Reno Airport Parking Tip!

Parking at Reno Airport is pretty expensive at $8 a day (outdoor).

Parking at Thrifty nearby is $7 a day and is very convenient. There's a neat shuttlebus nearby and they drop you and your luggage nearer the airport door than if you parked yourself. Mind you, $7 a day is still not everso cheap.

So, on my recent trip home I heeded the advice of some of the guys at work and left my car at a Casino. They advised parking it in a quiet spot in one of the huge car parks but I'd heard of someone having a car broken into this way so I investigated Valet Parking options, thinking the valet parking guys probably know the best place to stick a car for a longer stay.

So, planning to park from December 21st to January 16th would be about 26 days. At Reno airport parking rates this would be $208. Thrifty would have been $182 + $4 (shuttle driver tip, $2 each way), so $186.

Parking at the Peppermill Casino cost me:
$39.90 One night hotel room booked on Expedia.com
$ 3.60 Energy surcharge for the room (what a con!)
$10.00 Tip for Valet parking lads
$4.00 Tip for Bellboy (well it was Christmas)
$1.00 Fruit Machine Spends
$1.00 Black Jack spends (including 3 free Cokes)
$1.00 Tip for barman
$3.00 Tip for shuttle driver (outbound)
$3.00 Tip for shuttle driver (inbound)
$5.00 Tip for valet lads on collection

$71.50! Including a room for the night; gambling; drinks and tips!

So, the Peppermill is highly recommended for Airport Parking. In fact, the Casino seems to encourage it with airport shuttle buses every 30 minutes from 4.30am until 11.30pm. The rules stipulate that you can only leave a car there for 14 days really but these casinos have huge carparks and the Valet guys, motivated solely by tips, were not at all bothered about me leaving the car for nearly a month. I reckon giving them a decent tip is the way to make this dodge work! Chatting to the valets on the way back I got the impression that they wouldn't care if you didnt stay at the casino at all but just valet parked your car and got on the shuttle. But this would be quite quite cheeky I would say.

I'm not a huge fan of smokey casinos. In fact, I was a bit more successful than I hoped at Blackjack with my $1 lasting me far longer than my tolerance for the guy next to me at the bar's smoking habit.

I turned up at the casino with my pockets full of small change ready to play the slots. After a scout around I concluded that all of the machines only accepted notes. So I had to find other ways to lose my pocket full of coins. It's not much like Southend around here!