Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
opposite to be true, and lower rates plus lower taxes can add up to even big-
ger savings. Just doing a survey of Avis prices for a 1-day midsized rental, I
was quoted a final price of $99 at the airport and $61 at a Strip rental
counter.
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Shop around:
Considering the different charges for on-airport vs. off-air-
port bookings, I also ran numbers for a number of different companies and
came up with very different prices, one to the next. As I said above, Avis was
$61 (at a Strip rental counter), but Thrifty and Enterprise came in at just $30
(including all taxes and fees) on the very same day. The websites I listed
above in our “Bidding” section will work best for these sweeping searches.
You'll also want to shop around in terms of car sizes. Every once in a while,
companies sell out compacts first and then offer lower prices on midsized or
full-sized vehicles (this is particularly true when fuel costs are high).
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Use your VIP status:
Yes, you are a VIP—you just might not know it. But
if you're a member of AAA or AARP, make that known . . . after you get your
quote (do it before and you might not get as good a deal). If you work for a
large corporation or are a member of a labor union, see if it has arranged ben-
efits at the car-rental counter. If you're going to be using a credit card, go to
the site of the rental company you've picked first and see if there are any
printable coupons there for credit card discounts (sorry, just using the credit
card won't usually get you the discount, you have to hand in the darn
coupon!). And if you shop at Sam's Club, Costco, or BJ's Wholesale, see if
they have any rental coupons at their travel counters—often they do, and
these can save you between 5% and 30%.
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Check, check and recheck:
If you book a car rental directly from a com-
pany, revisit its site before you get to the airport. Sometimes prices do drop.
Simply rebook yourself at the lower rate (I've saved $60 this way) and bring
a copy of your confirmation letter so that the counter-folks are clear on the
cost. Carrying paper confirmation is actually good any time you rent a car,
as you don't want to be confronted with a much higher price than the one
you thought you booked.
TAKING TAXIS
You'll actually meet some very interesting people when you take a cab in Vegas.
Many drivers come from all parts of the U.S.—and the world, for that matter—
simply to work as cabdrivers for 6 months and then take the next 6 months off
(more common than you'd imagine). Which might tell you a bit about how costly
cabs are. This is the most expensive way to get around town, and often not the
most convenient.
It'll cost you $3.20 just to get into the cab and then 25 cents for every
1
⁄
8
of a
mile thereafter. Add a $1.20 fee if you're being picked up from the airport. Riders
wait for cabs at the taxi lines at various major hotels around town, as it's illegal for
a cab to stop when hailed (and the cops are stringent about this, especially on the
crowded Strip); I've waited up to 30 minutes in these lines. While you're in line,
see if anyone else would like to share the cab with you; you can squeeze up to five
people in a cab and there's no extra charge so long as you're all going to the same
destination.
