VEGAS, BABY!
Let's start with the basics:
Who is going and how many will be coming with you?
Approximate arrival and departure dates?
Hotels
Shows
Other ideas/concerns
I will summarize your posts this weekend.
Viva Las Vegas!
Who is going and how many will be coming with you?
Approximate arrival and departure dates?
Hotels
Shows
Other ideas/concerns
I will summarize your posts this weekend.
Viva Las Vegas!
posted by blueINdallas at 9:47 AM
77 Comments:
Much thanks to the great BlueinDallas for hosting our Vegas chat page.
Who is going and how many will be coming with you? 4 total (2 rooms)
Approximate arrival and departure: Sat, 10/7 to Mon 10/9
Hotels: Clueless, following that gang's lead
Shows: Neil Sedaka is cheapest i've found. Luv to see that naked Cirque Soleil show everybody talking about, but really expensive: $65 for a stool (and no discount if you bring your own stool, i asked)
Other ideas/concerns: Gospel Brunch at House of Blues?!?!?!?!
Blue, I'll be there. Just to repeat for those who didn't catch it, All the acts currently booked for October can be found HERE
Blue Man Group is at the Venetian on the 8th. Craig said he was staying at Paris. I hadn't checked who is playing there.
If we all stay at the same hotel, we might get a better room or show rate depending on how many sign up.
i'm not locked into a particular hotel, jamie. for now, i'm holding two rooms at marriot suites near convention ctr, but open to other ideas
The Marriott Courtyard is $199.00 per night unless we can swing a discount or someone knows someone at Marriott really, really well.
Since it is a weekend, we better decide fairly fast and get the guarantees in.
Blue Man Group is a good show and relatively reasonable, but I'm open Sedaka. Not much for Cirque dressed or undressed, but I'll go with the gang.
House of Blues sounds like a great idea.
Blue, thanks for hosting this "convention." My wife and I are looking forward to a long weekend in Las Vegas. So, put us down as wanting to see a show together with the gang and, if it works out, a non-smoking room in the same hotel that folks will want to stay. I'll check back here from time to time to see where we stand.
Steve
yeah, i had no idea that vegas hotels were so expensive these days. would be cheaper to rent motor homes.
Should I start keeping track of people & Preferences?
I would love to go, and will see if I can.
I met Craig right before this blog went up so it would be a great oppertuinity. Also my birthday is on the 12th of October so that would be fun.
i did find 179 per night at the following: Residence Inn Las Vegas Hughes Center 370 Hughes Center Dr
Las Vegas, NV 89109
For the $20 more, I like the Marriott Courtyard (Close to Craig is already booked) as it is right at the Convention Center. The Suites are full on those days, but the Courtyard still has rooms.
Craig, Are you doing an appearance of some type in Vegas or is this a pleasure trip?
Moving my post from yesterday, up to the thread. I thought I was doing something wrong, but it wasn't the nut behind the wheel this time, it was "booger" as h'dooty would say.
Arriving Friday, October 6th
Departing Tuesday, October 10th
May invite a friend or two, depending on how many other listers will be there; I'd like to spend time with you guys.
No preference for shows, but I will be going to We Will Rock You at some point, if anyone else is interested.
Re: One of Craig's suggestions, I will call the Zumanity venue and have them describe these $65 "stools" to me. There's a big difference between a wooden bar stool and a padded stool with a back on it.
Bringing my copy of ATM (our yearbook) for everyone to sign, but the front is reserved for the author.
10:13 AM
i've got a speech to a private group on the 10th, jamie. so all play that weekend
The cabaret stools at Zumanity are padded and have backs on them.
jamie - Feel free to make all the lists you want; you do it best.
So now we are not staying on the strip? Will have to go check out a map for the Marriot location.
I was the one planning to stay at the Paris if everybody is doing their own thing. Could use my room as a gathering place if we are on our own & I'm the only one down in the thick of things.
