When going to Vegas, you usually have to stay in Vegas. If you are a first-timer or you don’t go very often, you should probably use a cheap internet site, like vegas.com, lasvegas.com, or my recent favorite kayak.com. I like Kayak because of the way it lets you sort the hotels after you have searched. I have also had luck with hotels.com and mobissimo.com. You have to be careful, though to select a hotel that is actually nice. Some of the hotels that are listed say they are just of the strip or on the strip, when they are actually way down at one end, or a long walk through a bad neighborhood. So if you see a room for $29 and it’s at Whiskey Pete’s, think again. You are looking for these names: Tropicana, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, MGM Grand, Monte Carlo, Planet Hollywood (this used to be the Aladdin), Paris, Bally’s, Bellagio, Caesar’s Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Mirage, Treasure Island, Venetian, or the Wynn. My favorites are in bold letters.

Excalibur needs a remodel; it’s beds are like rocks. Bally’s needs an update, has way too low ceilings and smells like smoke because of poor ventilation. Tropicana is also in need of an update. I have never been in a room there, but the lobby/casino doesn’t really make me want to. The Monte Carlo isn’t too bad, but the casino floor is small. Harrah’s is gaudy; I am not a fan of the carnival theme. This is a decent map of the strip. As you can see, the Rio, the Palms, Hooter’s, the Stratosphere, and others are off the central strip, but may still be of interest to you. You could also consider the Las Vegas Hilton if you are a Star Trek fan. The monorail that you see on the map is handy because you can ride it directly to the strip, but you have to pay for it, and wait for it.

Notice I did not list Stardust, or Barbary Coast (recently renamed to Bill’s Gambling Hall), and some others because I would not want to stay there.

Recently, a friend at work who had never been to Vegas and wanted to take her husband for his birthday asked me to recommend a hotel and I gave her the same description as above. I guess she considered these too expensive and chose to stay at a different hotel and for a much cheaper rate. I asked her later how the trip was and she lamented about getting a cheap, scuzzy hotel. Apparently it was advertised as being on the strip Las Vegas Blvd, but it was miles down the strip. She said it was so nasty they didn’t even want to sleep or shower there…. but hey, it was only $39 bucks a night. I didn’t even say “told ya so”. She felt bad enough.

When traveling to Las Vegas don’t forget to include money for tips in your budget.
In some cases, tipping is expected for good service, like in restaurants and at the spa, but other times it can help you “get” things. I’ll list some common things that you should tip for and some that you may not realize.I’ll start out with the most important and as you go down the list you will find things that some people tip for and some don’t.

Valet - When you get your car back, $2-$3 is appropriate if the car comes back within a few minutes. If it takes 10 or more, when it’s not that busy, a tip is not necessary.

Baggage / Bellhop - if you have your bags delivered to your room, tip $1-$2 per bag.

Restaurant servers - 15-20 % of your total bill (before taxes) for good service like everywhere else in the US. Since Vegas is known for buffets, I should mention that too. Leave a tip of $1-$2 per person if the service was good; aka, your drinks were brought and refilled quickly and your plates were cleared quickly.

Casino drink waitress - the scantily clad chicks who bring you free drinks while you gamble should be given $1-$2 per drink. The more you give them, the more likely it is that they will return promptly… consider that before you stiff them.

Casino Dealers- If your dealer is friendly, and especially when you are winning, it is polite to tip your dealer. The appropriate amount is usually 10% of your average bet every 5 - 10 hands for games like blackjack, Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride…. you know, card games. In Poker, like Texas Hold Em, it is polite to tip the dealer $1 - $5 each time you win a decent sized pot. If you are playing 2-4, 3-6, or 4-8 , a $1 - $2 tip is fine. If you are playing higher limits, tip $5 or even $10 for a big win. I know, the dealer does not make you win, but they can make the play enjoyable, and they do depend on tips as income. Pretty much for any table game, this is polite to do. Tips for dealers are also pooled, so if there is a cranky dealer, and you sit with another dealer later, make sure to mention that, and the nice dealers will likely “have a word” with the cranky one.

Cab Driver - If your cabbie is friendly, gets you there quickly, and or helps you with luggage give a 10% tip. Sometimes traffic cannot be avoided and most cabbies will not take you down the strip unless you ask them to. It is often congested and it is much faster to go around the backs of the casinos or on I-15. Also, ask your cab driver for advice on shows and restaurants. Most of them are helpful and knowledgeable. If they are cranky, just pay the fare and no tip.

