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Hi Vegas fans,

This week has seen a lot of closings, but there is still a lot of good news for those of you who are traveling to Las Vegas.

First, recent closings:

• Folies Bergere: After 49 years, the Trop has closed a Strip classic
• Forty Deuce: Surprisingly, Ivan Kane closed his club in Mandalay Bay. He still has a club in LA and is also showing off his burlesque show in Palm Springs.
• Bally's Sports Book: For the summer, at least. You can still wager at Paris.

So, does this mean gloom and doom? No. There are plenty of great shows, clubs, and of course gambling venues throughout Las Vegas, from the Strip to downtown to the outskirts. What this means for you is that you will find great prices for 2009 and probably 2010, too.

The same is true for hotel prices. Sort of. When the economy started going south, lots of hotels started lowering their prices. Makes sense, right? If you're not getting business, entice people with bargains. However, there's a point where hotels are going to start pulling back on that.

Here's why. Let's say your hotel doesn't draw a lot of people with lower prices. You've got a problem. Your margins are lower (that is, the amount of money you are making per room is smaller), and the number of people coming to your hotel is decreasing. That's bad news, and you're going to start hemorrhaging cash quickly. So, to make up for it, hotels will start changing higher prices again (at least their usual prices) in hopes that people will pay the rates regardless.

Eventually, it'll work for them. For now, there are still a lot of hotels with very inexpensive rates, so the first few hotels that start going up are probably going to lose some customers.

So, you should keep shopping. You'll find great rates for the rest of this year, I suspect. I'm planning a trip for August, and I'm seeing rates as low as $25/night at places like NY NY. That's a steal! I like to book my trip early, but this is one time when I'm going to continue to watch. It's like the stock market. I'll keep my eye out and patiently wait... wait... wait to make a move.

If all else fails, just remember my motto. Go to Vegas. It's that simple.

Viva,

Mike