Is it crazy to wait until same-day to book the best deals? Las Vegas 11/8-11/11

[zizour10]

Hey, thank you for this excellent tool. I've been exploring it for hours now and I had this wild idea where if I set my check in-check out dates to today (10/11-10/14), I can see some pretty incredible deals. Such as the Waldorf Astoria, normally $500+/night, now only $176. 

 

The doing I'm planning on going to Vegas will be similar to today, also Wednesday to Saturday. Is it crazy if I book my flight now and wait until I'm there (or an hour or so before I leave) to look into booking a room? I know it's risky for obvious reasons and it's depending on availability but is there something else I am missing that I should consider if I were to go with this option? 

 

Thanks!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

 

While there are some general trends (such as Las Vegas is much more expensive Fri+Sat nights vs. Sun-Thur nites), hotel rates are very date specific and can differ greatly from one week to the next (even for the same days of the week).  I don't think you can compare that this week Wed-Sat has great rates so that if you wait until last minute you will see rates drop for Wed-Sat nites for your own dates.

Vegas is controlled by conventions and it could simply be that there are few conventions this week (thus the low rates) and that for your dates there are multiple large conventions (and thus higher rates for your dates than this coming week).

 

With the above noted, if saving money is of primary importance one thing you may want to consider is splitting your stay between Wed-Fri and then staying at a different hotel for Friday nite.  There will most certainly a be a price jump between Wed-Fri and then Fri-Sat, and the hotel that has the best deal for Wed-Fri may have the worst deal for Fri-Sat, and vice-versa.  This is not the most convenient option but it's viable if looking for the lowest price possible and willing to exchange price for convenience.  Is this a possibility for you this stay or are you unwilling to change hotels mid-trip?

 

What is your expected budget (per nite before taxes/fees) and what type of hotel are you hoping to stay in?

Let us know the information above and we'll advise accordingly.

PS- i've received a few reports of users not able to reply after their first post so if this happens just create a NEW POST with your reply and i'll merge it into this one.  This has been FIXED!  If anyone has any posting issues feel free to send me a message.

[zizour10]

Thanks for your response! 

 

You're right, I wasn't able to reply. 

 

What you said makes sense regarding not expecting the same price. For the same days of the week - I hadn't thought of that. We obviously would prefer not to split our stay, but we talked about it and if the deal is good enough, we might certainly consider it. I have an offer at Cosmo for 2 midweek-nights "comp" (in quotes because they're not really comp'd, just a lower rate). At $159/night (+45/night resort fee). We were thinking of booking this for 11/8-11/10, then finding somewhere else for our last night. We haven't set a budget, but if it's possible that we spend a total of ~$600 on rooms, that would be great. 

[thereuare]

Thanks for the info, these are my thoughts (feel free to ask questions or fine tune your own thoughts)...

 

People do love the Cosmopolitan and it has a great center-strip location and it's a bit of a 'scene' (which can be a positive or negative depending upon your age and what you're looking for out of this trip).

 

If you're willing to split the stay you could get 11/8-11/10:
Cosmpolitan for $100/nite thru PRICELINE / ExpressGuess.com
or
Encore at Wynn Las Vegas for $131/nite (HOTWIRE / RevealHotels.com )

Since you're spending your average nightly budget for Wed-Fri nites you're going to have to 'give' something for Friday nite... either budget, quality, or location.  For the solo nite of 11/10-11/11:
PRICELINE has what looks to be Mandalay Bay for $129/nite or Delano for $149/nite (these are before taxes/resort fees so you'll like be close to $200 all-in with either)... both of these are at the very south end of the Strip (not sure if you have a car or not or if you would use this one nite to check-out late of your Wed-Fri hotel and then spend Sat at this end of the strip (although not much down here 'to see' unless never been to Vegas and are hotel hopping to see the Luxor pyramid, Excalibur Castle, etc, etc... although it is close to Allegiant (Raiders) Stadium if that happens to be in your plans.

 

For this solo nite HOTWIRE also has The Mirage (now Hard Rock) for $183/nite but you're... Hotiwre check-out is doubling the resort fee so i can't be certain if your all-in would be $228 or $272; although my guess (unfortunately) is that you would likely end up arguing with the front desk and/or hotiwre as to whether the resort fee had already been paid and not likely how you want to spend your vacation time or your re-entry into the 'real world' when you get back from Vegas; but it is an option if you don't like the Mandalay Bay / Delano options and are pretty good on the phone pleading your case and getting your way.

 

Those are my thoughts and what i see as the best option(s).

Let us know what you decide and if you have any trouble locating the hotels above... or your thoughts on these properties and we can try to zero in on what will work best for your needs.

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

 

EDIT TO ADD: if splitting the trip is not an option, for 11/8-11/11 i'm seeing Conrad by Hilton at Resorts World (new property, nice hotel, bit of 'nickel + diming' goes on with an entertainment tax added to a lot of restaurant/bar tabs)... $176/nite but after taxes/fees/resort this comes to about $270/nite all-in; but you don't have to change hotels during the trip, so now you have something to weigh the previous split stay against to see how much the 'inconvenience' of changing hotels is worth.

Cosmopolitan is also available for complete stay at $207/nite (PRICELINE EXPRESS) but this gets you to about $250/nite all-in after all fees/taxes.