andyrewne

Just got back from 4 nights in the Rio. Here are the goods and the bads The Good Big room, two sinks - one in bathroom & one where the ladies put their makeup on. Our room had a chair/ottoman and also a hide-a-bed couch that were very nice. We never used the hide-a-bed, but it could come in handy. Newly redecorated rooms in the older Ipanema tower (older shorter tower with only 20 floors) where we stayed. The newer,taller tower has older rooms, if that makes sense. The pools are excellent. We were there at a relatively slow time (Aug 1 - 5), but plenty of room around the pools and easy to find an open lounge chair. Just watch out for the pricey $16 margarita. Shuttle from the Rio to Harrah's on the Strip runs every 15 minutes like clockwork. I was afraid we'd waste a lot of time waiting, but I don't think we ever waited more than 15 minutes even if the shuttle filled up before we got on, becuase the next one would soon follow. (However, if the hotel is full, you may need to wait for a little bit) The hotel is right near the Gold Coast and the Palms, so you can walk to those hotels if you want. The Gold Coast has more reasonably priced meals. The cigarette smoke in the casino wasn't too bad - even in the evenings when the place was packed. The place must have a decent exhaust system. The Bad Construction is going on in the Ipanema tower (older,shorter tower) One afternoon I napped with the sounds of a distant jackhammer. It wasn't too loud, but I could hear it. One full wing on our floor (the 11th) was closed to renovation and it looked completely gutted. It should be nice one this is complete. Our view was of the airconditioning units and parking lot. Way out in the distance we could see some mountains but that was about it. If you have a choice, ask for pool view or strip view. We had a burned out lightbulb in our bathroom and had to ask 3 times before anybody replaced it. It wasn't a big deal, but I was put out by the fact that 2 employees promised to fix it right away and then did nothing. This is little, but the TV was at a right angle to the bed, so it wasn't too convenient to lay in bed and watch TV. I couldn't figure that out. Finally, we booked through priceline, but had we waited a bit, we could have gotten a better deal through the hotel itself (by only a few bucks). Keep that in mind for future bids.

If you don't mind Southwest airlines, you can fly nonstop w/ a Thursday morning AM flight for $240 roundtrip after taxes. There are a few open time slots, you just need to go straight to www.southwest.com. I don't think southwest is an affiliate of this board, but I hope that helps.

We will not be bidding for these rooms. Turns out for the bachelor party, people won't know til the last minute if they can fly in or not with jobs & whatnot. So, refundable reservations seem to be the way for us to go. Thanks for the help.

Nevermind this post. Our travelling companions are not sure of bidding w/o the option of cancellation. So we will be booking rooms the conventional route. But, thanks for your help.

Booked these on hotwire - with the clearance Fare. The American Airlines flight is Kansas City to Dallas to Belize. 2 tix @ $615 per ticket after Hotwire's charge. Excellent flight times with short layovers. Cheapeast other tickets I could find were $810. I would have tried Priceline, but with their squirrely flight times and lack of any timely assurances, I didn't want to risk the red eye flight.

Good news to people that used the $30 coupon w/o reading the (not so)fine print. June 28, I made airline reservations without the special entertainment.com link. Then, I called and argued with Hotwire on the phone about the necessity of using the special link. They held their ground and said I wouldn't get the $30 credit. Additionally, the nice hotwire rep explained that the coupon requires that travel must be completed by 12-31-05. It turns out, our flight is in January of 2006. So, I was mad and felt stupid. Not a great combination. At any rate, I wasn't very bullish about my chances, but I mailed off the coupon anyway. And, today I got the email confirmation that $30 rebate would be on my credit card shortly. Yippee! fyi - this was only the first time I had tried to use the coupon.

Thanks thereuare. We're travelling with one more couple, and now they are not so sure they want to risk a non-refundable hotel room on priceline. I'm waiting for them to give a difinitive thumbs up or down before we book our own. I will be sure to post a follow-up when we do. Thanks

What do you figure I can bid on Priceline and win a 3* or better on the Plaza. On Hotwire I can get a 3.5* for $89/night (my upper limit) probably the Sheraton Suites I can also get a 4* for $128/night (way over my limit) likely the Raphael Any suggestions - also the hotel Phillips in the Crown Center area may be an option, but its a ways from the Plaza (and I don't know if my group wants that). Thanks - I'm addicted to betterbidding.com and love the insights.

I don't know if this will help anybody - but I already made reservations a month ago on Priceline. So I'm stuck w/ my reservation. But, for some crazy reason, I keep rechecking to see if I got the "best deal". We'll I didn't - and I think If you are in vegas this can let you stay at the Rio in Vegas for $40/night. Here's how it works: HOTDEAL rate at Rio is actually $59/night (but don't look straight at hot Rates page, try to book the reservation - the hot Rates page never changes. this link should get you close. harrahs.com/MakeReservation insert dates for Aug 1 - Aug 5 Then try to book on Hotwire. Betterbidding says the the Rio is the only 4* West of Strip. If that is wrong, this whole tip is useless! :) The hotwire rate is $68/night. So, if my math is right: $68 - $59 = $9 x 2 (double difference) $9 x 2 (double difference) = $18/night savings from Hotwire Rate So, $68 - $18 = $50/night. Again, I don't know if this will help anyone, but I would feel good if at least somebody could beat the man. :)

Thanks thereuare. Problem fixed. I'll report back on what the boys decide.

Thanks thereuare. A question about your suggestion- I don't know if it is my computer or what (and I've noticed this on the betterbidding message boards before). But your suggestions omitted the name of the hotels you were suggesting, except for Ballys. You wrote: "The is probably rated higher than both of the above and can be had for only $114/nite (not my favorite hotel, but may be the best value of the bunch) If spending more money isn't an issue you could also get the for $153/nite." Is it my computer, or is something else missing?

My friends are headed to vegas for a bachelor party Thurs Sept 8 - Sun Sept. 11. (sounds like trouble to me) Anyway - they'll probably need 3 or 4 rooms. They are looking at the flamingo right now w/ "hot Dates" rates of Thurs - $90 Fri - $150 Sat - $160 They don't want to switch hotels. They must be on the strip. Do you think we can do any better than this over this weekend with priceline/hotwire/or straight through the hotel? Thanks for your help.

Here are all the amenities. Restaurant(s) Pool(s) Fitness Center Golf Nearby Business Center Let me know if you need more info than that.

Just booked this for my wife and mother-in-law this weekend. I hope they like it. I seem to have found some mixed reviews of the place. Please let me know if you guys have stayed there. Thanks.

This is my first post, but had been reading and trying to figure out the best deal for four nights in vegas. My wife and I wanted the RIO b/c it has a great pool and we don't mind a taxi or walk to the strip. It is the only 4* (as near as I can tell) West of the Strip. I bid $52 last week & priceline countered w/ $70/night I added a zone & bid $61 - priceline countered w/ $78/night. I don't know how they come up w/ these counters. Anyway - I waited for 72 hours, mainly to figure what it was really worth. We though $63 bucks was fair for the priceline no changes policy. I bid $63 for 4 nights 8/1 - 8/4 for 4* and Priceline Accepted it. Thanks for the help betterbidding.