The Lucky Donut

Wynn Las Vegas must be in serious trouble.

What other explanation is there for an apparently recession-proof world class hotel, whose typical clientel are supposed to be the kind of folks who don’t even notice when the rest of the world runs out of money, to send me – ME – this kind of offer?

I was wetting myself over the last offer I had, which was just a theoretical free night if you pump enough coins through the right machine.

This one is 3 completely free nights, plus the added temptation of free food if you play.

Two buffets for 100 points is too good a deal to pass up.  $900 coin in @ 99.5% video poker means it costs you, on average, $2.25 per buffet.

The only restriction in the small print is that you can only earn this comp once per night stayed.  Hardly a big deal, especialy if you take a doggy bag…

Considering the only action I have ever given to the Wynn is running precisely $900 through a machine in order to get this same food comp as a new player last year, plus the couple of hours I managed to last in their poker room before the $3 chip denominations really did my head in, I have no idea why they’d give me anything.

What’s this room comp worth?  Only $650…

The only minor problem is the very specific dates for this offer.  It’s no good unless they’re also going to comp me a flight and I doubt they’re quite that desperate yet.

… the Wynn wants to pay me to stay there.

The Wynn.  Me.  Really.

I always like receiving mailshots from the Wynn.  Their emails and printed mailers all have that fabulous De La Soul kind of flowery pattern on – the same one they have on their most excellent carpet.

I don’t really know how on earth this trippy flower experiment ended up in a high brow hotel, I’m probably missing the point.  I just like it cos it’s busy and colourful.  I wish they sold shirts with the design on, but sadly they don’t.

As attractive as their mailers are, they don’t usually have great offers.  I guess they’re reasonable deals but even a discounted room rate at a hotel which is normally $300/night is going to be more than I’d like to spend to stay in Las Vegas for a week.

This one, however, bucks the trend.

$119 for the room is one of the best I’ve seen, but to sweeten the deal they’ll also throw in $150 of slot play.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that’s an amazing deal – and that if you take it for just one night then it’s instantly +EV.

If you want to push that edge, the Wynn has plenty of video poker at 99.5% payback which would make it a 75c theoretical loss if you cycle the free play through once.

$119 for the room, $0.75 to unlock the free cash.  They’d be paying me $30.25 to stay there.

Oh there’s tax and stuff too.  But I bet they have some really nice soap to nick from the rooms.

The holiday season is upon us, so it’s time for the lastest issue of Terrible’s Magazine to showcase their mascot’s new wardrobe.

I loved their efforts last year, with Mr Terrible as a mummy doing jazz hands.

This year, he’s dressed as a scarecrow, a pilgrim and Santa.

Each seasonal persona, obviously, is giving away lots of money.

I do try my best to make sure it doesn’t happen too often any more, but now and again I still have to pay for a Las Vegas hotel room.

For this Christmas I’d already scored 5 nights for free at the Rio and several months ago I booked the remaining 6 nights at South Point – purely because I thought there was a chance it was mispriced.  Only New Year’s Eve was listed at a higher than usual rate (many hotels bump up the cost of December 30th as well) so it seemed unlikely back then that we’d get a better deal by waiting until nearer the time.

Sure there’d be some more comps to come, but those 6 nights include a Friday and Saturday as well as the most popular (and costly) night of the year.  A weekend comp is a possibility, but for New Year’s Eve it’s extremely unlikely.

We might get 2 or 3 nights somewhere else, but it would mean moving hotel at least twice in order to try to save a few quid and still have to land on a good deal for NYE.

That Rio comp began life as 4 nights free and a 5th which seemed worth paying for at $50 so that we didn’t have to move hotels on Christmas Day.  I booked it way back in April, just as soon as the Las Vegas offers started to appear on my Total Rewards account.

Then we gave Harrah’s some more Las Vegas action in the summer on their only good video poker machine in town (which, of course, has been removed now) and they decided they loved me more than ever.  The rate calendar showed the $50 night was now a COMP so I asked if I could still get this rate and they said "sure", because they seem to think I am some kind of high roller.

Then Las Vegas got desparate for tourists and the room rates fell.  The basic rate calendar says that those five comped nights which I had noted should have cost me $70, $70, $70, $90 and $110 are now listed at $60, $60, $60, $60 and $60.

Even paying full price, $60/night is a steal for an all-suite hotel, this would have been unheard of a year ago.  I guess off-strip hotels are the least recession-proof, with those that are still making the trip to Vegas wanting to be in the heart of the action.

