Las Vegas Hotel Deals

Last update: August 27, 2023

Stay for free on your next visit

Here's our best tip for Las Vegas hotels for cheap:  Casinos will send you offers for free or deeply discounted rooms for your next visit if you simply sign up for a free Player's Card and use it when you're playing slots or table games, even if you don't play very much.  Sometimes they'll make these offers even if you never use the card at all.  As I write this I'm staying for three nights for free, on a weekend, at a casino that I think I played maybe an hour or two of blackjack in, two years ago.  Another time I stayed for three nights for free at one of the nicest strip resorts a full thirteen years after I played there, minimally.  Sign up for a Player's Card at every casino you visit, whether you're staying there or not, and whether you expect to gamble there or not.  If you do gamble, either table games or slots, be sure to use the card.

This doesn't help you for the visit you're about to make, but it's the #1 way to get a great deal on your next visit.

Timing is Everything

Hotel rates vary widely depending on when you visit.  The most expensive times are:

• Weekends.  Rates are about 2.5x Sunday through Thursday rates.
• Holidays.  Especially July 4, Memorial Day, Halloween, New Year's Eve
• Special Events.  CES (Jan.), Superbowl (Feb.), Formula 1 (Nov.)

This is just a short summary.  See Cheapest and Most Expensive Times to Visit for the details.

Location matters

The Strip — Strip hotels are generally the most expensive.  On the strip, Strat, Circus Circus, NY NY, and Excalibur usually have the lowest prices.

Downtown — Downtown digs are generally cheaper than the Strip, and downtown is only 1.5 miles from the Strip (and there's a bus that runs 24/7), so you'll never be far from the action.

Off-Strip — There are many hotel-casinos near the strip but not quite on it.  See my list of near-strip casinos.

Get a room upgrade for $20

A little-known tip is that you can usually get a nice room upgrade by tipping $20 to the front desk. Put the $20 between your ID and your credit card, then casually ask if there are any complimentary room upgrades available.  Most front desk staff will give the $20 back if they can't help you. More about this at FrontDeskTip.com.

Be aware of Resort Fees

Nearly every hotel/casino in Vegas charges a bullsh!t "resort fee" of $20-50 per night, that's separate from the room rate.  At least they don't multiply it by the number of guests.

There are a few ways around the resort fee:

• Comps.  If you gamble, the casino might waive the resort fee if you ask.  See my comps page for more.
• Bribes.  When you check in, sandwich a $20 bill between your ID and your credit card and ask if it's possible to waive the resort fee.  Instead, you could ask if there are any complimentary room upgrades available, which you might enjoy more than having your resort fee waived.  This bribery works at most strip hotels, most of the time.  I've done it successfully myself.
• Preferred Status.  You get points from stays at a hotel's network and by gambling as a (free) member of a casino network's player's club.  Get enough points, and they'll waive the resort fee.
• Stay elsewhere.  Hotels without an attached casino often don't have resort fees.  There's also Airbnb.

The hotels say the resort fee gives you things like WiFi and fitness center access, which isn't really true: they can't tie those amenities to the fee, because everyone has to pay the fee, so there's no such thing as not getting those amenities.  If the fee were optional, and not paying it meant that you didn't get the extra services, then they could say that the fee got you the services.  But since the fee is mandatory, it's not buying you extra services; everyone gets those services because everyone has to pay.

Vegas Hotel Search Engines

Some of these let you search for either strip-only or downtown-only.

• Expedia
• TravelNow
• Travelocity

See my Vegas map so you can see where these hotels are.

Hotel taxes

The tax rate for hotels on and near the Strip is 13.38%.  Elsewhere (like Downtown and Boulder Highway), it's a little less, 13%.  Resort fees are subject to the hotel tax, too.

Lawsuit says hotels conspired to fix prices

A 2023 lawsuit alleges that hotels conspired to fix prices, by using a vendor whose algorithm sought to maximize prices and set them irrespective of demand (i.e., not a free market). (The Street) 

Death of the $16 room at the Western

For years, my favorite deal was the $16 room at The Western, the sleaziest and most dangerous casino in all of Vegas.  I took advantage of a $16 room there as late as 2001.  It was $16 even on the weekends!  However, by 2007 the price had gone up to $35/night weekday and $55/night weekends, and then the whole place went out of business not long after that.

I was tipped off to the Western before my first Vegas trip by reading the hilarious story Las Vegas on $19 a day.  Here's the hilarity that ensued when I tried to make a reservation by phone.