Table of Contents: May 2009

So sure, it's a bit redundant for us to devote a whole issue to deals. After all, we're Budget Travel; it's what we do all the time. Normally, we try not to beat you over the head with how affordable everything in our pages is. Because really, how much fun is there in that? But things have changed recently. Affordable experiences have gotten seriously fun, and we have new work to do—celebrating the riches, decoding the challenges, and delighting in new discoveries. Ridiculous deals are making destinations accessible in thrilling new ways. A five-star suite in Vegas for $90? We couldn't make that up. Inventive travelers are discovering creative solutions to navigate the new economy and are vacationing for free—or practically nothing. Who would have thought layaway and bartering would enter the hotel world? Again, impossible to lie about that one. Crazy ideas like these are fun to talk up at a party, but are we all actually out there traveling? Well, yes! My husband and I took our 3-month-old daughter, Mimi, to Miami for our first-ever family vacation. I found a cheap flight down on Delta from New York ($200 apiece) and took great pleasure in seeing Miami (one of our "Cities on Sale") in full swing. There were free-spending South Americans (bless them!); girlfriend getaways about to come undone; and families just like us, trying to find moments of calm in this crazy stressful storm. Did we find the best deals from start to finish? I wish I could say we had. Did we have an amazing time? No doubt. If I'd had access then to our best-ever Real Deals section (all 30 deals are exclusives for BT readers), perhaps we would have lived even larger. But I'm going to keep that section in my pocket for our next vacation. I don't know about you, but I could already use another one right about now.

Timing Sessions usually last five or six nights; some camps offer weekend activities. Others organize special family programs, often just for a weekend, throughout the year. Pricing Rates depend on the number and age of children. Where possible, the prices we list in this article are based on a family of four with two adults and two kids ages 7 and 13. Unless otherwise noted, each of the mentioned fees is for a weeklong stay and covers all meals, activities, and the least expensive non-tent-camping accommodations. Sleeping Cabins are almost always single-family. "Dorm" rooms indicate a shared bath. Not all camps provide linens and towels, so it's best to ask in advance. Trusting Camps that are accredited by the American Camp Association (acacamps.org) meet 31 mandatory health and safety standards and are usually handicap accessible. SCIENCE CAMPS CORTEZ, COLO. The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center On a 170-acre campus modeled after a Pueblo farmstead, campers start out in a lab, learning to identify pottery, stone, and animal-bone artifacts, and then put their know-how to use, excavating alongside Crow Canyon archaeologists in nearby Hovenweep National Monument. Possible find: a 13th-century mano or metate, used to grind corn. The program finale is a tour of Mesa Verde National Park. Lodging: Log cabins sleep six on four beds and one bunk; shared bathrooms. Food: Three buffet-style meals daily. Info: 800/422-8975; crowcanyon.org/archaeology; $4,900; June 28–July 4, Aug. 2–8; kids ages 10 and up. HOWLANDS LANDING, CALIF. Jean-Michel Cousteau Family Camp A Catalina Island cove is the setting for this immersion in marine biology. Oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau (son of Jacques) and his scientists at the Ocean Futures Society lead snorkel trips and talk about their expeditions. Campers go sailing along the coast; at night there's top-notch stargazing. Lodging: Cabins sleep up to 12 on bunks; shared bathrooms. Food: Three buffet-style meals daily. Info: 800/696-2267, catalinaislandcamps.com, $3,200, Aug. 19–23, ACA accredited, no minimum age. Photos 1 of 2 HUNTSVILLE, ALA. Space Camp At the 88-acre U.S. Space & Rocket Center, parents and kids train like astronauts from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., building and launching