Recent Trip Report : The Venetian

My wife and I stayed at the Venetian October 26th -28th. A huge plus was the large (700 square feet) fabulous room accommodations with a split-level floor design (sunken living room ), wonderfully comfortable beds, elegant furnishings , and for our purposes an overdone bath area (TV, too much glass,brass,and mirrors). Overall, an elegant room comparatively speaking. The service at Venetian was THE best we've ever experienced in Las Vegas as virtually all service contacts (registration desk, table dealers, hosts, slot reps, cage cashiers, and player's club reps ) were gooey to assist and please us. It must be one of owner Sheldon Adelson's axioms that all contact employees and service people sidle up to patrons because it was consistent throughout. It truly added a lot to the stay .
The gambling was also a positive experience as we were able to locate a few apparent higher payback slots (particularly
one bank near the entrance to the Palazzo walkway) and we ended up ahead 400.00 + by the visit completion. This particular bank was consistent for us ( it included a Tiki Torch, Flame of Olympus, and Helen of Troy machines in this 8-machine bank).
Our average bets per spin ranged from 40 cents to 2.00 and we used a 50% buy-in stoploss benchmark (ie $50 dollar buy-in
session was cashed out at $25 remaining credit point). The blackjack games were primarily 2 deck pitch and 6-deck shoe
games ; I prefer to play the shoe games at the 10 and 15 dollar minimums. Overall, the beginning house edge at this level
at Venetian was approximately .56% ( mediocre regarding rules set) for the 6-deck shoe games. I managed to finish in the black following about 22 hours of play (+ $ 230.00). Again, all the dealers I encountered were quite congenial and friendly; during that play span I only observed 3 minor dealer errors ( 2 on player payouts and 1 count total that a player missed as well). Overall, the gambling experience here was acceptable (we took out more than we invested; there were certainly much better and much worse blackjack games regarding game rules and off-the-top house advantage at other locales).
The visuals at the Venetian resort were opulent with the Grand Canal Shoppes, the frescoe reproductions adorning the 65-foot domed ceiling at the front casino entrance, the exterior and interior gondola canals, 3-D marble flooring tile, the huge
Venice-like illustrated map behind the front desk, and the blue, whispy-clouded sky facade overlooking the Grande Canal
Shops and canal. Cumulatively, it truly offered an opulently tranquil visual imagery; it succeeded in making us want to relax
and hit the casino (part of their plan, I assume). As a sidenote , the performing mime was a kick at the Grand Canal Shoppe walkway..the only time he moved was when he received a tip (imagine that?)
We chose to dine at the food court area as we had several coupons applicable for use there (the Bella Panini sandwich
shop was excellent); there is no buffet per se at the Venetian but there are approximately twenty restaurants and the mentioned fast food court. You can find and spend what you want on the culinary choices here.
The valet service was the only negative experience we encountered here. The waits were too long and there was an overall aura of disorganization. One apparent logistical problem that we observed was the long distance between the actual valet parking area and the pickup area ( I asked our valet rep and he specifically indicated this). Also, their inter- communication seemed poor; these two factors resulted in a 40 - minute wait for our car from contact until arrival and we weren't the only
ones with an extended wait. We solved this problem by parking in the self-parking garage which was quite casino-accessible
relative to other large resort self-parking lots.
The primary reason we chose to stay at The Venetian was because the rooms were comped ; we would not have stayed
here without that element (actual room rates for these dates were over 200.00 per night). We had not gambled here much
prior to this trip so we assume the poor state of the economy and/or shared gambling lists from other resorts resulted in
the free three-night stay offer ( a mailer). We'll reiterate..sign up for player's club and casino e-mail subscriptions..it does pay off. We've received more free room offers from Venetian since our return.
We absolutely recommend this resort if you can obtain a decent room rate offer ; comparatively it ranks very high on our list of favorite resorts.. in the top three. On a ten-point rating scale, it rates a 9 from us. Check it out if it's affordable for your
next trip budget; it's a grand joint.

Cheers..
Chuck60<<