Hello - I am planning a weekend trip to Las Vegas end of July/beginning of August and was hoping someone could give me some advice on finding decent prices at a good hotel on the Strip. I know that weekend rates are much higher than Sun - Weds, but unfortunately, I can only travel on the weekend. I know that there has to be a way to get cheaper rates than what I have found but I've run into a brick wall. Also, I have heard that some people have been successful on getting upgraded rooms at no cost. Any advice? Thank you in advance.

April,

Try expedia. com, hoteldiscount.com, or orbitz.com.

Or call all the Strip hotels directly. This how I found $65/night at MGM and $69 at Excalibur (both prices are weekend rates!!). Good luck.

Check out Priceline. But first go to www.biddingfortravel.com for a tutorial (noncommercial) on bidding on PL.

hotels.com

Thank you all for your replies - if I were to call the hotels directly, would they be more apt to offer a better weekend deal if I were planning to go back to Las Vegas more often? I'm not sure why they would offer me a better deal over anyone else when they are charging upwards of $130/night. Thank you again for all of your help.

Try tripreservations.com or travelworm.com

Also don't overlook the Orleans hotel, not on the strip but with strip-view rooms and with free shuttle every half hour to the center of the strip. www.coastcasinos.com

Sanremolasvegas.com usually has some good "special offers" in the summer time. This smaller but clean and popular hotel is just across the street from the MGM, and is walking distance to the monorails that take you to the center strip hotels.

Upgrades? A lot of people seem to fret about getting them but in Las Vegas you'll only be in your room for a few hours a night, trust me!

Also April, remember that when booking directly with a hotel, you can always change or cancel your reservation if a better rate comes up.

With the discount online services, you may be locked in. There are cancellation fees, so be careful!

Priceline should work (refer to Biddingfortravel.com).You might go to the Vegas forum at FlyerTalk.com. I remember some posts that gave you links to all the "specials".