Yeah, I saw that Gospel Brunch thing. Zumanity looks like fun, though. How often do you get to watch live erotica with a dozen people that you know but have never met?
jamie - On vegas.com there was a space to arrange for assistance in arranging groups, but you need 20 rooms or more.
You are right about booking on a weekend in Vegas. We'd better get rooms booked ASAP.
Let's try to get everyone to weigh in by Saturday, so we can handle the hotels, then we'll work on entertaining ourselves. (That should be easy!)
Map of Vegas Hotels
And for those of you who haven't flown to Vegas before, the shuttle to the hotels is pretty cheap. Think it was $8 r/t although probably more with the gas prices.
Took a cab once and it was about $10 for a really short trip. Now they have all the monorails hooked up. Will check to see if there is a nominal fee for those on my lunch hour.
jamie - Think there is a way around the 20-room thing for a group rate?
So far: Craig 2 rooms
Eprof2 y Dolores 1 room
Blue 1 room
Jamie 1 room
Julia ?
Sheila ?
Rob ?
Don't know if anybody is bunking together.
Blue,
Great idea to try to get at least a tentative count by this weekend. If we can get at least a 20 room commitment from folks, I'll use the lead you show to at least check out prices. The convention center is close enough to the strip for the Marriott to be practical unless we can get cheaper rates elsewhere with a group discount.
P.S. for those arranging flights, check and see if Allegiance flies out of any airports near you. They do low cost, direct flights to Vegas without all the hop, skip and jump the majors put you through.
Make that Allegiant
Oh, I would love to go... Let me check with The Man (both the one in the office and the one at home)...
Woo hoo, Vegas in October.
Craig, I'm in and I'll probably bring Mike with me. I'm easy to please so just tell me where to be and when... and I'll show up.
May invite some other friends as well...might as well make it a big party if we can.
Info on shuttle, bus, tram & monorail service in Vegas.
Ground Transportation
Marisa - How soon would you know if you will need more than one room?
jamie - Any idea how to turn off whatever I have turned on so rr & others can take part in the planning. I had no idea anyone was blocked.
Blue, Right now you seem to have it set up for "Members Only". You need to switch it to "All". Check with blogger help as I am as much of a novice as you.
Marisa,
I have you down for one room. Let me know if you are bringing a posse.
OK, so I don't even see that switch. Is it in edit or on the dashboard? I had no idea anyone was blocked.
It now looks as if you can select "other" which should take care of the folks in black.
my book agents, diane and clare, think they can go, put them down for 2 rooms
Blue-- put me in for one room for sure and I'll check around and see who else may want to come.
Once we know more about where we want to stay I'll go ahead and confirm all details as far as # of rooms and how many beds per room I will need.
Blue-- put me in for one room for sure and I'll check around and see who else may want to come.
Once we know more about where we want to stay I'll go ahead and confirm all details as far as # of rooms and how many beds per room I will need.
Craig - At top of thread you said 2 rooms and now 2 additional rooms, correct?
jamie - Hopefully, I've changed the right thing, but can't get the word to rr right now as Craig's keeps dumping my posts. Will you ask her to try it again tonight if blogger decides to work for us again. Changed moderate from members only to any, so maybe that did the trick. Thanks - Have a good night!
Yeah....finally here....
I'm really gonna have to think about this one guys. Rick and I are already going on vacation in September and Las Vegas would be extra. Looked into prices on flights and I was in shock...it'll cost us almost $1,000...
I don't know what the hell happened to hotel room prices....it cost us less to stay on Waikiki Beach last Oct. We stayed at a posh resort in Henderson 2 yrs ago called Green Valley Ranch and it was less than what it now costs to stay a night at the Luxor...which 2 yrs ago was only $89 a night for it's most expensive rooms.
I'd really like to meet everyone..
but it ain't gonna be cheap....
Hi Blue: Blogger has really been acting more like Booger today but hopefully this will get through.
