Parrothead, MBnancy, Faina THANKS. I've got great plane tickets, better than I thought possible, and now- just moving some dates I have tremendous, much wider room possibilities.

What do you think if I have to choose between these: Harvey's, Horizon, Mont Bleu, Harrah's, and Holiday Inn Express.

Tell me the truth. The entire per room per day rate between all of the above is going to vary only by less than $30 per day from most expensive to least expensive. Harrah's is the most expensive. Some have free Internet, some do not.

The stay is for 5 days in mid December.

Do you think it is worth giving Harrah's a call direct, if I have used Harrah's comp cards in the past?

Tell me what you think of the overall ambience of each of these hotels. Any input upon style or experience details is very welcome. Thanks, all.

Can't say anything about Mont Bleu, a new name for Caesar's. The old one was nice inside.

Harrah's is more expensive, so we stay at Harvey's - often on sale, or Horizon for its nice pool area which is not important in December

All 4 casinos are very close. In December, and you said you are skiing, I would go with Harvey's or Harrah's - they are across a narrow street, and also connected by an underground walkway, same membership.

Horizon is a block or so away from Harrah's/Harvey's meaning another block to lug skis to and fro.

I wouldn't stay in Holiday Inn, and the only reason is this, quote from TripAdvisor:

"It's not very near anything of great interest - 20 minutes walk gets you to the the CA/NV border and the attendant casinos and "bright lights"."

Are you flying into Reno airport? The shuttle bus will take you right into the casino area.

Are you planning to ski? At Heavenly? If so, I'd see if there's room at either the Marriott Timber Lodge or the Marriott Grand Residence Club. Why? Because they're beautiful timeshare condos located right at the lift to the Heavenly ski area (literally - walk out the front door and you're at the lift). Both are walking distance to the casino hotels, and are in a development that includes ice skating, retail stores, restaurants, hot tubs, etc.

Also, don't be surprised if there's no snow in mid-December. You can't even count on Christmas/New Year's snow around here.

Yes, Faina, we are flying into Reno.

I thought almost exactly like you have stated, that I would eliminate the Holiday Inn for the same reasons.

I'll probably book Harvey's, Harrah's or Horizon tonight. I think I may call Harrah's direct first to see if they will discount me for having past Harrah's comp cards, they may.

But I am really pleasantly surprised at the price levels for the hotels, and maybe because it is so close to Christmas, but the weekdays especially are true deals.

And yes, we are going to take the shuttle from Reno airport. I know this will be a tussle with the Bear man because he wants a car, ALWAYS, and I have no idea why- but he does.

You should have seen him parking his monstrosity V8 sedan in SF, Faina, you REALLY would laugh.

Thank you.

Anyone else- comments about these choices are very welcome.

dmlove, I know. I've told him that 3 times already- about the snow.

You can't tell him anything. He's been there right after Thanksgiving and had snow, so he knows it all.

And I agree with the Marriott's you mention. The Timber Lodge was booked and the other was a possible but much more money. I am sorely tempted to try a Priceline bid for "condo" at this South Lake Tahoe location, because I think it is the other Marriott, but I can't substantiate that on the betterbidding site, so I don't want to chance it.

I would love to ice skate, I'm actually a lot better at that than I am at skiing. But he skiies well, and knowing his luck, there will be snow.

If not. I think I can keep myself busy.

Thanks, dmlove. Last year in Chicago we had more snow before Christmas than we had the entire rest of the winter after Christmas. You really just never know.

Are there problems with getting his equipment onto the shuttle? Or is it like all the Colorado towns where you can put your ski luggage regardless of length underneath or on the sides of the transport?

The shuttle is that huge bus like inter-city Greyhound or Amtrak bus with a luggage compartment that opens from outside. You should be OK.

If you get bored, check this out, if they do those van tours all year.

http://www.demotours.com/toursSIGHT.htm

Thanks, Faina.

Maybe I can check out the condos when we are there, and I can find one that would be good for a 14 person or so extended family vacation with grandkids and we could do the Yosemite Tour on one of the days and still see old West spots, like Carson City, on another.

For an extended family vacation with a lot of people in the Tahoe area, you should check out Northstar in North Lake Tahoe.

JJ, Yosemite deserves more of your time. One day, meaning only a few hours, is not nearly enough!

Unless it's either do a tour, or not see it at all, then of course a tour.

And for seeing Yosemite, end of May - beginning of June is probably the best time for the first visit when the waterfalls are in full strength.

