How to Book a Las Vegas Hotel

There are so many hotels in Las Vegas it can be overwhelming to pick one to stay at. There are many different price points, booking options, and partnerships. Many of these provide different avenues for savings. With all that in mind, this post will run through several of the major options to save money and stay where you want. Ultimately, this should help you answer the question: “How to Book a Las Vegas Hotel.”

Major Hotel Partnerships

World of Hyatt and MGM

Hyatt Hotels’ rewards program, World of Hyatt, has a partnership with MGM. With this partnership, World of Hyatt members are able to earn Hyatt points (in addition to the regular MGM Rewards Tier Credits) at all MGM properties in Las Vegas. Just like Hyatt hotels, guests will earn five Hyatt Points per dollar of eligible spend on the room bill. In Vegas, there are a lot of things that can be charged to a room. This means that a large number of Hyatt points can be earned through this partnership. Stays at MGM properties also earn elite night credit.

The partnership also includes reciprocal elite status. Therefore, if you have Hyatt elite status, you can receive up to MGM Gold status through an automatic match. The worthwhile benefits of MGM status include a priority line for checking in at hotels (which can cut quite a line), access to the VIP line at certain MGM nightclubs, resort fees waived (which can save up around $45/night), priority restaurant reservations, priority line at buffets, complimentary self-parking, and a complimentary room upgrade. As you can see, there are some nice benefits mixed in that will have the potential to save you a lot of money.

Another benefit of the partnership is that Hyatt points can be redeemed for stays at MGM properties. These properties range from 12,000 to 21,000 Hyatt points per night. The prices of hotels in Vegas are often relatively inexpensive. This makes the points redemptions a poor value the majority of the time. However, there are certain circumstances where it makes sense to redeem points. These times are generally when special events are going on in Vegas or during holidays. Hyatt points are typically valued around 1.5 cents each. That means the break-even point between cash and points is about $180/night (for 12,000 point hotels) and $315/night (for 21,000 point hotels).

The MGM Hotels that participate in this partnership include:

• ARIA
• Bellagio
• Delano
• Excalibur
• Luxor
• Mandalay Bay
• MGM Grand
• New York New York
• NoMad
• Park MGM
• The Mirage
• The Signature at MGM Grand
• Vdara

Caesars and Wyndham

Another partnership between a Vegas hotel and a nationwide travel program is Caesars and Wyndham Rewards. Similar to the Hyatt and MGM partnerships, there are reciprocal points earning and redemption. There is also elite membership matching agreements. The Platinum and Diamond levels between Caesars and Wyndham Rewards match to each other. This status match has its benefits as well. These include a monthly free online bet credit at a sportsbook, no resort fees, a $100 annual dining credit, complimentary parking, and priority check-in lines.

On the redemption side, Wyndham (and thus Caesars) makes the majority of their rooms available for either 15,000 or 30,000 points per night. Similar to the Hyatt redemptions, these are often not a good deal. In fact, some of them are downright horrible values. For example, a midweek stay at the Rio costs 15,000 points per night or just $37/night. That would be a terrible use of points, so do your due diligence before booking something this way. Wyndham points are often valued at around 0.6 cents each. Therefore, a 15,000-point hotel should cost at least $90/night before paying with points. A 30,000 point/night hotel needs to cost at least $180/night to come out ahead on points. Therefore, there will likely be more value in more expensive properties when using points.

The Caesars Hotels that participate in this partnership include:

• Bally‘s
• Harrah’s
• Rio
• Caesars Palace
• Paris
• The Cromwell
• The LINQ Hotel and Casino
• Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino

Credit Card Hotel Bookings

AMEX Fine Hotels and Resorts

American Express (AMEX) runs a premium hotel program named “Fine Hotels and Resorts”. As a complement to this program, they also run one called “The Hotel Collection”. Both of these are a select group of hotels that when booked through American Express as a cardholder you get offered additional perks. However, in order to use Fine Hotels and Resorts/The Hotel Collection you need to be an AMEX Platinum cardholder. If you are able to use this program, you will receive additional perks at the hotel which could include a room upgrade, late checkout, $100 hotel credit, and free breakfast. The vast majority of the time, bookings through the AMEX hotel program are equal to the best standard cash rate. Therefore, this won’t help you save any money on the room, but it will provide extra perks for the same price.

However, for those with the AMEX Platinum card, one of the benefits is a $200 hotel credit for a hotel reservation booked through their service. If you have this remaining, it is a good way to save some money on a Vegas hotel stay.

The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection (Chase Hotel Program)

The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection (LHR) is Chase’s response to American Express’s Fine Hotels and Resorts. Bookings through The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection have similar benefits to those provided by AMEX. This includes daily breakfast for two, a benefit worth up to $100, a room upgrade (if available), and early check-in/late check-out (if available).

A large number of Chase credit cards have access to LHR bookings. However, I would caution prospective bookers to look at the prices carefully. In a handful of test bookings for identical dates, the LHR price was anywhere between $50 and $120 more expensive than AMEX Fine Hotels and Resorts. Very often, the perks aren’t as great as Fine Hotels and Resorts as well. American Express’s program always offers a $100 credit; however, many of the LHR properties in Las Vegas are only offering a $25 – $30 daily food and beverage credit (max of 3 days). For a 3-day stay, you are coming out $10 less than AMEX. Any number of days less than 3 only worsens the deal.

Overall, LHR is an option. However, seriously consider the alternatives based on the sampling above before going this route.

Cash Bookings

There is a popular phrase that says: “Cash is King”. I have put together enough itineraries and bookings using points, credit card booking programs, and other methods to know that this isn’t always true. However, there is at least some accuracy to this saying regarding Las Vegas. Because Las Vegas resorts generally have low prices (especially mid-week), the value of booking with points isn’t really there many times. However, that’s not really a bad thing. The silver lining is the prices are low.

With all-cash hotel bookings, you can use a cashback portal to save a little money. For example, several travel booking portals were offering between 3% and 6% on hotel bookings. That isn’t something to ignore; however, many times you will want to question if the savings are worth the downsides. If anything goes wrong with the hotel booking, you will have to work with Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity, etc… instead of directly with the hotel. You also won’t receive any elite credits, points, or benefits. For those with any level of elite status, this often means forgoing waived resort fees. With resort fees normally being more than $40/night, don’t trade 3% – 6% for that.

Bottom Line

When it comes to Vegas, there are several options for booking hotels. Everyone probably won’t have access to all of these options, but everyone is likely to have at least a couple of options. Do cost comparisons of cash versus points to see which is the better value. If points are the best, go with the points you have or where you want to stay. If cash is best, check to see if the price vs benefits of the luxury hotel programs make sense. From there, book the hotel you want. While it can be complicated, hopefully this simplifies it a little. As always, if you have any questions about booking hotels in Las Vegas, leave the questions in a comment below.