Thank Goodness For Comp Rates

I am in the middle of a pre-long weekend work crunch.  Clients are pretty much coming out of the proverbial woodwork and the world may just end if I am not sitting at my desk this coming Thursday and Friday and working on their market research studies.  The "panic" that ensues when I go away is pretty funny and would be funnier if I didn't have to deal with it... and Todd only has it 72 times worse!   

So my point is, you ain't getting much out of me today and tomorrow... and my planned pre-posted entries will just fill you in on this year's Vegas entertainment choices, I know you have been just breathless in anticipation.

As mentioned yesterday, Vegas ain't cheap no more.  Oh sure, there are still $2.99 steak dinners to be had if you really look around... and a midweek visit may land you a decent room rate...  but Vegas these days is more about the gourmet dining and if you're going on the weekend and staying on/near the Strip you'll be lucky to land a room rate of under $200/night.

As I have mentioned before, I have a Harrahs comp card and boy does that come in handy!   A few years back I had "platinum" status... but a combination of them re-defining (raising!) the number of points to reach that level and not playing as often as I did in the past... I dropped the one level to their lowest level of "gold."   I feared that would be the end of my good comp offers.  But alas, and thankfully, that was not the case.

When we were booking the trip, I put in the dates without any of my comp card information.  I nearly choked at the a$280/average night rate I was given for our usual haunt, the off-strip Rio Hotel & Casino.   I put in my comp card account and the rate dropped by 25%... nice, but still a tad nose-scrunching.  Finally, I put in a "month of your birthday" room offer sent to me in the mail... and BINGO... 49% off of that original non-comp card rate (basically, giving me Thursday night for "free").

Now, the tricky part is keeping it a good deal... as the sayings go... "Vegas wasn't built on winners" and "You don't get something for nothing!"