I live in Vegas, I market a lot of products online related to Las Vegas including travel. One phrase I encounter almost daily is “Who has the Best Deals”. I am not going to attempt to define “Best Deals”, but I thought I’d take a shot at doing something I’ve done before in the past to see what the “going rate” is for popular Las Vegas Hotels.

My methodology is as follows. Pick 2 Properties… a High End and Low End property on the Las Vegas Strip and compare the rates from all the major online Hotel Sites.

For this article I’m choosing the popular Bellagio Hotel and Casino Resort as the “High End Vegas Hotel” and the “Low End” for purposes of this article will be the equally popular, but aging Luxor Hotel.

Because most people know that Hotel Rates are Higher on the Weekend than the Weekdays I’m choosing to do my search and ranking based on a Full Week Arriving on a Monday and departing on the following Monday to get a full 7 nights in the evaluation.

I’ll be ranking based solely on lowest advertised rate, but excluding any detail or fine print. These are the advertised prices, not necessarily the total actual price including taxes, resort fees, surcharges, etc. I’ll be showing the lowest advertised rate for the “standard” room. This is a Hotel Only search not including airfare or any package options. One room, Two Adults, No Children.

The dates Searched are October 19, 2009 to October 26, 2009

And here are the Results:

Bellagio.com Hotel Search at their own Hotel Website

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $304.71per night average

Luxor.com Hotel Search at thier own Hotel Website

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $124.29 per night average

Expedia Las Vegas Hotel Search:

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $122.66 per night average

LasVegas.com Hotel Search

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $122.86 per night average

Vegas.com Hotel Search

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $122.86 per night average

Priceline.com Las Vegas Hotel Search:

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $124.29 per night average

Orbitz.com Las Vegas Hotel Search:

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $122.85 per night average

Hotels.com Las Vegas Hotel Search:

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $122.86 per night average

Travelocity Las Vegas Hotel Search:

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $122.86 per night average

I4Vegas.com Las Vegas Hotel Search:

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $122.85 per night average

Las Vegas Hotel Search:

Bellagio Deluxe Room … $257.57 per night average

Luxor Pyramid Deluxe Room… $122.66 per night average

Okay so you are saying, did this guy really check all these rates? And the answer is I sure as hell did! And what do you see? That’s right the same rates from site to site. Big or small the rates do not change!

So how are you going to get the best deal on a Las Vegas Hotel Room? The answer is you are not! You can shop till you drop – Prices are Controlled. Book through whomever you like and the rates will be within a dollar of each other! Why? Because there are only 4 major booking engines and the Hotels control the price. If you want a cheaper rate, choose a cheaper hotel.

People think they are going to get some great deal by visiting every site online. But all you get is frustrated. Check the Hotels Website, then check one or two of any of the above. There is no point in trying to wheel and deal. The only “trick” or “tip” that actually works is to call the Hotel Direct bypassing the Reservations Number and asking this question: “What is your best rate for a room on these dates”.

That’s it folks. Shopping for Hotel Rates is like Shopping for Gasoline they are all pretty much the same rates. And there are only one or two refineries.

This is America and if you want to stay, you have to pay. By the way all the rates quoted above did not include taxes… which were about $20 and $40 per night respectively.

Research conducted online Friday September 25, 2009.

FYI:  LasVegas.com and Vegas.com are run by the same company

Good luck. Comments Welcome.