Vegas bound. Any ideas?

off to Vegas 6/30 - 7/3 with possible day or two extension.

currently booked at Caesars in the Augustus Tower, because i thought all my pals were staying at CP. For all the times I've been to Vegas I've stayed at Caesars just one -- couple months ago and ended up in a Roman Tower room that was out of date when Evel Knievel jumped the fountains. Seriously, I've stayed in rooms at demolished Catskills hotels 30 years ago that were nicer.

Anyone got any feedback on the Augustus rooms? Or should I get out and head back to Bellagio? How has Bellagio held up? I stayed there all the time for the first few years when it opened, but was last in a room there about 4-5 years ago. I just don't like Harrahs properties.

 

Stayed in a room a couple Julys ago in the Augustus tower as a comp upgrade...very nice.
Had a standup, fine tile shower and separate bathtub.
The bathtub was as big as the one that fat kid, Francis, was playing in during that one scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

 

Hey Buck, that was me.

MSS rooms are fine. It's a small hotel, by Vegas standards...which is actually a nice thing. Decor of the hotel & casino is really nice, lots of antiques (my wife liked it, FWIW)

Rooms are Fairfield Inn-ish. Nothing spectacular, but plenty comfortable. recently remodeled. Bathroom's a bit small & slightly dated, but really clean. It's not the Mirage, Venetian or Mandalay...but it's well above the "just need a place to hang my head" level.

Considering how easily you can score a three night comp, it's PLENTY fine. Like I said before, if you want to score a room comp there, you have to let your pit critter know about it, though. Boyd's system is set up in a way that you'll get comps from the place you actually first get your Boyd card from, unless you ask them to "designate" a new "home" casino for you. My wife is hooked up for the Orleans, I'm at MSS, etc.

Oh, one other thing, particularly for Summer. MSS has no pool. You can use the one at the California....but it's pretty tiny.

Hope that helps!

 

That's a big help. Lay.
Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to try the place out.


Peyton,
Friend says the Strat happy hour is all drinks - beer, wine and well liquor.
He punished himself there for two days.

 

Buck, please give me an "after action" report. I'll be pretty disappointed if you don't have a good time at my little corner of "low roller heaven." Of course, in my world....decent, free microbrews at the table, go a LONG way toward having a good evening. And....DON'T FORGET TO PEE ON THE BERLIN WALL!!!

 

Just got back from my second trip to Vegas.

Here's some new insight I can offer:

-MGM has a new tram that runs from the Monte Carlo through the entire mess that is City Center and to the Bellagio. You can pick it up behind the pool at the Monte Carlo. It comes every five minutes, it is free, and airconditioned.

-The pool at the Monte Carlo is awesome if you like to drink all day and never experienced a good spring break. Everyone in the pool was 20-30, save for a few families who were obviously retarded. Who brings an 8 year old to a pool that has a DJ, buckets of beer and female ass shaking contests? They had these cabanas there for $280 which is ridiculous - but also ridiculously cheap compared to other places. We met up with some people and the 14 of us got a cabana with a TV and a fridge for $20 bucks each. Solid deal.

-City Center is ridiculously huge. The casino is massive at Aria, the gaming floor is nice, and they have tables from $10. I don't even know why they need a place so big, but whatever, it has numerous clubs, a mall, a high-rise luxury hotel (The Harmon), two big towers for condos, two big towers for apartments and countless others things. It has art galleries, rooftop pools, restaurants and things most cities don't even have.

-Margaritaville has great nachos. Don't know how I ended up there, but they were great. Three of us could not finish the $15 plate but probably because we were drunk and had sun poisoning, which brings me to my next point.... DONT sit in the sun all day drinking and expect to be able to go out. Wow, the sun hit me harder than it ever has before. I didn't get burnt despite being out all day, but somehow it drained every ounce of energy I have. And I do this type of day drinkin in the sun a lot.

