BigDavyG

Anyone got any insider tips for a Vegas trip - particularly those that might come in handy for 4 30-something male Brits into drinking, gambling and other stuff ??

Cheers

peacelover

OMG, where is Mightbe when he is needed! I think I have the right name for the man of the cloth.

TruBrit

we go each year and next trip is in october when we'll be meeting up with some brit friends... only today i booked us all in to see elton at caesars. we stay at bellagios and book our flight separately however some good deals on fly/hotel packages are avail. great if you stay on the strip, handy for everything...maybe one day if you want to sober up take a chopper to the grand canyon...now that really is awesome

Jerseygirl

Last year when we went I shopped around for prices...knew which hotel we wanted to stay in...Costco.com came up trumps.

Kate2112

Priceline in conjuction with biddingfortravel.com works very well too.

Irn-bru

bring elasticated waist trousers when you hit those wonderful buffets. Golden nugget one with champagne was particularly tasty and reasonable

gruffbrown

Only take as much money as you're prepared to lose and Caesar's offer more free drinks than most

BigDavyG

I hear fatwallet.com is good for big discounts, etc but the hotel and flights is pretty much taken care off.
More interested in 'excursions' like clubs, etc - can't imagine any of us would be interested in catching a show (if one of my mates wants to go see Elton I'd be a bit worried to be honest) and the grand canyon type stuff can wait til I go with the oh.

Jerseygirl

The Ghost at the Palms hotel is where a lot of the celebs frequent. There's the Hard Rock Cafe...another favourite with top movers and shakers. Of course there's loads of strip joints and 'mens' clubs...but don't supposed you're interested in those.

Lord Lionheart

Hard Rock Hotel - Lots of hot chicks and a nightclub
Hotel Rio - Good buffet, great selection but quantity rather than the quality.
Deja Vu - Totally nude strip club, behind the Frontier hotel.
O'Shea's - Little casino and bar, good for cheap drinks
Stratosphere - Any of you lot have the balls to go on the ride which is outside on top of a skyscraper hotel?
Downtown Vegas - older and seedier than 'the strip'

Worth a walk on the strip just to see the Mirage volcano & Treasure Island pirate ship battle, The fish tank behind the lobby in the Mirage is worth a peek.
Hoover dam is a day trip from Las Vegas, worth a visit to see a feat of modern engineering and some great art deco design.
Hope this is still relevant as it's been a couple of years since I've been.

Pimpbot

Try the $20 trick when checking in. Have a rolled up $20 clearly visable in your hand with your credit/check card and ask the person behind the desk if they have any room upgrades available? Very often they will take your $20 and book you in a better room, i.e. a room with a view, or a mini suite depending on hotel. It also pays to wave a bigger bill the better the hotel, so have a $50 ready for the Bellagio etc etc.

If you've never gambled much before and you want to play the table games, head downtown first and go somewhere like the Golden Gate where you can play $2 and $5 dollar blackjack, Craps and Roulette. No where on the strip will give you anything less than $10 per hand and on a friday or saturday, you'll be lucky to find anything below $15 or $25.

Tip the cocktail waitress well on the first drink she brings you at the slot machine/table game and she'll more than likely pass you by more often with those "free" drinks the casinos love to hand out. "Here's $5, I'll be here all night love!"

Pony

Yeah, if you win show your British ID. I went in March and won $1800 on a slot in the Bellagio, gave them my Texas driving license at which point they gave me a W-2G, so I can pay taxes on it

Not really a boys theme, but 'O' by Cirque du Soleil was really amazing.

Don't 'jay walk', a couple of friends from England flew out to meet us and got a real dressing down (in the middle of the buzy street) for not using a crossing.

If you want to take a break from gambling for a few beers, then buy them. We always spent more on those silly video poker games they position at the bars whilst awaiting the comp drinks than the price of the drinks would have been.


If your staying at the Bellagio a $20 tip to the concierge or desk staff at registration improves your chances when asking for a room overlooking the fountains. A real must is a view of the strip and the fountains. The view from the room was amazing (the music is piped to your room on one of the TV channels):




Not sure if the 'bribe' is necessary, someone told us to do it, and it worked for us. We got lots of tips prior to travel from here:
http://www.lasvegastalk.com/modules.php?name=Forums

Booked flights and hotel here:

www.LasVegas.com


Good luck

Pimpbot

You'll still have to pay tax, you can claim it back once you get home though, which isn't much help, if home is in the US. For the record, anything over $1200 is a tax form. Thats why I play 25 cent double double bonus poker. Maximum you can win, unless it's a progressive, is $1000 for a Royal Flush.

"Gambling has become such big business that the IRS receives nearly four million Forms W-2G and 5754 each year. This tells the tax-collectors that nearly four million big winners are out there, waiting to be taxed.

But the IRS does not always wait. The government wants to make sure it gets paid. What good does a W-2G do if the winner is a foreigner who is going to be in his own foreign country when April 15th rolls around?

So, the IRS not only wants reports filed, but often requires that a part of the winnings be withheld. As anyone who has a salary knows, withholding also allows the government to use taxpayers' money for many months, without having to pay interest.

The withholding rate for nonresident aliens is 30%. Not coincidentally, the tax rate for nonresident aliens is also 30%. So, if a citizen of a foreign country wins $1 million cash at a slot machine in Las Vegas, he will find he is paid only $700,000. The remaining $300,000 is sent to the IRS. The foreign citizen is unlikely to ever file an income tax return, but the IRS gets paid in full anyway.

Citizens of foreign countries are also, of course, usually taxed by their own governments. So some countries have treaties with the U.S. that protects those foreigners from having to pay the 30% withholding to the IRS.

U.S. citizens and resident aliens have it both better and worse than nonresident aliens. The withholding rate for gamblers living in American is only 28% (it was 20%, up to 1992). Having the IRS take $28,000 out of a jackpot of $100,000 is painful. But, it can hurt even more when tax forms are filled out. There is no 30% maximum tax for people living in the U.S., and really big winners often end up paying a lot more than 28% or 30%."

http://rose.casinocitytimes.com/articles/977.html

Pony

How would they would collect it, unless I filed the W-2G though?
I was handed the full $1800 winnings, and the W-2G. They didn't withhold anything. I knew when they took my US SSN it will be reported, but its possible to have a SSN without being an citizen, alien, permanent resident etc. I still haven't paid tax on it, I'll pay when I file my taxes next. The damn thing is on my refrigerator door, as I am paranoid I'll forget to declare it.

MightBe

I am here,
Just to remind our brother BigDavyG that Prostitution is illegal in Clark County (which Las Vegas sits in).

But for your delight and edification
http://www.sherisranch.net/index.php

Minnimum recommeded protection is a wet suit.