Kurt Shintaku's Blog

A coworker asked me to summarize some things they should look into for their first trip to CES in Las Vegas.

Here’s the continuing thread of stuff I thought of:

Things NOT to do:

• CENTRAL HALL FOOD
  Don’t eat at the Sbarro Pizza/Nathan’s Hot Dogs/Eatery just outside of the Central Hall. There’s always a massive line, it’s packed and the food is half-cooked and terrible. You’ve been warned. Your alternatives are as follows:
  • Hilton
    There’s tons of places to eat at the Hilton and it’s worth the walk.  Plan your lunch ahead of time however and go either at 11:00AM or 1:30PM to avoid the rush to Tres Rios Cantina, Paradise Café, or Superbook Deli.
    http://www.lvhilton.com/Hotel/dining
  • Renaissance Hotel
    ENVY Steakhouse is one of the best steakhouses in Las Vegas and it’s right next door to the Convention Center.  Literally right next door.  Open from 11AM-2PM for lunch.
    http://www.envysteakhouse.com/
• CES END OF SHOW PARTY
  If you’re interested, there’s a monster party at TAO Nightclub at the Venetian on Friday. Personally, I wouldn’t bother with the end of show party because it’s hell & you probably won’t get in anyway.
  http://www.cesweb.org/events/tao-htm.htm

Other things to do:

• CES BADGE HOLDER DISCOUNTS
  Review the CES badge holder discounts for dinner deals and stuff.
  http://www.cesweb.org/hotelTravel/lasVegas.asp#Discounts-and-Coupons
• RESERVATIONS FOR EVERYTHING
  Make your show, restaurant, spa, whatever reservations way beforehand.
  For restaurants, I naturally use Opentable.com like everyone else.
  For shows, I personally go to Vegas.com for most of what I do because it’s the most convenient (they have a line into every show and every gig) and admittedly I’ve screwed up my reservations before and they’ve taken care of me no muss – no fuss on the phone.  Worth every penny.
• GET GIFT CERTIFICATES
  • VEGAS.COM – Go to the COSTCO in Marina Del Rey and pick up VEGAS.COM $100 gift certificates for $80.  That’s right – 20% off.  Use those for your trip and save.
  • SPAFINDER.COM – Go to COSTCO and purchase gift certificates for SpaFinder at 20% off.  These can be used at:
    • Caesar’s Palace Qua Bath & Spa – 800-634-6001
    • Venetian’s Canyon Ranch Spa – 866-708-7783
    • Mandarin Oriental’s Spa – 888-881-9530
    • Or Luxor, Planet Hollywood, Mirage, Paris, Rio, etc.
      http://www.spafinder.com/all-spas/Nevada_Las-Vegas/N=1824
  • RESTAURANT.COM – Visit RESTAURANT.COM for pre-paid gift certificates for meals. (Use code SAVE to get 80% off the certificates)
    http://restaurant.com

Here’s some previous posts that I made about CES:

• INFO: My CES Preparation Checklist
  https://kurtsh.com/2011/12/22/info-my-ces-preparation-checklist/
• INFO: CES 2011– A day 1 summary of half of the Central Hall
  https://kurtsh.com/2011/01/08/info-ces-2011-a-day-1-summary-of-half-of-the-central-hall/
• INFO: CES 2011 – A day 2 summary of the Innovation Showcase &… the other half of Central Hall (without Sony)
  https://kurtsh.com/2011/01/08/info-ces-2011-a-day-2-summary-of-the-innovation-showcase-the-other-half-of-central-hall-without-sony/
• INFO: CES 2011 – A day 3 summary of the South Hall 1, 2, 3, and part of 4
  https://kurtsh.com/2011/01/11/info-ces-2011-a-day-3-summary-of-the-south-hall-1-2-3-and-part-of-4/