Orleans Hotel in Vegas - will I need a car?

[Booknut]

I can't believe the disboard has a section for Las Vegas...I love it!

I've read some good reviews on tripadvisor and on here for the Orleans hotel and it is such good value, so we're thinking of staying there for our trip first week of December.

However, we aren't sure whether or not we'll need a car for that week. We've never been to Las Vegas and just plan on hanging around the hotels, maybe having a day out at the shopping outlets and another day trip out to Red Rock Canyon.

We are debating having a car for the full week, just a couple of days or not at all. Would love to hear from you who have stayed at this hotel and whether or not you had a car.

The quotes i'm getting for car rental for 5 days are around £140 (approx $265) as we are in England and have to pay full insurance on the car rental.

Any advice would be great, thanks!

 

[almacdonald]

Myself, i would choose a hotel on the strip for the convenience factor. Off-strip hotels might have a lower nightly price but how much is your time worth? We went to the Rio one night to see Penn & Teller and spent nearly an hour waiting for space on the shuttle (we could have walked it in that amount of time!) That's a lot of vacation time if you spend an hour each day getting to and from the strip! Even if you rent a car you have to wait in the ridiculous vegas traffic. Renting a car also means that someone will have to abstain from all of those tasty margaritas. And don't forget that the parking garages are usually pretty far from the action. Sign up for email offers from the hotels, keep checking back for special rates. I bet you'll find some awesome deals for early December.

 

[sharonrs50]

We enjoy staying at The Orleans.

I would recommend renting a car. The Orleans is a couple of miles off the strip. There is free parking at all the casinos. It would give you much greater flexibility.

Red Rock Park is very pretty, and worth a visit. The Hoover Dam is also worth a visit.

Sharon

 

[sharonrs50]

I disagree. We did not waste a lot of time staying off strip. Get yourself a couple of good maps and use the back streets, not Las Vegas Blvd. The effort was worth the savings in $$. We did not have to stay in a dump to save big money, just by driving one or two miles off strip. The Orleans is a beautiful hotel. We also enjoyed seeing Green Valley Ranch Casino (not on strip), Sam's Town (fun, kind of campy, good laser light show in atrium), Palms (hip, youthful), The Rio (free show in casino), the cactus garden in Henderson (used to be Ethel M's), just to name a few.

The Las Vegas Advisor has a couple of good articles on how to best negotiate back streets and avoid traffic in Las Vegas. A little pre-preparation helps a lot. In my opinion, the parking lots to the casinos are not that far from the action. We enjoyed seeing other parts of Las Vegas that tourists don't take the time to see.

If you want more information, you are welcome to PM me.

Sharon

 

[Booknut]

Hmmm, I hadn't taken the margarita's and traffic into account...I might have to re-think our hotel now.

I did really like the look of the Orleans though. DH and I just figured why bother staying in one of the huge strip hotels where it might take 10-15 minutes to get from our room to the lobby!

We're hoping as we're going from 2 December to 7 December that it won't be so busy at that time of year.

Do you all stay at different hotels each time you go?

 

[sharonrs50]

You might also save money by staying at the Hilton. The monorail stops there. Sunday through Thursday is the cheapest time any time of the year. Then you wouldn't need a car. Do check out how much a taxi from the airport will be.

It can get cold in Vegas in December, as it is high dessert. Check the average temperatures for that time of year. I believe Christmas and New Year's Eve is the busy time for Vegas, not beginning of December.

Try using Travelaxe, a web comparison tool, to find the best rates.

We stay wherever we get the best deal, and I can tolerate the room. I have an allergy to smoke, so it has to be a newer hotel with a good ventilation system.

Sharon

 

[almacdonald]

We stayed in a small off-strip hotel on our first trip and MGM Grand last week. I loved MGM. We were miserable when we stayed off-strip. At the end of the day we'd be dead-tired and faced with a 20 minute walk AFTER we left the strip just to get to our hotel. The MGM is a fairly big hotel but the monorail runs right to it so if you find yourself far from your hotel and tired, it's a quick ride back (and there's a margarita stand between the hotel and monorail!) We went to the Premium Outlets one day (via the Deuce - runs up and down the strip and to Fremont St- and a transfer to route 108.) A day pass for the transit is $5. Depending how many people you're travelling with it's a fairly cheap way to get around and a decent way to see the strip and not have to walk all 7 miles! Sure we saved money staying off-strip but we more than saved that money in cab fares by staying at the MGM. Oh, and by the way, the bed there was AMAZING!

