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I really did think that Harrah’s would notice that I didn’t give them any action at Christmas, and so my Las Vegas room offers would dry up pretty quickly. They snoozed, and they losed.
I’ve nabbed 5 nights at Harrah’s and 3 at Rio. It’s looking like a 3- or 4-hotel trip at this rate, but I can start to worry about that in 9 months or so. I appear to have managed to bag a copy of my Harrah’s win/loss statement early. On their web site, it says that statements for 2008 will not be available until 1st Feb. Right now, that does seems to be the case, however last week it disregarded its own message and let me generate mine, and I saved a copy. It’s hardly a major coup, but as I have the information already I may as well use it.
Obviously, my $10,000 jackpot at Harrah’s Laughlin helps a little bit. Taking that extremely rare win out of the picture, it’s a total loss of $527; $241 in Las Vegas and $286 in Laughlin. What I’m most interested in is how this compares to my theoretical losses over the course of the year. After all, that’s the figure I used as the basis of the decision to go for Diamond status at the start of the year. I started off by pumping $30,000 through on video poker to get Diamond in a Day (valid until March 2009), and made sure that number reached $110,000 to retain that status for another year. I played the majority on 9/6 Jacks or Better (99.5%) in Laughlin, and the bulk of the rest on 8/5 Bonus Poker (99.2%) in Las Vegas with a smaller amount on 9/5 Jacks or Better (98.4%). I can be a little obsessive about my video poker records, but it does mean that I have enough information to know that my theoretical loss this year is $691.70. So even without the jackpot, I was slightly over-achieving. (On the other hand, the machines at Palms that you’re meant to win on have killed me). Breaking it down, I should have lost $360.90 in Laughlin from about $72,000 cycled through the machine and $330.80 in Las Vegas from about $38,000. That’s virtually the same loss number from roughly half the action – every fraction of a percent counts! $110,000 on video poker earns 11,000 base reward credits (worth $110 in comp) and most games award bonus credits – albeit somewhat randomly. In total I earned another 26,000 bonus RCs ($260). As it was easy to spend (what I hadn’t already eaten, I used towards the hotel bill at the Rio) I am treating this as real money. In fact, it’s worth a little more than real money because you don’t pay tax when spending comp! So, was Diamond status worth it for me this year, at a theoretical net cost of $321.70? Absolutely yes. Quantifying all the perks this lofty status has afforded me over the past year is tricky. It’s hard to put a value on guaranteed valet parking on busy nights, lounge access or being trusted with glassware instead of plastic beakers at the buffet. But I can add up all the lovely room, food and free play offers I’ve managed to take advantage of. I’m aware that these are not necessarily related to Diamond status in particular, but as I had nothing but a dormant players card the previous year, everything I was offered is based solely on my play in 2008. Here’s my total haul for the year:
The Laughlin room rates seem high (I’d never pay $99/night to stay there) but I did get all these rates straight out of the Harrah’s reservation system by logging out and trying to book the same type of room for the same dates as an unknown user, and given their best rate guarantee it should be pretty accurate. The amount I’ve put for the Rio was what it could be booked for in December (which had been reduced by more than $100 since I first booked it) and I’ve not included anything for the ability to get casino rate for an additional 6 days. In total on that trip I actually got at least $1800 worth of hotel for about $400. It’s also worth noting that some of these rooms were also upgraded at check-in (I got a Go room at Flamingo with a Deluxe room comp and a surprise suite in Laughlin), so in some cases the rates would have been higher to book that particular type of room. I also only put $80 down for the summerfest tournament, which is the amount you had to pay to enter if you weren’t invited. I doubt it’s worth anything like that, but I walked away with $550 so I should include something! Anyway, the total of that little lot as listed: $2277.86. Not bad for $321.70, even if I did only use the Caesars Palace nights to stock up my shampoo collection. So, can I do better in 2009? It depends on how long the offers keep on coming but I’ve made a fairly good start. It’s extremely unlikely that