Suppose that you got a sudden urge to visit Vegas on a Tuesday night ... tonight, to be specific. You'd find that the customer is king, at least as far as pricing goes. A few minutes spent browsing Travel.Ian.com yielded the following revelations.

The exception that proves the rule is Red Rock Resort, which is advertising rooms at $160/night. Better you should drive the extra couple of miles to Suncoast, where they're charging half as much.

• Downtown, believe it or not, is commanding a slightly higher price point that some well-regarded off-Strip and near-Strip locals casinos. Rooms at Boyd Gaming's California Hotel and Fremont are going for $40 while The Orleans is fetching but $34.67. The "Off-Strip Bargain" award has to go to Boyd, which can put you up at Sam's Town for $21. True, you can stay at Fitzgeralds for $22 ... but it's Fitzgeralds. 'Nuff said.

• Honorable mention goes to Palace Station, where $29.99 gets you a room, just a walk (admittedly a rather hazardous walk) from Rat Pack hangout The Golden Steer.

• Conversely, the "Don't They Know There's a Recession?" award goes to our old friends, Columbia Sussex, who obliviously charge $159* at the Westin Casuarina at a time when you might stay at adjacent Platinum or nearby Paris-Las Vegas for $129, Bill's Gamblin' Hall or Bally's for $69, or even the Flamingo for $50. Then there's the "On-Strip Bargain" winner ...

• Caesars Palace at $90. The Caesars price was hardly the lowest one found on the Strip, but if you were graphing room rate vs. quality of property, the two lines would intersect fortuitously at Caesars. It sure beats ...

• Staying at Circus Circus for $24.95 (assuming you're not going the Airstream trailer-in-the-RV park route; $45 a night in the depths of winter -- such a deal!). Though Harrah's Entertainment is, in our one-night snapshot, getting clobbered by MGM Mirage in terms of price points, it can at least take bragging rights in the "For the Truly Desperate" award category, offering Imperial Palace for $32.53/night. Clowns or bad karma: The choice is yours.

Without belaboring the exercise any further, there is one lesson to be drawn ...

Where Steve Wynn goes, the money follows. The rising tide that lifts all nearby boats is called "Encore." While Encore itself is a relative bargain at $169 tonight, Wynn Las Vegas is listing rooms at $299 (surpassed only by the Four Seasons, $319 at the other end of the Strip), Palazzo/Venetian is up to $199, as is Treasure Island, while even Trump International is able to eke out $109.33/night. And despite being the oldest of the Wynn-authored properties, The Mirage is kicking butt at $229 tonight. If it's true that MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren is driving a hard bargain for that place, can you blame him?

* -- The local papers are constantly filled with rants about how much more affordable Vegas would be if got those damn unions out of here. Odd then that the Westin, a non-union shop, has some of the highest rates on or near the Strip, huh?