Las Vegas Traveler Alert

Just got back from the other city of lights, Las Vegas. It has been a little while since my last visit and the city continues to change, and not always for the better. We have family there and it is always good to get away for a visit with them. Others came in from other towns and we quickly made a mini reunion of the shared few days. It was a good visit.

Before becoming a married man, I used to travel to Las Vegas pretty often throughout the year. Again, it is good to have family there for visits but it was also fun to see the city, the lights, and the people and just generally take in the energy that the place gives off.

It has been very interesting to see the growth, and imagination that surrounds a city full of possibilities. Over the years I have seen many different buildings and attractions come and go. Some for the better and some I truly miss.

In the past each casino or family of casinos had a unique take on their interpretation of the Vegas experience. It was fun to compare the different approaches by wondering around the city and seeing the way the buildings were decorated inside and out, to see the costumes that were worn and to notice the type of clientele that would frequent the establishments. The people were as varied as the four corners of the earth they came from. All walks of life were represented and all found a place wither it was the flash of Caesar’s or the clown tent atmosphere of Circus Circus. They also shared a common interest which created a kind of harmony within the segregated world that is Vegas. A person could spend hours just watching the people and never have to drop a penny to be entertained.

As I said, each casino had its own method of trying to draw in the crowds and they genuinely tried to compete for your business. There were attractions for you to come and gawk at, special room rates and unbelievable buffets at very reasonable prices. You could come to town and have a quick get away without feeling like it was a big production event or the one and only vacation you took for the year. You felt like there was value for your money and not just a feeling that you saved for a lifetime to spend it all on an overpriced vacation destination like you would find in Southern California or Mid Florida for example.

Now let me state here and now that I am not a gambler. I have tried it a few times and find that it is not for me. Very small stuff, I think a half roll of quarters was the biggest slot play I had done. I preferred playing pinball truth be told. I also understand statistics and odds and I know when the odds are stacked against the player that it is better not to play. In all the years of visiting cities that offer gambling the one thing I have noticed is that their house always got bigger while I continued to live in the same dwelling. Funny thing that.

In fact, I enjoyed going to watch the people and the promotions, the marketing and the advertising, the attractions and the attracted if you will. There is a definite psychology involved here and learning it would stand anyone well in the business world and in life. I haven’t learned all there is to learn by any means but I have learned that greed is a great motivator and selling point for those wishing to draw in customers. Like any business, there are those that can do it with integrity and there are those that sink to deception.

Las Vegas has always had its share of scammers and shillers and it doesn't take much work to distinguish between those you would be willing to do business with and those that you would never visit (or never again if they took you in once).

Because there were different casinos there was competition and they honestly tried to attract your business with effort. Lately though the city has gone through major merger and acquisition activity to the point that there are only a few very big operators. This is a shame because some of the once great names in the industry have become nothing more than corporate facades. Though they thought they could find economies of scale by combining marketing forces and increasing buying power through combined purchases of supplies, what they really did was decrease the level of choice by homogenizing the casino experience.

Sure the carpet is different and the color scheme changes as you go from one casino to the next, but is it really any different. As the mergers have made the companies interchangeable, the building architecture has done likewise to the point that you can walk from one to the next, staying indoors and sometimes not even realize that you have changed casinos. (This is not just a Vegas phenomenon as I have noticed this in Reno and a few other places as well.)

So change happens I know. That is one of the things that Vegas does best. It is in a continual state of reinventing itself. It will continue to try to come up with the next best new thing for tomorrow. Unfortunately it still needs to live with today, and that brings me to the travelers alert.

The bargains of yesterday are no more.

I know that this simple saying will bring some mockery by anyone that is or has been a regular visitor to Las Vegas and I even find myself hesitating to put it out there. I have traveled to Las Vegas less and less over the last few years for the very fact that it is not the same bargain destination that allowed me to visit so often in the past. I was the first to lament the loss of the bargain buffets and got sticker shock as the price of the special treats I used to allow myself such as the Friday night Seafood buffet at Sams Town went over $10 and then quickly went over $20. I was saddened when Hoover Dam started charging for parking and then gave more expensive abbreviated tours. I miss the factory tours at the marshmallow factory and the Ocean Spray bottling plant. I hope they never close Ethel M’s though they had just shut down for a remodel while I was there.