single-engine rockets, seeing what it's like to walk on the moon with gravity chairs used by Apollo astronauts, and simulating shuttle missions in an orbiter. Lodging: Dorms sleep five to seven on bunks; shared bathrooms. Food: Three cafeteria-style meals daily. Info: 800/637-7223, spacecamp.com, $1,248, three-day weekends May 22–Sept. 6, ACA accredited, kids ages 7–12. Photos 1 of 1 LANGUAGE CAMPS CANOE ISLAND, WASH. Canoe Island French Camp This 47-acre island in the San Juan archipelago provides a stunning backdrop for lessons in all things French. Mornings begin with language classes taught by fluent instructors. Then it's time for a Gallic activity—say, baking baguettes—with bilingual directions. Afternoons are spent doing tir à l'arc (archery) or sailing on Puget Sound. Lodging: Tepees on platforms with electricity sleep five on cots; shared bathrooms. Food: Three family-style meals in a dining hall dubbed Maxim's, where French is spoken. Lunch might be a croque monsieur; dinner, bistro classics like bouillabaisse (using local mussels and crabs partially harvested by families), beef bourguignonne, and crème brûlée. Info: 360/468-2329; canoeisland.org; $920; May 22–25, Aug. 29–Sept. 1, Sept. 4–7; ACA accredited; no minimum age. Photos 1 of 3 MOORHEAD, MINN. Concordia Language Villages Even though these language-immersion programs are in the North Woods of Minnesota, campers feel worlds away; Concordia's "villages" are modeled after different cultures' traditional architecture. The German settlement looks like a street in Germany, with a café serving linzer torte pastries. (Chinese and Arabic sessions, however, are in regular camp or lodge facilities.) Families are challenged to speak the language of their camp all day—labels everywhere supply vocabulary, and counselors, many of whom are native speakers, are ready to help. While parents are in conversation classes, kids learn songs, play games, and do crafts from countries that share that foreign tongue. Lodging: Cabins sleep 10 on bunks; private bath. Food: Three family-style meals daily of a country's cuisine, taken with instructors who encourage you to say, for example, "die Butter, bitte" (butter, please) when the Brot (bread) is served. Info: 800/222-4750, concordialanguagevillages.org, $2,360, 18 six-day sessions focusing on one of seven languages June 15–Sept. 5, ACA accredited, no minimum age. THEATER AND MUSIC CAMPS CAZADERO, CALIF. Cazadero Performing Arts Camp Amid 250-foot-tall redwoods in a forest in Sonoma County's Russian River Valley, Cazadero Performing Arts Camp—Caz, for short—has families dancing, playing music, and making art all day long. There's child care for kids 2 to 5 years old; everyone else signs up for classes led by regional artists. On the lineup: conga drums (taught by Grammy-nominated percussionists), concert sound production (learn the intricacies of microphones and mixers), and circus arts (master juggling and walking on stilts). Running through the grounds is a creek that campers use as a stage for large-scale environmental art projects, with Andy Goldsworthy as their inspiration. Lodging: Platform tents that sleep six or dorm rooms that sleep three, both with cots; shared bathrooms. Food: Three buffet-style meals daily. Info: 510/527-7500; cazadero.org; $2,720; Aug. 10–16, 17–23; no minimum age. HANCOCK, N.Y. French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts A skate park and a 10,000-square-foot fitness center are new additions to this lakeside western Catskills spread that also includes a circus pavilion, a field house, and five theaters. Each day is divided into six periods, and parents and kids can pick and choose from performing-arts workshops (learn ring and rope tricks from a magician, take a guitar lesson, fly on the high trapeze, ride a unicycle) as well as traditional camp activities (swimming, water-skiing, hitting the trails on a horse or mountain bike). In the evening, campers play Brain Wars, complete with lights and buzzers, or head over to a nearby movie theater or bowling alley. Lodging: For parents: cabins with electricity and full or queen beds; private bathrooms (rooms with double