Earlier this year, I took an almost free Vegas vacation by using credit card bonuses. I still think that is the easiest way to get a cheap or free Vegas vacation, but I recently discovered a couple of new ways to reduce the cost of a Vegas Vacation. A post on the Mr. Money Mustache forum informed me of the MyVegas Rewards and Social Rewards programs that can be used to earn things such as free rooms, free buffets, free show tickets, and more.
MyVegas Rewards is a program set up by MLife which is the rewards program for MGM resorts. The basic idea of MyVegas rewards is that you can earn real comps by playing slots and table games on the MyVegas Facebook page. Playing the games rewards you with loyalty points which can be redeemed for free rooms, free meals, free show tickets and other rewards. After about a month of playing I have about 36,000 loyalty points which I could use for three nights at Circus Circus, two nights at Excalibur, or one night at New York New York or Monte Carlo.
I would suggest you join a group such as MyVegas Friends which will help you earn points faster and has guides on how to optimize your play. You might want to consider setting up a separate Facebook account for playing the game since all of the postings from the game can clutter up your news feed. Setting up a second account for games is a violation of Facebook rules so you will have to decide whether it is worth the risk that Facebook might possibly shut down the new account. Another thing to consider is that you still have to pay resort fees when you redeem for a free night. Excalibur charges about $20 a night in resort fees. Last time I was in Vegas I stayed in a non-casino hotel and paid about $35 a night so a free room is only saving me about $15 a night. I do enjoy playing the MyVegas games though so I think the rewards are a pretty good deal.
Social Rewards is a much simpler program. It is affiliated with TotalRewards which is the rewards program for Caesars Entertainment. Between these two programs you have most of the casinos on the strip covered. You get rewards for this program by sharing information about Caesars resorts and casinos on your social media accounts. You are limited to three shares a day so it is quick and easy to do this program each day. I’ve earned a little over $20 in free rewards since starting to use this program about a month ago.
Another thing to consider that I haven’t tried is legal online gaming while you are in Las Vegas. Some of the Las Vegas casinos now also have legal online casinos. The interesting thing about these casinos is that some offer a bonus for signing up online and making a deposit. The catch here is that you have to be located in New Jersey or Nevada when playing online. I think you would be able to play online while visiting New Jersey or Nevada, but I’m not sure. This is something you might want to explore for yourself.
Although these programs aren’t as great as I first thought they are still a pretty good deal in my opinion. Since IS enjoy playing MyVegas slots and Social Rewards doesn’t take much time I’ll keep using these programs. Rewards from these programs should make my next Vegas vacation very inexpensive.
I started playing MyVegas a few months ago, just before we left for Vegas. Earned enough for a buffet for two at Excalibur in the short time I had. Since then I have accumulated just over 50,000 loyalty points. A couple tips, Andy – 1) be sure you redeem before you fly out there. When you are in Vegas, the program recognizes your location and the redemptions they offer are different (and less generous); 2) You can only redeem three rewards per 30 days. I don’t know that you can redeem the same reward more than once, so you might be switching hotel rooms every night.
I had heard about Social Rewards but haven’t signed up… sounds really easy though.
Thanks for the tips. I had read on Facebook about people waiting until they got to Vegas to try to redeem rewards and then not being able to use them so I was aware of that issue. From what I’m reading on Facebook I think you can redeem for three nights in a row. I’ll find out for sure when I actually try to redeem. If not I could use one free night and my gf use one free night so we aren’t switching rooms every day. You should sign up for Social Rewards too. It is easy and doesn’t take much time compared to MyVegas.
I have always used my credit cards for free flier miles, but I have never really gotten a free trip out of it. I will have to look into some of these sites.
Oh man, I’ve never heard anything of myvegas, I already booked the Excalibur , because there was a huge discount! But all I had to do is to play myvegas to get a free stay at hotels? Unbelievable…