-Haze night club is not a good club. I don't know if anyone does the club thing there, but this place was way too packed and they wouldn't give me free ice water. Luckily, they let me in with the ice water that I had (free from an upstairs bar). The bartender at that bar saw I wasn't doing so hot and said he had me covered all night. But, at the night club they wanted to charge $10 for a water. So I told the bar tender he was a douche and that I was going to pass out on the floor and sue MGM. Then I went to the bathroom 9 times to fill up my water. It was warm and nasty, but no way I'm spending $90 on water.

By the way, filling up a water glass that you got elsewhere in the middle of a bathroom at an upscale night club is a major how not to. I got plenty of awkward stares but it sure beats dying from dehydration.

-Drinks are still ridiculously expensive everywhere but some pools have decent prizes on buckets of beer.

-Planet Hollywood is still awesome. I gained 34 pounds at the buffet. Also saw all of the Miss USA contestants in person. I must say, wow, I didn't think they made 'em like that in South Dakota.

-Buffet at Paris was a sweaty mess. Too many people, tables everywhere, I felt like I was at an Old Country Buffet with better food. Terrible layout, worse logistics. PASS.

-Buffet at the Monte Carlo was worse. Had the Sunday brunch. Price was awful for the selection. They had crab legs and champagne but barely any solid foods that would make you justify paying $24.99.

-The Monte Carlo smells like rice, and it has this dumb show called Zowie Bowie. I don't know what Zowie Bowie is. Or what it means. It just sounds dumb. But it is at this place called the Pub which is cool. It is indoor/outdoors and near the pool - which is pretty cool too.

-There is a seriously lack of late night eats near the Monte Carlo/MGM. I didn't want to walk to Bills, or Harrah's or Ellis or Hard Rock and Denny's is simply terrifying. Food court shuts down early, McDonald's stays open until 3 a.m. and has a $1 menu in action. Pretty cool.

-What's with bars closing early in Vegas? That city should never sleep. Three bars shut down early on Sunday and we had to keep finding new places. Settled at a sports book bar. Absurdity. There need to be more chill bars open late.

-$20 trick did not work but the lady winked and said she couldn't do anything. I picked her on purpose and I probably could have gotten her number easier than getting a room upgrade. Apparently, rooms were booked solid (after all it was 11 p.m.).

-Carnival Court is a joke. The drinks were $14 each, only place more was Haze $17.50 each. I don't mind paying more for drinks if I have to but, shit thats ridiculous.

-Figured out some info about MGM and comps. 1. They don't comp worth a shit. I can go to MGM in Detroit play $10 plays of craps for an hour and get a free meal every time. I played a few times at the Monte Carlo and got nothing. Most the time for $10 hands they refused to comp me at the blackjack tables. In all, my card was run about 10 times and I got nothing. In Detroit, that would have been a few buffets, room offers and free bets. We will see what happens in the coming months.

-New York New York got redone a bit. Looked pretty cool on the inside. Not as much as a mess as Paris which has more traffic than a New York subway. I hate that. That's why I don't like the Bellage, or Flamingo.

-Drink deals are appearing all over too. Bill's has 99 cent Newcastle drafts in those shitty plastic cups O'Sheas uses. O'Shea's is also a sweaty mess.

-I feel like every casinos have those party pits with basically strippers dancing in thongs on runways by the table games. Saw it at the Flamingo, Monte Carlo, Planet Hollywood and somewhere else - it is sort of fun, with the lights and music, but also distracting because you can't hear the dealers.

-Tropicana got some updated rooms. They were pimping them all over their new sign. Might be worth a glance.

-All the casinos are now offering day passes for the buffet but Harrah's all in one buffet for their 7 properties is the best.

-The city has brand new gold buses that you can take downtown. I think a day pass is $7. Some folks I met were raving about how nice they were.

-Many casinos are now boasting free craps lessons. I didn't see this last time. Monte Carlo, Bills and some places downtown all advertised for free daily craps lessons.

 

I am not a huge player, generally $25 tables for 3-4 hours a night and right now, I am getting bombarded with free weekend deals at the Venetian, Aria, Mandalay and MGM. Free rooms, dinner credits, spa credit and cabana credits. Vegas must be verrrrrrrrrry slow.

 

Pan, I'm more of a $10 player...and I'M getting shelled w/ offers...albeit at somewhat less high end locations. Still, even at my level, we got Mandalay for $30 in July. We'll be combining that with freebies at the South Point & Red Rock....

