Money Saving Tips on the Las Vegas Strip

The city brims with an amazing variety of things to do and experiences to relish. More things are happening in Vegas than you can ever imagine doing in your lifetime. Bright lights, a mere icing to the extravagant measure of pleasures it holds within. From luscious culinary escapes and mind blowing shows, to the adrenaline-pumping, heart racing activities thrill seekers adore, there’s much in Vegas that caters to anyone’s indulgence.

Like most of us, how we enjoy our time in Vegas depends on how much we can stretch our dollars. Saving more means you can prioritize your spending on things you like without feeling too much compromise. Are you planning for your next Vegas escapade? Here are some smart ways you can cut costs on the Las Vegas Strip.

Please check out our other articles on Vegas you might find useful:
a. Our Favorite Places to Eat on the Las Vegas Strip
b. 20 Most Popular Shows in Las Vegas You Need to Experience
c. 11 Awesome Ways to Enjoy Las Vegas for Non-Gamblers

Find Great Savings on Hotels

Timing, timing and did I mention, timing? When it comes to getting the best room rates possible even when staying on some of the more luxurious hotels on the Strip, you have to time your stay around some of the busiest days in Vegas. A basic understanding of supply and demand can help you save money even when staying right on the coveted Las Vegas Strip.

a. Plan to Stay on Weekdays

Vegas rooms are cheapest during weekdays, specifically Mondays through Thursdays, when crowds are smaller and hotels are bringing prices down to entice guests to book their rooms. Rooms rates are highest on Fridays and Saturdays, and comparably a bit lower on Sundays.

b. Dodge Big Convention Dates

When it comes to conventions and business meetings, Vegas leads the pack and holds the title as the undisputed convention capital of the world. Over 20,000 conventions and events are held in Vegas each year. That brings in a lot of people that will undoubtedly bring room rates up. Here’s a link to Vegas’ convention calendar so you can plan ahead.

c. Find Hotels with No Resort Fees

If you’re unfamiliar with what resort fees are, these are surcharges added to your daily room rate to cover phone charges, WiFi connection or even for using the pool or resort area. When booking your hotel online, room rates might not be much but wait until you add up taxes and daily resort fees. During our recent stay at Bally’s, resort fees add up at a rate of about $40 per day. Since over 90% of Vegas hotels charge resort fees, people generally think of it as an inevitable part of their hotel booking. If you want to do away with hotel fees, here is a handful of Vegas hotels with no added resort fees as of October 2019.

• Americas Best Value Inn
• Casino Royale Best Western Plus
• Desert Rose Resort
• Four Queens
• Lucky club
• Marriott Las Vegas
• La Quinta Inn & Suites
• Residence Inn
• Red Roof Inn
• Royal Resort
• Travelodge Center Strip
• WorldMark Las Vegas Blvd
• WorldMark Tropicana
• Wyndham Desert Blue
• Wyndham Grand Desert

d. Book Your Stay with Hotels.com

Apart from great room rates and landing a phenomenal discount on room deals, Hotels.com gives you a free room after 10 bookings through their site or mobile app. The value of your free room is equivalent to the average value of the 10 rooms you’ve previously booked. It’s a great way to save money on your hotel stays and getting a free room is a most welcomed perk when traveling. Some cash back credit cards offer up to 3% on travel expenses such as hotel stays & airfare. Use them when you book to save up even more.

e. Avoid Fight Nights or any Huge Gaming Events

Fight Nights are such magnanimous crowd magnets that makes it extremely challenging to secure low room rates. Unless you are there to watch the fight or the game, it is best to plan your Vegas trip around them. You can check out Vegas’ fight calendar by clicking here.

f. Take Advantage of Various Discounts that Hotels Offer

One way to save money on the strip is to check if your hotel offers discounts if you belong to any of the following below. Be sure to call and verify with your hotel before you book. Discounts are usually run at around 10% of your total or 10% of your lowest nightly rate.

1. Military or Veterans – bring your military ID for a 10% discount on some hotels
2. First Responders – Caesar Entertainment offers a 10% discount to first responders and local heroes including EMTs, Police Officers and Fire Fighters.
3. Teacher & Student Discounts – Caesar Entertainment offers a 10% discount on their lowest room rates if you are a teacher or student. Click here for more details on how to avail Caesar’s room discounts for teachers and students, as well as military and first responders.
4. American Automobile Association(AAA) membership – if you are a member of AAA, you might be eligible up to 20% on room rates. Click here for more details.
5. Local Resident Discount – Vegas shows a lot of love to their local residents, specifically residents of Clark County Nevada. You can enjoy discounts on room rates, monorail rates and even attractions like the High Roller at the Linq and Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

g. Join a Hotel’s Membership for Discounts

Almost every hotel in Vegas has some kind of a membership or gaming club as they call it to treat loyal customers with room discounts, dining packages and other perks.

