Vegas Q&A: What's Best Way To Plan Vegas Trip?
UPDATED: 2:55 pm EDT August 6, 2004
LAS VEGAS -- Question:What’s the best way to go about planning a trip to Las Vegas? Should we use a travel agent or do it ourselves? Leslie in Altadena, Calif.
Answer: I’ve gotten in trouble before by suggesting that using a travel agent for a trip to Vegas is not the best route, so I’m not going to say that this time. There are definite benefits to letting someone else do all the work and you might be able to get deals through a travel agent that you can’t get anywhere else. Having said that, I still think doing it yourself is the best way to go. Travel agents everywhere are now typing me nasty e-mails. It’s more time consuming to be sure, but planning your own Vegas vacation usually guarantees you are going to have an experience that suits your needs and desires. Your first step is research. I can’t stress enough how important it is to get as many facts and opinions from as many different sources as humanly possible. There’s a lot of information out there. Our site, Vegas4Visitors.com, has reviews of hotels, shows, restaurants, attractions and more, but we’re not the only site on the web with this kind of information. There are probably three or four dozen that do the same thing and you should hit as many of them as possible. I have two warnings about Vegas Web sites, though. First, you should be leery of any site that has a ton of advertising from the subjects they are writing about. If you see banner advertising for hotels for instance, those hotels are paying for placement on the site. It isn’t too much of a stretch to believe the editors of those reviews are being a little more kind than they might otherwise be. I tend to trust sites a little more when they at least give the appearance of objectivity. Second, many Vegas Web sites are not updated as often as they should be. There’s one major site out there that shall go unnamed that still has a listing for The Castaways Hotel, even though that place closed earlier this year. Even our site, Vegas4Visitors.com, isn’t perfect. Things change so fast in Las Vegas it’s often hard to keep up. Just be sure to double check your information before making plans. You should also go to your local bookstore and pick up a travel guide or three. There are literally dozens of them and they all have their strengths and weaknesses, but in general, guide books offer the kind of unbiased opinion that can be valuable in trip planning. The only downside to guide books is the timeliness of the information. Most books are written as much as six months or more before they hit the shelves and then sit there for a year or more after that. This means you could pick up a book with listings and reviews for things that don’t exist anymore. Again, double and triple check before you get excited about something. Doing this kind of research will help you plan the Vegas trip you want, based upon what’s most important to you, whether it be budget, luxury, adventure, relaxation, or whatever. Once you’ve picked the things you want to do and the places you might want to stay, get on the phone and the web and start checking rates. Don’t be satisfied with one call to the main reservations number for a hotel. Check their Web site for deals, visit hotel booking Web sites and Vegas specific sites for other quotes. Do the work and you could save yourself a ton of dough. If you do the work now you can relax and have fun when you get there!
Answer: I’ve gotten in trouble before by suggesting that using a travel agent for a trip to Vegas is not the best route, so I’m not going to say that this time. There are definite benefits to letting someone else do all the work and you might be able to get deals through a travel agent that you can’t get anywhere else. Having said that, I still think doing it yourself is the best way to go. Travel agents everywhere are now typing me nasty e-mails. It’s more time consuming to be sure, but planning your own Vegas vacation usually guarantees you are going to have an experience that suits your needs and desires. Your first step is research. I can’t stress enough how important it is to get as many facts and opinions from as many different sources as humanly possible. There’s a lot of information out there. Our site, Vegas4Visitors.com, has reviews of hotels, shows, restaurants, attractions and more, but we’re not the only site on the web with this kind of information. There are probably three or four dozen that do the same thing and you should hit as many of them as possible. I have two warnings about Vegas Web sites, though. First, you should be leery of any site that has a ton of advertising from the subjects they are writing about. If you see banner advertising for hotels for instance, those hotels are paying for placement on the site. It isn’t too much of a stretch to believe the editors of those reviews are being a little more kind than they might otherwise be. I tend to trust sites a little more when they at least give the appearance of objectivity. Second, many Vegas Web sites are not updated as often as they should be. There’s one major site out there that shall go unnamed that still has a listing for The Castaways Hotel, even though that place closed earlier this year. Even our site, Vegas4Visitors.com, isn’t perfect. Things change so fast in Las Vegas it’s often hard to keep up. Just be sure to double check your information before making plans. You should also go to your local bookstore and pick up a travel guide or three. There are literally dozens of them and they all have their strengths and weaknesses, but in general, guide books offer the kind of unbiased opinion that can be valuable in trip planning. The only downside to guide books is the timeliness of the information. Most books are written as much as six months or more before they hit the shelves and then sit there for a year or more after that. This means you could pick up a book with listings and reviews for things that don’t exist anymore. Again, double and triple check before you get excited about something. Doing this kind of research will help you plan the Vegas trip you want, based upon what’s most important to you, whether it be budget, luxury, adventure, relaxation, or whatever. Once you’ve picked the things you want to do and the places you might want to stay, get on the phone and the web and start checking rates. Don’t be satisfied with one call to the main reservations number for a hotel. Check their Web site for deals, visit hotel booking Web sites and Vegas specific sites for other quotes. Do the work and you could save yourself a ton of dough. If you do the work now you can relax and have fun when you get there! The Full Story
In Next Week's Column
Next week: The latest from Las Vegas.Plus, don't forget to send your questions about Las Vegas. I've got room for more, so send them in today!Click here to go to the main page of Vegas4Visitors.com and see all of the fantastic resources Vegas4Visitors has to offer you when planning your next trip to Las Vegas.-------If you have a question you'd like to submit, click here.Rick Garman is the head writer for Vegas4Visitors
