In this four‑day travel guide, seasoned Vegas visitors Josh and Rachael Fillbrandt share a comprehensive set of budget‑saving strategies for a trip to Las Vegas. They begin by recommending low‑cost habits such as packing a portable coffee maker to save $10 per person per day, and avoiding alcoholic drinks at dinner where a single cocktail can cost $25, quickly matching the price of a full meal. They advocate walking the Strip with good shoes as a free transportation method, and purchasing water and other beverages at nearby CVS, Walgreens, or ABC stores to sidestep dynamic hotel pricing. The hosts suggest dining off‑strip—particularly in the Arts District and Spring Mountain area—where meals are cheaper and quality remains high, and they illustrate this with a visit to Bar Bohème, noting Lyft costs and drink pricing. They explain how to take advantage of free casino drinks via bar‑top gaming, while reminding viewers to tip appropriately and verify free‑drink eligibility. For hotel transitions, they recommend using the bell desk to store luggage, avoiding costly early‑check‑in or late‑checkout fees, and they highlight the value of resort pools as complimentary amenities. Transportation advice includes comparing Uber and Lyft fares, watching for surge pricing, using free trams between certain properties, and employing the monorail with day passes despite its off‑strip location. They advise checking recent Yelp menus for accurate pricing, sharing large entrees, and ordering strategically at steakhouses. The duo also points viewers to deal sites like Groupon and Black Friday sales for attractions such as the High Roller or shows. Regarding gambling, they caution that all games favor the house, suggest signing up for casino rewards programs to earn comps, and discuss the pitfalls of slot‑machine visual cues and the myth of “due” wins. Throughout, the hosts maintain a conversational, enthusiastic tone, offering practical, experience‑based tips aimed at helping travelers enjoy Las Vegas without overspending.
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Hey everybody! I'm Josh.
And I'm Rachael.
We've been coming to Las Vegas over the past 2 decades with over 100 trips combined and more than 30 trips in the past 5 years.
Like many others, we have noticed that Las Vegas has gotten more and more expensive over the years.
Luckily, we've learned a few tricks of saving money that allows us to keep coming back, and we want to share those tricks with you.
So come along with us over the next 4 days as we show you a few ways to save money on your next trip to Las Vegas. Let's go!
Alright, good morning and welcome to Las Vegas. One of the first things that you can do to save money, you can be like us. Some people might think this is overkill and you might as well bring your own groceries if you're doing this. But we bring our own coffee maker a lot of times. You can save upwards of $10 per person per day. So, this trip, we're going to end up having about 5 mornings where I think we're going to have this. So, this could save us an easy $100. But for us, really, it's because we don't want to go downstairs. I like waking up in the morning, having a cup of coffee, and being able to drink it in the room is huge. It doesn't cost a lot. It doesn't weigh a lot if you're checking a bag especially, and it's going to save you a lot of time and money. And it's nice and hot. All right, so another big cost-saving tip, which we are terrible at.
Oh, we're so bad at it.
But if you can do it, don't order alcohol at dinner because we're here at a Caesars property. We're actually at Caesars Palace, and the drinks start at $24.95. So by the time we have 2 drinks, our drinks are already $100. Which is the exact same cost as our full meal.
Yep. So if you can, leave out the alcohol. Yep.
Like most major cities, Las Vegas does have Uber, Lyft, taxis. They have a bus system. They even have a monorail system. Our favorite method though, and it's free, is walking. There's so much to do and there's so much to see on the Las Vegas Strip that oftentimes we just want to walk and be able to embrace the atmosphere. So saving money on that, bring some good shoes.
Another one of the money-saving tips we have for you is in Vegas, make sure to stop by one of the CVS, Walgreens, or ABC stores along the way to get your water. These 1-liter bottles in our room, $18. In the sundries inside the hotel, $8. And here at CVS, $3.39. Save some money.
The other big reason To get your water and drinks at one of those other stores is because they don't actually show the pricing! So it's called dynamic pricing. They can increase as they want or as it's a busy weekend. So you don't know what you're getting until you take it up there! Alright! We are about to go to dinner but we have a couple talking points as far as tips on prices!
Often the affordable, quote-unquote, The most affordable options end up being fast food, food halls, and takeaway style options. This doesn't mean that food is not good, but you may not get the great sit-down restaurant feel.
To save on food and drink, a big recommendation is to go off strip to either the Arts District or to the Spring Mountain area for great dining less than 15 minutes off the strip. But remember that these areas are both best with a car or ride to get there.
Arts District is an area we have come to love because it has great food and great bars. So if you're looking to save a few bucks, be sure to check it out.
So tonight we're headed to the Arts District. And then we're gonna end up staying after for a couple beers too. All right, for dinner tonight we are here in the Arts District. We are trying out Bar Bohème. Cost $21 to get down here with a Lyft.
All right, another one of the tips we have is to watch the prices on alcohol. And sometimes if you're a wine drinker, you can get a bottle of wine just as cheap as 2 to 4 cocktails. Now tonight it worked better for us to get 4 cocktails, ended up being $64. But bottles of wine we found here at Bar Bohème were $60 to $75 for a couple of different bottles. So if you're a wine drinker, a bottle of wine for 2 people is about what, 4 to 5 drinks? So not a bad idea!
Alright, drinks were cheap!
$43!
$43! That was for us and some friends!
Yes!
A few rounds over at Nevada Brew Works! Sometimes it's cheaper!
It is!
Getting an abstinent!
It is! So if you're gambling, yes, you can get free drinks in the casino floor! But do plan to tip $1 to $5 based on the complexity of the drinks and service provided! Yeah!
Yeah, for fastest service, go to bar top gaming, which you can find at many different destinations here in Las Vegas.
