Priceline Hotel: 3* Las Vegas (Strip North) Stratosphere

[terpfan1980]

I'm trying to determine if I'm highly likely to get a room at the Stratosphere or if there might be another 3* hotel (or more than one other) that might be offered up by Priceline.

I tried a relatively low bid (mostly probing what I might be offered, $22/night) but didn't consider that part of the stay that I am looking at involves Friday night and Saturday night which blow the average nightly rate up considerably. While my research of room rates at Stratosphere shows they offer up dirt cheap rooms on weekdays, the rates are about triple on weekends (if not more). That being the case I'd guess that I was way under the rate that I should be bidding, but...

... as I changed the parameters so that I could rebid I was offered a room at a rate of $37/night. Of course that offer doesn't tell me which hotel that rate would be valid at. I somewhat assume that it would be at Stratosphere, but I'd swear that I saw Circus Circus showing up on one site as North Strip, 3* and I'd really rather not stay there.

Honestly, I'm leaning more towards doing a traditional reservation rather than bid-your-own but I've researched the rates a bit more and figured that the average daily rate via that method would be about $46/night which gives me a decent range to work with if I went back one more time to bid (after my 24 hours is up).

[thereuare]

What are the actual date(s) of your stay?

Have you been to Vegas before and familiar with the Stratosphere?

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[terpfan1980]

What are the actual date(s) of your stay?

Have you been to Vegas before and familiar with the Stratosphere?

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Dates that I'm looking at are Wednesday, 6/24/09 (next week) through Sunday, 6/28/09. I've got some consideration of making that 6/24/09 through 6/27/09 (checking out on 6/28) as I'm looking at splitting my time in Vegas up between multiple hotels (already planning to spend 6/29 - 7/2 at a different place there).

I have been to Vegas before (for work, ages ago... at the Bellagio pre-opening) but didn't get to see much because I was working at the time. This is a vacation trip for my wife and I.

Neither of us are inclined to gamble much, and we're not that concerned about walking around the strip, at least not for the part of the stay that would involve potentially staying at the Stratosphere.

Why am I thinking about there and concerned about potentially winding up elsewhere? If I were to get a nicer place (such as say the Monte Carlo, which is one of the places that I'd likely go in the later part of the trip) at a similar price I might go for same. But... I'm intending to possibly catch the Bite show at Stratosphere, and also intend to do a dinner at the top of the world restaurant (or whatever it's called at Stratosphere).

I've researched quite a bit at Hotels.com, Vegas.com, Travelocity, etc., and been reading the reviews and seeing the prices and factoring them in. I know from research that Stratosphere adds a $7.50 per day resort fee, and like most casinos/hotels there they charge for internet access in rooms. I'm not thrilled with those charges, but by the time I factor in such things the prices are still (normally) lower there for rooms that get fairly good reviews from visitors (than for rooms at other locations there).

Reviews at other places that my wife is interested in (Tropicana and Flamingo, because they have gotten rave reviews for their pool areas, though most of the reviews of people that have stayed in those establishments haven't been so positive) are mixed. Monte Carlo gets good marks, and Golden Nugget also gets good marks.

Current plan would be spend a few week days (in the second part of the trip) at both of those locations with traditional reservations at both.

Which circles back around to the first part of the trip. Stratosphere shows as one of the cheaper, but still nice, locations. Circus Circus might be ok, but then again maybe not so much. I realize with a name your own price bid you don't get to choose, so I'm very leery of proceeding to name my own price as it might leave me with a place I don't want to go.

[terpfan1980]

Well, despite my timidness, I put in a bid at $53/night for the 4 days that I was targetting, Las Vegas Strip North, 3*

I used figures of (basically) $30 for Wednesday, $30 for Thursday, $75 for Friday, $75 for Saturday night, totalled up to $210 total, divided that by 4 (the number of days) to come up with my bid.

Yes, I did use the links here to place that bid (and have it accepted by the Stratosphere).

When I had checked the prices at Vegas.com I got rates of $80 for Friday and $115 for the Saturday night. If I went with a longer stay I could see those prices back down in the $75 range, so I figured that I'd pretty much get the deal with the price that I went with. I might have been able to save some more and get the price down to about $47 (give or take) night or less, but I didn't want to blow it and wind up paying the higher prices.

I'm still figuring that I'll just book traditional for Sunday the 28th and Monday the 29th, and same with Tuesday the 30th and Wednesday the 1st which inspires the question (which I'm guessing I know the answer to) of whether or not booking traditional through Priceline should also be done through the links here? I'm not sure I'll wind up going through Priceline for those reservations, but I'll be happy to compare and see what I come up there (through the links of course).

[terpfan1980]

(Using the links for PRICELINE here) I researched the potential prices for Monte Carlo and Golden Nugget for the nights I noted above, but wound up booking those through other sites that offered some bonuses if booked through same. (Hotels.com for Golden Nugget, Vegas.com for Monte Carlo. Vegas.com offered a food and beverage credit of $25 if 2 or more nights are booked at Monte Carlo).

The rates seemed to be fairly consistent for those properties across the various sites, so I went with the bird in the hand on them.

[thereuare]

Thanks for usng our PRICELINE link for your bidding.

i4vegas is another site that can somtimes offer good deals in Vegas, and note as per our support page that we're an affiliate of Hotels.com (as well as the Monte Carlo where you could have recived the same $25 credit without the booking fee :) ... or a similar promo with lots of 2 for 1 coupons )

Enjoy your stay and have fun in Vegas.