Room Service - when you order that late night snack or break in bed, don’t forget to tip the delivery person. Some people say you should tip the standard 15% like you would in a restaurant. But if you’ve seen the room service prices, you may think twice. If it’s just a meal for one or two people, and the service was timely, give $5 - $10.

Daily maid service - Some people like to leave a few dollars for the nice ladies that clean your room each day. If you choose to do this, you should leave a couple bucks each day rather than at the end, in case your normal room cleaner isn’t on shift and you leave it to someone else. Also, if you leave a few dollars each day make sure to leave it in an envelope marked housekeeping so they don’t think it’s just your cash laying around.

Here are some situations where tipping is not expected, but may help you out.

Check-in desk clerk - when you check in to get your room, if you slip the clerk $20 with your ID and credit card, then ask if there is any ugrade available. You may just get that “strip view” room they were just sold out of, or even a suite. If the clerk is not interested, or unable to accomodate your request, simply pull your Andrew Jackson back.

Restaurant host/hostess- similar to the check in situation, sometimes slipping the host a $10 or $20 (depending on the caliber of the restaurant) may get you a better seat.

Traveling to Las Vegas is exciting. Often it is the destination for an entire vacation. But consider making Las Vegas a stopover for a different vacation. The Las Vegas airport, McCarran, is the hub for Southwest and a secondary hub for Allegiant Air and US Airways. What I’m trying to say is, you can find a lot of flight options. My husband and I just drove down from Salt Lake City to catch a direct flight to London on Max Jet, an all business class airline. The real benefit, however, is that we got to stay in Las Vegas before and after our trip to Europe. Not only was the flight much cheaper than we could find from Salt Lake City, but parking was free. Yes, free. You see, the valet service that hotel/casinos offer is free. They want you to come in and gamble. So, we just stayed at the Paris hotel at either end of our vacation and left the car in the valet lot for 3 weeks. Free. We checked the cost of leaving it in long term parking at McCarran, which is similar to any airport’s rates, and it would have been approximately $260. That pretty much paid for the 2 nights of lodging at Paris hotel. I suppose you could even valet without staying at the hotel if you needed to drive home on the same day as one of the flights. So essentially, you could drive to Vegas, valet your car, cab to the airport and fly away. Then fly back to Vegas , cab back to get your car, and drive home. I suppose this is only valuable if you live within driving distance to Las Vegas. But you may even want to consider it if you have to fly. Make it a long layover. Did I mention there are slot machines right in the airport…

Blackjack is a popular table game in Las Vegas. Other than Craps, it is one of the best odds that a player can get against the house. But only if you play a certain way. And it’s really not as intimidating as it looks. The first time I sat down, it seemed like everyone knew what to do except me. Here’s a tip; get a friendly dealer. The cranky ones can make you feel stupid and you won’t enjoy yourself. Most dealers will actually help you out a little. I know, they work for the enemy, but hey, they want tips from you.

There are some things to watch out for, however. One is the automatic shuffler at the table. I’m not talking about the shuffler that shuffles the entire shoe when the dealer is finished with it. That is OK. This is the always-shuffling mega-shuffler. That’s not the technical terminology… This is the shuffler that after each hand the dealer immediately puts that cards back in to be reshuffled. If you know how to count cards, you will understand why. Since it is being constantly shuffled and all the cards except the current hand are in the shuffler, the shoe remains at the initial count value ALL THE TIME. If you don’t count cards here is a basic primer for this problem; Cards are assigned positive, neutral and negative values in the deck. The initial state of the deck has a bias towards the house. Only as you progress through the deck, or shoe of decks can the overall count or value of the cards swing into the players favor by getting rid of low cards. When the shoe or deck swings to players favor, you are much more likely to win. The giant mega shuffler forbids this from ever happening and keeps the bias of the cards in the house favor all the time.

Another important aspect of playing Blackjack is knowing the terminology.
Here’s a primer:
Hit (point down or scratch your cards on the table if you are playing where the cards are private)- give me one more card
Stay (wave your hand parallel across your cards, or tuck them under your bet if you are playing with private cards) - no more cards for me
Bust - Damn! I went over 21.
Push - I tied the dealer. No money lost, but none gained either.
Split - Ooh, my cards are the same number and I would like to turn them each into their own hand of one card, then be able to take more cards for each. For example, if I get 2 Aces, I could stay with the 12 that I have. But no, I will Split them. I will turn them into two hands that each get an Ace. Then I hope that I get 10’s on each of them. I can hit as many times as I want after I have split. ALWAYS split aces and eights!
Double Down - I will double my original bet and I will get only one more card. This is often done when I get like a 7 and a 4. That gives me 11. Of course, there are more 10’s (value-wise) in a deck than any other value. So I match my original bet hoping that my one card will be a 10. Of course, I usually get a 3.

