Does anyone know if a conference is taking place in Las Vegas, this March 12- 21?

Anyone know of a great deal on a four- or five-star hotel, well-located on the Strip, for March 15- 19? Or a helpful website in finding deals there?

Have never used Priceline, but I'd guess Las Vegas is a good city to try it. Prices look pretty high, though.

Inside tips or advice?
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P.S. My first question is stated stupidly. I meant: is mid-March an especially busy convention season in Vegas?

Yes - prime convention season is March through May and Sept through early Nov. There will always be some conventions there. The question is - are they 5-6,000 people - or 30,000 people.

Anyone know of any good deals in Vegas in mid-March. So far, the best we can find is the four-star Luxor for $192 average/night for four nights.
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Mid March is the beginning of the NCAA tournament. Many people fly into Vegas to watch the tournament with friends at the various hotels. Hotel price go up and availability is sometimes hard.

Thanks, Pablo. That's good to know.

You're kind of late. You needed to book back in January. Try harrahs.com and you will be able to search for all of their hotels. You can get a room at the Flamingo for about $140 per night, for Monday thru Thursday nights. But then it would be $240 for Friday and $275 for Saturday.

Here are Flamingo rates for your dates:
Thu 03/15/2007 $190.00
Fri 03/16/2007 $320.00
Sat 03/17/2007 $250.00
Sun 03/18/2007 $95.00

I took a look at Hilton.com and see that the Hilton Grand Vacations Club at the Flamingo has an AARP rate of $178 tax included for your dates.

This place is behind the Flamingo. Here is a description of their room (they also have a suite room with w/d):

1 KING BED STUDIO ROOM
Our King-bed studios are beautifully decorated and offer views of our pool. Each studio offer a 27" TV, DVD player, Hilton Alarm Clock Radio with MP3 connection, sofa sleeper, free high speed internet, phones with voice mail, in room safe, wet bar, small refrigerator microwave, coffee maker, toaster, dishes and utensils. Pamper yourself in our handsomely appointed bathroom with the extra large jetted tub perfect for soaking after a long day. Our property features a free fitness center and sauna, private pool for Hilton Grand Vacation guests only and use of the expansive Flamingo hotel pool area along with charging privileges to their restaurants, lounges and amenities

Thanks! I am not familiar with Vegas, but was thinking it's a city where people go on the spur of the moment. Didn't know about planning in advance there.

Is the Flamingo a good choice? It's still nice?
Anyone been to the Luxor lately? We did discover a $150 savings through AAA, so we might stay with the Luxor. It would come to $756 for four nights.

If you can go a week or two later, there are good deals around March 31st through the beginning of April.

I have stayed at the Flamingo three times (have also stayed at MGM). I find it to be the best located place to stay for the price. It is still very nice--large rooms, very clean, nice view. I would definitely recommend it. It has a lovely pool and sunning area as well.

It's Spring Break & NCAA March madness...one of the busiest weeks of the year.

Well, wouldn't you know our week would be such a busy one! We don't have an option for moving the dates, but we are happy with our Luxor deal: four nights, including two weekend nights, for $756 with a AAA discount. We might upgrade to a tower room for another $50.
Anyone been to the Luxor lately?

I think I'd prefer the Monte Carlo over the Luxor, and you can walk to a lot more from there. Looks like the rate is a little less, too.

Hey! I;ve been to Vegas many times so I can definitely give you some good advice. Go to fatwallet and find the forum for vegas promo codes: These are great and will often help you find cheap hotels (I stayed at the rio last April for 49 per night with a special code). I have done priceline before for Vegas. IF you do priceline, I would recommend bidding for a 4 or 5 star on the Strip. The 5 star hotel that comes up is the Venetian and the 4 stars include Monte Carlo, Aladdin, Ballys, Luxor, and Westin (which is a bit off the strip -- not to bad though -- about 7 minute walk and you can cut through Ballys). If you do priceline, check out biddingfortravel.com ... this website will help you bid and it has lists of all the hotels that have come up on Priceline and posts concerning prices. Good Luck! Aladdin is usually inexpensive; right now, there is some heavy construction going on there, but the rooms are nice. Also, check Rio if you don't mind staying off-strip. They usually have good rates and all rooms are suites. Also, they have a frequent shuttle that goes to Harrah's and Caesar's.

Thanks for the fatwallet.com recommendation, Mc. One of the the Luxor promos was even better than the AAA discount we were getting, by about $56. Every little bit helps!

With your promo through fatwallet, do you still have the ability to cancel or rebook at a lower rate?
You did pick a busy time for your trip, but it is not unusual for there to be last minute deals as well as the usual price fluctuation throughout the week.

My typical trip planning process includes booking a room through the hotel itself as soon as I know I want to go. After that, I keep my eyes open for deals and price drops. On one trip, I think I rebooked my room at TI twice as rates dropped and finally booked a special package including various comps and discounts (still through the hotel) at yet a lower rate.

The Luxor is a nice hotel. I've stayed there twice. Both times were in a Tower room (not in the pyramid itself). The rooms and amenities were more than adequate.
Some people might complain about the location of the Luxor (at the South end of the Strip), but there is a free monorail that takes you to Mandalay Bay an Excalibur. If you take the monorail to Excalibur, you can cross the street to MGM Grand and catch the Vegas Monorail all the way North to the Sahara. I actually like it more than being in the middle of the Strip.
Also, if you have a car, it is a lot easier to get out of the Luxor parking garage or valet and away from the Strip than most places in the middle of the Strip.

Thanks for the information. Good to know more about the location of the Luxor in relation to transportation, etc.

The on-line deal is called the MVP, and it requires full payment in advance. I don't know about the cancellation problem, as that won't be an issue. The price is right, so we'll probably do it instead of the direct-hotel booking we have now.
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