I would like to spend my 40th b-day in Vegas in mid-October, but there is going to be a large convention in town that weekend with an estimated 23,000 attendees. I assume hotel reservations will be harder to get at that time!!! Also, does anyone know if room prices go higher during these times or lower?
I do have the option of going in September, but would prefer to be there for my birthday.
Thanks for any advice.

If there is a VERY large convention in town (i don't know if 23,000 qualifies or not.. by Vegas standards), hotel rates will be higher, as will gambling table minimums and lines at restaurants (and reservations harder to come by). I know one of the largest conventions is called Comdex and it's nearly impossible to get a room for that time of year. September rates will likely be a little cheaper than October, but the REAL rate differences occur between Sun-Thur occupany and Fri+Sat occupancy. The same room that goes for $70/nite Sun-Thurs can go for $250/nite on Fri-Sat.

Other than higher room rates, you will probably notice nothing different due to a convention.(COMDEX being the only exception that I know of.) There are conventions in Las Vegas virtually all of the time. The city is almost booked at capacity all the time. Unless you are staying at the host hotel of a very large convention, you probably won't even notice. If anything there may be fewer people out and about since they'll be at the convention.

Price two different weekends to see if there is a huge difference. The longer you wait, however, the higher the prices get.

I disagree on the "longer you wait" theory. Prices for Vegas hotel rooms change quicker than the stock prices of the companies that own them (based upon their sophisticated computer's veiw of supply/demand).

Vegas is one place where the hotels don't need to get too many advance reservations, figuring that if prices go up, they want the rooms available to sell. An expample of this is i've heard that Vegas hotels haven't even opened up their reservations for January 2002 yet (which would be contrary to almost all other hotel markets in the country).

'Thereuare' is correct. Vegas is like no other hotel market in the world. There is no consistent rule as to whether early versus late reservations are better (cost wise). They fluctuate greatly and many different rates can be obtained from different sources at the same time. (Sometimes seems like roulette).

I wouldn't worry about a mere 23,000 person convention. That is nothing to Las Vegas! Unless it is being held in the hotel of your choice, you won't notice. COMDEX had over 200,000 last year!!!

Local here...I agree with the others. A convention of 23,000 is not even noticeable. We get 35 million visitors annually, so don't even worry about it. Stay where you want.

There's almost ALWAYS a convention in town. I wouldn't worry, but get your rooms as soon as you can to make sure of their availability.