Brian K's 1999 Las Vegas
Summer Tour Trip Report

This is Part 2 of my Pre Trip Report for our upcoming trip to Las Vegas.
I have a few updates on airfare and some information on hotel rooms
for our trip.

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AIRFARE UPDATE

I spent a bunch of time both on the phone and surfing the internet 
Monday and Tuesday looking for a better fare to Las Vegas. I did
get a lot of help from "Bert in Atlanta" a regular poster to the 
newsgroup alt.vacation.las-vegas (Thanks Bert) in this,
what seems like, monumental task.

As is normal for the various airlines, airfare rates were moving 
up and down all weekend. The lowest fare we found was the $198 fare
from Atlanta offered by Delta, American West, Continental, & United. 
The highest fare I won't mention (Read: They must be crazy). The big
restriction I found on the $198 fare is 
"ELIGIBILITY - ANN-COMPANION W/AGE RESTRICTION 2-17 YRS". Well since
no one in our party meets this age restriction that rate was shot.
Also found a slightly higher rate of $258 for folks 62 and older. Now 
I know what you are thinking, and I even asked one of the reservation 
clerks, Do you check? The answer was a definite YES. 

Now the semi good news. It does appear that standard fares are coming
down but it may be a bit too early to tell. In one week the fares from
Atlanta, Augusta, and Columbia have dropped anywhere from $50 to $100
per person for travel in June. Hopefully this trend will continue. 
I'm still not ready to purchase the tickets though.

Here is the breakdown by airline based on travel from Atlanta:

  (Date Checked)  5/27/99                6/1/99
Delta             $460                   $390
America West      $430                   $441
USAirways         $491                   $380
TWA               $481                   $420
United            (Didn't Check)         $380
Continental       $390                   (Computer Down)


These prices came from both the airline reservation 800 numbers as well
as internet web sites. Expedia has about the easiest system to use. 

I also checked the package rates offered by Delta Dream Vacations. 
Below are the rates advertised on their web site for a five night stay
the last week in June.

Fitzgeralds Holiday Inn Casino/Hotel         524.00
Circus Circus                                544.00
Hotel San Remo                               564.00
Golden Nugget                                564.00
Imperial Palace                              574.00
Excalibur Hotel/Casino                       574.00
Harrah's Las Vegas                           574.00
Bally's Las Vegas                            604.00
New York-New York Hotel & Casino             604.00
Luxor Hotel/Casino                           604.00
MGM Grand The City of Entertainment          614.00
Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino                 654.00
The Mirage                                   674.00
Caesars Palace Las Vegas                     694.00
Bellagio                                     754.00
The Venetian                                 794.00
Four Seasons Hotel                           794.00


These rates are per person based on double occupancy. Lets do a little
cyphering. The Fitzs is $524 pp, if you subtract the airfare rate of
$390 that Delta is quoting for airfare only then you are paying $134 pp
for the room for five nights. That equals $268 for two which comes to 
$53.60 per night at Fitzgeralds. From Phil's LA Times Specials the Fitz
is advertising $22 per night thru 7/1/99. Over twice as much for the 
room when you buy a package. Also when you are on one of these package 
deals the casino has no leeway to adjust your room rate or even comp
the room since it has already been paid for.


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HOTEL INFO

The summer season in Las Vegas brings the best fares of the year. The
$22 per night room rate advertised by Fitzgeralds in the LA Times is
a good example. I've also received summer specials via email from all
of the Mirage properties. Golden Nugget's Sizzlin Summer rate of $39
plus $25 food and beverage credit (per room, per stay), Treasure Island
is offering $49 per night, Mirage's Summer Getaways start at $75 per 
night, and Bellagio wants $109 per night are not bad prices at all.
These rates can be obtained by anyone who takes the time to go to each 
hotels web site and register to receive these special offers. No 
gambling is required. But, if you are going to gamble anyway, you can
and should get better rates from the casino. Remember to join the slot
club at the casinos you gamble in, always use the card when playing 
slots and table games, and those offers will start coming in the mail.


As far as our trip goes, it looks like we will be staying at the 
Tropicana again this year. I called my casino host today and got the
good news. My room will be comped based on past play at the Tropicana.
You can't beat free. She told me that she would put us in the Paradise
Tower which has been recently remodeled. This tower is a kids free 
section and is mostly used for comped guests. The Island Tower or the 
Garden rooms are available too if we would rather stay in those 
sections. Another benefit of the slot club is that we can get a guest
the casino rate at the Tropicana. This translates to $39 per night in
the Garden rooms, $59 in the Paradise Tower or $69 in the Island Tower.


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More still to come. As soon as the airline tickets are purchased and 
the dates are set I will finalize the hotel accommodations as well
as look into rental car options. If anyone has any suggestions or 
criticisms please don't hesitate to reply here or email me. Hope 
this helps, Thanks for reading, and Pt 3 to follow.

(Links to all the web sites mentioned above can be found on this 
web site. My Pre Trip Reports and Brian K's 1999 Las 
Vegas Summer Tour Trip Report will also be posted.)

To The 1999 Summer Tour Pre Trip Report Part 3 (6/8/99)