Here are some of the programs you can join:

• Caesar Rewards
• M Life
• Wynn Insider (or Red Card)
• Grazie Loyalty Program

Find Great Savings on Dining

Unlike hotel accommodations with fluctuating room prices dependent on the day of the week or whether or not a massive event is taking place, finding great deals on food largely comes down to finding Vegas restaurants serving reasonably priced meals without leaving a dent on your bank account. Gone are some of Vegas’ cheap eats of old with several buffets costing almost $100 per person. Bally’s esteemed Sterling Brunch costs an astounding $125 per person, but well worth for servings of unlimited lobster tails, fresh seafood, prime steaks and premium champagne. But if you want to save money without putting too much compromise on your culinary experience, here are a few of our tips that might help.

a. Find Cheap Good Eats on the Strip

Seek, and you shall find a handful of places serving up good food without the occasional ‘ouch!’ when it’s time to foot the bill.

To name a few, here are some restaurants serving up cheap eats on the strip.

1. Tom’s Urban near New York New York – American gastropub serving up American classics and snacks
2. Five50 Pizza at the Aria – Premium pizza baked in a 550F brick oven for that perfect char on the crust, and topped with an array of toppings.
3. Village Pub & Cafe at Ellis Island Casino & Brewery – classic American diner food with a phenomenal Steak and Eggs for only $6.99!
4. Ramen-Ya at Grand Bazaar Shops near Bally’s – great place for a delicious bowl of Japanese Ramen without having to drive to China Town.
5. Olives at the Bellagio – flavorful array of Mediterranean fare at a decent price.
6. Cabo Wabo at the Miracle Mile Shops – $3 Street Tacos during Happy Hours weekdays from 3pm – 5pm.
7. Food Courts – hard to beat food courts when it comes to procuring quick inexpensive eats at the convenience of the hotel you’re staying in. Check out this article showcasing some of the best food courts on the Las Vegas Strip.

b. Take Advantage of Buffet Transition Periods

Most buffets charge different rates for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. if the buffet charges $29 for lunch which ends at 3pm, and $39 for dinner starting at 3pm, you can arrive earlier, pay with lunch rates, and wait while they swap out lunch items with pricier dinner items.

c. Eat a Big Breakfast or Dinner

Vegas is known for a lot of things, one of which is the lavish buffets with exorbitant amounts of food and their all-you-can-eat dining options. It’s literally a foodie’s paradise of unlimited upscale dining to your heart’s content. With that being said, if you regularly eat three meals a day, you can eat one big meal at a buffet and order appetizers or desserts the rest of the day. Think of it as saving money on more expensive entrees, plus tax, tips and other service charges. It‘s a win-win.

d. Dinner and Shows

Most Vegas Hotels that offer nightly shows have restaurants offering pre-theater menus, which is a convenient and affordable way to dine in opulence before watching your show.

Please click here for a list of some of the best prix-fixe options in Vegas.

Find Great Savings on Airfare

Within the continental United States, driving to Vegas is always an option to consider especially if don’t live too far. However, for some, flying is the only option or maybe a personal preference when it comes down to comfort and convenience.

a. Plan Your Trip and Purchase Airline Tickets Ahead

Don’t wait too long to purchase your airline tickets. As a general rule of thumb, purchase your tickets at least a month ahead for domestic flights, and three months ahead for international flights. The sooner you purchase your tickets, the better the chances of procuring your preferred flight itinerary at an affordable price. Once you know your schedule, log in online and start shopping for deals.

b. Compare Flight Search Engines

When it comes to airline ticket shopping, never just settle for the first flight you find. With just a few clicks on a mouse, you can take full advantage of the power of the internet by utilizing flight search engines. With sites like Skyscanner, Momondo, Expedia, or even Google Flights, you can search and compare hundreds of available flights to your intended destination quickly and efficiently. You can save even more by bundling your tickets with your hotel bookings.

c. Choose your Travel Dates

Most people fly in to Vegas for a weekend getaway. Hence, plane tickets going into Vegas are most expensive on a Friday, and planes returning from Vegas are most expensive on a Sunday. If planning on a weekend getaway, you can at least leave on a Monday when airfares are cheaper. Cheapest travel dates almost always falls on weekdays, arriving on a Tuesday and leaving Thursdays. From Chicago to Vegas, tickets are as low as $64 both ways on those days. Crazy cheap, right? Flights are also cheaper if you opt for the earliest or the latest flight as these are less popular. However, the times might not ideal to your time spent in Vegas, so plan your trip carefully.

d. Use Travel Cash Back or Airline Miles Credit Cards

Getting points or cash back from money spent on airfare is just as good as money saved on your tickets. Airline credit cards are great in helping you accrue points, flight miles and free upgrades for a certain airline. However, if you don’t have an airline preference, cash back credit cards offer a great alternative as they cover travel expenditures without being exclusive to a certain airline. We use the Uber Credit Card from Barclays as they give 3% back on travel expenditures.

