Our upcoming Vegas trip and associated planning

We're off to Vegas next week and thought we'd share some of our general planning approaches along with our choices of hotels and events for this specific trip. One intent of this article is to indicate that we attempt to practice what we preach here on this site regarding budget - oriented Vegas travel with links to several of our previously published Examiner articles. Planning commenced approximately 2.5 months ago and has been amended several times to attain either more frugal or more desired options. The general approach that we routinely follow for our personal Vegas trip planning was outlined in a previous Examiner article . A prevailing consideration for all our Vegas visits concerns cost minimization without sacrificing the places, events, and methods we enjoy based on past trips. We maintain a frugal approach to Vegas trips but don't penny - pinch all the enjoyment out of them. That general protocol likely fits for many repeat Vegas visitor's trip planning efforts.

We gamble in Vegas and play blackjack , slots, and video poker. I only play 3:2 payoff blackjack games with good rules and at locales that have provided us with reasonable comp program incentives. My wife and I try and identify the higher payback slots ( yes, it's sometimes possible with the right approach) and I attempt to find full - pay video poker machines though they continually become more scarce in Vegas. Previous Examiner articles regarding the better Vegas blackjack games Vegas blackjack games. Our gambling and comp accruals have all been based on low-midlevel stakes wagering (eg $5 - $25 minimum bet blackjack) and slots / VP games with max $1.25 per spin levels. Use of these outlined approaches has resulted in our acquiring completely free rooms in Vegas for the last 3+ years ( 9 trips). We have concentrated blackjack play at MGM Mirage properties simply because they often offer some of the lowest off-the-top house edge games in town, though there are certainly some off-strip casinos that also offer decent games. As outlined in another article, we prefer to stay on the strip both in spite of and due to it's opulent insanity; we simply prefer it even though we enjoy respites to a few slightly slower paced off -strip locales as well. I digress about these gambling elements because they are a core part of our Vegas visits and have ultimately produced some cost-savings in the form of the free comped rooms for us and hotel choice is one of the initial steps in our planning.

After determining a specific time window for a trip, our somewhat sequential general approach to this and all Vegas visits includes the following.

1. Hotel choices ; We select where to stay first based on free room offers from either MGM Mirage, Harrah's, or the Venetian strip properties. We always make personal calls to the hotels to determine if in fact the free rooms are available within our trip window. We always request booking confirmation numbers and confirmation e-mails at the completion of these phone bookings. For this 5 - night trip we obtained two comped nights at the Flamingo MGM Grand. We always phone the booked hotels just prior to a trip to make certain that the reservations are secured.

2. Flights / Car Rental ; As stated in an earlier article Southwest Airlines to Vegas. On average they always offer the lowest average fares from our home airport, though US Airways does offer competitive fares at times but flight conditions and timing are not as desirable as those from Southwest. For this particular trip we selected a Southwest Vacations package (flight + car) because their overall costs were lowest after numerous online / multiple company comparisons for both separate and combined airfare / car rental costs. Requesting an e-mail confirmation for booked flights or package deals and an associated itinerary is always recommended. We will depart on Tuesday which is one of the cheapest days (second only to Wednesdays) of the week for flying from / to most destinations and with most airlines. We routinely rent a car on Vegas trips because it provides more freedom and flexibility for in-town transportation and this represents value for us personally.

3. Coupon Use : We accumulate and organize a large volume of both free and purchased coupons and organize them with an easily accessible system as outlined in this article. For this trip we have purchased 2 copies each of the Las Vegas Advisor Members Rewards Book (MRB ; total cost $74) and The American Casino Guide (ACG ; total cost $32) coupons. These two primary and best sources for purchasable Vegas coupons usually return 4 - 6 times their costs and include gambling, dining, show, and miscellaneous coupons. Of particular value for us from these two sources are many blackjack matchplay and 2 for 1 buffet coupons. I'll reiterate that some time and effort are required to accumulate, organize, and redeem Vegas coupons but the savings are often more than worth it.

4. Shows : We have purchased tickets for two music shows on this trip. We obtained tickets for the Fab Four Live South Point . We obtained half-price tickets for Fab Four at Half Price Shows for $33 each (roughly $70 total) and obtained the Junefest tickets directly through the above link for $30 each( $60 total). Our particular interest in the Junefest show revolves around headliner act Mark Farner who was lead guitarist and the inspirational force behind Grand Funk Railroad in the early - mid seventies rock scene. The guy can pick guitar and that floats my boat. Thus, for a total cost of around $130 we 'll enjoy two decent Vegas music shows at a reasonable expense,

5. Dining : We intend use of the above mentioned 2 for 1 buffet and other dining coupons from purchased and free coupon sources. Additionally we purchased six dining certificates with a total redeemable value of $85 for a real cost of $17 due to an 80% discount offer from www.restaurant.com . None of these certificates are for upper-tier eateries but rather locales that we can patronize while dressed casually and get in and out of in rapid fashion at a significantly reduced cost. Per routine we'll visit one or two of the top-tier buffets (Wynn Ellis Island to enjoy their $6.99 steak special, and grab a 99-cent shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate casino downtown. I hope to obtain a few buffet and / or coffee shop meals comped from blackjack play as well. Asking for meal comps after sufficient play is not difficult for us.

It is our intent to take a few hundred photos during our trip and to develop profiles of our experiences and to publish relevant articles here upon return. We'll definitely profile M Resort which opened March 1 and is Vegas' newest casino-hotel. Our experiences at the Flamingo and the music events will also be profiled . Beyond those, the sky's the limit. There's always plenty of unanticipated , spontaneous occurrences to experience in Vegas and of course I'm hoping it involves one of those huge jackpot wins. Though possibility seldom extends to probability, it's fun to consider.

Cheers..

Charles Higgins