Set. Finally.

Haven't been able to lock down a room for September...until now.

Rates are high everywhere, mainly due to the Friday night that I added. So, I bailed on the Friday and am going a day earlier instead, now will be in town Sat-Fri. Only a $20 bump on the flight so no penalty really, I'm in same time on the Saturday morning and I'm out at a better time on fly-out day, 1p. Coming back on Friday gives me a whole weekend to recover from the week too before going back to work. Still Alaska, everything good there.

For the room, my "best room to location to price" algorithm settled on Aria. Could have gone with a Delano suite again, but while I love the MB/Delano complex I didn't want the slightly isolating feel of being so far downstrip on this time. With all the activities going on on this trip I want to be more central. I also could have gotten a suite at Vdara for the same-ish price but Vdara rooms are so clapped out at this point, and I don't need what would be the wasted square footage of the kitchen. Ain't nobody cooking in Vegas. Cosmo/Venetian/Wynn all outrageous for the week. Anything at CET would be a lesser room for more cash.

This is just the bargain basement standard Aria 2-queen room. Going with the 2-queen rather than the king saves me $40+/night, and I don't mind the extra bed. These rooms also need a renovation but they're still one of the better standard rooms in the MGM portfolio and, again, can't beat the location or resort quality. I may be able to cop an upgrade too on check in since I'm Gold. Maybe a view, at least. 

With losing the crazy expensive night it's going to be $515 for the 6 nights which I'm not going to do any better than for that week. Less than $100/night for a 5-star (when V/P and Wynn want $2000+) is zoooper good. If I was booking it at rack rate it'd be $2200. As long as Aria has fixed it's ridiculous taxi situation it should be a good week.

So with a couple months to while away the pre-trip, at least I have my particulars in order. Roll on September.