ETA: Taxi from the MGM to the airport = $7.95!!!! Best deal all week!

 

[sharonrs50]

Some of the off-strip hotels are as nice, if not nicer, than the strip hotels. It is just that the Las Vegas advertising has worked really well in their marketing. For example, one of the newest hotels is the Red Rock Casino, which is near Red Rock Park, and it is very nice. It is a full service hotel with spa. So is the Green Valley Ranch Resort, the JW Marriott, and The Suncoast. The Hilton is a big convention hotel off the monorail, and it has the Star Trek Experience.

You can always drink at your hotel before bed, as all the big hotels have bars and make margaritas.

Sharon

 

[Booknut]

Thanks for all your advice everyone.

Well, we've decided we're staying at either the New York, New York in a spa suite or we'll save and stay at the Orleans with the car. Either way we'll be in Vegas and i'm sure we'll have a great time!

We arrive on a Sunday afternoon and leave on a Friday afternoon so we won't be there during a very busy period. I hope the Xmas decorations are up for us though!

Thanks again!

 

[tracys2cents]

If you've got a whole week there I'd get a car.At hertz.com the rates that come up in pounds (for uk citizens) include all the insurances that are required. Use CDP number 62455 for a 10% discount and check United airlines website for coupon specials (you can sign up as united member online easily). Recently they had a $35 off per week coupon , but December coupons won't come up until later this year.

Red Rock Canyon is a nice trip....longer and well worth it in my opinion is Zion National Park in Utah (2.5hr drive from LV). You could also take a drive out to see Death Valley (2 hrs) or a beautiful mtn drive all around the perimeter of Lake Mead.

Do you need the car for the whole week? well, taking a taxi to the Orleans on arrival and departure is going to be almost $50 round trip. You'll probably take a cab a few times in 7 days meaning another $50. So the convenience of having the car all week might be worth the extra $100 expenditure. I think you'd definitely want to at least get a car for a day or two for excursions...and that would end up at least $100 so why not just get a car for the entire week at the weekly price if you can find a good one.

Rental rates do fluctuate, so book something, but check every now and then to see if the rate has dropped, then cancel and re-book .Don't book anything thats set in stone.

 

[tracys2cents]

Dont' book rooms just yet for Dec 2 through 7. That's low season and there are going to be great room specials that pop up. I would think that Orleans would be down to $45 a night or so. Maybe $90 on Friday.
Rather, don't book something that's not change-able when the "deals" pop up.

 

[Booknut]

Thanks Tracy, we definitely won't be booking until much nearer the time as we want the best deal possible plus we're not 100% sure if we want to do Vegas before or after our cruise!

In the meantime i'm going to have a great time researching all the hotels - planning is half the fun for me!

 

[almacdonald]

Read the fine print of the hotel's cancellation policy. Most hotels will allow you to change/cancel your reservation for free up to 48 hours in advance. Book the room(s) you're interested in now and change it and change it again when a better deal comes up.

 

[ZekeKelso]

Couple comments:

1) I really like staying at the Orleans. Fun place, great low-limit gambling, good reasonably priced restaurants, nice rooms etc. Go ahead and get the car. It saves on back/forth to the airport, plus 1-2 trips to places like Red Rock Canyon will help justify the cost.

2) Early December isn't necessarily super-low season. The Rodeo starts December 6. There should be some bargains, but you'll have to seek them out. Usually best to be book a fully refundable place to stay now, then be flexible and see what deals come along. Often, the best deals come 4-6 weeks ahead of time.

PS - Two great websites for researching hotels:

www.cheapovegas.com
http://las-vegas-hotels.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g45963-Las_Vegas_Nevada-Hotels.html

 

[ZekeKelso]

double post

 

[rabx5]

We stayed there last February. It was a nice hotel-HUGE casino-great security, but I would never stay there again. Their slot club sucks- you get points based on what you win-not what you stick into the machines. I really missed being on the strip-we did take the shuttle back and forth.