So far you can put me and the hubby down for a smoking rooom. I have also bee doing some checking on hotels. I am going to to the two that I found. The problem is that weekend is a three day weekend in most of the country so the prices will be higher for rooms and flights so bargains may be hard to come by. One pther thing. Since this is a three day weekend we may want to consider arriving Friday evening as the hotels will have limited availability during that time.
If you guys know that ten hotel rooms would be a sure thing, then that would qualify as a group rate.
Stratosphere Group rate request
Stratosphere Availability
Riviera Availabilty, Scroll down for Group Information Number
This is a possible idea. Stay outside of Vegas in some place such as Boulder City and drive in to Vegas or stay downtown in one of the Fremont hotel and take the monorail to the strip. Let me do some checking around.
Oh for the good old days when it was $20 a night.
I just checked some of the downtown hotels and no vacancies. There is probably a major convention or two in town that weekend. I'll keep working on it.
That and the fact that it is a three-day weekened for many on the East and Midwest. Who knew LAS for the weekend was so popular with so many?
LAS convention sked, October 2006
Okay here's a possibility. Let's hear everyone's ideas. There is a good hotel in Boulder City. The rates are 80-100 plus they give group discounts for 5 or more rooms. We would need transport of some sort to the strip. Best Western
Is Fritz comin?
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Stratosphere looks good. $80 or less per night, 3 nights Sat 7 - Mon 10, $240 per room. We have 11 rooms already if everyone follows through
Craig
Jamie
Eprof2
Rob
Blue
Marisa
Witchy
Diane
Clare
Sable
9/11: I like your show idea. This sounds like it would be a lot of fun.
sable
p.s. Sorry for the typos. But Blogger kept chomping on my previous posts I published it without proofing it.
Thank goodness my changes really went through. I apologize for not giving everyone access sooner; I had no idea the door was locked & blogger wouldn't give me the key yesterday afternoon.
I will be arriving on Friday, don't know if that makes a difference as far as getting a room, but sounds like we need to make a decision and book as a group or on our own ASAP.
I'd rather not stay outside of the city, just due to the inconvenience and there will be some extra cost in ground transporation anway; see ground transportation link posted earlier.
jamie - Will it matter that people are arriving and departing on different dates; wonder if the group rate would apply only to the time we are all in town? If it does, I can always stay somewhere else the night before & check in with you guys on Saturday.
jamie - Stratosphere & Riviera are pretty close to the convention center.
Craig - I just saw that comment about you asking if you could bring your own seating to the performance. Ha! A photo of the cabaret stools, etc. on this link.
Cabaret Stool photo
Guess we'd better focus on hotels first, though.
Blue,
Most hotels don't mind if someone from a group comes in early or leaves late as long as they have the room available. If we make our guaranteed group nights the 7th & 8th and then have the option to arrive on the 6th or stay over the 9th as long as they book before the end of July.
That will give most C Listers the opportunity to check for vacation time, flights, money etc. If we guarantee only the 7th and 8th, that would be $160 per room or less.
Then it would be a simple matter of deciding if group show night would be the Sat or Sun. Early birders could meet for dinner or something Friday evening.
If all of this gets majority approval through the end of the weekend, then someone can call the Stratosphere and see what kind of deal we can get.
Sounds good to me; 1 vote yes to try the Stratosphere.
1 room
Let's get a room count.
my book agents, Diane and Clare, want to come. add two rooms
Blue and Jamie...I want to apologize for my rude behavior on CL blog yesterday. I finally got some sleep last night and have managed to eat some breakfast...I actually feel like a human being this morning instead of a demon.
Yeah...I guess the Vegas hotels jack up their prices whenever there are big conventions. That's capitalism for ya. But what really got Rick and I is the cost of the flight...we only paid a little over $300 for both of us to fly to Vegas 2 yrs. ago....now it's like $480 for just one of us.
We're still thinking about it. I'll let you know soon.
