DEFINITELY going to Vegas

[alpax]

   Yes Vman my rooms are covered; I'm booked at Rio. For some reason I just like staying at Rio but I've been considering switching to M because they are tied in with Hollywood and I should be able to get a comped room because of this.

I've been to both a few times, the rooms at the Rio are very spacious, but the bathrooms/furniture at the M feels much more modernized.

Both of them have outstanding buffets, my most favorite perk at the M is to play up to $2000 coin-in for a free buffet on the weekends, and you keep your points.

The M has better video poker games in general unless you want to do 3/5/10 play 40/10/6 DDB at $50 coin in per tier credit or 9/6 JoB $5 denomination and up at $25 coin in per tier credit..

[Vman96]

With Rio and M as choices, I hope you are planning to rent a car. It would be so awesome if the M was on the Strip...but alas, no.

According to this site, the M also has 6 Dream Card games available.    

[Tedlark]

  I always rent a car when I'm there Vman because it's just more economical, or I like to think so. One round trip cab ride to Red Rock will almost pay for 2 days rental of a car; same holds true if I want to head over to the joints on Boulder Highway.   Thanks for the head's up on the DreamCard machines.

[DaBurglar]

Every time I looked at SWA Vacations, it was generally a rip.

Unless you cut back your play a lot at Harrah's Joliet, you should have your Vegas rooms covered, no?what are you looking at exactly?   A "RIP" compared to what????Look, I only shared what I personally have uncovered or discovered in my own personal research online.....ALL Airlines have special vacation packages with a WIDE range of deals (some good, some not so much) on flights plus hotel packages in Vegas (and elsewhere).......I have discovered these are great ways to plan EXTENDED (longer than 6-7 days) trips to places like Vegas instead of trying to string together comped room "blocs" or 2 or 3 nights at multiple properties, along with buying a ticket separately.    With a vacation package from Southwest, you pay one (1) single solitary price for EVERYTHING (flight plus hotel) for the desired duration of your trip.   You stay at ONE single property so there is no bouncing around from room to room, and you are not having to deal with any casino host baloney since you are booking your trip yourself and getting a good dealNow if you are indeed a "HIGH" roller, or just plain HIGH, and like spending lots of money on rooms and tickets and stuff, knock yourself out.....and likewise of course,  if you are indeed, in this day and age of casino stinginess, STILL able to command EXTENDED blocks of comped nights in your favorite casino (5 to 7 nights say) AND you get  your airfare comped too, or get some other great deal, then obviously that is the way to go......Edited:   Everyone who is TRULY interested in this simply go to your favorite airline website and start looking up prices.....remember, different times of the year yield vastly different prices, and likewise the prices change as you go from modest accomodations (like most DOWnTOWN Vegas casinos) to the ritzier strip properties.

[Vman96]

what are you looking at exactly?   A "RIP" compared to what????


In my case, it was comparing it to flights + hotel on separate sites. But this was a while back when SWA had very inflated flight prices vs. other airlines. When I last looked at Southwest Vacations, I was usually saving about $150 by flying with someone else. Also I would use various codes for CET hotels either using the Total Rewards site, or smartervegas.com.

Just as a theoretical test, I looked to book the Linq hotel and casino for Thurs. July 23 to Mon. July 27th (4 nights). I wasn't logged into Total Rewards, so no discounts based on play. And would book 2 roundtrip flights.

Booking flights on Southwest.com (2 round trips) and hotel at the linq's website (1 king): $1175.36 before resort fees

Booking the identical scenario via Southwest vacations:   
$1185.69, about $10 more.

And if you have any sort of significant discount on rooms based on historical play, it will be quite difficult for Southwest Vacations to beat that too. The only time Southwest Vacations might save you money is if you have no better flight options, and if you were planning to pay rack rate at your hotel. CET hotels frequently have a code ranging from 15 to 35% on their websites. In this test, it was 25%.

Another advantage of booking separately. Hotel is refundable. And flight on Southwest can be modified/cancelled for future flight credit (up to one year). If you book the package, I have no idea if that is refundable in any way.

[DaBurglar]

When using these Vacation packages (such as on Southwest) the most economical set of parameters to your trips STARTS with booking your flight days (leaving and returning)  on some combination of Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday........that is to say, book a vacation that has you LEAVING on a Tuesday and returning on either Saturday or the following week on Tuesday or Wednesday......or leaving on a Wednesday and returning either Saturday or Tuesday.....these are the days Southwest has the cheapest domestic flights in general.     Another huge factor for price of course also depends on WHERE you are flying FROM........I am pretty sure I stated early on (or in a previous post) that "Vacation PAckages" on most airline sites like Southwest are a good option for someone who does NOT have lots of comp/free stays at any Vegas property (i.e.  someone who is only a very casual gambler, like a couple times a year or so.....)   Obviously, if someone is only interested in 4 nights like VMAN and has some free rooms somewhere, there is no better deal to be had other than using the free rooms and simply booking the best priced ticket available.BUT.....as I said several times in previous posts, IF you are planning EXTENDED stays (7 to 14 days) in Vegas and do not have at least comp'd nights for at least HALF of the total nights you will be staying, then a Vacation package is probably the way to go........but as Vman himself has pointed out, a lot also depends on WHERE you want to stay in Vegas (i.e. what property)......on Southwest airlines, the BEST prices are found in downtown or OFF strip Hotel/casinos....and as for Strip Properties, usually a place like Circus Circus or Strtosphere is the cheapest (for obvious reasons, but if you are like me, as long as the room is clean and functional, that is really all I care about since MOST of my Vegas time will be outside of the room!)Let me just throw this example out that I just now (10:15 pm on May 12) looked up on SWA website:A "Vacation" to Las Vegas on the Dates  september 9 (a Wednesday)  thru September  19 (the following Saturday)   would cost a TOTAL of $947 to the FOUR QUEENS, a decent Downtown property, and as a good selling point, there are NO Resort fees to speak of (which I believe is generally true of this property no matter what.)    So a TOTAL cost of $947 (includes EVERYTHING, the only thing you will have to pay, for your flight and rooms for the duration of your 10 day "vacation") is pretty convenient and reasonable.I think the main thing for people to focus on here in evaluating whether any of these deals make sense for them, is simply the word "VACATION"......if you are only going for a few days (less than 5 ) then these packages probably will not save you anything.   But if you are looking at at least a full week or more (the longer the better)  then these deals make a lot of sense.

[Tedlark]

  DaBurglar you never answered my question; are you still going to Las Vegas in May and July of this year?

[Shooters5]

Going July 5th.
Southwest is the only way to go if you're somewhere between ohare and midway. No hassles, cheaper, and mostly non stop.

[DaBurglar]

05/29 - 06/05If anyone will be in Vegas next week please email me at club_da_burglar@yahoo.com....i will be checking my email a couple times a day at least while there and would love to meet anyone who is there simultaneously.

[notes1]

05/29 - 06/05If anyone will be in Vegas next week please email me at club_da_burglar@yahoo.com....i will be checking my email a couple times a day at least while there and would love to meet anyone who is there simultaneously.


  glad to hear you are alive and well.