In fact, I had a general mailer today (i.e. you can book the deal without even having a player club account) from Harrah’s that’s offering certain nights for October to December at the Rio for as little as $45.  Anybody can book that deal using this link: http://www.harrahs.com/halloween/

So with the Rio is slashing their rates, I thought it was worth checking what kind of deal we might get if we decided to stay on for the remaining 6 nights of our trip.  I’m glad I asked – here’s what they quoted:

12/21 – COMP
12/22 – COMP
12/23 – COMP
12/24 – COMP
12/25 – COMP
12/26 – $40.00
12/27 – $40.00
12/28 – $40.00
12/29 – $50.00
12/30 – $40.00
12/31 – $180.00

Sub-total – $390.00
Total with tax – $425.10

In total that worked out even cheaper than any of the rates I could see online (which I couldn’t use, because I was already getting staying too many nights for free) and even though NYE was a higher rate for that night, the total was only $30 more than the deal we’d already booked at South Point.

No brainer.

So yes, I’m paying for part of the trip but it’s still an immense discount.  If you were to book this same trip (the last 11 nights in December) via harrahs.com using the regular room rates – even now, with room rates at rock bottom – it would still cost $1300!

To complete the coup, all we need now is to hope for a strip-facing room for a view of the fireworks.  The room type I’ve booked does say "mountain view" but in June the same booking got me upgraded to an excellent Strip view.  You never know…

I’m a bit disappointed that Four Queens haven’t started sending me any offers yet.  The amount of play needed to max out their excellent summer promotion was also meant to be enough to start getting me free room mailers. 

Maybe it’s too early still, or maybe as that’s the only time I’ve ever played there (on my players card, at least!) they’re going to wait until I play again without a massive edge before giving me anything for free.

Still, Claire has been getting room offers from them for a couple of years and this month it’s suddenly been upgraded.  I don’t know if this counts as a full RFB comp (it would be our first if it is) but the deal reads:

A complimentary warm and cuddly room for three nights.

Delicious food in Magnolia’s Veranda, Chicago Brewing Company, Queens Coffee & Deli, Room Service, and one dinner for two in our gourmet restaurant, Hugo’s Cellar.

A special Winter Wonderland gift basket will be delivered to your room during your stay.

In the small print it does say "food limits apply", but they list almost everywhere there is to eat in the hotel and then there’s a dinner at Hugo’s as well.  It’s definitely more than one meal for free – it could easily be all of them!

Unfortunately this invitation is only good for one weekend in November, but Claire is going to contact a host to see what they can do for us at Christmas.  Definitely has potential.

A comped hotel room for New Year’s Eve and a free Christmas dinner would be living the dream.  I don’t think we’re quite there yet though!

The latest batch of mail from my US mailbox has arrived and thanks to the global economic downturn it’s a good one.  Hooray for recession, I think.

Let’s start with one of the most peculiar Las Vegas casino offers I’ve seen.

This mailer came out of the blue from the Las Vegas Hilton.  They must have been desparately trawling back through their player databases of yesteryear to try to drum up some business.

We last stayed at the Hilton in December 2004 and have only been back since to watch several NFL games all at the same time on their giant HDTV setup.

Their excellent Sunday football party with $1 hot dogs and $2 parlay cards is absolutely the most fun you can have for $3, and it’s about the only thing left to keep drawing people in since the Star Trek Experience closed down.  Unless you really like Barry Manilow.

$115 for 2 nights, including six buffets!  Definitely good value, but it’s a pretty silly deal if you’re going solo.  Six buffets in 48 hours?  You’d probably explode.

It’s still a pretty extensive food comp even if you are sharing a room.  I guess if you have dinner for two after you arrive, a lunch or dinner the next day and breakfast before you leave on day 3 it’s easy enough to get full value from the offer but it does restrict your dining choices somewhat.

However if you can stomach it all, there’s at least $90 of buffets thrown in (it’s worth $108 if you leave on a Sunday and have brunch) making the room rate ridiculously cheap.

The reward credit promo – effectively a 4x points multiplier – is attractive.  The Hilton has some reasonable video poker, which would be a break-even or slightly better with this deal, but it’s an all-or-nothing proposition and to earn $50 in reward dollars would take $50,000 of coin-in.  That’s in the region of 40 hours of play on a 25c machine!

The best bit though?

"Offer can be used multiple times, with a minimum of 4 days between trips".

I think you’d need 4 days off to recover from all those buffets.

Today was first the day I could request my return flight for next summer.  I made the call to BMI Diamond Club and spoke to someone who was unusually helpful and pretty efficient and offered to put the me on the waiting list without me needing to ask.

There were no seats immediately available (quite possibly because I’ve been too eager and they’re not in the system yet) so my request has been passed on to the relevant department to see if they will make a redemption booking for me anyway.

Let’s hope so – the whole point of going mental getting enough flyer miles for Gold status was to ensure I’d be able to get those lovely flat bed business class seats using my miles during peak times.

I also looked up the Harrah’s accomodation calendar for the same period.  It’s pretty good news (click to view):

Claire and I had joked about not needing to rent a house next summer with all the comps we’d racked up between us, but it’s almost a reality.  Check this out.