Renee, Glad you are feeling better. I don't remember where you are, but check out Alegiant Air.
The rate I got from them was less than $300 (Still horrendous and I'm back to considering driving)
:-)
Craig,
Current count is 11 with Renee undecided. Who do you want to contact the hotel to negotiate rooms and rates?
I know it is not convienient but if yall would look to slide the dates toward the middle of the week you might find the hotels a bit if not a lot cheaper. Last time I was in VegasI paid $27 for a night at one of the big hotels on the strip on a Tuesday night. just a thought.
yo soy Horsedooty!
Dooty, We are trying to coincide everything with an appearance that Craig already has booked. You are right about the rates. If people can adjust time off to do 10/9-10, It might be a great deal less expensive. Up to Fearless Leader.
Jamie: I checked America West and Alaska Air and the best I found was %250 r/t.
Here is the trick I found. Keep checking all the flight search engines and then check again. Depending on seat availability the price may vary and sometimes within a few minutes of the last time you checked.
Horsedooty is right about the midweek and hotel room prices. The same holds true for airlines. Both will most likely be less.
Dooty & Sable, We need a poll of some sort from the crowd.
Who could make it for the 9/10. Craig has an event on the 10th. Does that conflict with flight out/time availability etc.?
I'm retired so it is a never mind for me, but others might have conflicts with weekdays.
as far as my speech on the 10th, i'd have no prob with anyone attending, but it is another group's convention and i'd have to ask them about it, they might be wiggly about it, i'll check
I think h'dooty was just talking about going in later, but I need to include a weekend in that due to work, so I will be there 6th - 10th...not sure about staying longer.
If we do our own thing on the hotels, I'm going to stay on the strip & everyone is welcome to use my room as a gathering place/regrouping facility if they stay outside of Las Vegas.
jamie: Myself I am flexible. We just need to know which dates so the Hubby can request his vacation time.
Would need to check with the hotel, but we might be able to set aside a block of rooms for the five nights of 10/6 - 10/10. If we make our get together for a show the evening of the 8th or 9th, then everyone could come early or stay late as they chose. Hotels can be pretty flexible if they get enough of the group calling in and guaranteeing their rooms. It's just a matter of someone staying on top of the situation to keep track of the number of reservations they have received and whether or not we want to release rooms that have been set aside.
This is turning into hotel hell, but jamie & I are working on it; it may be more feasible for each of us to go it alone. We'll let you know ASAP.
I'm one of those people who wants to have everything settled immediately. (I almost had my own booked before the suggestion came up about a group deal.)
Also checking into group ticket prices for events today. Hope to have an update sometime on Monday.
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Blue: Check with USAir/America West and Southwest. USAir just completed a merger with AW who had a good sized hub in LAS. Southwest also runs a lot of flights there as well. Call the group sales and talk to them. If they do so they will have a booking code for a group rate.
While saying this, it may still be better to look on the big search engines for the best deal on fares. Even with a group rate from a specific airline it still pays to check.
Something to look forward to...
Something Fun
Have called several places today & the biggest problem will be that we aren't really booking as a group, as people will need to call in to rez with their own dates & crdit card info. Puts a whammy on the whole deal, but it was a good thought to whomever suggested it.
Click on "preview a tour" at the top.
Least expensive was the Stratosphere: $129 - $149 on the weekend & $79 - $99 during the week.
There is a $5 resort fee that gets youn into their Las Vegas review (nothing says cheese like impersonators) & up to the observation tower between 10 am & 2 pm (which is when most tourist are sleeping, I'd wager)
& also 2 for 1 tickets to "BITE."
(How do you feel about topless, rock & roll vampires?
From the hotels I've contacted, booking for a group requires one person to tie up their credit card & I'd also wager that I will get the same response from the Stratosphere's group sales department on Monday.
So, it looks like it's every man for himself as far as sleeping arrangements are concerned.