beds are also available). For children ages 6 and up: bunkhouses that sleep up to 16 with resident counselors; shared bathrooms. Food: Three cafeteria-style meals daily. Info: 800/634-1703, frenchwoods.com, $2,480, Aug. 30–Sept. 5, ACA accredited, kids ages 6 and up. Photos 1 of 2 IDYLLWILD, CALIF. Idyllwild Arts Family Camp On the 205-acre campus of a boarding school in southern California's San Jacinto Mountains, children take art classes and create a mini musical to perform at session's end. Teens and parents sign up for workshops—visiting artists recently taught hot clay, Navajo weaving, and Santa Clara pottery. Everyone is free to cut class and hang out at the outdoor pool when the lifeguard is on duty. Lodging: Dorms sleep four on bunks; private bathrooms—as well as daily maid service. Food: Three cafeteria-style meals daily. Info: 951/659-2171, idyllwildarts.org, $3,195, July 4–10, classes for kids ages 3 and up. SPORTS CAMPS ARAPAHOE, N.C. Camp Seafarer At this riverfront YMCA girls' camp, the focus is on seamanship; U.S. Coast Guard-certified instructors teach campers to water-ski, operate motorboats, and sail boats ranging from a Sunfish to a Flying Scot. Counselors lend families gear for fishing, steer them to a three-story tree house (open for overnights), and point out dolphins in the Neuse River. Evening programs include a parents-only sunset cruise with shrimp cocktail on a Corinthian yacht and child care on shore. Lodging: Families get half of a duplex cabin that sleeps up to 18 on each side; private bathrooms. Food: Three family-style meals daily. Info: 252/249-1212, seagull-seafarer.org, $2,385, Aug. 16–22, ACA accredited, no minimum age. Photos 1 of 2 COUPEVILLE, WASH. Cliff McCrath's Northwest Soccer Camp World Cup champion Michelle Akers, a former camper, sometimes makes cameo appearances at McCrath's, which is in a former army base on Whidbey Island, off the coast of Seattle. Kids are grouped by age, size, and skill level and then assigned to U.S. Soccer Federation-licensed college coaches across 18 soccer fields (4 large, 14 small) where they practice their shots and scissors moves. Parents get their own tutorials and scrimmages, but if their muscles are sore, they're free to grab a ferry to Port Townsend for the afternoon. Lodging: Families are separated: Kids are in dorms converted from barracks; parents are in private units—with shared baths, a common area, and a kitchenette—in the old jailhouse. Food: Three cafeteria-style meals daily. Info: 425/644-0470, nwsoccer.org, $1,630, Aug. 9–14, kids ages 7–18. Photos 1 of 1 DEERWOOD, MINN. Heartland Hockey Camp Set in the piney woods of Minnesota's lake country, this 80-acre spread run by former NHL left winger Steve Jensen and his wife, Sandra, finds families vacationing on ice—indoors, of course. Hockey players of all ages hit the rink together to learn odd-man rushes and watch themselves on a Jumbotron—and then join any non-skating family members down by the lake to swim, canoe, and cast for northern pike. Lodging: Dorm rooms—decked out with bunks, NHL team pennants, and autographs—sleep 2 to 10; shared baths. Eight 1- and 2-bedroom apartments with kitchenettes are ideal for families. Food: Three buffet-style meals daily and a concession stand at the rink. Info: 800/945-7465, heartlandhockey.com, from $3,550 (everyone skating), one- and two-week sessions June 14–Aug. 15, kids ages 3 and up. Photos 1 of 1 SAN DIEGO, CALIF. Paskowitz Surf Camp Families are divided into groups based on their skill level for twice-a-day lessons at Tourmaline Surfing Park, on the northern end of Pacific Beach. The school, started by "Doc" Paskowitz (subject of the 2007 documentary Surfwise), is now run by his children. Beginners are welcome, and boards are provided. A tent-and-tiki-hut compound inside a private campground on Mission Bay is where everyone chills after riding the waves. Lodging: Nylon or canvas tents that sleep two to six, with foam mats. Food: Three meals daily: a light breakfast before lessons, a deli-sandwich lunch, and a big dinner such as "beer-can" chicken. Info: 949/728-1000, paskowitz.com, $4,500, nine Sunday–Friday sessions