Most of all I miss the free admittance ticket I always received at the Imperial Palace to see the wonderful collection of cars in their auto collection. I am a car nut and this was a regular stopping place for a guy who could appreciate just such a collection. I didn’t make it this trip because the gal passing out the passes in the front of the casino only had 'buy one get one' coupons and that wouldn’t do me any good this trip. Sorry Imperial but I didn’t even enter the building when I found out what you had done. I felt betrayed.

(By the way, in front of the Imperial Palace was the only place I would take something from the people that were handing out little pieces of paper. All along that street are other people handing out pieces of paper most of which gets thrown away immediately when it is discovered that it is just some advertising smut. Some makes it to garbage cans but much of it ends up on the ground. Like the people that litter a parking lot with advertisements placed on your windshield, this practice should be stopped.)

But the last straw that is breaking this regular’s back is the introduction of tacky tack on fees. The hotel Orleans where we stayed for part of this visit has introduced a “Resort surcharge fee” on top of their normal daily rate. WARNING; this is not the only place to start charging this fee. The fee is supposed to cover free local and toll free calls from the room, in-room coffee (which I don’t drink), discount coupons, 10 minutes internet access in the business center and use of the fitness center. The price for all these ‘resort’ amenities is $5 per day. Not a great deal of addition given the room rate I got but still this is the chintziest of pricing gimmicks and irritates me no end. Orleans is part of the Boyd group and I would guess that they have added this pricing tactic to all their other hotels as well. By the way, the $5 surcharge was one of the lower add-ons as I saw as much as $25 per day to stay at the new M Resort.

First off, as I said; I hate pricing gimmicks. I can usually see through them and figure out the true price but I just hate the idea of them and will usually walk rather than deal with a business that stoops to these kinds of practices. (Are you listening out there? I dislike this practice so much that I will go elsewhere.) Second, the Orleans was at least somewhat up front about it and put notices in many places so that you would not be caught unawares. They even have signs on the counter at check-in and make you sign a form saying you acknowledge the charge at check-in. This is much better than finding out after the fact and trying to correct what you might think is an overcharge. Then again, with the number of notices placed I would bet they have got many a guest in a difficult and shocked end of trip gotcha. Third, the claimed resort surcharges provides for amenities that are generally standard (i.e. included) at any equivalent hotel. To pretend that there is enough value in these piddly offerings to charge extra for them whether they are used or not is really just sad.

To see this trend extend to so many hotels in the Vegas area is even sadder.

Local calls and toll free numbers should be free to call no matter what hotel you stay at. I am always amazed when I am staying at one of the nicer places and they want to charge you to make a call. At least the choice is yours. I am also surprised and disappointed when I stay at a more expensive hotel that wants to charge extra to use the fitness room. Just what does all that extra cost actually get me if not the nicer bed, the bigger towels, the bigger TV and some special perks that you can’t find at the budget stays? If I more than double the price of the local Motel 6 and all I get extra is a little vial of shampoo, lotion and conditioner then I will feel ripped off.

So now when I do go to Vegas and I have to play games to figure out what the room is really costing me and I feel like I am being nickeled and dimed, then perhaps it is time for me to start looking elsewhere for a new quickie getaway spot. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. Everyone needs a break from the daily grind, and it shouldn’t have to make you break the bank to do it. I know that everyone has different levels of what constitutes a bargain basement getaway but that is what makes it fun.

On the other hand, with as many traffic cops as there are out there (thank you homeland security) perhaps I would be safer to leave the car in the drive, catch the bus and visit the local Wal-Mart for a fun filled afternoon of people watching. I think it just might fill some of the same niche that Vegas used to do for me…and I might still find a bargain or two.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.