Las Vegas 2016 Cost Analysis

The last time I was in Las Vegas for a vacation was in 2011. I tracked my budget back then and shared it in this post. I wanted to do the same with my most recent trip to Las Vegas as a comparison. This trip is a little different though. The bulk of my time was for a client event, and so I won’t share those numbers here. So while I was in Vegas for 6 days I’ll just focus on my free-time activities which accounts for a little over 2.5 days in Vegas.

Hotel: 277.76

My hotel was covered Monday through Wednesday, so I only had to pay for Thursday and Friday nights. I choose Treasure Island for two reasons. Firstly, it was a short 20 minute walk away from where my client was holding their event, so it would be easier for me to walk there. And because TI had the best room deal in that part of the strip. It was $69 on weeknights and $119 on weekends (plus the pesky $30 “resort fee” for wifi, plus taxes) and included a $30 a day food credit at TI restaurants. This was better than starting at $200 a night for Mirage or the $400 a night at The Venetian. The bed was nice, but the room wasn’t 100% totally clean. The walls were really thin, and so I could hear the Spring Breakers vomiting in the morning.  I’d recommend if you are in Vegas during Spring Break…pony up for a nicer hotel to weed out some of the riff-raff.

Ground Transportation: $144.44

This is an absurd amount of money that I kick myself for spending. The last time I was in Vegas, my friend Heather and I walked everywhere or uses buses. Over 4 days I only had $39 in ground transportation costs. But it came with some trade offs. We had to wait for the bus, and walking destroyed our feet. I’ve been to trade shows in Vegas where just standing made it hurt to walk, so I wanted to avoid wearing myself out. So I decided that taxis were an evil I had to deal with. But I should have done research! Uber now runs in Las Vegas. I had considered using it, but I didn’t. I’m kicking myself now looking at the costs, as I could have saved so much money! The reason why I didn’t use Uber is that the cars aren’t allowed to pickup near Taxi stands or the Valet. Instead pickup points were generally a long confusing walk or hidden in parking garages. I simply didn’t have the patience to wait or walk to find where I needed to go…especially when the Taxi stand was so inviting. Don’t make my mistake!

Food & Drinks: $119.52

As I said above, my hotel came with a $30 food credit usable at most of their restaurants. And I figured out why. Their food sucks. The food credit is the only way to keep people on property when a short walk away is the Venetian or Wynn restaurants. I came to loath the food at Treasure Island for its poor quality, especially the fact that nearly all restaurants offered the same identical crappy dessert menu. But I was determined to use my credit to the fullest, so my food costs were generally less than what I was expecting. I did splurge on dinner at the Wynn before Le Reve, which was an expensive meal at over $50 (and a big part of the total costs). But the food was heavenly and so worth it.

Spa: $175

I think a good massage is worth the investment, and I throughly enjoyed my day at the Canyon Ranch Spa.

Entertainment: $502.3

This was definitely my biggest expense, but I knew that going in. Penn and Teller and the Bellagio Fire Art Museum wasn’t planned for but all of it was well worth it.

• $110.36 Penn & Teller
• $168.99 Horseback Riding
• $168.95 Le Reve – The Dream
• $16 Bellagio Fine Art Museum
• $18 Neon Museum
• $20 Mandalay Bay Shark Reef

Shopping: $59.89

I spent so much money on crap souvenirs that previous Vegas trip, that I didn’t spend much on this trip. While lost in the Venetian, I stumbled upon a rock and fossil shop that was going out of business. I ended up buying a Trilobite fossil from them for $29.90. Then at the airport I bought some Ethel M chocolate for $29.99. I remember Heather desperately searching for this chocolate right before we left (and it was good chocolate) so picked some up for memory’s sake.

Gambling: Up .50

I didn’t plan on gambling this trip, as its a little depressing to do on your own. I also don’t stay at one machine long enough to ever get free drinks, so its a loosing venture from the start. While waiting for Penn and Teller I did bet at The Rio. I played $1 in penny slots. I bet “big”, I then bet “small” and then slowly bet just 1 cent until I was about to run out of money. I had just decided that I’d stop after loosing my last cent, but I hit a “jackpot” and one $2.50. (So Up $1.50) I figured that was a good sign and started to walk around a bit. I found a Zoltar machine. I collect the fortunes from those fortune tellers, so decided to use my lucky winnings to see my fortune. And you know what? The machine ate my freaking dollar. I took this as a bad sign, and avoided gambling the rest of the trip. So technically even with the dollar loss on Zoltar I’m up .50 cents for the trip.

Grand Total: 1278.91

As I said before, my previous trip was done specifically on the cheap. This trip I wanted to splurge and have a fancier time. It would have been a lot more expensive had I done the full 6 days on my own vs me adding on a few days to a business trip. But I had a great time on my own and tried out a lot of new things!