In my post last week, I discussed switching hotels for fun and practical reasons. Click on the link if you haven’t read it.
In this week’s post, I offer up some tips on how to minimize the logistical hassles of moving from one hotel to another at least once and up to several times during a trip to Las Vegas.
First, try to make your switching day in the middle of the week. The lines at check-in will be shorter and you’ll have a better chance that your room will be available.
Second, ignore posted check-out and check-in times. If the hotel you’re leaving isn’t terribly crowded (again, think midweek), call the front desk and ask for a late checkout time. Unless they’re packed, you can almost always get an extra hour or two, gratis.
As for check-in times, that’s just the earliest time at which they guarantee that your room will be ready. I’ve stayed at 40 different hotels in Las Vegas and I can count on one hand the number of times a room hasn’t been ready when I’ve gotten there at whatever time I’ve showed up. I’ve gotten a room as early as 10 a.m. Once again, midweek is key here. Don’t try this on a Sunday or Monday morning, when you’re waiting for everyone and his brother to check out and for the room to be turned. If a room was empty the night before, there’s no reason they won’t give it to you early in the day.
Third, plan an activity for your switch day. Let’s say you’re staying downtown and switching to a Strip hotel. Check out of the hotel, leave your bags with the bellman (make sure to tip!), and visit the Mob Museum or explore Container Park. By the time you get back, reclaim your bags, and make your way to the Strip, it’ll probably be check-in time. Or do the opposite: Check out early, head to the new hotel, and store your bags with the bellman if your room’s not ready, then go out and do something for the day.
I sometimes take it a step further and plan an activity off the beaten path with a rental car. I usually don’t rent a car in Vegas, but sometimes I will for a day to go and do something. For example, get a one-day one-way rental from the Enterprise at the D, store your bags in the trunk, spend the day driving around Red Rock or going to Boulder City and the dam, then return the car at the Enterprise location at the Sahara or Tropicana on the Strip. This also works with the Avis at Golden Nugget; Avis has multiple locations in Strip hotels.
Fourth, pack light. If you’ll be unpacking and packing several times, plus schlepping your suitcase around town, you don’t want a heavy bulky bag. Most hotels have in-house laundry service. The prices are exorbitant, but if you’re just washing one or two outfits to re-wear, it’s not so bad.
Here’s another Vegas-professional play. If you’re staying downtown, the post office at Las Vegas Blvd. and Carson is just a block off Fremont Street. A large flat-rate box is $21 for the box and postage. Send your dirty laundry home mid-trip and you’ll have that much less to carry when you’re switching hotels. You’ll thank me when you’re lugging a half-empty bag around McCarran!
Keep in mind that this all requires a lot of advance planning. I recommend making your plans as far in advance as possible (most hotels will book up to a year out) in order to maximize room availability and save up any points or miles you might need. But getting close to a free week of room nights in Las Vegas – even if it means staying at 2 or 3 different hotels – can save you around $1,000, which is money you’d much rather have in your pocket to blow at the tables or clubs (when they reopen), right?
I have also done this for up to 2 weeks at a time. I usually pack each days worth of clothes in a zip lock and use a fold up nylon travel bag to take toiletriesand 2 days of clothes up to the room for each stay. Then all I do is swap out the old/ new clothes after each stay. My suitcase usually stays in the trunk the whole trip.
Dirty laundry. Underwear and socks, buy new for trip, throw away as you go….never carry dirty underwear again!!!
We’ve actually done laundry at a laundry mat over off of Maryland and Sahara on a switch day. Got a late check out at the Sahara…..back in the day before SLS, and then went down to do laundry and have lunch. Then we headed over to the Orleans to check in. No problem checking in early and we had clean clothes for the last four days of our trip. Most times we combine free nights with a stay at our HGVC Timeshare, booking the timeshare from Sunday to Wednesday and then switching to the Orleans or Westgate on Wednesday and leaving LV on Saturday morning. (With my wife and I each getting two comped days- (her) Wed and Thurs, (me) Friday and Saturday. The one bedroom timeshares at the HGVC have in room laundry and provide a few freebies of soap and dryer sheets. Love the posts Dave, keep ’em coming.
I once made a thirteen day trip to Las Vegas and paid for only one night. Stayed in eight different hotels – mostly downtown and locals – to take advantage of comps.
As someone else mentioned, I packed my clothes in groups, so I took only part of my “wardrobe” into whatever hotel I was staying in. The rest stayed in the trunk.
One interesting side note: I absolutely could not find a comped – or even reasonably priced – room for the last Saturday night of my stay. LVA to the rescue! Got a room at Golden Gate for $40 with a MRB coupon. That was very lucky because it turns out that it was Super Bowl weekend! Downtown was a zoo! Thank you LVA!
We always do this with 2-3 nights at each place. Usually, we only pay resort fees at Caesars properties, and the rest is free. We do try to move on activity days, as you mentioned. We rent a car, so if we are doing just one night somewhere, we pack a soft tote to carry in for overnight. We vary the stay including off strip, strip, and downtown to get access to different restaurants and activities.
Joe: better than buying new undies to throw away, bring all your old undies and leave the new ones home. Throw away the old ones after one last use.
The beauty of all our strategies is not that there is one way but that we” game the game” to.our advantage & find ways to have a great time in Vegas , for little or no out of pocket
For me this is as much fun as as well scuffling , stacking coupons for max value, finding the hottest vp machine thanks to vpfree2 etc.
So some will find this an exorbitant use of comps but I really value my free time and often have more comps than I can use so I do what I call crossover nights.
I will book my comp reservations so I have two nights in 2 different hotels for the same night. One I am leaving from, the other I am going to. I check into both or usually are already checked into the first.
I may even.move some things to the 2nd hotel .
That way there is no time I am out of a hotel and I move on my terms. I am not beholden to the whims or availibility of rooms and am not ” homeless ” mid day.
The extra time gaming with no stress works for me.
And sorry but I travel like Elizabeth Taylor, change clothes several times a day and when I am.in Vegas I don.t do laundry!
I also love flying Southwest on.my comp points and am glad to check my extra bag for free,
so there you go.