Here is a very basic card counting strategy that you can use and probably not get caught. If you completely change your betting style when the cards are in your favor, that may become obvious and you will get caught, so you are forewarned. You assign the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 a value of -1 in your head, and 10, J, Q, K, A a +1 in your head. 7, 8, 9 have values of zero in this counting method, so you ignore them. Each time you see any card played, whether it is yours, the dealers, or another person’s at your table, you silently, in your head keep a tally of the “score”. So, if you get 10 (+1) , 9 (0), your neighbor gets 2 (-1), 4 (-1), 8 (0), and the dealer gets Q (+1), K (+1); the tally would be +1. OK, what does that mean? Well, as the positive value increases, so should your bets. So a +3 is favorable to you. Most strategies say, that on a + 3, you should bet 3 times your normal wager. I say, that is a sure way to get caught and kicked out. This is a helpful website explaining some counting strategies. Card Counting Site. The bottom line is: the more 10, J Q, K, A that exist in the deck, the better your odds. If they all come out at the beginning, lay it low with your betting until after the shuffle.

If you want to know what the minimum bet is, well that depends on the casino. Any major casino on the strip will pretty much have a $10 minimum. It will likely go up to $15 on a Friday and Saturday night. Casinos like the Wynn, Bellagio, Venetian and Cesear’s will likely only have $25 minimums at that time and $15 otherwise. Gone are the days of the $5 tables. You can find $5 and $3 and even $1 at some places off the strip and downtown on Fremont, however.

You may even want to buy a blackjack strategy card. I have one listed on the side bar to the left on this page. The basic strategy is a system that has been mathematically proven to be the best way to play in all situations. Dealers know it by heart, beause they offer the best advice to players, so they can increase their tips. This is a universal system and is ackowledged by everyone as the way to play. They are about the size of a credit card and can help you decide what to do in every situation. For example if you have 13 and the dealer has a 6, you are actually supposed to stay. A 6 for the dealer holds one of the highest probabilities of them busting, since most casinos have to hit on 16 and under and the card under the 6 is likely to be a ten/face. Casinos allow players to keep strategy cards with them and use them as they play. My advice is to buy the strategy card, and use the counting strategy together.

When I first heard about the canal at the Venetian, it struck me as odd that someone would build a river on the 2nd floor of a building. Yes, really, the 2nd floor. A close second, was the thought that I would never pay to ride such a tourist trap. You guessed it, I did ride it. It is actually quite charming. Each boat has a little gondolier that steers the little boat along the canal and sings an Italian song as you drift past the shops. Their voices really carry well in the area, and a crowd often watches as your gondolier belts their tune. You see, the canal is the median area in the Grand Canal Shoppes, the Venetian’s indoor mall. Before riding it I always wondered if the gondoliers got tired after rowing a boat all day, but they actually have little motors on the boats. The gondolier just presses on a little hole, and it senses their foot, and goes. They do, however, use their big oar to steer. The motor is essentially silent, so it seems like they are actually rowing you down the stream. I rode the boat with my husband and his brother & wife. For the 4 of us, it was $60 total. It costs $15 per person and $7.50 for kids 12 and under. You can rent the whole boat for $60. (It seats 4). There is even a special wedding gondola. It is white & looks like some Cinderella version. You buy a ticket at the starting end, and it has a time on it. Then you just get in a line about 20 minutes before your marked time, and it’s first come first served at that point. The ride lasts about 15 minutes. You go down the indoor canal and back. There is also an outside canal that you can ride. They are not linked though. The outside one is a little cheaper at $12.50 for adults, but I like the ambiance of the canal shoppes, though outside you see the facade of the Venetian’s front. You can pay extra to purchase your picture, just like amusement park rides. We took our own photos. Oh, make sure you go with someone you like, apparently it is customary to smooch every time you go under a bridge. Just a tip so you can avoid an uncomfortable moment. The Venetian’s Gondola.