On the bar top gaming, some of those machines do have a light system indicating that you've played enough to earn a free drink. So make sure that the bartender is aware of that or you're aware of that so there's no confusion when it comes to getting your free drink.
Yeah, make sure it's free before you think it's free.
That's true.
And then another money-saving tip, we are checking out of Aria here today and we are headed over to Venetian. Luckily, we have some gambling comps so that we have a little bit of a crossover. So we didn't have to check out before we go over there. Otherwise, you typically are having to check out of your hotel by 11 o'clock and then you can't check in until 3 or 4 o'clock.
Mm-hmm.
So at that point, you end up with a weird transition spot where you have 3 to 5 hours where you're just carrying your suitcases around. One big thing that we really have embraced over the past couple years is utilization of the bell desk. So that way you can have your backpack and your suitcase, drop it off at the bell desk for a couple of bucks tip. You don't need to worry about that. You can go to lunch, you can go to dinner, you could go to have drinks or just do some walking around and come back, get it either at the current hotel you're at or at the next hotel.
I think another piece of that bell desk that leads into this money-saving tips is Some of these resorts here in Las Vegas charge you for early check-in. Don't use the early check-in, just tip at the bell desk and hold your luggage there. That really does help. And it's not just if you're changing hotels, but we're talking early check-in, late checkout, or a late flight. If you have to check out of your room early, or if you're switching hotels, use that bell desk.
Which you can see early check-in could be costing you up to $50 per room. Late checkout could be $20 to $100 depending on how long you're asking for.
So definitely use the bell desk.
There you go.
Another one of the free things to do here in Las Vegas, and by free I mean free because it's included with your resort, is the pools. So some of these resorts have the best pool complexes we have seen in all of our travels. The hotels have miniature water parks at some of them and have fun, do it all. This one here at the Venetian appears to have a very relaxed chill vibe and that's what we're going for today.
As far as transportation in Las Vegas goes, Uber, Lyft, and taxi are going to be 3 of your most frequently used ways of transportation. Taxi is great to and from the airport with flat rates. to most strip casinos, but we typically use Uber and Lyft for other rides because you can see what the price is gonna be and not worry about there being a lot of traffic out there. Also, we like to compare Uber to Lyft because sometimes Lyft will be half the price of Uber.
Now, with that being said, as you know, many times Uber and Lyft can do surge pricing for after events or when it's busy, so be aware of that as well.
Yeah, you might want to just walk to a different casino and Before you get your car. There are some free trams here in Las Vegas. Most of them are on the MGM side, which I believe is the western side of the Strip. We personally do not use the Aria Express very often, which goes from Bellagio to Park MGM. It's a similar timeframe and you're not saving a lot of steps. However, the one from Excalibur that goes to Mandalay Bay and Luxor is definitely gonna save you a lot of time if you want to use those.
Speaking of trams, there is a monorail system here in Las Vegas that goes from MGM Grand to Sahara. So that is very helpful. Cost of that is relatively inexpensive and you can get like day passes as well.
But do know that it is set off the Strip. So if you're trying to get from the monorail to the Strip, a lot of times it's gonna be a 5 to 10 minute walk to get there. One difficult thing about when you're trying to budget for dining is that lots of restaurants don't post prices on menus online. So what you're gonna want to do is look at Yelp and To be able to see a more recent menu that has prices on it.
And as Josh said, check the dates on that because he said most recent. There are times when the Yelp menu listed is 2 to 5 years old. That's not gonna help you if they've changed prices in the last year.
Another way to save money when you're out dining is lots of these entrees are big enough to share. And most of the time you're not gonna have a fridge or a microwave to enjoy it later. So share an entree and get multiple apps and sides. Especially focus on getting one steak and one entree at steakhouses!
Another money-saving tip if you're looking to do something experiential here in Vegas is to watch Groupon! We have gotten deals on the High Roller. I believe there's the Kartzilla that you can get through Groupon. And I know there's other options out there as well! And watch for some of the Black Friday sales! It's not just shopping that's delivered to home! We got tickets to a show at Mad Apple. For like 50% off one year.
If you're really looking for ways to save money, don't gamble. But if you're going to play, view it as entertainment and sign up for a casino rewards program to potentially get casino comps like a free room or cruise like we're getting this trip. But there's a whole separate video on that if you want more info.
Another tip I'd like to say is if you're willing to work together, get 2 different players cards in one name and then you can both work on that same system.
Right! I think that it helps more than if you have 2 people combined.
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. We don't have—
We are testing that theory.
We're actually testing that theory this time, but it is an option.
Yeah, but a few big things to remember about gambling: all the games are set up for you to lose. Even if you win now and then, the casino always comes out on top unless you're good at card counting or some type of advantage play.
Gaming odds continue to get harder and harder for players to win money with blackjack moving to 6/5 payouts in most casinos, Quadruple zero roulette games rolling out this past year and slot machines that continue to increase the casino hold percentage to over 8% since 2020, both on the Strip and downtown Fremont area.
Also, if you're gonna play slots, know that there are a lot of visual indicators that are going to make you think that the slot is going to hit.
Perceived progressions.
Yes, perceived progression is the word. Scam pots is another one.
Yep.
So there's a lot of different ones where it looks like something's gonna blow up, like bowl of gold that's just overflowing, that doesn't mean that it's gonna hit anytime soon. It just means that it's been a little while since it has hit.
Yes.
So it doesn't mean it's due. Outside of a few different games that have a true must-hit-by number, anyone who thinks that a game is due is fooling themselves. Hopefully these tips can be used and applied by you during your next trip to save a lot of money and keep coming back to Las Vegas. If you're enjoying our videos, don't forget to hit that like and subscribe.
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