June 14–Aug. 14, kids ages 6 and up. Photos 1 of 1 EQUESTRIAN AND RANCH CAMPS HYAMPOM, CALIF. Camp Trinity at the Bar 717 Ranch At this program within Shasta-Trinity National Forest, campers learn English, Western, and bareback riding using the ranch's 2 rings, 25 horses, and 30 miles of trails. When they're not in the saddle, kids can collect eggs, milk the cows, bake blackberry pies, or go swimming in the river. Parental perk: a trail ride ending with a picnic of cheese and local wine. Lodging: Three-sided cabins, with bathrooms and a shared bathhouse, sleep 7 to 15 on cots; hotel-style rooms with private baths sleep two to six. Food: Three family-style meals daily highlight the ranch's own beef, pork, and vegetables. Info: 530/628-5992, bar717.com, $2,895, Aug. 9–16, ACA accredited, no minimum age. Photos 1 of 1 ESTES PARK, COLO. Cheley Colorado Camps Backcountry trails, covered wagons, and nightly campfires draw families year after year to this 1,600-acre Western-style camp in the Rocky Mountains. Each evening, staff members describe the next day's offerings, which, in addition to horseback riding, might include moviemaking, trout fishing, or a choice of hikes. The camp also brings in instructors to guide technical climbs on-site—at the top, climbers can see Rocky Mountain National Park and the Continental Divide. Lodging: Covered wagons, sleeping four, are modeled on those that pioneers used to explore the West, each with inner-spring mattresses on wood frames; shared bathrooms. Food: Three family-style meals daily; trail riders carry lunch fixings such as sausage, cheese, and peanut butter to wrap in tortillas. Info: 800/226-7386, cheley.com, $2,500, Aug. 11–16, ACA accredited, kids ages 4 and up. FARM CAMPS WILLITS, CALIF. Emandal—A Farm on a River This Mendocino County farm has been welcoming overnight guests since the early 1900s—when the redwood barn, farmhouse, and cabins were built along the Eel River. Campers are free to pick raspberries, gather eggs, and milk cows—or not. Families can explore at their own pace, spending an afternoon hiking over wooded slopes, discovering swimming holes, or simply swinging in the hammocks under the fir, madrone, and oak trees. Lodging: Cabins sleep up to 10, with electricity, cold water, and ceiling fans; shared baths. Food: Three meals daily, including a Sunday dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and just-churned ice cream. Info: 707/459-5439, emandal.com, $2,349, July 19–Aug. 22, no minimum age. Photos 1 of 2 PLYMOUTH, VT. Farm & Wilderness Family Camp At this Quaker-inspired camp, which borders Woodward Reservoir in the Green Mountains, days are spent rotating between three main locations: the lodge, for meals, silent meetings on the lawn, and time on the porch swing; the barn, to milk cows and feed chickens; and the organic garden, where everything from tomatoes to kale is harvested. There is also canoeing, woodworking, and rock climbing. Lodging: Three-sided lean-tos with bunks that sleep 8 to 12 (often two families to a cabin); shower houses and composting toilets. (Some four-sided cabins are also available.) Food: Three meals daily incorporating garden produce and home-baked breads. Info: 802/422-3761, farmandwilderness.org, $880–$1,260 depending on income, Aug. 23–29, ACA accredited, no minimum age. Photos 1 of 1 CAZADERO, CALIF. Plantation Farm Camp Everyone steps in to do twice-daily chores on the 500-acre Sonoma County farm: milking the cows, feeding the goats, picking peas in the garden. In between, families can make pickled green beans or cook blackberry jam on a pit fire. There's also time to ride horses bareback and canoe on the spring-fed lake. Lodging: Platform tents sleep two on foam mattresses; shared toilets and outdoor showers. Food: Three meals daily. Info: 707/847-3494; plantationcamp.com; $3,900; June 18–21, Aug. 16–23; ACA accredited; no minimum age. OUTDOOR CAMPS MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE Appalachian Mountain Club Family Adventure Camps The AMC runs guided hiking and naturalist programs out of five lodges scattered through New Hampshire and Maine. Families build campfires, track