1) Book your stay in Vegas on weekdays and save a ton of money
You will always get the cheapest rates on Las Vegas hotel rooms by booking your stay for weekdays and non-holidays. The weekend prices for Friday and Saturday nights can be as much as double what the week night rates are, so if you can book your stay on week nights you can save a ton of money, and avoid the annoying weekend crowds as well! Fall and Winter months also will be much cheaper than staying in Las Vegas hotels during the busy Spring and Summer seasons, although in Winter many Las Vegas hotels close their swimming pools for the season or close them early each day. This tip also applies to air fair prices to and from Las Vegas, which will also be cheaper on weekdays and during Fall and Winter months.

2) Book your hotel room directly through the hotel and save money
Most people book their Las Vegas vacations (hotel rooms and flights) as package deals through outlets such as Priceline and Expedia. While booking through these outlets is mighty convenient, you can usually get lower prices on your hotel rooms by booking your room directly through the hotel's website. A good starting point is to check out the deals you can get through Priceline or Expedia, and then go to the hotel's website to see if you can get a lower price for the same dates. Often times, you can! Many Las Vegas hotels have "web specials" and other promotional discounts available on their websites. This tip also applies to air fair prices-- you can usually get a lower air fare price by booking your flight directly through the airlines rather than through an outlet, although you may have to book with two different airlines (one to Las Vegas, one back home) to get the best prices.

3) Book your hotel room well in advance
You also will get the best Las Vegas hotel room prices by booking your room well in advance, at least two months in advance is best. This will also give you more options on which room you want to choose. This tip also applies to air fair prices to and from Las Vegas... if you wait until the last minute to book your hotel and flight you will end up paying a lot more than if you had booked well in advance.

4) Be flexible in your vacation dates to get the best rates
One thing many people do not know is that Las Vegas hotel room rates fluctuate wildly from week to week and day to day. The hotel room rates are NOT the same each week day or weekend. For example, when checking the booking calendar for Sunday through Wednesday nights in April at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, the cheapest rates are during the third week ($39 a night) while the weekday rates for the rest of the month are between $79-$85 a night for the cheapest rooms. This is typical of most Las Vegas hotels. If you can be flexible with the dates for your Las Vegas vacation, it pays to find the dates with the cheapest hotel room rates at the hotel you wish to stay in.

5) Join the casino players clubs to get extra discounts and freebies
You can save even more money on Las Vegas hotels by signing up with the hotel's casino players clubs. Signing up for a casino club card is easy to do and can be done either at the hotel casinos or online at the casino websites, and once you are a club card member you can get discounts on your hotel rooms (a 15% discount is the norm) and often times even get offers for free hotel room stays and other perks such as free money to gamble with at their casinos. I personally receive such offers from a couple Las Vegas hotels / casinos I have signed up with, and regularly receive coupon mailers in the mail with the offers. My best free offer yet was three complimentary nights at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. It doesn't get any cheaper than free, baby!

There you have it... five ways to save money and get the cheapest rates possible at Las Vegas hotels, and cheap air fair prices to and from Las Vegas to boot! Save your money for the slot machines! Good luck, and happy gambling...

More Las Vegas tips articles:

The top five coolest CHEAP hotels in Las Vegas

The top ten things to do in Las Vegas on a budget

Casino Club Cards: how to use them to earn cash and other benefits