For Vegas you are best booking direct with the hotel. They only take the first night's deposit which is fully refundable if you cancel 48-72 hours before arrival.

Read the last few pages of the Las Vegas Hotels thread where the latest deals are posted. There are some offers there that go up to the end of the year. Offers usually come out 2-3 months before arrival.

Try http://www.harrahs.com click on Hot Deals and go to the Flexible Dates Calendar. This will give you rates for hotels in the Harrah's group to give you an idea.

All hotels have several restaurants and most also have a 24 hour coffee shop.

luci

Los Angeles: Stay at the Holiday Inn at Burbank. Free transport to Universal Studios. The hotel is 30 second walk from the nearest Bar/Restaurant (Gordon Biersch), and all the other bars and restaurants are literally minutes away.

Vegas: You pays your money and takes your choice. However it is MUCH cheaper staying Sunday to Thursday.

have a good trip

Thank you both.... i can see quite a few good offers for vegas hotels, i have my eye on a few, i have also looked at the vegas hotels topic, thanks luci. I am finding it quite difficult for LA though!! Im sure i will come across a deal soon

Bubble123.

I lived in the Holiday Inn at Burbank for 15 months (and LA generally for 5 years) whilst working in the US. Burbank is the ONLY place I know (except possibly Pasadena Old Town) that you can walk in a matter of minutes from your hotel to several excellent restaurants, bars, multiplex, an excellent shopping mall and even an IKEA (I kid you not). So for the sake of your sanity, I would go for something you will enjoy over a cheapo deal that may leave you having to take public transport to eat/drink. Google 'Burbank' and see for yourself.

Chris

bubble

If you see an offer you're happy with, that is refundable, I would suggest booking now and still keep looking for something better. Offers are time limited and can be withdrawn early.

luci

crwolsey,

so burbank would any hotel be ok in this area? like near to restaurants etc? i see your point its better to travel to where you need to in the day & then eat round your hotel in the evening. public transport is ok in this area isnt it? do you know? Thanks.

Thanks luci, i quite like the look of the mgm grand, so im keeping a look out! Also you know in las vegas for your flight home you can check in at 4 locations on the strip or near the strip with virgin, do you know if your able to purchase the exit seats for your flight at these locations or only at the airport? thanks

I know the Holiday is excellent for what you need. If you decide to go with another hotel, then if I were you I just would make sure that it is in walking distance to 'downtown' Burbank (and downtown is more like a village :-)).

Have a great trip

ok will keep looking, thanks

Sorry I don't know if you would be able to purchase exit seats at the check-in locations on the strip, but I would doubt it. Perhaps you could ask on the vflyer website.

luci

We did LA and LV last year. We have done LA 3 times now. We personal preferred to stay actually in ANAHEIM, Why ? because all the transportation you need for everything is there. For example hotels or your rep do transport with coach for all trips. You are directly opposite disneyland and some of the very good malls. Loads to eat cheap and expensive.

In the hotels they have a service which we did to all malls and all the beaches whilst you are staying, universal, knotts berry, seaworld and the park with all the roller coasters, six flags. All the transport you require for hollywood and beyond as well.

Hotels i would recommend are Carousel inn and suites
Cortona inn and suites
Castle inn

In fact any around that area are all across the road to disneyland.

Flights from LA are 1 hr to las vegas.

We booked the flamingo as has a wicked pool seen and upgraded to the go room plus which is like a penthouse, very cheap to upgrade in resort.

Other hotels i liked was MGM grand - central
Imperial for cheapness - central
circus circus for cheapness- bus ride out
Belliago - central for a bit of luxury.

Michelle x

When are you going. We think we have been lucky we got MGM grande for $398 for 5 nights with 2 free meals, coctails & free entrance into the nightclub (thanks to luci)this is in April then onto Hilton S/Diago delmar for 6 nights going to car show ( for the men), & then to the Hilton anahiem ,thanks to our daughter working at the hilton ,we got a discount only just found out We got confused because there are so many to choose from.just keep looking, you get some good deals, like luci said, book it and then you can cancel if you get a bettter deal we did.Good luck

I've booked MGM as well (August) thanks to Luci - and I am very happy with my deal. £254 for 5 nights on the 222 offer (2 cocktails and 2 buffets.)

We have also booked San Francisco and Maui but still (like you) are looking for L.A. At least we have somewhere to start now thanks to advice on this thread.

Thanks for the advice everyone, were hopefully going to be going at the end of may & in to june. Those deals at the mgm grand sound very good!! Hoping to book flights next week, i just need to be ready, thats why im researching all now. I thought it might be best to stay near hollywood, as we want to do universal studios & hollywood sights really, also santa monica beach, so ive been trying to find a hotel at a suitable price, which is proving difficult!! lol. However i think i have one in mind now.

No, don't stay near Hollywood. You'll understand when you get there.

would it not be easier as its nearer to what we want to do? i know you said we`ll understand when we get there but i cant wait that long!! lol

LA is a sprawl of cars i wouldnt stay anywhere near Hollywood If you have free days you may want to do Disneyland/Universal etc, Universal whether you are in Hollywood or out skirts will require transport. Anaheim is best for transport they do fantastic tours of Universal, hollywood, stars homes, farmers market, beaches in all one day, or combo tours. I cannot imagine anyone going to LA and not spending a day in the happiest place on earth. Well i am a real sucker for DL Universal is 40 mins - to an hour by luxury coach, traffic depending. All the beaches Santa Monica, Laguna, muscle beach, Venice beach can all be accessed by little shuttle buses. They pick you up from the hotel and drop you back off after the excursion. Sea-world is about an hour a way, equally a good park.

May/June temps so that you are aware is very cloudy. They call it June gloom. It was pouring with rain when we went to Universal last year, wasn't impressed, and cold. Temps are only in the early 70s. Most of the late afternoon the sun comes out around 2-3pm, it is not sunbathing weather really, a bit chilly.

Best time to go if heat is of importance to you is late July/Aug and September is gorgeous. Not so much smog or cloud.

Hope this helps you a little bit.

Michelle x

If you have a vision of Hollywood, think the opposite, i know where grayejectbutton is coming from. That said you have to see it for yourself

Thank you for your reply. so if i book a hotel in anaheim, the beach excursions you mention, do they have free time, drop you off, you do what you want etc then meet up for ride to hotel? is that the same with the hollywood tours etc? also i dont suppose you know what the weather is like in las vegas in early june do you? is there anyway i could look at the excursions from the hotel before we go? thanks

also you mentioned before restaurants i think? we could walk to some from the hotel? depending on which one we book?