I will check with the sales desk for Zumanity on Monday to see if we could get a deal on a block of tickets & will check out the Gospel Brunch thing, too.
Because it is a holiday weekend, rooms are going fast.
No idea what the Stratosphere is like; probably safer to stay put if you already have a room reserved somewhere else.
One more down toward the convention center area; the Riviera is $139 - $199 depending on the day of the week & room size.
Here's a chuckle: The Venetian runs from $279/night, no view, no break for weekdays up to $309 w/view & $469 for the concierge floor.
I stayed on a concierge floor once. I tried to get my money's worth in free alcohol & pastries in the lounge. Didn't even come close.
Saturday nights seem to be every other hotel's cash cow. If you could just store your luggage somewhere & stay up all night and until 3pm check-in on Sunday, you'd have it made.
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sable - Good suggestion for people to try to work individual deals on flight/hotel packages.
Also, you may want to buy or see if your local library has a copy of the city's Econoguide or a Fodor's Las Vegas.
We don't seem to qualify as an actual group; everyone will need to make their own arrangements, unless the Stratoshpere rep offers an option nobody else has made.
sable - If you want to call & get info anywhere, please feel free to do so and share it with everyone.
This was just meant to be a thread so we could keep the chat in one place.
this sure has been an eye-opener for me, i had no idea vegas was in october rivals New York City hotel prices. i have a book manuscript due in early sept or i would try to go earlier, but have to stay off the road as much as possible this summer. we live and learn, mebbe next year we shoot for summetime.
First, the good news; not everything is as complicated as hotel rez.
HOB/Gospel Brunch tickets for Oct will go on sale in Sept. IF people want to go to that, will need to choose 10 am or 1 pm & who will jump in the water first. That person will need to get a confirmation number and an identifying name, say crawfordslist or something, and let everyone else know; each will call in & buy their own tickets: $42 for dinner & show. They will build a database in their system and try to seat us together.
Zumanity suggested that we book as soon as we are able since it's a busy weekend. Since we will all have to book & charge these on our own, the rep suggested that one person is designated to jump in the water first on a specific day & ask for their tickets in an area with alot of available seating. Post the confirmation number ASAP so everyone else can call in and try to get tickets in the same general area. Their group sales office is open tomorrow, so I will see if there is a way to get a price break with us booking individualy.
Still checking on Stratosphere group rates, but may be less expensive downtown, etc., and may run into the same issue of not g'teeing all the rooms on one cc.
Will pass the info along when the sale person calls me tomorrow, but think I'm still making my own arrangements elsewhere since I'm coming in early.
Craig - Glad you are back at work on the book after being sidelined by that tree. Maybe next one will co-incide with the book tour?
Hey gang....Rick and I have decided not to go to Vegas as we are already planning a 2-week vacation in the four corners region in Sept.
Craig...please shoot for something in the spring if you are still talking about Vegas...I'm sure most of us northerns are not into 112 degree heat...
rr - Ah, I'll miss meeting you in October! I'm locked in to go already & can't wait to get there.
Maybe this is just a recon mission for a bigger event. Summer isn't really that bad; you're inside 90% of the time & it's ~dry heat~.
I'm booked! Couldn't believe how many seats on the flight were already taken.
Downtown may be less expensive:
Try Binion's Horseshoe Ranch Hotel & Casino (binions.com)
or
Golden Nugget (goldennugget.com)
or
Las Vegas Club Hotel & Casino (vegasclubcasino.net)
No word from the Stratosphere yet, plus, no clear head count & our group has dwindled by two (Mr. & Mrs. rr).
One more thought to save money: If you want to take a late flight home, check out of your hotel at noon & have them store your luggage for a few hours.
Bally's is the least expensive on the strip that I have found & right next to where I need to be Friday night, so I'm booked there.
getting there late saturday nite, like 11pm Oct. 7. i'm up for the early HOB brunch, 10am if ok with others but the later one alright if group prefers. there will be 4 in my group.
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