts out everything for us each time we go. So if you are staying at the Aria ask for Mama Mildred and say Mrs Mummypenny – Lynn sent you and you will be looked after.
8. Mention that its your birthday at every restaurant when the booking is made. To be fair last time we went it was my birthday…but we got 3 freebie desserts in restaurants. And in one in particular we were treated like celebrities, see my post here. And the dessert they gave us was one of the nicest cakes I have ever tasted. You’ll also get a nice table. Check out this view from the Picasso restaurant on our last night.
9. Check out the freebie shows at many hotels, things like the Tropicana tropical gardens are amazing with real flamingos, the fountains at the Bellagio, a modern art tour of the Aria, the tropical gardens at the Bellagio. The lightshow downtown in Freemont street. There are tons of freebie shows.
10. Check out a proper show. They range hugely in price with the Cirque Du Soleil shows being pricey. My favourites have been Love at the Mirage and One at the Mandalay Bay. We loved Absinthe at Caesar’s which we saw in 2015. A brilliant dare devil variety show, a bit risky, hilarious and you are so close to the stage I could practically touch the roller-skates of the women being flung around and around in circles.
11. There are always concert going on, especially with the new venue T-Mobile Arena. Do have a look at the listings which come out 6 months prior to the concert dates. We missed Guns N roses by 1 day, GUTTED. Again check prices with your friendly concierge and also check Ticketmaster.
12. Check out the buffet, stuff yourself silly and you won’t need to eat again that day or possibly ever again!! Every hotel has them but I recommend the Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan, and the Wynn buffet. The Bellagio buffet is good as well.
13. Lastly gambling, if you are going to gamble stick to your limits and don’t let the casinos bombard you with drink so you get drunk and lose control!! The nice hotels especially will ply you with free drinks, the waitress will be there every 15 minutes whilst you sit at the blackjack tables. Remember these casinos were not built on the profits from the hotel rooms & restaurants. It’s the $billions lost in gambling.

I hope you enjoyed my Las Vegas top tips. Please comment if you have other money saving tips, I would love to know.If you are going drop me an email on Lynn@mrsmummypenny.co.uk and I will be more than happy to help out with any info.