Spotlight On...

July 2008 Room-Rate Survey
3:06 PM Wednesday, July 9, 2008

(From the July 2008 issue of Anthony Curtis' Las Vegas Advisor newsletter. Note: To view this article in black-on-white format, hit the Screen Color button in the left-hand menu.)

In last year's summation of our 18th annual summer room-rate survey, I wrote, "I think the axe has finally fallen on super-bargain room rates." After several years of rising prices, it sure looked that way. But last July was a thousand years ago. Not many foresaw then what the next 12 months would bring, and whether anyone wants to admit it or not, the fallout from plunging home prices and skyrocketing gas prices is taking its toll on Las Vegas.

Now the results are in and they tell the whole tale—rates are as low as we've seen them at least since 2003 and 2004.

Is it just the economy? Mostly. However, we did add a little wrinkle to our search (explained below) that’s responsible for some of the good rates. As we’ve done in the past, we used phone calls, the Web, and third-party booking companies (including Vegas.com) to search out the best rates throughout July. Let me make it clear—these are the best rates we found, some available for only a single night—which means you won’t be able to duplicate many of them for the specific dates of your trip (plus, rates move daily). But the outcome indicates that you will benefit from overall price cutting.

Now to that "wrinkle." About 15 years ago, package deals that incorporated rooms with shows, meals, matchplay, and even airfare were popular and casinos advertised them in the Sunday travel sections of the big newspapers around the country. All of a sudden we’ve seen these deals coming back, only now the casinos are advertising them as "Web specials." Sometimes codes are attached that secure the discount and often these offers are e-mailed to customers who sign up to get the notifications. This year we signed up everywhere and some of the rates you see came from being on these lists (note that these are not gamblers lists; anyone can sign up). These days, to be a super bargain-rate shopper, you have to be signed up for these things. And that means giving something up—namely, your e-mail address—if you want the best results.

A lot of these are even better than we've listed, because of the packaging element I mentioned. For example, the best rate we found for Palazzo was $199. But an e-mailed offer (complete with reservation code) gave us $159, and that came with a passel of extras. Different travelers will use different extras, but one was $25 in gambling credits, which is a hard-money gain of $24 (estimating a $1 expected loss to play them) in the price, settling it at a $135 rate for the newest resort on the block.

It may sound complicated, but it's not—simply go to the casino Web sites and sign up.

Here are the specifics of this year's study, which involved 84 casinos (compared with 79 last year). There were 42 casinos with rates of $49 or less (47 if you include distant outliers like Whiskey Pete's, Railroad Pass, etc.), compared to 29 last year. We found 30 casinos with rates of less than $40, compared to just 16 last year. The total below $30 was 13, compared to four last year. And for the first time since 2004, there's a "$20 and under" listing in Palace Station at $19.99. It's a powerful swing back to value.

$20 and under—Palace Station.

$30 and under—Arizona Charlie's Boulder, Binion's, El Cortez, Fiesta Rancho, Golden Gate, Plaza, Sam's Town, Silverton, Stratosphere, Texas Station, Tropicana, Vegas Club.

$40 and under—Arizona Charlie's Decatur, Boulder Station, California, Circus Circus, Fiesta Henderson, Fitzgeralds, Four Queens, Fremont, Gold Coast, Gold Spike, Hooters, Main Street Station, Orleans, Sahara, Suncoast, Terrible's, Wild Wild West.

$50 and under—Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon, Ellis Island S

The July Las Vegas Advisor uncovers bargains in every corner of the city. Also in this issue:

A video poker play with a bonus that takes the return over 101% at reset, and often climbs to over 103%.
A Strip casino is dealing $1 blackjack, $2 craps, and $3 Let It Ride around the clock.
$1 draft and $2 Heineken on the Strip.
A high-end happy hour with half-price appetizers and martinis in one of the city's most trendy restaurants.
A new country-music bar with live entertainment in a Strip casino.
Three new pool parties identified, two with free entry, one sponsored by one of the city's biggest topless clubs.
July 4th fireworks schedules.
Find out where the new best casino video poker can be found, with full-pay machines from quarters to dollars.
A new weekly Elimination Blackjack tournament with a $25 entry and a $2,000 first-place guarantee.
Plus, news on taxi rates, a new casino-host option for lower-stakes players, two new casino openings, an off-the-menu steak deal, a review of the new Nathan Burton Comedy Magic show, and much, much more.

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