Frugally Vegas: Las Vegas travel "deals" will escalate; room costs will continue to decrease

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Las Vegas travel "deals" will escalate; room costs will continue to decrease

Yes..it's the general economy, stupid. Las Vegas casinos are hurting economically and scrambling for patrons. Room rates
have decreased approximately 20 - 30 % at Las Vegas resorts compared to this time last year. Due to the widespread effects of
the economic recession all of us are experiencing, Sin City's casinos are offering many room rate deals to entice us to darken
their doors with cash in hand. Free or significantly reduced rate room deals are on the rise for player's club or casino website
members; many of them have been trending in this direction since at least September, 2008 when the early news of mortgage company bailouts began. My wife and I stayed at 4 different upscale strip properties for nine days in late October, 2008 and didn't pay for a single night's stay (we're long-standing player's club members at multiple properties but are not upper crust gamblers; penny slots, blackjack at 10 -25 dollar minimum tables). Again, a key tip is to sign up for casino website e-mail
lists and join every casino player's club you visit while there. Remember to remind room reservation personnel that you're a
player's club member if booking direct with individual casinos..it might make a huge difference in room rate quotes considering the present economic conditions ..ASK for a better rate. All they can say is jump off a cliff (no). If you happen to be an old hand at the comp game, it's likely you've received multiple free or greatly reduced room offers (mail or e-mail) . The casinos, like any enterprise, can't survive if we don't show up and spend money. Presently , one of the largest gaming conglomerates only has 61 million dollars cash (poor guys) on hand ; that amount is nearly 90% less than this same time last year. Essentially all resorts are being forced to scale down their operations and expenses in order to weather this economic storm we're all enduring; visitor counts have understandably dwindled and this has lowered demand / increased the supply for rooms and occupancy. All this translates into the need for the casinos to generate customer enticements to get us through their doors. Room comps/ reduced rates are particularly attractive presently for that reason. You still need to be diligent and do your research for best rate comparisons and best timing..if you can afford a Vegas trip yourself. If so, there is and will continue to be some super accommodation deals in Vegas. New Year's eve will still be three-pickles-short-of-a-full-jar
expensive, but considerably less at some properties than last year.

Cheers..
Chuck60

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Mostly Useless (and approximate) Las Vegas Facts

1. Number of Las Vegas citizens 500,000

2. Number of Clark County residents 1,500,000

3. Year first casino licensed 1931

4. Number of slot machines in Vegas 200,000

5. Number of annual Vegas visitors 40,000,000 (and dropping)

6. Number of licensed gambling entities 1700

7. Hours per day average visitor gambles 4

8. Annual state gaming revenue 9 billion (and dropping)

9. Average gambling budget per trip 560 (and dropping)

10. Mean price per acre in valley 161,000.00

11. Price per acre on the Strip 11,000,000.00

12. Number of hotel rooms 137,000 +

13. Number of pillowcases washed at MGM daily 15,000

14. Number of doors at MGM 18,000

15. Annual no. toilet paper rolls used at Bally's 1 million

16. Lucky The Clown marquee sign at Circus Circus has

1232 fluorescent bulbs, 14,498 incandescent bulbs, and

3/4 mile of neon tubing light (no wonder they're replacing

it!)

17. In good times, Excalibur goes through over 44,000

Cornish game hens, 15 thousand pounds of hamburger

meat, and 4200 pounds of prime rib monthly

18. Caesar's Palace has used 2 million plus maraschino

cherries, 11 thousand ounces of caviar, 2 million ounces

of tomato juice, and close to 600 thousand ounces of

vodka yearly (bloody mary winner?)

19. Mandalay Bay has 5,300 palm trees and their wave pool

has a capacity of 1,640,270 gallons of water

20. Average nightly room rate 119.00 (and dropping)

21. Average number of Vegas weddings per day 300+

22. Number of golf courses 37

23. Miles of neon tubing on the Strip and Downtown 15,000

24. State's nationwide rank in gold production 1st

25. Cost of Nevada marriage license 35.00

26. Average cost of filing for divorce 450.00

27. Average length of stay for visitors 3.7 days

28. Number of hosted conventions annually 3750

29. The electric bill to operate the Luxor pyramid beam is

approximately 55.00 per hour.

30. Las Vegas has 17 of the world's 20 largest hotels

"WHERE'S MY WALLET , ETHEL!? "

Just a cautionary tip when in Vegas.. there are active

pickpockets all over town. I experienced this first-hand

and came within 10 seconds of losing my cash stash last July

while visiting one of those upper end joints on the strip.

I was gambling significantly at a video poker machine, unabashedly slipping C-notes in them. Somebody had been

observing my wagering behavior. I was happily winning at the time and my cautionary tendencies regarding my bankroll

money went south and out the window.

A lady approached me from behind as I played and was all aglow with my run of good luck. She initiated a conversation about nothing and anything . I was concentrating on proper VP strategy and responding to her comments with a lot of "yeah-yeahs". I was fortunate enough to get ahead on the machine again and I cashed out. I had a satchel (I normally never gamble under those conditions) with me that had assorted trip stuff in it. The satchel presence and the relatively high denomination coin-in amount collectively screamed " please rob me!" I placed my wallet in the satchel along with the machine cash-out tickets and proceeded to reconnect with my family and head to our room.

I had developed a sense of cautionary unease as I mulled over the contact with the effusively talkative woman at the VP machine. My senses told me that something about that encounter was skewed, although at the time I didn't know what it was and I wasn't bleeding profusely..yet. My group then proceeded to meander through a very crowded slot machine aisle and some other 6th, 7th, or 8th sense that vaguely detected an impersonal yet succinct encroachment into my personal space kicked in. Instinctively, I immediately dug into the satchel to locate my wallet and it was gone. I then immediately turned around and backtracked about ten feet (a matter of maybe 3 seconds, tops) as my endogenous adrenaline kicked in. I'm not sure that my hair wasn't on fire briefly.

I then spotted my wallet (and life) in a woman's hand who was playing a slot machine. I walked straight at her and demanded it post-haste in a tone that screamed seriousness. I immediately grabbed the wallet and called for security. The woman claimed she picked it up off the floor and so did the man (her accomplice) behind her, both vowing that they were planning to remit it to the security desk. My svelte ass they were.

This team of thieves including the woman who was all goony-googoo at the VP machine were pros. I have to claim part of the blame for the openly careless manner I had displayed with my money. They were held by security and the eye-in-the-sky tapes were to be reviewed.

The good thing is I didn't lose a cent because my peripheral senses kicked in immediately and they didn't have time to bury the evidence ( perhaps they weren't the best of pros?). Take heed folks..these people are everywhere in Vegas. Know where your cash is at all times; take precautions to protect it, don't flaunt it around carelessly as I did, and if you sense something is awry while gambling trust your instincts.

Distractions from one member of a team of thieves is a common MO. Store your gambling session monies in a front pants pocket or in one of those god-awful front-loaded fanny packs (pride be damned). The lesson I learned here after several years of Vegas gambling experiences turned out to be one of the most valuable for me personally.

Cheers..

Chuck60