moose, hike to waterfalls, and investigate the beds of streams and rivers. At certain locations, there is also fly-fishing, river rafting, or overnighting in huts along the Appalachian Trail. Lodging: In New Hampshire, private bunkrooms can sleep four to six; shared bathrooms. In Maine, private cabins can sleep up to nine; private or shared bathrooms. Food: Breakfast buffet, brown-bag lunch, and family-style dinner daily; the latter includes fresh-baked bread and homemade soup. One of the dessert highlights: birds' nests (fried Chinese noodles dipped in chocolate with M&M's clustered in the middle). Info: 603/466-2727, outdoors.org/adventure_camps, rates vary by camp location but start at $1,610 (get 7 percent off that with a $75 annual membership), 17 six-day sessions June 28–Aug. 21, kids ages 5 and up. Photos 1 of 2 FINLAND, MINN. Wolf Ridge Family Vacation Overlooking Lake Superior on the campus of Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center—with 18 miles of trails on 2,000 acres—the program teaches families about nature and the Ojibwa people who once populated these parts. During sessions led by naturalists, kids 3 to 6 might look for deer beds in the grass, and 7- to 14-year-olds might wade in streams in calf-high boots in search of water bugs, while their parents take a wildflower walk. Lodging: Dorms sleep up to eight on bunks; private bathrooms. Food: Three cafeteria-style meals daily. Info: 218/353-7414, wolf-ridge.org, $990, July 19–24, kids ages 4 and under are free. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYO. Yellowstone for Families at Mammoth Hot Springs This four-day program at the national park's 162-degree Mammoth Terraces hot springs turns family members into budding park naturalists—and kids get the National Park Service Junior Ranger patch to prove it. Under the guidance of instructors from the Yellowstone Association Institute, kids and adults can hike to a beaver pond, go on wildlife-spotting expeditions to less-trafficked areas of the park, and learn to tell whether animals are herbivores or carnivores from the shape of their tracks. Lodging: Rooms in the 1930s Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel sleep two to four, and duplex cabins with porches sleeping up to four are a short walk from the Mammoth Terraces hot springs (look for elk grazing on the lawn). Food: Full breakfast and a brown-bag lunch daily. Campers are on their own for dinner; they can eat bison burgers at the hotel or drive to nearby Gardiner, Mont., for pizza pies. Info: 866/439-7375, yellowstoneassociation.org/institute, $2,056, June 12–Aug. 21, kids 8–12. Photos 1 of 1

HOTELS What worked A last-minute bid on Priceline delivered the best rate. Asking for the "walk-up" rate came in second. What didn't Calling—even locally. We were quoted a different price every time. Good to know To book in person, arrive at 8 p.m., when pit bosses release rooms they didn't dole out to high rollers. AIRFARE What worked Sign up for e-newsletters from booking sites like Orbitz, which alert you to sales. Round-trip flights to Vegas from all over the U.S. hovered around $200 this spring. What didn't Booking too far in advance. These days, it's all about the last-minute gamble. Good to know Southwest has 227 daily nonstop flights to Vegas from 55 cities. GETTING AROUND What worked Walking (the Strip's only about four miles long) or taking the city's monorail. Some hotels offer free vouchers; otherwise the ride's $5. What didn't Hailing cabs. We racked up $222 in fares while deal hunting. Good to know Car rentals start at $18/day—not too bad, but traffic can be heinous. SHOWS What worked Tix4Tonight sells half-price day-of-show tickets. Booths open at 10 a.m., but lines start forming at 9:30, when what's for sale is posted. What didn't Hitting up the concierges—they get good seats, but at full price. Good to know Tix4Tonight's booth at Hawaiian Marketplace has the shortest line. SPAS What worked If your hotel has a spa, ask if you can get a free pass. What didn't Bargaining. The price of a massage is what it is. Good to know Some spas run online specials, so check websites for deals.

