Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards Coupon Book
I originally signed up for the Las Vegas Advisor in 2003 to receive the LVA MRB (Member Rewards Book) of coupons. I had given my boyfriend a second tourist trip to Las Vegas for his birthday, because we had so much fun on the first one. For that first trip, I made an hour by hour itinerary going up and down the Las Vegas Strip, based on an article in Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel Magazine by Anthony Curtis. At that time, I was a very avid budget traveler but had just learned what video poker was and had just discovered the Las Vegas Advisor.
Before that first trip to Las Vegas from the East Coast, the last time I had been to Las Vegas was 10 years earlier when I was living in Los Angeles and driving to Bob Stupak’s Vegas World Hotel and Casino (which is now the Stratosphere) regularly, using extraordinary deals found in the newspaper, which essentially made the trip FREE! If I recall correctly, you paid $395 for a room for 3 nights, a coupon book (in retrospect, a fantastically valuable coupon book, which I was clueless about and probably threw in the garbage) drink cards for 2 people that allowed you to drink for free whether or not you were gambling, a free show, a gift of some sort—a bottle of champagne or a free camera or free hotel nights in Arizona or something like that and $400 in casino chips, that you could take to the cage and convert to cash immediately. I played some slots (with no knowledge of the odds at all) and was using the deal for an inexpensive vacation, rather than an advantage play.
When I got back from LV, I familiarized myself with the other things that an LVA membership offered and I discovered the Forum. The LVA Forum is basically how I met every gambling friend I have today, directly or indirectly. It is how I met Michael Trager, the founder of TravelZork, ZorkCast and ZorkFest! It is from the discussions on the forum that I learned about video poker, gambling odds, advantage play and a multitude of other aspects of casinos. And, the net value of the coupons I use from the Member Rewards Book I receive each year always exceeds the $50 (Platinum subscription with mailed newsletter) or $37 (Diamond subscription with online newsletter access) price. The Las Vegas Advisor also offers a complimentary LVA Gold membership with valid email address which gives access to better deals than the free general access and Gold members can contribute comments and forum posts, not just read them.
Tremendous Value in a Little Book
The MRB is a small little book that you tear the coupons from, at the point that you redeem them. There is an alphabetical listing of all the casinos which have coupons in the front of the book and there is an index in the back, which breaks the coupons down into categories: Gambling, Dining, Attractions, etc. There are even additional coupons on the site for members which you can print out.
I never worry about getting value from the MRB because there are coupons I use every year. One is $5 in free play for every 50 points at The D downtown, which effectively adds 1% to the 25c full pay Bonus Poker progressive at the Vue Bar upstairs. I don’t like table games, so I don’t use the match plays unless someone is with me, but I usually end up using $40 or $50 worth of $10 free play coupons at casinos downtown or maybe at Orleans. There is always a 241 menu item for Siegel’s 1941, the café at the El Cortez downtown and I use that to stretch out my comps. Sometime during the first years I started gambling, I decided to go to Las Vegas by myself and used a LVA 241 room coupon for the El Cortez. The El Cortez is the first place I was established at and the first place I got a host!
The Las Vegas Advisor is a safe bet because you can join for free to get limited content and all the coupons that are available with a paid membership are clearly listed. If you’ve never been to Las Vegas before you can check out information and tips on shows, lounges, gambling, attractions, etc. and make a list of things you want to do on your trip. (Planning ahead of time is well worth the effort. There is so much to see and do in Las Vegas, that doing a little research into areas that you are interested in, is always going to enable you to do more!) You can search the coupons by property, type or offer and decide if you want to purchase a membership.
Even if you only break even, you’ve still got access for a year to a ton of information on all aspects of Las Vegas and the forum, where you can pick the brains of other Las Vegas enthusiasts.
While I was writing this article I went on the Las Vegas Advisor site to see what reference information is on the home page and I noticed a listing for the Top Happy Hours of the Month and another member posted about a daily happy hour at the Cromwell – Interlude Lounge between 6p and 7p where they offer a $1 martini/cocktail menu. Cocktails made with Grey Goose or Ciroc vodka. I’ll have to check that out!
