****HOTELS*****
note: Booking on line while signed into B Connected meant that the Gold Coast did not charge resort fees on 5 nights booked for cash, but Sam's Town did charge them for the nights that were booked as an offer. They charged on the cash nights and not for the nights that were free.
note: Booking on line while signed into B Connected meant that the Gold Coast did not charge resort fees on 5 nights booked for cash, but Sam's Town did charge them for the nights that were booked as an offer. They charged on the cash nights and not for the nights that were free.
EL CORTEZ – ON NIGHT FREE – American Casino Guide has ongoing
contests entered by posting, reviewing hotels, signing up the email, etc. Offered was a Tower or Cabana. I chose Cabana and got the middle level room
of three price grades. (1)
D – With just a little play on a previous trip I got offers
of 2 for 1 nights based on rack rate.
That gives me 4 in a row. Price
was $69 (4)
ORLEANS – COMPED WEEKEND NIGHTS (2)
GOLD COAST – BOUGHT 5 NIGHTS FOR $167 TOTAL on a sale at B Connected. NO resort fee was added. (5)
FOUR QUEENS – COMPED 3 WEEKEND NIGHTS (3)
SAM’S TOWN – 4 NIGHTS ON 2 FOR 1 OFFER - $68 – They did
charge resort fee on 2 nights. (4)
ORLEANS – COMPED WEEKEND NIGHTS (2)
THE D – FOUR MORE 2 FOR 1 - $69 (4)
TOTAL 25 NIGHTS COST $373 TOTAL or $15 a night
The D offers came with $10 in matchplay and $15 in food
coupons each time. Orleans included $10
in freeplay and $10 in food comp.
BOOKING ISSUES
This was the most confusing trip I ever booked. I booked Bill’s just to see the old wood in
the rooms before remodeling and missed, so they closed. I booked the Gold Spike and they closed a
week before I was set to go. I booked
the Quad and information on poor housekeeping as well as security issues
inspired me to cancel.
I wanted to be close to poker buddies for the beginning half
of the trip. They were staying on or
near the strip. I think that was a
mistake. Too many bus rides with luggage
this trip. I am better off concentrating
on downtown where I can easily roll luggage and often make a couple trips. I came back from wintering in Florida very
out of shape after some health issues and it took me most of the trip to really
feel comfortable with an 80 plus pound suitcase on the bus.
I talked to a Four Queens host and explained that I only book
the free nights and pump my bankroll into those, but when I come out winning, I
would gamble a few more days there whereas when I am losing, I would not. So I wanted to know how it might be possible
to book nights and pay for them beyond my three without watering down my
gambling trip average. In short, I was
assured that were I to book a sale at the Four Queens and not put my card in
the machines that day, it would not reflect on my gambling average even though
I was in the hotel rooms. So, I hope to
do that next trip and book the four nights of 2 for 1 at the D as well. That could give me 11 or 12 nights in the
same location with easy check in check out.
And I could ask for one or two of my paid nights to be comped as well
were I to gamble after my basic three day weekend as long as I don’t use
discounters.
EARLY CHECK IN FEES
When patching together deals from different hotels, it is a
great bother to wait at each place for 4 PM to enter the room and unpack. Only once did I have to wait until 4 PM and
that was at the Four Queens on a very busy weekend. My room just was not ready yet. I never had
that problem there before. I think if I
start my 3 day comp on Thursday rather than Friday, I won’t have it next trip. At all of the hotels where I stayed, if I
arrived when a room was ready, I could have it.
For example, what a contrast between booking at a Harrah’s
and booking at the D downtown. Harrah’s
not only has resort fees, but my buddy Wild Bill’s wife arrived at noon and had to pay $20 extra
for early checkin or wait until 4PM for
a room that was ready at noon.
My first night in Vegas was a free night at El Cortez
Cabana. The next morning I awoke
overtired, perhaps jetlagged and disoriented.
I had time mixed up.
I thought I was rolling luggage to The D at noon when
actually I was moving at 9AM. At the
desk, without blinking an eye, without any note of my early arrival, they put
me in a room and it was not until I saw the time in the room that I was again
confused and so I called the front desk.
“Could you tell me the correct time?”
“9:22 AM, Sir.”
Isn’t it amazing that I paid less per night for a room at the
D than Wild Bill’s wife paid to check in early at the Rio and I got in the room
3 hours earlier than she did?
HEALTH ISSUES
I pulled a back muscle just before leaving for Vegas and I
had spent a rather sedentary winter which was good for MyVegas rewards, but put
me out of shape my feet were soft and I rubbed blisters easily. Part of me says I am just too old for
lifting heavy luggage on to the bus.
Then part of me says that it is rather like a marathon or iron man for a
senior citizen and I should welcome the opportunity to get in shape. Certainly I came home feeling more fit than I
have in many months.
POLLEN
I have never in my life had issues with pollen, but this trip
the windy days produced record pollen and I was very uncomfortable some of the
time, coughing, and often sleepless. I
probably won’t make another spring trip.
HEAT
I used to go in August.
It never bothered me. I just
drank a lot of water. And in those days
I drank a lot of alcohol. This time I
had very little alcohol and still the triple digit days, rare in May, oppressed
me. Age again I suppose. Along with blisters the heat precluded
walking around the campus, hiking at Red Rock, checking out museums or any
other outdoor adventures.
ORLEANS AND GOLD COAST
This is a harder puzzle.
I like staying at these places. I
don’t gamble at the Gold Coast, but it is in great location for a bus
rider. However, the 201 and the 202 are
not the easiest buses to take with luggage.
I go from downtown using the WAX and then the 201, but it is a hassle crossing the Tropicana
intersection and this trip it was even more so as MGM had construction blocking
that corner. Were I to do this again I
think I would ride the WAX to the airport and then back to Tropicana, adding
time, but making it a lot easier with luggage to bet dropped at the 201 bus
stop heading toward Orleans.
Complicating
these decisions is that thanks to both my buddy Wild Bill and to Turtleman I
finally got the message that luggage is allowed on the Boyd casino shuttles, at
least if it fits in the wheel chair space toward the front of the bus or is
small enough not to be a problem. I met
a fellow coming out with a suitcase as I left the Orleans to head to the gold
Coast and another passenger with a suitcase got off at Bally’s.
This sure
beats walking and rolling luggage all the way down Arville or waiting for that
city bus and still having a long walk to the Gold Coast from Arville and
Flamingo.
If my wife
does decide to go to Vegas with me for a few days, she will pick the Orleans,
so the ability to move luggage may be a great benefit.
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