A man who works at a casino was sitting next to me in a restaurant not long ago. He had a watch that looked like a hubcap from a Bentley, except that it had diamonds on it. He'd worked for Bellagio, the hotel-casino that helped reinvent Las Vegas as a luxury destination for the masses in 1998. He'd worked for MGM Grand. He'd worked for Wynn. He would be going to Las Vegas in a week, he said, and he would be staying in a room that was 900 square feet, where you could talk on the phone and watch a flat-screen TV while you were in the Jacuzzi. The kind of room that even on discount websites goes for $900. Only he would be paying, if things went according to his plan, no more than $200 a night. And what was his secret? I asked. Because people who tell you stuff like this are usually dying for you to ask what their secret is. "The thing people don't realize," he said, lifting his glass of pinot noir, "is that if you want a better price on a room in Vegas, all you have to do is ask. So I'm planning to negotiate. In Las Vegas, you just can't be afraid to ask." Las Vegas has always been the place where Joe Six-pack could live like a high roller for a weekend. If you couldn't afford to go to Paris and stay at the Hôtel de Crillon, you could at least go to the Paris hotel in Vegas and have men in French sailor hats open the door for you. But in 2009, those of us on this side of the check-in counter find that the math is even more in our favor. Last year, Las Vegas added close to 9,000 hotel rooms to the existing 133,000. And in 2009, 14,000 more hotel rooms are scheduled to open. Meanwhile, you've got slumping demand: Last year tourism was down 4 percent compared with the previous year, and this year's numbers are expected to be even lower. That's why you hear about extreme measures. We're talking rooms going for $40 a weeknight at places like the Excalibur. These days, there are simply too many ridiculous rooms with hot tubs and wet bars and views of the bright, gleaming desert floor to go around—and I consider it part of my patriotic duty to not let all those marble baths go to waste. So I will accept The Budget Travel Challenge: Spend three days in Las Vegas seeking out the most extreme luxury for as little money as possible, using any sort of bargaining techniques that don't require identity theft and can be reproduced by savvy travelers. Having been to Vegas several times, I have identified what I believe are the six best luxury hotels: the Bellagio, the Venetian, the Palazzo, the Wynn, the Encore, and the Trump (there's the Ritz, too, but it's miles from the Strip, so it doesn't count for me). I want to stay exclusively in those hotels—and in the high-roller rooms at that. And that's just the beginning. I was going to test the man with the watch's theory and find how much you can get in Vegas simply by asking (and asking, and asking). Method one: The Internet The air just smells different in the Wynn Las Vegas. They pump in a fragrance that makes it feel like stepping inside the lint trap of a large, well-maintained dryer. The smell hits you as soon as you enter the atrium and make your way to the front desk, hidden, as all things in Las Vegas are, somewhere beyond the casino floor. A woman dressed like a flight attendant from a superior society greets me at the front desk with a smile. I wait for her to see that I reserved my room through Priceline and realize that she doesn't have to kiss my butt. It's one of the 2,063 Resort rooms, the lowest grade. The rate for it on Expedia was $200, so I called the Wynn directly. The agent said she could do $189. I called back and told them I gambled a lot and wasn't very good at it. I told them I was going to stay at the Bellagio if they didn't give me a better price. Every time I called, I got a different rate: $209, $179, $129. But they wouldn't go under $109 (9 is apparently their lucky number). Then I went on Priceline and started the bidding at $60. I kept going up by $5 increments and ultimately scored at $90—a day before checking in. I'm pretty psyched about the rate, but the thing is, once I'm at the front desk, I want to ask for more; after all, I'm just getting started with this challenge, and I have lots of tricks. My plan is to call downstairs when I get to my room and tell them something inventive—my room smells bad?