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With the improvement in the economy and the upsurge of downtown, those of us who go to Vegas frugally and ride buses have harder challenges finding cheaper places to stay.
I was a great fan of the Four Queens, but they pulled back quite a bit on free nights. The same play that got 3 nights (even weekends) now gets buy one get one, and that promotion is no good if there is a festival or the casino has a tournament. I have a mailer for buy one get one and booked 4 nights at the end of September, but the Life is l̶o̶u̶d̶ a̶n̶d̶ c̶r̶o̶w̶d̶e̶d̶ Beautiful festival means that none of the four nights count as the free night offered on the mailer. Others report similar frustrations with Four Queen restrictions.
It is hard to really know what that means, however, because of the new comp$ program. For example, although I ate at Magnolia's every chance I could last year, I left with $40 in unused comp dollars that expire this fall. That is a free night in my 4 night stay.
Oh, by the way. If you use any coupon at Magnolia's, you can't use comp $ to pay the bill. However, if you stay there and put the cost of the meal on your hotel bill, you can use comp $ at checkout.
Also, note that one of the best coupons in the American Casino Guide is the Four Queens double point coupon. If you double the max, 500 points, and get 500 points, it is a great deal. It used to be worth $12 in cashback. I'm not sure now, but it is still good.
The D now charges the $20 resort fee on a 2 for 1 room for the night that is paid.
One of my favorite bookings was the D back to back with the Four Queens because check in/check out was so easy.
I guess that one is getting away from me especially with the loss of the coin dropped full pay Deuce machine that kept me entertained between good progressive numbers at the Vue bar VP.
So, it may be time to seed other spots. One of interest is the Fremont, still with no resort fee, using the ACG buy 2 get one free coupon. I'll try that in November. Of course, I could only do that once a year, but there are similar deals at other Boyd places downtown. Using that coupon might be a good way to get some cheap rooms and then seed the casino with play for future offers. Boyd offers seem to be keeping pretty steady, although I do hear of Gold Coast offers being cut back. I get the same offers from the Orleans, and using them on senior day, get a pretty good deal playing tripleplay 9/7 DB in nickels with royal progressives.
I'm only willing to play VP in any super aggressive way if the pay tables are good and the comps good as well.
I can be entertained just playing live poker with no house advantage, especially with the Golden Nugget offering double bonus hands (and perhaps soon $2 an hour comps) after 2 AM to 2PM and The Plaza offering the frugal poker player's dream tournaments where one might play for a couple hours and listen to live jazz and get free drinks for a $15 buy-in.
Two other venues are attracting me.
First, Arizona Charley's Boulder is always one the cheapest in a search and for just $5 or so extra the double room "suite" can be had. Things might be a bit scruffy there and it is out of the way, but those are good prices and other Boulder casinos are not far away, even Skyline which is like old Vegas with nickel full pay VP, good food deals, and the Dumpkof's band on Sundays.
Next is something completely new to me. Hipmonk searches now include Air B and B offerings. I've booked one in particular for September because for $101 total I covered a weekend. For that I get my bed and a private bath. I also get to do laundry in the middle of a 23 day Vegas trip. Shared areas are living room and kitchen. There is a tennis court and Jacuzzi and perhaps a pool.
While the one I booked is quite a ways off strip, it is very near the 109 bus route. That is one of the buses that serves the airport. It is also near the 202 serving Flamingo, and of course, for you car renters, it is easily accessible.
I'll let you know how it works out. So far, the posted reports are just fine.
One downside is that it is not completely free cancelation.
And of course, with Stations taking MyVegas points that is a great way to book a room for free. Even the resort fee is covered on weekday rooms. I'll be seeding Palace Station in September. I have three free nights booked. I want to see if I can get any future offers just playing dimes. I can play all day on dimes, even if I lose. Food is cheap. And there is a free shuttle to and from the airport. So, I booked the Air B and B back to back to Palace Station because the 109 will get me to the airport from the B and B, and the free shuttle will get me to the Palace Station and back to the airport, where the WAX will get me downtown for my next 6 nights.
Of course, to gamble from the B and B is harder. Still, I just can't see seeding and aggressively gambling just to get room offers that are equal to these sorts of offers where no gambling is required. And I can book the B and B for a week if I want without watering down my daily average of coin in.
Then I can go play a bit of live poker, or see free shows, or do whatever. And it costs the same for housing.
MyVegas and rising prices also had me take a good look at Excalibur. I got one weekend night there for the resort fee and paid for another at $70 plus resort, and then got 5 weekday nights at $22 plus resort fee. When I booked this was just $22 I see it is up $6 more dollars now, but I expect they will honor my booking. This is more than I like to spend, but it is another week long stay in one spot with no gambling required. The 2-6 at Excalibur and Monte Carlo is a very attractive poker game. The 3-6 at Monte Carlo was soft last year. But the best times are late night after the local rocks have gone home to their families, so to really take advantage of softer tables, I need to sleep nearby. I also love a lazy river with no tube first thing in the morning as exercise. Monte Carlo will let me do that, even if I am staying at Excalibur, for $10 and that is worth it for me. I also heard the the Excalibur concierge might be able to make a deal with Monte Carlo some mornings so I get in free. I guess when I drop $10 for a hour or so in the lazy river I have moved on from frugal travel, but with all the downtown places getting more and more expensive, that may be what I do.