Seems like the Cali weekend crowd may be coming back a bit....but it's still been VERY slow our past two trips (October & February).

Mustang, how did the crowds look??

 

i stopped into aria to gamble when i was last there (when i had shecky greene's original room that has never been renovated at caesar's, back in march). they even had a $5 blackjack table which a couple of my pals enjoyed, and i joined them when a seat opened (and after winning a quick $800 on wheel of fortune -- i love me some WoF!). Aria was still having trouble with some of its equipment (shufflemasters that jammed constantly -- like every five hands) at multiple tables. Cocktail service was good, and good looking.

The pit there is decorated in chocolate browns and cobalt blues, and is open to shops and restaurant's around its rectangular perimeter. it's also got smaller bars and lounges inside the gaming area, as all casinos do, but these have both lounge seating and gaming tables within them.

Apparently the comps situation got worse during the recession, rather than better. instead of giving the folks who did show up a better time and experience, the suits have actually knocked comps down from 40% to 30% of your expected loss. Comps will vary by market, but like Pancamo's experience says, you'll get essentially nothing under $25 a hand, and you'll have to play four hours a day minimum to get it.

I have often seen craps lessons offered, but have never seen anyone taking them.

Colin Dunlap: thanks for the Augustus rooms update. I've just often found caesars a pigsty, and the harrahs mgmt hasnt made me feel any better.

 

I always thought they comped you based on expected loss which is why I was taken back by the pit bosses who would be like, "$10 this hand, nope." I played $10-25 per hand it varies depending how I feel. New York New York comped me at 10 and two bosses did at Monte Carlo, another at craps. At $15 I got comped every time. It was lame. Oh well. And about the WOF, was that with the bonus game? Planet Hollywood used to have a real cool one where you could get the bonus spin with a .40 or .80 cent bet. It's gone now. Just the shitty slot.

Monte Carlo had a similar one, but to qualify for the bonus spin you had to bet $4.

 

comps work on this formula: denomination played per hand x hands per hour x house advantage / by now apparently 30 percent. so:
$10 per hand x 100 hands an hour at BJ x house edge of say 2 percent (depending on rules and your level of optimal play) = $20 expected loss ($1000 x 2 percent = $20). Of that, you would receive 30 percent of 20 dollars, or $6 bucks. Casinos want at least four hours of play, so you'd net $24.

Make the bets $25 and the comp math equals $50 expected loss per hour, and thus $15 back to you/hour. Make it $100/hand and the comp math = $200 expected loss/$60 back to you. Comps don't work on a dollar-for-dollar loss basis, although at the highest levels the return to the gambler is more significant. when you say NYNY and MC comped you, do you mean they gave you something (buffet voucher/dining vouchers) or that they accepted your card and agreed to rate your play?

The WoF machine was a slot, not video. I want to say it was a $5 two-coin machine, so you had to play $10 to be spin eligible. i think it was 2-coin because i remember thinking i've never seen a $5 WoF that was 2 coin and not 3. So the bonus game was just the regular spin.

 

I apologize for resurrecting this thread but I figure it's better than starting another new one.

My lady and I will be in LV the first week of July to celebrate an anniversary/Independence Day. We've put many hours into research and made a few decisions, but we're having trouble narrowing down hotels, largely due to the volume of advice on this thread — someone's had a positive experience at every hotel in town, it seems.

We're in our early 20s so the priority is to stay at a hip spot with a very nice pool. I think the pool is the biggest determinant.

From all I've read here and elsewhere, Mandalay Bay, Hard Rock, MGM Grand and Venecian have the four best pools in the city. I'm sure every pool will be packed during Fourth of July weekend regardless of where we stay, but are those four our best bets for fun surrounded by attractive people?

A couple of stupid questions, but I've never been to Vegas before: can you use the pool at any of the big hotels without being a guest? Also, if there are some intriguing poolside concerts at Hard Rock or Mandalay on July 4, and tickets are available on Ticketmaster, does that mean we can see them without being guests of those hotels?

Thanks.