how close to arrival in vegas is good time to get best deal.what booking engine do you guys suggest or what hotel direct---strip**** 4 star,cheers harold .b.

Will depend on season and/or events.
Search at hotelwebsites for more info.
If the price is high, you know it will be difficult to get a decent rate.
Also suscribe to newsletters of hotels to be the first for new hoteldeals.

I've booked with this company a few times, although not recently:

www.i4vegas.com/

Past few visits I've booked directly with the hotels well in advance and I intentionally visited at the start of the week to get a better deal on the hotel.

Before my recent Vegas stay, I started my checking about 10 months in advance. Ended up booking directly with the hotel about 3 months in advance. And I signed up on their mailing list for any specials. Less than two weeks before my stay, I received a promotion code via email. I called them, and they added the code to my reservation saving 25% off of my original rate! This was a Thursday night in a non-peak/ convention season (mid June).

ill be there 27th august a tuesday,so should not be a problem last year booked a week b4 and got flamingo for $$68when 2 months b4 was $209,this time going for the mirage or rio,which has suites at $135,any comments pls, cheers h.b.

I always book online w/ the hotel site and look for "specials" or "promotions."

I did a quick search at harrahs.com (under "Hot Deals") and found the following for Aug 27.

Harrahs 59
Flamingo 75
Ballys 109
Paris 149
Caesars 240

Best of luck to you.