—and see where that gets me. But the woman preempts me: "It looks like we're all sold out of our Resort rooms. You've been upgraded to the Tower Suites." My new room would have gone for $350 at full price. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. It's that easy? The Tower Suites section of the hotel, with about 300 rooms, has its own entrance and front desk and is even more elaborately marble-paneled, gilded, and flowered than the main section. And the room? Is it really better? Well, yeah, it's better. It's about 650 square feet, with cranberry-colored walls, remote control drapery, Warhol prints, and a phone in the bathroom (hurrah!). But the feature you'd be paying the extra $150 for is the view; my room overlooks the mossy puzzle pieces of the vaunted Wynn golf course, and beyond that the Las Vegas basin. Besides the high-end hotel room glut, there's another high-end glut in the food scene. Ever since the Bellagio opened its doors and introduced America to Le Cirque, casinos have been all about signing up name-brand chefs to open name-brand restaurants. In the Venetian alone, you will find Mario Batali's B&B Ristorante, David Burke's eponymous restaurant, Emeril Lagasse's Delmonico Steakhouse, and Wolfgang Puck's Postrio—and that's not counting the seven other fine-dining outposts whose chefs I do not immediately recognize. So what happens during a downturn? You get the tasting menu at Daniel Boulud Brasserie, in the Wynn, for $48 if you eat before 7 p.m. It's actually not so bad eating at 6:50, which is when I'm seated on my first night and served a tasty glass of viognier. The meal starts with an amuse-bouche (a lobster knuckle on a cracker, topped with green-tea cream) and ends with a plate of petits fours. There's also a very fine piece of skate served with a brown-butter sauce over pureed potatoes and roasted cauliflower. I take a not insignificant pleasure in knowing how much money I'm saving on all of these delicious things—in this case, about $20. Method two: The walk-up It's Thursday. Tomorrow is the weekend, when Las Vegas will get more expensive, but for now the dream of the Scarface suite for $14 lives on. Today I'm going to test out the cash-in-hand theory. You may be able to negotiate on the phone from your hometown. But, logically, you should have more pull when you're standing there with your bills. My strategy is to start with the Expedia rates so I know what I've got to beat. Then I'll go to all the hotels and see if I can do better at the front desk. First stop is the Encore, twin sister to the Wynn, which I want bad. There's no real reason, except that it's newer than the 4-year-old Wynn (it opened last year)—and the prices are generally higher online. Today, the rate is $239 on Expedia, and the woman at the front desk says she can give me a room for $219. Upgrading to a Tower suite is an additional $100. "But I got the identical thing at the Wynn last night for $90!" I toss back. Still, I am denied. I'm quoted a great deal at The Palazzo Resort—$179 for the basic room, and the upgrade to the Siena Suite is only $100. That's $279 for a 1,283-square-foot room with a Jacuzzi, two bathrooms, and a living room that could very well be sunken, the agent says, if I am lucky. I try the Bellagio last. But when the deal isn't as good, I call the Palazzo from the Bellagio's lobby on my cell phone. "That'll be $469 for the Siena Suite," the woman on the phone says. "I was just there," I say. "The guy at the front desk told me to be sure to say I wanted the walk-up rate. It was $179 plus $100 for the upgrade." "It's $469," she says flatly. The "walk-up" rate seems to require just that. Because once I'm back at the front desk at the Palazzo in person, I'm quoted the $179 rate again—or $279 for the whole-shebang suite, which I go for, naturally. Having checked in, I seek out the fourth floor of the hotel, where, spanning the expanse between the Palazzo and the Venetian, is Canyon Ranch SpaClub, one of the largest known spas in the universe. I got nowhere bargaining with the folks at the Wynn's spa or the one at the Bellagio. Some of them are doing 20-percent-off deals for locals, but I think getting a counterfeit driver's license stretches the journalistic boundaries of this story. But Canyon Ranch is running an online special: $280 for a 50-minute massage, a 50-minute facial, access to the gym for the day, and a $20 gift certificate for lunch at Canyon Ranch's grill or café. All told, you're saving