I was a great fan of the Four Queens, but they pulled back quite a bit on free nights. The same play that got 3 nights (even weekends) now gets buy one get one, and that promotion is no good if there is a festival or the casino has a tournament. I have a mailer for buy one get one and booked 4 nights at the end of September, but the Life is l̶o̶u̶d̶ a̶n̶d̶ c̶r̶o̶w̶d̶e̶d̶ Beautiful festival means that none of the four nights count as the free night offered on the mailer. Others report similar frustrations with Four Queen restrictions.
It is hard to really know what that means, however, because of the new comp$ program. For example, although I ate at Magnolia's every chance I could last year, I left with $40 in unused comp dollars that expire this fall. That is a free night in my 4 night stay.
Oh, by the way. If you use any coupon at Magnolia's, you can't use comp $ to pay the bill. However, if you stay there and put the cost of the meal on your hotel bill, you can use comp $ at checkout.
Also, note that one of the best coupons in the American Casino Guide is the Four Queens double point coupon. If you double the max, 500 points, and get 500 points, it is a great deal. It used to be worth $12 in cashback. I'm not sure now, but it is still good.
The D now charges the $20 resort fee on a 2 for 1 room for the night that is paid.
One of my favorite bookings was the D back to back with the Four Queens because check in/check out was so easy.
I guess that one is getting away from me especially with the loss of the coin dropped full pay Deuce machine that kept me entertained between good progressive numbers at the Vue bar VP.
So, it may be time to seed other spots. One of interest is the Fremont, still with no resort fee, using the ACG buy 2 get one free coupon. I'll try that in November. Of course, I could only do that once a year, but there are similar deals at other Boyd places downtown. Using that coupon might be a good way to get some cheap rooms and then seed the casino with play for future offers. Boyd offers seem to be keeping pretty steady, although I do hear of Gold Coast offers being cut back. I get the same offers from the Orleans, and using them on senior day, get a pretty good deal playing tripleplay 9/7 DB in nickels with royal progressives.
I'm only willing to play VP in any super aggressive way if the pay tables are good and the comps good as well.
I can be entertained just playing live poker with no house advantage, especially with the Golden Nugget offering double bonus hands (and perhaps soon $2 an hour comps) after 2 AM to 2PM and The Plaza offering the frugal poker player's dream tournaments where one might play for a couple hours and listen to live jazz and get free drinks for a $15 buy-in.
Two other venues are attracting me.
First, Arizona Charley's Boulder is always one the cheapest in a search and for just $5 or so extra the double room "suite" can be had. Things might be a bit scruffy there and it is out of the way, but those are good prices and other Boulder casinos are not far away, even Skyline which is like old Vegas with nickel full pay VP, good food deals, and the Dumpkof's band on Sundays.
Next is something completely new to me. Hipmonk searches now include Air B and B offerings. I've booked one in particular for September because for $101 total I covered a weekend. For that I get my bed and a private bath. I also get to do laundry in the middle of a 23 day Vegas trip. Shared areas are living room and kitchen. There is a tennis court and Jacuzzi and perhaps a pool.
While the one I booked is quite a ways off strip, it is very near the 109 bus route. That is one of the buses that serves the airport. It is also near the 202 serving Flamingo, and of course, for you car renters, it is easily accessible.
I'll let you know how it works out. So far, the posted reports are just fine.
One downside is that it is not completely free cancelation.
And of course, with Stations taking MyVegas points that is a great way to book a room for free. Even the resort fee is covered on weekday rooms. I'll be seeding Palace Station in September. I have three free nights booked. I want to see if I can get any future offers just playing dimes. I can play all day on dimes, even if I lose. Food is cheap. And there is a free shuttle to and from the airport. So, I booked the Air B and B back to back to Palace Station because the 109 will get me to the airport from the B and B, and the free shuttle will get me to the Palace Station and back to the airport, where the WAX will get me downtown for my next 6 nights.
Of course, to gamble from the B and B is harder. Still, I just can't see seeding and aggressively gambling just to get room offers that are equal to these sorts of offers where no gambling is required. And I can book the B and B for a week if I want without watering down my daily average of coin in.
Then I can go play a bit of live poker, or see free shows, or do whatever. And it costs the same for housing.
MyVegas and rising prices also had me take a good look at Excalibur. I got one weekend night there for the resort fee and paid for another at $70 plus resort, and then got 5 weekday nights at $22 plus resort fee. When I booked this was just $22 I see it is up $6 more dollars now, but I expect they will honor my booking. This is more than I like to spend, but it is another week long stay in one spot with no gambling required. The 2-6 at Excalibur and Monte Carlo is a very attractive poker game. The 3-6 at Monte Carlo was soft last year. But the best times are late night after the local rocks have gone home to their families, so to really take advantage of softer tables, I need to sleep nearby. I also love a lazy river with no tube first thing in the morning as exercise. Monte Carlo will let me do that, even if I am staying at Excalibur, for $10 and that is worth it for me. I also heard the the Excalibur concierge might be able to make a deal with Monte Carlo some mornings so I get in free. I guess when I drop $10 for a hour or so in the lazy river I have moved on from frugal travel, but with all the downtown places getting more and more expensive, that may be what I do.