Thanks, I will look at Northstar, I will. Colorado high summer prices are much higher.

The schedules in our family work-wise just don't jive with each other and with kids' commitments it is always at least 2 people who have to miss "big" events, so it has been narrowed done to one week at this point, right in the middle of July '08 that everyone has a window.

I'll be lucky to get everyone on a airplane, and to do one or two days in a National Park, Faina. It's not that they are not interested, but the movement is time/money heavy for this many people. And they are all working class people, do not have a lot of extra bucks nor windows of time for the mobility requirements.

Check out vrbo.com for some good options for families.

At a resort like Northstar, you might be able to get one house big enough for 14 people, if you're so inclined, or break it up into smaller condo-groups.

Hi JJ, I'm late getting to this today.
My first pick would be Harvey's, if you get the Lake Tower and a HIGH floor. Great views of the lake (because you are closer) and huge rooms. The bathroom is in three areas. Big dressing room with seat and mirrors for your make-up, a toilet room and a nice size bathtub and separate shower room. There is a mini TV in front of the bathtub so you can have it on while in there!

We went skiing with friends once, who paid less to stay in the original tower, closer to the street and their room was not as nice, and they had a view of the parking lot. Just so you know that when making reservations.

Let us know how it turns out.

Well, all of you really would get a laugh out of this one. I got the airplane tickets at a phenomenal price with no stops from Midway- and on both days going out and coming back, they are one of maybe 12 to 14 flights on that carrier and the only ones that are without a stop. I think the promotional fares just came up- it was perfect timing.

So that's done.

But tooling through all these websites I found a Marriott Grand Club possibility, but then it ended up not "matching" by one night overlap with a vacancy "problem" (the last night we would be there) that nixed that deal.

So eventually I have found a couple that do have "open" bookings available for Harvey's, Harrah's and Mont Bleu (all three). They are cheaper than when I called direct to Harrah's for that particular hotel on one of the websites, as well.

I've decided. I'm going to take the Harvey's with the High Tower Lake Room choice but have had some trouble on this slow computer completing the reservation, so I'm going to do it tomorrow on a faster one.

I've used Priceline, Hotwire, quikbooks, and other direct and indirect reservations through Travelocity combo's but I have never used www.hotels.com before. I wish it was more straight forward in its explanations. It does have a good cancellation policy, but I hope they are decent in the other possible glitch non-communication ways. I think I want to check them out first with more reading re their policies, when I'm not as tired.

I'm going to do the Harvey's choice though for sure- there's two sites where I can secure it. I'll just make sure I confirm directly with the hotel afterwards.

You've all been great. And it was a lovely summer night tonight and I took the long way home from work and went to my oldest son's and we talked about the July 2008 trip as well. I'm going to check out some possibles when I am in Lake Tahoe area this winter. And he's checking out a couple of other places out West too.

We need to go West of the Mississippi because my daughter has never been beyond Iowa.

He bet me $100 that I'm not going to get everybody on the plane. I will.

Anyone want any cucumbers, tomatoes, or green beans? I sure wish I could send them to you in thanks.

The other option that is open for July 2008 is a 15 passenger with Captain trip down the Mississippi. But I'd need to get them on the plane for the beginning as well.

MBnancy, a hearty thank you for that detail on the tower logistics of Harvey's. It's factored into a final decision for the choices I have on my dates. Perfect information all around this time! That's the best of Fodors in a nutshell.

I finally got the hotel reservation completed. It was somewhat of a chore, because most online sources had it all booked up. "No vacancies for your dates" etc.

But the three places that I could purchase it had really varied and differed in pricing much more than with other hotels. It had to do with which tower etc. in one case, I think.

But anyway, I called direct. And they, even with my Harrah's comp number, gave me WORSE pricing that on discount brokers.

I was almost getting ready to do a Priceline bid because biddingfortravel has Horizon coming up, but then I completed the hotels.com reservation when it came up for the best Harvey's price yet. And it beats the direct call to Harvey's by almost $200 for the 5 nights.

I'm a happy camper.

There were other options to go with some others that also had lift tickets as really extra bonuses, but I didn't go that way- who knows if there will be snow! And I wanted Harvey's for this price. I got it for exactly $95 per day with the taxes.

Coming on a Wednesday, there is a good chance we will get the lake tower, I'm told. Regardless, if we don't- this is great location and good price for Dec.

Just at the Dec.10th or so point, all the hotel rooms in South Lake Tahoe go up. Some go up about $100 to $150 per day. They have terrific Fall rates everywhere.