Here’s a handy tip. If you want to see a show while in Vegas, which I highly recommend, you should check out a discount ticket seller. One of the ones I like to use is called tickets2nite. Tickets 2Nite; The web site is fairly useless, but at least you can find out where they are at. This business is located near the M & M Factory in the huge Coke bottle. This is just North of the MGM Grand, or across from the New York New York. (By the way, they don’t open until noon.) Essentially, what happens is, you go there and ask for the show you are interested in, say Spamalot at the Wynn. They will tell you if they have any tickets for it and what they are asking for them. I have found some really great deals here. Once we found two 2nd row center seats to the Beatles inspired show, LOVE, at the Mirage. They were slightly under face value. We didn’t end up getting them, but we were surprised at the quality of the seats. We did get 3rd row Jay Leno tickets at the Mirage about 6 hours before the show. We also almost bought some Spamalot tickets the day of the show. In that case, I would order them over the phone. In order to get them, I would have had to get myself down to the Coke bottle, then take a voucher to the Wynn, and the Wynn would print the tickets with exact seat numbers. Those tickets were only guaranteeing a lower level seat. For the Leno show, we knew our exact seat location immediately.
You can generally expect to pay anywhere from about 60% - 90% of the original ticket price. Premium seats may be more, based on availability, but if you are looking at the last minute, this is once of your best chances to get seats at all.
There are other discount vendors. There is one near the front door (facing the Wynn) of the Fashion Show Mall. If you want guaranteed seats, and you have days or weeks until your trip, go ahead and order them online on the hotel’s website. If you are spontaneous, or need last minute tickets, check out these options. Also Click Here for a $2 coupon.

If you’ve ever dreamed of earning a free room, or being treated like royalty while in Vegas, you may want to learn about comps. These are not just for the uber rich. You can be a small time gambler and still benefit. The trick is to understand the system. On the strip there are 2 major players club systems that you can participate in. At any casino, find the desk to sign up for a card, similar to what you get at most grocery store chains. They will ask for your ID and a phone number, usually. (At the Wynn, if you give your email address, they’ll throw $10 worth of money on it to gamble with.) You will walk away with a free card to use any time you gamble in a participating casino. The big 2, in my opinion are: The MGM Mirage Player club card, and the Ballys Total Rewards, but I also like the Wynn card.

The MGM card works at the Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, Treasure Island, Monte Carlo, New York New York, Luxor, and the Excalibur. They just purchased the Mandalay group, so now they own half of the strip. See MGM Player’s Club for more information. The nifty thing about this system is that the amount of money you spend gambling is kept as points on your account. Then you either spend the points, which work out to about 1 cent of value per point, or way better, you can talk to a players card representative and they will give you things based on your play. For example, if you bet enough to earn, say, 3000 points in 24 hours, they may give you a free room. I earned 1009 in one day and I got $45 worth of food and beverage credit, since I was staying at Treasure Island, one of their properties. I had probably bet around $800 on the slots to get that many points. Remember, what matters is how much you gamble. If you start out with $20 but you go up and down on the slots and it takes 30 minutes and 60 $2 pulls to lose it all, you may have accrued a couple hundred bucks in bets and not even realized that. I certainly didn’t start out with $800, I had maybe $200 in cash to start, but after I was done, I had actually bet about $800.

With the Total Rewards card (Bally’s Caesar’s, Paris, Flamingo, Rio) you start out with 500 points that have to be counted down to earn one point. Honestly, it seemed kind of weird. You then get bonus points from machines, but the representative at the desk said these are almost random, and awarded by the machine you are playing at. Then you can use the bonus points and regular earned points toward items such as, yes it’s cheesy, a toaster, or a drill. Once again, the real value is in the comps that the hotels will give you based on your betting patterns. If they see that you have spent a lot of money at their facility, they may give you room upgrades, food credit, or other incentives to patronize their casino. You just have to ask.

For the Wynn, the card only works at their casino, BUT, for 100 points, you get 2 free meals at the buffet. I was happy about this, since my husband and I love the buffet anyhow, especially at breakfast. It is usually about $20 per person, and it is fantastic. I think it is the highest quality buffet in Vegas. At the Wynn, you have to spend $3 to get a point at the slot machines. With my original $200 today, I ended up gambling about $600 worth, and earned 4 meals at the buffet. Pretty cool. At the tables, you have to spend a bit more, but I don’t remember how much.

With all of the cards, you may want to mention that you have a card before you book your return trip to the hotel. You may get a reduced room rate. We actually booked our Treasure Island room through Vegas.com and then got our players card when we arrived. We earned points during the day and then asked about possible comps. We were told that Treasure Island could not comp our room, since we had already prepaid online at vegas.com. If we had booked directly through them, even via TI’s website, then they may have been able to comp it, since you settle your bill at the end of your stay. Also, be polite. The host wants to please you, and they may have some flexibility in what they choose to offer you. Like mom says “You’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar….”

Remember, in Vegas, the casinos all want your business. (aka, your money) If you ask, you will often receive. And even if you don’t, you are no worse off.