The Las Vegas Advisor, which publishes a twice-yearly room rate survey, used a powerful search engine to try and root out the cheapest midweek room rates available in Las Vegas. In a town where "reasonable" has become a matter of perception, this year's survey showed one of the most pronounced increases in room rates in the 15 years the Advisor has compiled the information.

This year's survey found not one single hotel offering rates of $20 or less, and only three -- the Klondike, Western and Westward Ho -- with rates of $30 or less. Last year the survey found one hotel below $20 and eight at $30 or less.

A dozen hotels came in at $40 or less, compared with 16 a year ago. Another 16 were $50 and under, the same as last year.

The $40-and-under properties included several downtown casinos as well as Nevada Palace, Palace Station, Sam's Town, Terrible's and Wild Wild West.

The $50-and-under properties also included some downtown properties as well as the Boardwalk, Circus Circus, Gold Coast, New Frontier, Sahara, San Remo and Stratosphere.

At the higher end, the Las Vegas Hilton came in at $59, Harrah's at $65, Bally's and Golden Nugget at $69, Flamingo at $70, Treasure Island at $79, Luxor and Rio at $80 and the Palms at $89.

The higher rates don't seem to bother people like Kevin Bagger, research director for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Rising rates have been accompanied by other positive indicators such as visitor volume, higher occupancy and bigger gambling revenue, he said.

"Demand continues to be strong," Bagger said. "There's no data to suggest that room rates are too high." July isn't that much slower than Las Vegas' best months, while newer attractions -- Wynn Las Vegas being the most dramatic example -- continue to drive tourism, he said.

Rate increases have been no surprise to anyone following the LVCVA's monthly visitor statistics. Data from April shows that average room rates across the Las Vegas Valley -- from the dumpiest of motels to the priciest of suites -- soared a whopping 16 percent to $107 from a year ago. So far this year, the average rate has jumped 14 percent.

Rates in Las Vegas are still lower than comparative hotels in other major cities, Bagger said. People spending from $200 to $400 per night for a luxury room over the weekend might pay from $600 to $800 for a similar room in another city, he said.

"The value of what you get in Las Vegas continues to be strong selling proposition."

The search engine, Austin-based Travelaxe.com, is a free service that compares prices from about 18 hotel and travel Web sites to come up with the lowest available Internet price.

Rates quoted by Travelaxe tend to be lower than those compiled in surveys by Wall Street analysts, who often call around to get same-day hotel rates. Those last-minute rates are only a fraction of the available room rates offered on the Internet or to conventions and wholesale customers. Travelaxe is accessible from the Advisor's Web site, www.lasvegasadvisor.com.

Liz Benston covers gaming for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4077 or by e-mail at benston@lasvegassun.com.