We are planning a trip to Las Vegas in February. How good of a deal can we get?

Las Vegas travelers are grouped into two categories; a) tourists and b) players.

If you are a tourist and do not plan to gamble much then I would recommend that you wait until 3 to 4 weeks ahead of time and look at http://www.travelzoo.com for their current deals especially if your travel dates are a bit flexible. If you check your dates and there are not big conventions in town and you are not going to be there on a Friday or Saturday than I recommend you just come to town and walk into a few hotels ask for their best rate. Most hotels have a managers rate that they will give out when they are not full that is better than anything you can get on-line. The risk is that the town gets busy and it gets hard to find a room.

Many people do not consider themselves players, but you only need to bet an average hand of $100 at the tables to get treated well. To play a $100 average hand you should consider starting out with $5,000 or more. It is my experience that on the low end of the scale a hotel will allow you between 15% and 25% of your theoretical loss as a comp or discount against your food, beverage and room and if you are a big gambler up to 40%. The theoretical is calculated a bit differently for every game, but let’s just say that it averages 2% of each bet you make. So if you are at the tables for 4 hours a day and your average bet is $100 at 30 bets an hours is $3000 per hour. 2% of that is $60 x 4 hours a day is $240 * 20% = $120 per day probable comp by the casino. Double your betting or time at the tables and your theoretical doubles. You can generally use this against food, beverage, room and entertainment.

If you have a stake that you can afford to gamble of $5,000 or more than you probably want to call your favorite casino and ask for a host. He will ask you to set up a line of credit before you come by filling out a credit application he will send to you. The higher the line you are approved for the more he will guarantee up front. Your first time there they will not give you an open account for comps as they see lots of players that have money but do not gamble much or enough. They want to see you gamble at least 4 hours a day. If you play less than that they will not score you well and you will also not qualify for much of a theoretical total. However it is important to get an agreement with your host before you show up for how much of your theoretical he will give you against room food and beverage. The casinos track this very closely and they are happy to share the information with players that know to ask. The host will try to take care of you and give you as much as he can since he wants you back.

If you want a line of credit between $5K and 10K you may want to consider The Hard Rock, Monte Carlo or Tropicana. If you can afford more than that try the MGM, Bellagio or the Venetian. Just call them and ask for a casino host. If you need a list of phone numbers for the hotels try http://lasvegas.nyctourist.com