Vegas 5 Star Hotel Deals: How I Discounted My Latest Trip
I just got back from my latest Las Vegas trip. We had a MtM Vegas meet up this past weekend and it was also my first couples only trip with the wife in a few years. Because of that I wanted to go all out and do Vegas as bougie as possible! I feel like I accomplished just that. We stayed at some top tier hotels, hit up bougie rooftop bars and dined at some nice places mostly at a discount. I’ll share my Vegas 5 star hotel deals, how I did them and how we got a discount on dining as well.
@FSLasVegas king strip view room. Booked with Amex FHR and my $200 Platinum credit. $60 breakfast and $100 spa credit. May be my favorite view of #Vegas. I’ll give a night feels view tonight. @MtM_Vegas @milestomemories pic.twitter.com/aesWLACeRx
— Mark Ostermann (@DetroitMark) September 16, 2021
Four Seasons Las Vegas
Our first of our two Vegas 5 star hotel deals was at the Four Seasons Las Vegas. I had to book it, I mean Four Seasons is synonymous with bougie. We have never stayed at one of their hotels so we jumped at the chance to check one out.
The Four Seasons Las Vegas is attached to the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino at the south end of the strip. It has its own entrance, pool, check in, restaurants and hotel floors. But you also get access to everything that Mandalay Bay, and the attached Delano, has to offer. It is kind of the best of both worlds. An exclusive experience with everything else you want in Vegas at your finger tips.
This weekend in Vegas was an expensive one. There were multiple concert, festivals and sporting events going on all weekend. The prices were sky high for the weekend everywhere we looked. But with American Express adding the $200 Fine Hotels & Resort credit to the Amex Platinum card we could get the room at a discount. I value the credit at full value this year because I didn’t actually pay anything for it, since they added the perk after I had already paid the card’s annual fee.
Here is a breakdown of our costs for the stay:
- The room rate for our one night stay was $440
- We got $200 off from the Amex Platinum FHR credit
- We received an upgrade to a strip view room.
- The FHR booking came with a $100 spa credit which my wife used for a manicure ($85) too.
- We were able to get $60 off our $100 breakfast from the FHR booking as well.
We also went to SkyFall lounge at Delano which wasn’t technically on property. There was also no way to discount this unfortunately but it is a pretty cool place so I thought I would share. Here is a quick video of the location.
Don’t think I ever posted this last weekend. @SkyfallLounge is pretty swanky. @MtM_Vegas @milestomemories pic.twitter.com/UFd3uLbFvm
— Mark Ostermann (@DetroitMark) September 22, 2021
Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas
After our one night stay at the Four Seasons we ended up moving on to the Waldorf Astoria for the other two nights of our trip. Rooms were going for $550 a night during our trip but I was able to get that cost reduced quite a bit, all the way down to $0. I had a few Hilton free night certificates left over and found some saver space and made the booking, even though it is more of a pain than it should be. One of the free nights came as an annual perk of my wife’s Hilton Aspire card and the other one is from spending $15,000 in a calendar year on my Amex Surpass card.
The Waldorf Astoria hotel is the old Mandarin Oriental hotel which was consistently ranked as one of the best two or three hotels in Vegas. The property ended up transitioning into a Hilton hotel a few years ago and was rebranded as a Waldorf Astoria, their premier brand. The hotel got a small facelift after the conversion but it is starting to show some wear and tear. The design and public spaces are still pretty awesome though. I liked the hotel overall.
My wife has Diamond status from her Amex Hilton Aspire card which meant we had $50 a day in resort credit with their recent changes. My wife also still had her $250 resort credit from the card for the year too.
Here was our costs during the stay:
- The hotel was going for $550 a night.
- We were able to get both nights free by using free night certificates.
- Room service breakfast for $100
- We were credited the $50 for our daily credit. The remaining $50 went towards the $250 Aspire resort credit.
- Lunch by the pool for $80
- We were credited $50 for our daily credit. Remaining $30 went towards the $250 Aspire resort credit.
- Sky Bar for drinks with a group of friends for $150
- The Aspire card should cover this as well.
- Champagne dispenser for $20
- I tested this cool thing out for novelty and to use the remaining $20 in credit. You get a coin for the machine at the front desk and bill it to your room.
Love the room @WaldorfAstoria Vegas. @MtM_Vegas @milestomemories @Saving_Traveler pic.twitter.com/ss6binGy7V
— Mark Ostermann (@DetroitMark) September 17, 2021
Vegas 5 Star Hotel Deals: Crunching The Numbers
Here are the total costs from our hotel stays, and dining on property. It shows how much we were able to discount it too.
- Hotels $1540
- Our out of pocket cost $240
- After using the $200 Amex Platinum FHR credit and two Hilton free night certs.
- Our out of pocket cost $240
- Dining $280
- Our out of pocket cost $40
- After using part of the $250 Aspire resort credit, $50 in daily credit at Waldorf Astoria for our Hilton Diamond status & $60 in credit from the FHR booking at Four Seasons.
- Our out of pocket cost $40
- Cocktails $170
- Our out of pocket cost $0
- The Aspire resort credit covered this completely
- Our out of pocket cost $0
- Manicure $105 including tip
- $85 covered by the FHR credit.
Total Sticker Price: $2075
Our Out Of Pocket Cost: $300
Total Discount: Over 85% Off
Vegas Hotel Deals: Doing Bougie Vegas At A Discount Final Thoughts
I always love a good deal stack, as you know from my Saks and RebatesMe promo article. By stacking the Amex FHR credit and program, the Aspire resort credit, free night certificates and our Hilton Diamond status (from the Aspire card) we were able to get over 85% off our costs on property during our bougie Vegas tour.
I’ll do another post comparing two of Vegas’ highest rated hotels later this week. If you play your cards right you can check both of them out without breaking the bank!
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Great trip – only comment is if using the credits to justify the annual fee of the cards then one cannot also consider it a discount on the trip costs – not saying you are but definitely a great use of all the platinum and Hilton Amex benefits! I also want to use my credit at the Waldorf later this year…but for the bar…not sure if that works without staying there. : )
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Good point. I don’t include the Resort Credit since the airline incidental and free night cover the annual fee for me. The resort credit has always been the profit to me.