Saving on Travel

At the end of April I will be travelling to Las Vegas for a stag. As the best man Im responsible for planning this event. Ive scoured the internet for the best deal and here is what Ive found:

Flight-Direct from Toronto on Westjet: $465 (CAD) including all taxes.
Hotel-Bally's $430 USD.

Total Price about $735 CAD/person (based on 2 to a room).

Price today on Itravel2000.com = $1040

Booking this trip has taught me that booking online through a vacation provider like Itravel or Expedia is not always the cheapest way to travel.

In booking this trip I utilized two main resources:

1)Kayak.com:
This site will search the rates from multiple providers for flights and hotels and show you the best rates. It also allows you to customize your search to get exactly what you want (such as number of transfers). Using Kayak I was able to book my flight for about $100 less than anywhere else I was looking.

2)Fatwallet.com:
Fatwallet is a collection of forums all about saving money. The forum I used for booking my Vegas trip was a "Las Vegas Promo Code" thread. On this thread users post the best deals they could find for Vegas hotels. These are often deals that were sent to Players Club members and would not be available to the general public were it not for their links/promo codes. Using their links I was able to book Bally's for about $200 less than if I had booked without the promo code.

The best part about this method of booking is that my hotel rooms are not prepaid (a $70 US deposit was charged) and I can cancel up to 3 days before my arrival with no penalty. This has allowed me to lock in a great price, but continue to look for better deals up until the last minute.