Fire sale

The message to Las Vegas bargain hunters is clear: fire is good.

After the blaze on the roof of the Monte Carlo last month, the hotel is re-opening on Friday and has slashed room rates as low as $70 until June to try to fill up the hotel. The deal also includes $25 dining credit, $10 slot play and $5 for Starbucks into the bargain.

I’ve just booked a $70 room for the first two nights of my upcoming trip. It’s still better value than anything I can get from Harrah’s with my Diamond card, apart from Imperial Palace. The next closest competition was Bally’s for $75/night, and that’s without the extra freebies you get at Monte Carlo.

I will get to use Total Rewards for a night at Harrah’s Laughlin though at least. I discovered that even though the rate calendar shows $31/night or whatever, if I actually click some dates to book it then it suddenly turns into a comp. I could book up to five nights at a time for free, it’s just a shame that I can’t ever see us wanting to stay there for that long in one trip.

I had the run of the hotel too; a choice of classic, luxury or premium room in either of the towers. The only differences I could see were a choice between flat screen TV or a view of the river. I went with the view.

The rest of the trip looks like it will be taken care of using comps from Terrible’s (2 nights free) and Four Queens (3 nights free + 1 @ $35). T-38!