LAS Airport, Las Vegas McCarran Baggage Claim CES-2010-LasVegas 394

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McCarran Airport in Las Vegas offers some of the smoothest transitions from bags to ground transportation. Take the $7 shuttle to the strip if alone, but if 2 or more probably best to use a taxi for $14-$20 depending on your hotel location. Mandalay Bay, New York New York, Luxor, Excalibur, Tropicana, Hooters, MGM and more are at the McCarran end of the strip while Circus Circus and Stratosphere are at the North End. Wynn, Paris, Venetian, Bellagio, CityCenter (Mandarin Oriental, Vdara, Aria) are basically near the Center of the strip though you should always orient yourself with the strip before a trip to Vegas.

Do note that the Shuttle times seem to depend a lot on several factors such as wait time at the Airport which can be as much as 15+ minutes while the shuttles wait for more people and also the location of your hotel on the strip. I suspect but I'm not sure that drivers also tend to drop folks off sooner at the higher end hotels all other things equal.

Walking is almost out of the question for distance (2+ miles to center strip) and security reasons (route is tricky, route is not really designed for walking safely, few other people around).

More Great Fares from Allegiant

Although service is very limited in terms of days and markets, Allegiant offers some amazing fares to and from Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Mesa Arizona. Here's an email from them about a special deal:

Offer valid between Los Angeles (LAX) to/from the following markets: Bellingham, Wash. begins May 2 Grand Junction, Colo. begins May 1 Northwest Arkansas (XNA) begins May 22 Billings, Mont. begins May 22 McAllen, Texas begins May 24 Sioux Falls, S.D. begins May 23 Des Moines, Iowa begins May 24 Medford, Ore. begins May 1 Springfield, Mo. begins May 3 Fargo, N.D. begins May 23 Missoula, Mont. begins May 2 Wichita, Kan. begins May 23

Allegiant Air Home Page

*Allegiant’s $15* one-way fares are extremely limited, are not be available on all flights and are non-refundable. Must be purchased between 3 a.m. PDT and 6 p.m. PDT April 15, 2009 for complete travel by Sept. 30, 2009. Valid only on nonstop flights to/from Los Angeles International Airport to/from select cities. Prices do not include PFC, segment tax or Sept. 11 security fee of up to $10.60 per segment. A segment is one take-off and one landing. A convenience fee of $13.50 per passenger will apply when booked on allegiantair.com. A convenience fee of $13.50 per passenger, plus $10 per segment, will apply when purchased through Allegiant Air call centers. When purchased at time of booking, a fee of $15 for first checked bag and $25 for second checked bag will apply per person, per segment. If purchased at flight check-in, a fee of $25 for the first checked bag and $35 for the second checked bag per person, per segment will apply. In all cases additional higher fees will apply for three or more checked bags. Fare rules, routes and schedules are subject to change without notice. Restrictions apply. Offer not valid on previously purchased tickets. This is a post-only mailing from Allegiant Air. Please do not attempt to respond to this message. Allegiant Air 8360 S. Durango Drive Las Vegas, NV 89113

Small Conference Cost Cutting Tips

In terms of conference planning one of the key things to keep in mind is that pricing is almost *always* more negotiable than most people realize.

Small numbers of rooms you can guarantee the hotels are appreciated but they may not give you much leverage in price. However even for a single room the price is generally negotiable unless the area is sold out. First, consider your location carefully if price is important. During huge events like CES Las Vegas room rates on the strip are 2-3 times and more what the same room would cost normally, especially during midweek low pricing when Las Vegas offers some of the best hotel bargains anywhere.

Unless there are some huge events mid week in winter should be a good time and a good price approach is to start at Kayak.com (price comparison tooly) and look for 3-4 nice venues with reasonable prices and then call them directly to firm up details and ask for either lower pricing or better amenities.

Let your competing venues know you are shopping around and then go with the best offer. For example if you need a meeting room that will usually cost more but you might get it free thanks to the room block.

Another cost cutting device can be to use nearby restaurants as your meeting place and pick slightly "off" times for the meals (when they are slower and don't need the space).

Larger Restaurants generally have meeting rooms and if you promise enough meals to them they'll generally provide the room for free although firm up the times with them so you don't get kicked out after eating. Hotels have different economics so I think eating "out" is often less expensive than having the hotel cater things.

Top 20 USA Hotels ranked by most rooms...

About.com has a showcase of the USA's top 20 hotels in terms of the number of rooms. As you'd expect most are in Las Vegas, but remarkable to me is that only 3 of the top 20 are outside of Las Vegas, and I think all of those 17 were on the Las Vegas Strip.

The MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, with over 5000 rooms, is the largest in the USA.

Las Vegas Airport - LAS

Las Vegas' McCarran International Airportis the key gateway to the city of Las Vegas, one of the world's top travel destinations. For more about travel in the city of Las VegasThe McCarran website is a fairly good one as Airport websites go with a fairly simple layout, but is burdened by an odd navigation scheme. Here are some links to relevant travel information at the Las Vegas Airport website "McCarran.com"

Airport Guide

Ground Transportation

Dining Guide - McCarran Airport


Flight Information (usually best to go directly to your Airline website for specific Airline and flight info)

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