about $60. And, since I was able to convince the staff to tack on gym and spa access for the next day (normally it runs $40), it's closer to $100 I'm not paying. After three hours of hands-on services and pan-flute music, I emerge from Canyon Ranch in as relaxed a state as I've ever been in Las Vegas. Which lasts about 17 minutes. Method three: The gamble And that brings us to what is perhaps the craziest glut in Las Vegas: four separate shows of Cirque du Soleil. There is O, Love, and Zumanity, and the act I get tickets for, Kà. How are there that many people on earth who can put their own foot in their ear while bungee jumping through a flaming hoop? Saving money in Vegas involves an awful lot of taxiing. A concierge at the Wynn tipped me off that the best ticket prices in town are found at the discounter Tix4Tonight, which has an outpost across from my hotel in the Fashion Show mall. I end up paying $100 for a voucher good for a seat that usually costs up to $150. To be issued the actual ticket, I have to haul myself back to the MGM, where Kà is performed, but the payoff, a 10th-row-center seat, makes the extra effort worth it. After picking up my ticket, it's back to the Palazzo for my free day at Canyon Ranch. I do everything—the steam room, the Finnish sauna, some kind of herbal hot room that has a rock crystal fixed to the ceiling—and then I fall asleep in one of the relaxing chairs next to a naked guy reading a Martha Stewart magazine. At dinner the night before—the $60 prix fixe at Craftsteak in the MGM Grand—I met a man who told me he works as a pit boss at the Bellagio. The pit boss is the guy who oversees blackjack dealers and the like, making sure everything is kosher and identifying high rollers in order to give them perks to keep them in the casino. We were both eating at the bar, having the winter tasting menu, which is a beautifully obscene amount of food: four appetizers, two kinds of steak, scallops, three side dishes (including a copper pot filled with Yukon gold potatoes pureed with at least 17 sticks of butter) and a cranberry crisp with vanilla ice cream. The pit boss told me that the best time to get a deal on rooms is at 8 p.m. At that point, all the rooms the pit bosses haven't doled out to high rollers are turned back over to the salespeople, who are deputized to sell them cheap. I make the rounds of all my target hotels, step up to the front desks, and ask for deals. It's Friday night, so the prices have soared. The Encore is $750 online, and the staff won't go below $279 at the front desk. The Bellagio's best walk-up rate is $199 (about $50 less than the phone rate), but the woman at the front desk says there's no chance for an upgrade. At the Trump, though, the man on duty quotes me $169. I pause and see if he'll take the bait. "Sir, we can go to $129 if you want the best possible rate," he says, poker-faced. "Or we can do our 900-square-foot suite for $169." "Sir," I say, taking out my credit card, "I am a 900-square-foot kind of guy." I go to my room—a view of the pool and the Strip beyond, high-thread-count white sheets, and a kitchen with a Sub-Zero refrigerator. Then it's off to Kà, which basically blows my mind. I sit in my seat and mouth "holy crap" over and over (I am not exaggerating, sadly). Before the show, the couple next to me tell me they paid $150 each for their tickets. I give them the card for Tix4Tonight. Then I start boring them with all the ways I have learned to get luxury on the cheap. The man is polite for a while, but there's an exciting explosion on the stage that indicates showtime is approaching. "Fireball!" he says, meaning "let's not talk any more." "Fireball!" I say. I refrain from telling him how much I'm paying for my hotel room. LODGING Wynn Las Vegas 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702/770-7000, wynnlasvegas.com The Palazzo Resort-Hotel-Casino 3325 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702/607-7777, palazzolasvegas.com Trump Hotel Las Vegas 2000 Fashion Show Dr., 702/982-0000, trumplasvegashotel.com FOOD Daniel Boulud Brasserie Wynn Las Vegas, 702/248-3463, wynnlasvegas.com Craftsteak MGM Grand, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702/891-1111, mgmgrand.com ACTIVITIES Canyon Ranch SpaClub 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702/414-3600, canyonranch.com Tix4Tonight Six locations, 877/849-4868, tix4tonight.com