Poll : 02 June - 15 June 2010

Analysis

Thanks to everyone who took part in this poll. These demographic surveys and the detailed responses you provide us with are an invaluable source of information for us and our friends and affiliates in helping us figure out what's most important to our readers, so keep the great feedback coming. Here's a representative sample from this latest poll:

• "I usually am comped rooms and stay for free, but as a matter of principal I now make sure I only stay where there are no resort fees."
  
  
• "I stay where I get the best deals. I use a lot of coupons such as the Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards book and American Casino Guide coupons. When we go to Las Vegas, we usually are there for two or three weeks, so we move around a lot to get the best deals on rooms."
  
  
• "I either pick one at random, or, if one has a show that I want to see, I'll go there. I have a goal to visit every hotel in Vegas at least once!"
  
  
• "From the East Coast (Boston) I find package deals with US and Jet Blue often offer the best flights and give a wide selection of discounted hotel options – many of which have extras thrown in. In fact, this July’s trip including non-stop air and six nights at Golden Nugget is costing only $150 over what the current air-alone cost would be. That works for me because I don’t get free room offers!"
  
  
• "I usually find the best deals/packages with Expedia. Also, it probably helps that I can travel during the week in the summer."
  
  
• "I'm too frugal to ever completely go wild when it comes to price, so I previously went through Expedia for the entire package. However I recently booked trip #3 by using Expedia for the flight and booking the rooms directly through the two hotels we'll be staying at. I'm hoping that by doing this we may be able to get the hotels to pick up the nights which weren't comped up front."
  
  
• "This is a great poll question. I've asked this on my site [Ed: simplifyinglasvegas.com] before and have had a wide variety of responses. Here's how I do it:
  
  "I don't get comped because I play low-minimum table games, so I'm on my own in terms of booking my trip. First, I start my search about 6-8 months out from my trip because prices are usually better. I start with a meta-search tool, like Sidestep or Kayak. I look for package deals, and then I also look to book room, flight and car separately. I also look for coupon codes. I visit the airline sites, too, because sometimes they have good deals. From these searches, I usually get a pretty good baseline of what my trip will cost, and then pick the lowest price with the flights I want. "I find that different sites will have the best deals each time I book. Sometimes it's Expedia, sometimes it's Delta, sometimes it's Travelocity. You just never know until you start poking around on the Internet."
  
  
• "Since I use my executive casino host, who books my rooms for free (Vegas, Tahoe, Reno, New Orleans, etc.), I guess you would say I only stay in comped rooms. However, I would suggest that the use of a casino host for free rooms be another choice. As a Harrah's Diamond player, I have my choice of free rooms at any of the Harrah's LV properties."
  
  
• "Kayak .com is the best way to find a good deal."
  
  
• "I do stay at my timeshare a lot, as they let you pay cash for a room if it's still available within 30 days of travel, and is pretty cheap for the level of accommodation I get. Sometimes it isn't available, or I just want a change of scenery, and for those times I usually pour over the Internet, using all the travel sites and Travelaxe, and checking with the hotel websites. I do get invites from hotels also, but I'm not usually a high-level player so don't get the best deals."
  
  
• "Not so much travel agent as American Express Travel, which allows the use of points to pay for trip or part thereof. The user-friendly site offers many options for properties and value packages, rental car, etc."
  
  
• "I usually look for the best offer among my favorite hotels. I often stay at the Flamingo because they give me free rooms. Their offer says 2 nights free, but when I go to book, I often get up to 5 nights free. I also stay at the Palazzo when I get an offer for a free room or one for no more than $49 (it's worth paying for the room to get the luxury of the Palazzo). I'll also go to the Hilton when I get an offer for a slot tournament at $99 for 3 nights plus everyone who plays wins. This month I'll be trying M because they sent me an offer for one night at $49, the second night free. I also am willing to move from one hotel to another when I'm staying more than a few nights in order to minimize my costs. "
  
  
• "It depends on if we can get a special rate on a new place – had to do the Rush Tower (great); had to do the City Center – Vdara (wonderful) – and then around those special places we take the free nights at NY-NY or The Castle. We usually go for about 8 nights and stay in 3 places each time. We always stay someplace we haven't stayed before and we always stay downtown, also. People think we are nuts moving around so much in a week but I love to experience all the different places and there are so many places … so little time. Always looking for offers – have a whole folder of them in the drawer!"