Sunday, October 24, 2010

Can you justify spending that much for a dark room?

Let's quickly run through the various properties I have stayed at in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, United States of America:
Golden Nugget
Treasure Island*
Caesar's Palace
Mandalay Bay
Monte Carlo
(*denotes multiple stays)

I'm planning on going back to Vegas in March 2011 for five nights, which is the longest time I've ever spent out there in one stretch. If the upcoming trip was of my usual 3 day / 2 night variety I'd try to find a way to finally stay at The Mirage, or see if there was some special that could allow the stretch for The Venetian or (gasp, pray to God) at Wynn. But as the screen shot above illustrates, I'm not looking in that... tier of hotels.

Complicating the plan that involves a longer stay is that it's over a very expensive week of the year for Vegas: the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The usually reasonable priced Treasure Island, a place I would love to stay at again in the future, has their cheapest room priced at $224.96 for the Saturday night of my intended vacation. For that amount of money, I can pay for my entire stay at the Days Inn as well as five meals at the In-N-Out Burger (which happens to be next door).

Did you catch that? The Las Vegas In-N-Out Burger is next door. Next. Door.

I'll tell them I'm at the "Wild West Gambling Hall" and people will laugh. Who do I need to impress anyways? By that time I'll be a 32 year old t-shirt (hopefully to support a MU game?) wearing dude more interested in poker than poking her. I won't be in a club trying to take America's Rejected Reality Show Tryout back to a swanky hotel bed.

If you couldn't tell, I'm trying to convince myself of this thought process. I haven't booked the room yet.