My friend from out of state had a comped hotel room in Vegas and asked if I would like to meet her there for a girls trip. Kid free girls trip to Vegas, sign me up! Originally, we planned on seeing Britney Spears in concert (hello, the early 2000’s are my jam) so we booked our trip around the concert date. The concert was scheduled mid week, which worked well with budget friendly airfare pricing.
Airfare and Hotel
There are tons of great hotel and airfare deals for Vegas year round. I have a Chase Sapphire rewards credit card that allows me to earn points towards airfare; for more details on the Chase Sapphire rewards credit card refer to my previous blog post Tropical Vacation on a Budget.
I used my Chase travel reward points to purchase my airfare to Vegas for this trip through Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines is my go to airline for budget friendly vacations. [I can’t wait to check out Southwest Airlines newly released airfare deals to Hawaii!]
This trip I did not have to pay for a hotel room; however, when I do have to pay for a hotel room I generally find great hotel deals to Vegas through Groupon or Booking.com. Don’t be afraid to shop around, sometimes the hotels main website offers great deals as well.
Want to live the suite life but don’t have the budget? We were upgraded to a large suite simply by tipping the person checking us into the hotel room. While being checked into the hotel, the front desk clerk will ask for an identification card and credit card to be placed on file for your room. Place a $20 bill in between your credit card and your identification card and ask “Are there are any complimentary upgrades at this time?” This $20 trick is worth the gamble! Even if you don’t get upgraded to a suite, they might give you a room with a better view, or offer you comps at the hotel.
Preparing for Vegas/Reservations
I scheduled my trip to Vegas several months in advance, which means I had time to plan and prepare. I started setting aside cash each month for my trip to help keep me accountable and avoid racking up bills on my credit card. By the time I was ready to leave for my trip I had saved $300 in cash. While $300 doesn’t seem like a lot, it alleviated some of the money stress I have when I go on vacations.
Making dinner reservations ahead of time is important. I love watching cooking shows on television and am familiar with a lot of the celebrity Chef’s. Vegas has a ton of celebrity Chef restaurants catering to a wide price range [do not rule these locations out if you are on a budget]! After looking over several of the restaurants, I decided to make reservations at Giada’s restaurant at the Cromwell Hotel. Giada’s had a variety of food items at a reasonable price for a celebrity Chef restaurant. Make sure you make reservations online before you go! I highly recommend planning out your meals and making reservations online for restaurants to make your life easier!
Rent The Runway
Getting dressed up and going out for a night on the town is the thing to do in Vegas. So what do you do if you are on a budget and don’t have any appropriate outfits? Rent the Runway is the answer to all of your clothing needs!
Lets be real, as a Mom of two I do not find myself getting dressed up and going out to bars and clubs anymore. I eliminated my go to party dresses from my closet many years ago (and if we are being honest after two kids they probably don’t fit anymore!).
I discovered Rent the Runway several years ago while I was looking for a dress to attend a wedding. Rent the Runway offers people the ability to rent designer dresses for a small fee.
After you select your outfit, you pick two dress sizes you want shipped to you at no additional cost. That is right, they will send you the same outfit in two sizes at no additional cost to you to ensure the outfit fits you correctly. The item is shipped to you in a sealed garment back. You get to pick a four day block in which you have the outfit (you can rent the outfit for longer but it will cost you more money). Once you are finished with the outfit you seal the garment bag up, attach the pre paid return shipping label, which is included in the garment bag, and you drop the garment bag off at a Fed-Ex location.
Rent the Runway is a great budget friendly place to get high end clothing for special events without having to pay the high end price tags that go along with them (AND NOOO laundry, Rent the Runway handles that for you!)!
Getting Around in Vegas
Ground transportation is unavoidable in Vegas. There are buses and shuttles you can find from the Airport to your hotel but those can take a long time and are generally crowded.
Uber is the best bang for your buck. Uber has one flat rate fee for your ride as opposed to a Taxi. The average cost for an Uber ride on the strip was $8.68; you can opt to do a shared Uber ride which will lower the cost of your trip as well. The cost of an Uber from the airport to and from my hotel was approximately $16 each way.
Spa on a Budget
Since Britney Spears canceled her Vegas shows (bummer), I splurged and bought myself a massage at the Wynn Resort and Spa which allowed me access to all of their spa amenities. The next day I found myself wanting to relax and it was too cold to sit by the pool, so I found a budget friendly spa experience I will be utilizing EVERY time I visit Vegas.
If you are staying at a big name hotel in Vegas more than likely they have a Spa. This trip we stayed at the Palms Resort and Casino. Most Spa’s allow you to purchase a day pass, which allows you all day access to all of the Spa amenities without purchasing a Spa treatment. In Vegas the average cost of a spa day pass is $50.
I don’t know about the other big name hotels, but the Palms Resort offered a discounted spa day pass rate of $25 to guests staying at the hotel. I purchased the Palms Resort spa day pass and spent 5 hours relaxing in the steam room, hot tubs, plunge pool, and sauna. The Spa offered juice, water, and light snacks at no additional cost. This experience was well worth the $25; make sure you check the Spa day pass rates at the hotel you choose to stay at, you will not regret it!
Unavoidable Costs
Unfortunately alcohol in Vegas is expensive. I suggest buying alcohol at a convenience store near your hotel and make your own drinks in the room prior to going out to save some money.
Gambling is something I am not too interested in. Since I was in Vegas, I dedicated $5 to a slot machine….I am still on a budget so you can guess how that went.
All in all I had a great girls weekend in Vegas and managed to stay on budget. I can’t wait for our next budget friendly getaway!