Matthew in the Middle | Las Vegas travel hacks

I just got back from another great weekend in Las Vegas where I got to hang out with my daughter and her girlfriend (Yo Adriene!) along with my best friend. My daughter likes hanging with the Big Dog as she gets free rooms, food and alcohol as I either get comped or have Daddy’s credit card. If you’re the parent of an adult child, you understand. For the record, I’m not a big gambler. $20 at a video Blackjack machine is my speed. I get asked all the time, how can you afford trips to Las Vegas so often? The answer is simple: travel hack.

I got free round-trip airfare from ACV-LAS using my United points, three nights comped at the Wynn/Encore with a $400 food credit (SW Steakhouse), along with free parking. In addition, I got a $150 comped lunch at Fountainebleau, another $100 food credit for Gordon Ramsay Burger for lunch for four, free martinis at the Piazza Lounge at Tuscany Resort and two comped tickets to the High Roller. Free valet parking up and down the Strip (except Venetian/Palazzo). Throw in the American Express Centurion Lounge and my travel coffee and breakfasts were covered. You gotta pay taxes and tips off the gross bill. To top everything off, I got fifth-row seats for Duran Duran at Encore’s Concierge Will Call an hour before their show for only $121. The people sitting a row behind me paid $475 each for their tickets. All in, I got $4,500 in travel costs for around $250 for my airfare, hotel, valet parking, concert, many meals and beverages.

There’s a method for getting free airfare, free or cheap hotel rooms and comped meals. The key is how to unlock all the Las Vegas perks. Sign up for every casino’s player card. The goal is getting Caesars Diamond status. That card opens up many doors via status match with other casinos to get massively discounted room rates, no resort (extort) fees, free valet parking and some casinos will throw in food and beverage credits. To qualify for Caesars Diamond status, you either have to gamble a few hundred thousand dollars (slot machine coin in or average dollar bet per hand in Blackjack or Roulette) or get the Wyndham Business card. The Wyndham Business card automatically gives you Wyndham Diamond status, which Caesars will match to Diamond status. Once you have Caesars Diamond status, you can then status match to MGM Gold, Fountainebleau Gold, Hard Rock (formerly Mirage) Icon and Wynn Platinum. Now you get free valet parking at all these casinos plus many other perks. Fountainebleau gives you a $150 food credit and a $150 spa credit. Hard Rock (Mirage) gives you a $100 food credit. Wynn gives you a $150 food credit on your birthday month. Caesars Diamond gets you an annual $100 food credit.

Wynn/Encore has comped me eight nights and $1,200 in food credits this year. Three nights at Wynn/Encore over a weekend can cost over $2,000. With Caesars Diamond status, I get Caesars rooms mid-week (Sunday–Thursday) for as low as $10 per night with no resort fees. The best part with all these casino status cards is line cutting. There’s a separate line at most restaurants/bars for the status players. This past weekend, Gordon Ramsay Burger had 20 folks waiting in line for 30 minutes to get a table. Matthew walks up to the front and shows my Caesars Diamond card and the hostess says, “Follow me, Mr. Owen.” I got stink eye from those folks waiting in line.

Don’t hate the playa,

hate the playa card!

Rumor is, many of my family and friends have used my casino cards to get free valet parking (regularly $40-45) whenever they go to Las Vegas. All you gotta do is scan your valet parking ticket and then swipe my casino card. Bamm, free valet parking! Just tip your valets. My daughter keeps her Wynn/Encore room key so regardless which hotel she stays at in the future, she can get into the Wynn/Encore pools. In Las Vegas, beers cost $13-$15 each. So Matthew buys a 12-pack of IPA at Vons for $13.99, then gets a couple of plastic Wynn cups and now my beers are only $1.16 each. It’s amazing what a six-pack on ice in your bathroom sink saves you.

You can spend $4,000-$5,000 for a weekend in Las Vegas. Or you can spend a few hundred dollars. It’s up to you.

Matthew Owen resides in Eureka and believes the First Amendment allows for free speech. He can be reached at mowen707@gmail.com.