I will earn 11,000 reward credits to retain Diamond status for another year, and if I do it will be exclusively through play in Laughlin as the one video poker game worth playing in Las Vegas has been removed. That means there’s a chance that I could keep the shiny player’s card but lose the room offers once they realise I don’t play in Las Vegas any more. So if I don’t plan to give them another cent in action, anything I get for free this year is all gravy. Driving my privileges into the ground has already begun. Right now, I have advance hotel bookings in the bag for 27 free nights. There’s a 2 night stay at Caesars and 5 nights at Rio for my trip in April. Value: $620. Then there’s four separate 5-night midweek stays in the summer at Harrah’s, Paris, Flamingo and Rio. Although I probably won’t use half of that, it’s $1375 worth of hotel accomodation that it’s just rude to say no to. I’m checking daily to see whether I’m going to be able to nab something for next Christmas too. It’ll be interesting to see if they manage to catch on to my flagrant abuse of the system before then. It appears that Steve Wynn’s definition of "honored guest" includes someone who visited his casino once, joined the slot club in order to eat a virtually free buffet and never returned. Vij falls into that category and he just sent me a copy of this offer that he had for three free nights at Encore with $150 of gamblin’ money thrown in:
The choice of dates is only Jan 4th-6th or 19th-21st, but even so this is another amazingly desperate offer. Encore hasn’t even opened yet. I’m hoping to catch the fireworks – assuming they can afford some – on Monday. I fly to Vegas on Sunday. Not sure if I mentioned it 🙂 This.
That’s how I’ll be travelling to Las Vegas next summer, thanks to the demise of BMI’s long haul routes. I thought they’d rebook me onto Virgin Atlantic, it being the only remaining airline that flies direct to LAS from the UK. Their reaccomodation procedures also says they should do exactly that. But no. It’s actually via San Francisco with United Airlines – but with a free upgrade to first class for the 11 hour stint. The upside: how fucking cool is that bed-pod-desk thing? The downside: Instead of arriving at midday, we now won’t get there until after 9pm. Oh well, it’s not like I usually do anything useful on the first day anyway… If you’re looking for some gambling toys to give the kids this Christmas, head down to Macro. I saw these "Las Vegas" products in their store today among the 3ft boxes of washing powder and 12lb bags of nuts: slot machine, coin pusher and candy grabber. Apart from the coin pusher and candy grabber, they are indeed all things you’d find in Las Vegas.
*** This post contains links to the 2008 Christmas menus. If you are looking for the 2009 information, click here *** I noticed that some of the Las Vegas hotels have published their Christmas Day menus now. In fact, I’ve already found lots of places offering a special seasonal menu on the 25th. Most of them even have turkey, which is cool because I didn’t think turkey for Christmas was a big deal in America. Most of these restaurants are in Harrah’s casinos. They seem to be on the ball with getting their menus out there, but it must help that everything is housed under one web site. Whereas the MGM Mirage web sites are all over the place. I found some info for the MGM Grand but nothing yet for any of their other properties. The seletion at Paris is impressive. Five different restaurants doing a Christmas menu (7 in total if you count the Paris/Bally’s complex as a single property) and that even includes a choice of turkey burger or turkey sandwich at Burger Brasserie. I have to admit I’m intrigued, but I was looking for something a little more traditional. Bottom of the pile has to be the Christmas Day buffet at Imperial Palace. The $16.99 price tag is a good indication not to expect much from this – that’s still cheaper than a standard dinner buffet at all the other Harrah’s casinos. Bally’s: Al Dente Sidewalk Cafe Caesars Palace: Augustus Cafe Neros Flamingo: Garden Buffet Steakhouse 46 Tropical Breeze Cafe Harrah’s: Cafe Flavors Buffet The Range Steakhouse Imperial Palace: Embers Emperor’s Buffet Teahouse MGM Grand: Nob Hill Wolfgang Puck’s Orleans: Canal Street Prime Rib Loft Paris: Les Artistes Burger Brasserie Le Cafe Le Provencal Le Village Buffet Rio: All American Bar & Grille Cafe Martorano’s Carnival Buffet This list serves as a reference for myself as much as anything (although the Crown and Anchor is currently first choice, it doesn’t hurt to keep options open) but people may be seaching the net