The Days Off – Travel Guide

The Comfort Inn Monterey Bay hotel was a great deal for a last minute booking. The price was reasonable ($140 for a holiday weekend) and the rooms were comfortable and clean. Weekday rates for this hotel are as low as $60 per night. Amenities include a continental breakfast, cable TV including HBO, high speed internet, and free coffee. The breakfast included self-serve waffles, coffee, toast, cereal, fruit, juice, and coffee. Our room had a fridge and a microwave, which was very convenient for storing and heating up leftovers. The beds were comfortable, bathroom was clean (recently remodelled), and the furniture looked fairly new. It has a nice charm to it with the flowers planted around the hotel. The location is pretty good – about a 10 minute drive to Fishermans Wharf and Cannery Row. Overall, a good value for Monterey if you are on a budget.

Popularity: 4%

I checked around the hotels for CES 2010 (International Consumer Electronics Show)  and it looks like the prices are coming down. I’m going to focus on hotel prices under $100 per night in this guide, as there are many hotels in the $100+ range.

Where to get good deals on hotels for CES?

The easiest place to look is on the CES website itself. They include most resort fees that would typically get charged extra.  Circus Circus seems to have the best deal on the strip right now at $50-92 per night for tower rooms. I would avoid the Circus Manor rooms at all costs as the tower rooms are much nicer.

Excalibur widescreen rooms (recently remodeled) are in the $66-$96 range, which has the nicest rooms for under $100.

If you are on a real budget, you can stay in downtown Las Vegas for around $60 per night. I find its a hassle staying that far away from the convention center though.

Early bird rates end on November 30th (today) FYI. A nice thing about the official CES hotels is that there is a shuttle that will pick you up to/from your hotel. Parking at CES is expensive, so its best to use the shuttle.  The monorail is another option, but can be pricey at $5 each way.

Official CES Hotel List:
http://www.cesweb.org/hotelTravel/hotel.asp

If you use Expedia, check to see if you have coupons in your account. I booked a hotel last month using Expedia and they added a $50 coupon for a 2+ night stay, which is a great deal. Priceline is another option if you want to get the lowest rates available.

Popularity: 16%