Travel Reviews - Las Vegas
Another segment I plan on adding is travel reviews. I don’t travel that often. Usually, an annual Vegas trip in August with a bunch of guys and a family trip in April (to a different destination every year). With Baby Expert coming in the next couple of months, the chance of traveling, other than the two annual events, is remote. I am still trying to work on a “couples only” trip for either November or February, but with so many friends having young children, I feel most won’t be able to travel or afford the trip.
This past February, I went to Las Vegas outside of my annual trip. It was for a bachelor party. In my younger days, when going to Vegas, I didn’t care where I stayed. I wanted somewhere decent and on the strip, but other than that, what did it matter? The first time I went, I spent 11 hours in my room over three days. Expensive hotels are a waste of money. For the bachelor party, I decided to change my thinking a bit. I shopped around for deals and found a great one at USAirways Vacations (see end of post for link). I was able to stay at the Bellagio for about $100/night.
The Bellagio is supposedly one of the fanciest hotels on the strip. In fact, it’s “5 Star” status makes it one of the nicest hotels in the country. I found it grossly overrated. The hotel is very nice and the grounds are beautiful. The restaurants are stellar, albeit extremely expensive. Where I found the hotel lacking were the rooms. They were nice and clean, but about half the size as rooms at the Rio, where I stayed on a previous trip. For the normal price of $400/night, I expect a lot more and was thankful I didn’t pay full price.
I would never recommend this hotel to anyone and have told people about my experiences when I get the chance. From other people I’ve talked to, TheHotel at Mandalay Bay and Venetian/Palazzo are on the same level in terms of quality, but give you much more bang for your buck.
I haven’t yet decided if I will have a generic “links” section to my site, but until I decide, here are a few travel links I highly recommend.
Trip Advisor - My father, Father Expert, uses this as his travel Bible and I happily followed his lead. I won’t make any plans without consulting this site first.
www.kayak.com - If you are looking for a hotel or flight unbundled, there is no site out there better. It scans almost every major airline and hotel chain, along with many of the travel sites like Orbitz and Priceline.
www.usairwaysvacations.com - I am not a shill for USAirways, and I know they have customer service issues, but if you need a flight/hotel package deal and you are traveling to one of the cities they list on their site (the list is huge, but not comprehensive), then I highly suggest starting here. You won’t be sorry.