for “Las Vegas Christmas Dinner” and stumble on this. I know I’ve done that search in the past and found very little so I hope it’s useful. I’ll update the list as and when I find more info. EDIT: Crown and Anchor menu now online. Go posh at Terrible’s buffet. I finally received a response from the Financial Ombudsman Service this morning about the fiasco I had trying to get a refund to my credit card after MaxJet went bust (which is now almost a year ago) and I had to rebook two flights to Las Vegas. I’d paid on an MBNA credit card, and their position all along was that I couldn’t have a refund until I’d actually been unable to travel as planned, despite the airline telling customers that they absolutely would not be flying. In other words, I had to wait for each departure date to pass before I’d get my money back. In this respect, MBNA were true to their word and did post the refunds shortly after the start of each trip. However it meant I was waiting three months for some of it and seven months for the rest and as far as I could tell there was no legitimate reason for them not refunding immediately. I’d read plenty of accounts online about other travellers getting their money back straight away from reputable banks – including those who had booked on a debit card, which does not carry the same level of consumer protection as a credit card. So I was having none of it. After I made an official complaint and MBNA stood firm, I took it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. FOS are slow. I complained on March 10th, after which I had four separate letters telling me they were very busy and would look at my complaint eventually. Which, eventually, turned out to be more than 7 months later. I’d had all my money back in July but being the stubborn bastard that I am, I told FOS that I still wanted them to process the complaint. I had also suggested that MBNA should still be liable for the difference in cost because of the more expensive flights I booked as an alternative under the Consumer Credit Act, which they have tried so hard to pretend doesn’t apply to them. It looks like it was worth the wait. The FOS adjudicator has sided with the law, rather than MBNA’s interpretation of "MasterCard guidelines". Although they made an adjudication last month I only received a copy of it today because MBNA have (predictably) rejected this suggestion that they pay me money. So it’s now being referred to an actual ombudsman, rather than a henchman, who will make a legally-binding decision. This could still take months, but I don’t care. It’s super satisfying (assuming the ombudsman does reach the same conclusion) because if MBNA had simply given me a refund straight away (like they were meant to) I almost certainly wouldn’t have bothered doing anything to recover the cost difference. The adjudicator also decided I should have the amount rounded up by about £150 as compensation for having to wait for the refund. Which is nice. The only reason I still have this credit card is because I can earn BMI miles on everything I spend, but with the Lufthansa takeover looming and the possibilty of Diamond Club getting swallowed up by their programme as well as the cancellation of BMI’s transatlantic flights next year, I’ll probably be doing away with it soon. Sadly, MBNA won’t miss me as a customer. I’ve never paid a penny of interest on that card. Anyway, if you’re interested in seeing what FOS had to say about these shenanigans, here are copies of the letter I had today and the adjudication sent to MBNA (click to enlarge).
Here’s how to get the best possible view of the Las Vegas Strip: build your own hotel, then star in your own commercial. Steve Wynn liked it so much, he did it twice. There is nothing left to achieve in this life. We have complimentary accomodation for New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas! I can’t take credit for this, it’s all in Claire’s name. Four Queens simply loves her, it seems. Just check out this invitation.
It’s the first mailer I’ve ever seen with a tassle (and a bloody nice one it is too)…
… or with a table of contents!
It’s also the first offer we’ve had that’s come jointly from Four Queens and Binions. Here’s the dealio: 3 free nights, some free entertainment and a breakfast.
What’s "Tributepalooza" all about? It’s Fremont Street Experience entertainment at its finest. Fake Queen, Fake Rolling Stones and Fake The Eagles. In fact, I think us apparent-VIPs have something of a scoop on this terrific showbiz news as the FSE web site is still pretty vague about what’s happening. It lists some kind of New Year celebration at 11:59pm.
