I appreciate any and all information. Mainly I just want to get from the airport to the hotel and to the show. (And of course to the Beach Party) I can figure out most everything else, I think.
Would rather not rent a car if there is alternate transportation available.

It was my pleasure doing the logo. If I can be of any help with name tags or anything else just let me know. Now that I am retired I spend entirely too much time in front of the computer doing non-productive stuff so a new challenge would be welcome.
Bill

Thanks for the information. I will check out the Hilton. Sounds like a good location.
Bill

About the only reason to rent a car is if you want to go to Boulder Dam, or for a long drive out in the desert. The desert is pretty amazing, if you're not used to seeing one. The dam is OK. It's huge, but it's not a must-see attraction.

There are buses, monorails, and taxis in Vegas, so public transportation is pretty well covered. Expect to do a lot of walking. The casino/hotels are huge. You look at a map and think "Oh it's only 1 block from the Bellagio to the Treasure Island". But in reality that "block" is over a mile.

Since it's the desert, the daytime and nightime temperatures are quite different.

The hotels, besides having casinos, each have typically several bars, a range of coffee shops and restaurants, and a range of other shops. Some of them have huge shopping malls built in. When I stayed at the Alladin a couple of years ago, their mall had well over 100 shops of all kinds. It can take an hour just to walk from one end to the other.

If you want to see one of the more popular Vegas show (like one of the several Cirque de Soleil shows) they cost a lot of money and can be sold out by the time you get to town. You can buy tickets online ahead of time.

Many hotels have special packages if you reserve online that give you tickets to one of their shows and tokens for gambling.

Some of the hotels have special fetures to get you to visit them. The Bellagio has the dancing fountains (massive computerized fountain that moves to music). Caesars Palace has animatronic statues that come to life. The Mirage has the volcano. Treasure Island has a pirate ship battle. The Venetian has gondola rides and a branch of the Guggenheim Museum. MGM has live bands on the casino floor (so do other ones on certain days). Circus Circus has circus acts right in the casino.

You'll might also want to go to "downtown" Las Vegas (the strip is really on the edge of town but busier than downtown). Downtown is the old Vegas, with the casinos you saw in old Elvis and Sinatra movies, plus a computerized video walkway.

Several hotels have all you can eat buffets, which used to be cheap but these days tend to be $15-$25 per person. Some of the old hotels downtown might still have cheap ones.

The slot machines in the casinos are not all created equal. While many casinos have the same "payout rate" (percentage they pay out vs money you put in), some casinos pay lots of small jackpots and a few large ones while others pay out larger jackpots but not many small ones. Your chances of getting anything back are a lot better at the former vs the latter. If you are going to gamble, take a specific amount of money to lose, and stop when that's gone. Yes, you are going to lose, but consider it an entertainment expense. They couldn't afford to build billion dollar casinos if everybody won. ;-) 

The "free" drinks in the casinos really aren't. You tip the waitress about the same as the drink would cost in an average bar (though less than they cost in a Vegas bar). If you don't tip well you won't be able to find her when you want a refill. And you won't find them near the nickel slot machines. (cheap gamblers are cheap tippers)

Take extra money. You can be frugal and get by without spending a lot of money. But how often do you go to a place like Vegas? Great restaurants, great night clubs, great entertainment. Almost all cost money. Live it up. Life is short.

Dave,

And you say you've only been to Vegas one time????? LOL, just kiddin -
You have summed it up pretty well, I usually rent a car to visit the regular Vegas as well as the other attractions. Red Rocks out west is beautiful....They also have a new casino out there as well - they claim it is more for the locals, since it is 8 - 10 miles from the strip.

You mentioned the food - Yes, it is raising in price every year..... The Las Vegas Advisor admits that you need to find coupons to get "cheap" food now. Usually there are some coupons in the local magazines, or you can subscribe to the Las Vegas Advisor and they give you a coupon book and keep you informed monthly with a newsletter -

www.lasvegasadvisor.com

For shows, it's about the same story on prices - Vegas in not the cheap destination it used to be, now that they have a large customer base, and the younger people are VERY into Vegas, so I doubt prices will go down anytime soon. They did mention the show prices are probably as high as people will tolerate right now as some price adjustments have been made to some shows.

