If you play poker, there’s really no reason to ever pay for a full-priced room at any casino-hotel. With a little preparation and the information we’ll provide in the following article, you’ll be able to stay at any of the country’s best casino-hotels for a fraction of the regular room rate, all for doing something you were probably going to do there anyway: play poker!
What is a poker rate?
In short, casinos will give you a huge discount off their regular room rate if you spend some of your time there playing poker. They offer this deal for several reasons:
- it helps keep the casino’s poker room full,
- it gives out-of-towners an additional incentive to make the trip in, and
- it helps fill up hotel rooms that otherwise would have gone unoccupied for the night.
How do I get a poker rate?
Anyone is eligible: all you have to do is call up the reservation desk at your hotel of choice and ask for a room at the poker rate. Note that these are always subject to availability – most hotels have a limited block of rooms at the discounted rate, so be sure to call several weeks ahead of your intended stay, although it’s not uncommon for poker rate rooms to be available with as little as 24 hours advance booking if it’s a slow night at the hotel. Just call and ask.
The better-run hotel-casinos will have trained all of their reservation agents on the poker rate, meaning you’ll be able to do everything through the reservations desk, but others will make you make arrangements through the poker room’s business office, or via the poker room manager directly. Simply ask to be transferred to the poker room, and you’ll be able to book it with a representative over there. The room is usually booked for you at the hotel’s regular rate, and is then reduced to the discounted price at check-out time if you satisfy the playing requirements (explained below.)
If you’re told that there are no more rooms left at the poker rate, be persistent! Ask to be put on the waiting list, or call back on a daily basis, since hotels are constantly receiving cancellations. One of our editors often simply asks to be transferred to the casino’s poker room managers directly, who have on several occasions personally arranged for a room at the poker rate, even after the reservations desk had told him they were all booked. Just ask, and you’ll never know what you might get!
How much of a discount will I get?
It varies from hotel to hotel, but you can typically expect a 40% to 75% discount from the regular room rate. A room at the impressive new Borgata in Atlantic City can be had for a mere $40 on a weeknight, whereas it would run you $199 at full price! A room at the signature Bellagio on a Saturday night, regularly priced at $349 - $399, is a steal at $219 (and a mere $149 on weeknights.) The best online resource for comparing poker rates at various Las Vegas hotels is can be found at All Vegas Poker here. You’ll find the weeknight and weekend poker rates, contact phone numbers, and the playing requirements for every major Las Vegas hotel.
What are the playing requirements?
Ahhh, finally we get to the “catch”, if you can call it that. In return for the discounted room rate, you have to play a certain number of hours in the hotel’s poker room. Your playing time is typically tracked via a special card that you will be given when you arrive, which requires you to “clock in” and “clock out”. Don’t forget to clock out!! If you forget, you will not receive credit for your time played and will be charged the full room rate.
Most hotels require between 4 and 8 hours of play in the poker room to qualify for the poker rate. Nearly all hotels, however, allow all of those staying in the room to “pool” their playing hours to meet this threshold. That means that 4 people sharing a room would only need to play an hour and a half each to satisfy a hotel’s 6-hour playing requirement.
That’s it! We hope you enjoy your next casino stay on the cheap!
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