Who is Cynthia Minx and what is her incredible musical talent? From the video I found on YouTube, it looks like she does all the stuff you’d expect to find in Legends in Concert or American Superstars, but as a solo artist. So that’s two covertastic shows (one indoor, one outdoor) for the price of none! This offer is an unexpected curveball in the Christmas and New Year trip planning. I thought we’d already got an awesome deal with 11 nights at the Rio for under $400, but as it’s only the last few nights that cost real money we could shave $270 off the total cost of this trip by moving Downtown. To be honest though, choosing between a free room or a cheap suite is not the worst decision I’ve ever had to make… I just got back from seeing a Las Vegas show. In Birmingham. Elton John is taking his Red Piano show on tour and tonight was the first night. In fact, the only other time it’s been played outside of Caesars Palace was a one-off at the dome last year for Elton’s 60th birthday. I’ve seen this show twice in Las Vegas and loved it. Fortunately, it travelled pretty well. I wasn’t so sure at first, as it looked like a bit of a half-hearted effort to cram in some of the props. The NIA has about triple the capacity of the Colosseum (13,000 vs 4,100) and felt ten times the size, but the stage wasn’t custom-built for Celine Dion and her 20,000 acrobats so it’s not quite as accomodating. Before the show started it was pretty easy to spot where some of the gimmicks were only half concealed.
I’ll admit the balloons weren’t exactly meant to be concealed. They drop from the ceiling during Pinball Wizard for a sort of interactive multi-ball kind of effect. However, what you can see here is exactly half of the total number of balloons that were rigged to go off. It’s like eight on each side of the arena. It seemed like such a crappy token effort that I wondered whether the touring production of the show would really have the same impact. Yes it did. The video screen covered the entire back of the stage and there’s no doubt that it’s the visuals that make this show something special. They still looked enormous, even from about three times as far away from the stage as the cheapest seat in the Colosseum. Elton actually said that the stage was the same size as at Caesars, but it was definitely a bit smaller. There was visible congestion between the inflatables in the finale, but they did just about manage to squeeze everything in there. Those amazing blow-up breasts always hung on the stage itself in Las Vegas. Here they were dangling from the arena ceiling. You’d totally miss them if you were sitting in the front few rows, and that’s a damn shame.
Yes, it needs two spotlights. One for each nipple. There were two songs I definitely don’t remember seeing before, although there could have been more because the whole thing lasted almost two hours, rather than having the 90 minute curfew in Vegas to make sure nobody spends too long away from the casino. I presume he included all the songs that have been part of the show in the past, even if they’re not part of the latest incarnation. I’m sure I would have remembered Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and the bizarre – apparently autobiographical – suicide-leads-to-dancing-bear-incident visuals for Someone Saved My Life Tonight. The previous link is for the full film that was projected in the background during that song, but you’ll have to confirm your age with YouTube to watch it. Which brings me on to … kids. Don’t take them to Vegas. And don’t take them to a Vegas-themed show. To be fair, the blurb on Harrah’s web site does say this about the Red Piano show:
However all I could find on the NIA’s site is:
So that could explain why parents might think it’s a great idea to take the family to see this show. It isn’t. Firstly, "brief frontal nudity" is something of an understatement. There are a lot of naked boobs in the show. It’s all very tastefully done, of course, but the tit count is high. Almost every song has at least one pair. Then there is plenty more blatent sex, drugs and other such rock and roll shenanigans. Pamela Anderson does a pole dance. Among the neon signs that litter the stage is one that simply reads "sluts". And I already mentioned the suicide bit. I saw several families with young children in the audience. I didn’t see anyone walk out, but there might be one or two awkward questions before bedtime tonight. As for what those 16 balloons actually looked like during Pinball Wizard, I just don’t remember. The backdrop for this song is the most amazing Las Vegas montage of aerial shots, neon close ups and gambling scenes, cut at super high speed around shots of pinball machines going crazy. I was transfixed: partly feeling homesick and partly trying to work out what’s still there and what’s been blown up or ripped down since they filmed it! |
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