Question of the Day - 12 September 2024

Surprisingly enough, room rates in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving week are generally lower than during peak times, like July 4th, Christmas, and New Year's Eve or around major conventions. They're not as low as during slower periods, but as you say, they are reasonable at the low end.

Thanksgiving week is a popular time for leisure travelers, but it doesn't attract as many high rollers or convention attendees. As a result, hotels often offer competitive rates. As always, booking well in advance is the play.

For example, in a quick search for this answer, roughly 12 weeks before Thanksgiving, for the six nights between the Tuesday before and the Sunday after Tday, we found rates as low as $229 at Excalibur ($38 per), $253 at Horseshoe, $258 at Luxor, $265 at the Rio, and $271 at Harrah's. Of course, those are the base rates before resort fees and taxes, so at Excalibur, for example, you'd add the $44.95 resort fee and $5.32 tax per night and wind up with $88 and change per, adding up to $530 for the six nights, a far cry from $229, but still, perhaps, reasonable for a long holiday weekend.

And then there are the luxury hotels: $712 at Caesars, $1,178 Fountainebleau, $1,254 Bellagio, $1,270 Venetian, and $1,689 at the Wynn, plus fee and taxes. At the Wynn, you're looking at an extra $50 for the resort fee and $40 or so in tax per night, bringing the six-night total up to more than $2,200. 

And don't get us started about the weekend before Thanksgiving, when the second annual Las Vegas Grand Prix comes around. Rates are jacked up to the mesosphere during race week, which encompasses the Wednesday to Monday before Thanksgiving (though this year, the cost of rooms seems to have come down to the stratosphere). Don't come a few days early for Thanksgiving!

And even then, disruptions from the dismantling of the F1 infrastructure -- grandstands, lights, barriers, etc. -- start immediately after the race, so the usually heavy holiday-weekend traffic is even more of a headache. 

As for Thanksgiving dinners and special buffets, yes is the answer. Most restaurants serve full Turkey Day dinners. Last year, Ellis Island, for example, offered soup or salad, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes or candied yams, slow-roasted turkey, and a slice of pumpkin pie, all for $16.99. Or you could have opted for basically the same deal at Eiffel Tower Restaurant for $125. Almost all the remaining buffets put out traditional Thanksgiving spreads for no more money than normal. Of course, reservations are tight for restaurants and lines are long for the all-you-can-eats, but that's to be expected over a four-day weekend. 

One more thing to look out for: Metro police are out in force throughout the weekend in their annual DUI Blitz.