Find Great Savings on Shows and Attractions

Marvelous shows and world-class entertainment is what makes Vegas an esteemed one-stop destination that could only we summed up in one word, spectacular! But just like most things in Vegas, they can be costly especially for bigger groups.

a. Get the Las Vegas Explorer Pass

The Explorer Pass allows you to prepay for certain attractions and shows in Vegas at a discounted price. It’s a great way to experience Vegas while having the peace of mind that you’re getting a great deal. You can pick a 3, 4, 5 or 7-Explorer pass and pay online. Then you can either download the app or print the barcode at home. You can then take the pass with you to be scanned for admission. Just remember that the pass is activated from the time you scan your first attraction. You will then have 30 days to visit your remaining attractions. Please click here to read more about the Explorer Pass and the attractions it includes.

b. Get 50% off Show Tickets

Tix4Tonight offers half off tickets to Vegas shows, dining and activities. No worries, according to their website, you can now buy tickets in advance and not worry about being limited to same day activities. You can buy discounted tickets through their website online or through their booths located throughout Vegas. You can also purchase by phone by calling (877)849-4868.

c. Book Shows and Attraction Tickets using Deal Sites

Sometimes finding great deals is just a few keystrokes away with the power of the World Wide Web. Sites like Groupon, CheapoVegas, and Vegas.com are gold mines for amazing deals all over Vegas including shows and attraction tickets. Before you make your purchase, do your research and find the best deals.

Find Great Savings on Transportation Costs within Vegas

Transportation getting around Vegas is something you need to consider if you’re serious about saving money. Public transportation means are readily available. But with so many things to do and places to go, these costs will add up to a pretty penny.

a. Stay in a Hotel Located on the Strip and Start Walking

You might think hotels on the Strip are expensive, but if you follow the tips mentioned earlier in this article, you’ll be surprised how reasonable room rates are on the Vegas Strip. Location is key since majority of the fun things to do in Vegas are located right on the strip. Hotels are conjoined with skywalks which makes it easier and safer to get from one hotel to the next. Depending on your Vegas trip itinerary, you can spend virtually nothing on transportation (apart from airport transportation, of course) since almost everything is within walking distance. Perfect way to burn off those extra buffet calories, do a little sightseeing and my personal favorite, people watching.

b. Use App-Based Transportation like Uber or Lyft

Taxis are ubiquitous throughout Las Vegas. But times have changed and app-based transportation services like Uber or Lyft offer a cheaper alternative to an otherwise pricier taxi service. Depending on your destination or how heavy traffic is, we might be looking at a savings of around 5 – $10 each way. There’s just this minor inconvenience of having to wait for the driver or find the Uber/Lyft pickup area versus having a line of taxis waiting for passengers as they walk out of their hotels.

c. Take the Monorail

At $5 each ride, or $12 for a full day pass (cheaper as you purchase more days), it’s one of the best ways to get around Vegas especially for smaller groups. Please click here to check out their stops and complete list of ticket prices.

d. Pass on Car Rentals

If you are considering renting a car for safety and convenience, by all means go for it. However, do consider that parking fees can quickly add up.

e. Take the Free Trams

Unlike the Las Vegas Monorail which is a ticketed train system, Vegas also has free trams that goes back and forth with stops at certain hotels. These trams are financed by the hotels and are free of charge to the public. The following are the free tram systems in Vegas.

1. Mandalay Bay to Luxor to Excalibur Tram
2. Park MGM to Aria to Bellagio Tram
3. Mirage to Treasure Island Tram

Other Random Money Saving Tips

a. Check out some Free Vegas Attractions

• Bellagio Conservatory
• Fremont Street Experience
• Bellagio Fountains
• The LINQ Promenade
• Streetmosphere
• Palazzo Waterfall Atrium
• Welcome to Las Vegas Sign
• Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo

b. Get the V-Card

• the V-Card is a VIP pass for participating Vegas clubs. You can also enjoy exclusive discounts with this card.

c. Enjoy free drinks at casino floor as you gamble

d. Setting aside a little fun money or budget for gambling

e. Go to Walgreens or CVS and buy your snacks, bottled water and toiletries there. It’s a lot cheaper than the ones you get at your hotel.