As an example, The Hard Rock hotel sold earlier this year......the new owners raised the room prices by an average of $50.00 a night - saying they just wanted to bring the rates inline to the "Strip" hotels. They are not on the strip, but are considered a "destination" hotel because of the younger crowd there, so they can get the new prices with no problem.

take care,

Well, I never said I only went once. B-) 

Every couple of years I go to the NAB convention (National Association of Broadcasters), with about 125,000 attendees and about 1,500 exhibitors each year. It's impossible to reserve a room on the strip for that convention within the last 6 weeks or so before the show.

Things change fast in that city. Every time I go it's different. Used to be able to play 10 cent roulette at the San Remo. Now that Hooters bought them I suspect that'll change.

Dave,

Following a natural progression logic, would the fact that "well-endowed" girls work at Hooters mean that amputee showgirls work at IHOP?

Probably not. Just a question that came up.

I'll go away now. :P 

Hey Ed,

The feelings mootual :D 

Regards
Peter

One of Las Vegas' best kept secret is a place that I've stayed at almost every year for the 20 years I've been going to Vegas. Every once in a while I find a really good room price somewhere else, but I end up regretting it.

Just about a 1/2 block down Convention Center Drive, between the Convention Center and the Strip, there is a little motel called Somerset House Motel. Yes, it sounds like a half-way house rehabilitation center, and over the years at times it has even looked like one, but the rooms are always clean and the staff is friendly and helpful. Let's call it shabby-chic.

They don't have room sales, but my room price this year is $40 + tax for the 21st & 22nd and then $50 + tax for the 23rd. This place is a closer walk than getting to your room at the Hilton! And even better, it is diagonally across the street from The Beach!

Down side is no on site restaurants, but up side is that they have about 80 rooms that have kitchettes. There is a little market in the shopping center next door to the motel.

I don't know how many rooms are left right now. I booked about 2 weeks ago. Some of us have stayed there for years, and I'm only sharing this info for those who don't care about the whole Vegas experience of having to walk a mile through slots to get to your room. If you are looking for a quiet place, close to all the action, this is a great place. You can go back to your room for lunch instead of paying convention center prices, or to drop of all the stuff that is weighing you down after a morning at the convention. That's what I really miss if I stay somewhere further away. I never want to take all that time getting to my room and back - it feels like such a waste. But with the Somerset, I can walk there & back within 15-20 minutes (depending on how sunny it is out:).

Some people go to Vegas to gamble and love staying in the casinos. I find it a pain to have drunks running up and down the hall all night when I have to be at an 8am class, or to have to travel 3 miles through a casino and then up 18 floors and then down another mile of hallway each time I want to go to my room. And I'm not much of a gambler, so don't need the casino part. The Somerset isn't fancy, but it is clean and small enough that the front desk people care if you have a problem.

Somerset # is 702-735-4411 for those in to understated.
And for those coming from Portland, OR - check out Southwest and see if any of their $99 one way fares are still available. My flight + hotel is around $358 for the convention this year, and I'll only have a cab fare to the airport & back in addition + food to deal with after that.

Cindy M

You bring up a very good point about the catalogs. They get very heavy very quickly! People new to the shows - bring tons of business cards to leave with vendors so they can send you a catalog!! Cards are much lighter than catalogs to haul around.

I think that if the shipping kiosk or booth is open at the convention center entrance hallway they also have lockers or storage areas you can rent for hours or days to store your 'stuff' you collect. Or if you stay close by the c.c., bring an extra lightly packed suitcase and go back at noon to drop things off. If you have the extra suitcase, you'll have the room to take it all home with you. Watch the weight though, those catalogs do add up! I think the booth in the entrance hallway that will store your stuff might also do shipping, so you can make up a box and have it shipped back to you at home before leaving the show.

After all the years of attending the show, I find the business card hand out works the best and keeps you from becoming weighted down. However, at the gift show, those cards I dropped off did not get any - and I mean not one - response with a catalog shipped to me. So if you are going to the gift show afterwards, make sure you do get the catalog if you can. They are not good at follow up, which seemed very weird to me.

Cindy M