All four midweek periods have five-night comps showing at Harrah’s, Paris or Flamingo.  Or all three.  Chances are Bally’s and Imperial Palace will come available soon too – looks like it only has booking data in the system until the end of July so far.

Only Friday and Saturday nights would cost money, and even if Imperial Palace doesn’t step up to save the day with a free Luv Tub room every weekend (it’s already available for the first one) we could probably get by with other room offers from Casino Royale and Four Queens.

Whether or not I’m game enough to spend four straight weeks in casino hotels is another matter.  That’s the whole point in staying away from the action when we go for the summer, so there is somewhere to escape to.

Plus, not having the option to cook (read: bung some hot pockets in the microwave) would make eating a whole lot more expensive, and that’s pretty significant for a long vacation.  Not to mention getting fleeced $11.99/day for internet, times 30 days.

There’s no major rush to decide mind.  It’s still T minus like three hundred and something.

No.1.

In-N-Out Burger.

In-N-Out Burger.

You should never gamble just for comps.  Everyone knows this.

It’s all one long game though, and if you have an edge on the game where’s the harm, really?  You’ll win in the long run, so as long as you don’t have to sell your ticket home to keep gambling, it’s all good.  If you get to eat for free along the way, it’s even better.

That’s what I’m telling myself anyway, in spite of recent video poker results.

But nobody ever told me I shouldn’t choose flights based purely on frequent flyer status, so that’s exactly what I appear to have done.

I’m pretty sure it’s a good play, but whenever I try to explain the cost-per-mile calculations to justify it I usually get instant snores (and this time they’re more complicated than ever) so I won’t even bother.

Firstly, I’d redeemed some Diamond Club miles for a business class flight next July.  It must have been on the very day it was released for booking because BMI redemptions are almost never available.  Certainly not in school holidays, on their own planes and bookable through the web site.

37,500 miles and £696 will get me and Claire there using a miles+cash option.  That’s £210 cash and £486 tax for both of us, but on a one-way flight.

They’re on the fiddle with the tax for sure.  If you buy the flight, it doesn’t really matter how the cost is split between fare and tax, but they’re stuffing frequent flyers by doing it this way because you always pay the full tax in cash when you book using miles.  Whatever that £486 is for, it’s not all tax.

Compare these identical flights (it’s the actual same piece of flying tin, they have the same flight number) booked as operated by US Airways, or as a BMI codeshare.

The price of a ticket with US Airways is more expensive, but overall it still weighs in as a cheaper booking thanks to, apparently, over three times the tax with BMI.  I don’t believe it for a second, but there’s not much you can do.

Still, I have tasted the high life and I think I like it (especially the chocolate cake) and £348 each way per person for business class isn’t bad at all.

Of course, we still have to keep fingers crossed for a return flight – they won’t be released for booking until later in the month!  Bit of a gamble, but it is Vegas baby…

The one downside with a redemption flight is that you don’t earn any miles when you’re spending them.  So, in order to retain gold status for another year, I still needed about 20,000 miles to come from somewhere.

By choosing an unorthodox route with two stops for next Easter, I found a business class fare that awarded double miles and clocked in at $3410 – about £1900 when converted using the plummeting exchange rate.  A couple of months ago it would have been £1700.

It’s a pretty steep fare considering the hassle involved, but it’s sorted out my flyer status for the next year in one go.  The only other way I’d found that Claire and I could both retain gold membership was with a premium economy flight in April (about £1300) and either paying for Summer 2009 instead of redeeming or taking another paid flight.

We’re flying from Manchester to Philadelphia, then on to Phoenix, then on to Las Vegas.  It takes about twice as long as a direct flight, but at least we’ll have nice big seats and lounges every step of the way!

There aren’t many sub-£2000 business class fares across the pond, especially at peak times, so I think this falls somewhere inbetween taking one for the team (a stupid route now earns perks for next time) and splurging on luxury.

I’m not even sure MAN-PHL-PHX-LAS is a recongnised route.  If you put MAN-LAS into the Star Alliance timetable software, it doesn’t even think to suggest making a connection in Phoenix – you have to force this stopover yourself when booking.

That’s probably because one of the connections on the return journey only gives us 42 minutes to change planes, which will be exciting.  Even if we make it, who can imagine what will happen to the luggage?

In fact there was a possible 26 minute layover on the outbound, which I would have been allowed to book but I decided to wait for the next one instead.  57 minutes then.  Plenty of time.

The effect of adding in this scenic detour via Arizona was a drop in price by nearly $1000 compared to flying MAN-PHL-LAS, using only two planes.  I have no idea why but I’m not arguing, and you can be sure I’ll be looking at every possible wacky route next time I’m booking a flight.

So, that’s my next three Las Vegas trips in the bag, with a little more than minimal fuss but at least it’s set.  For a while there, I only had one planned, and that just wasn’t good enough!

Tickets, money, passport.

16 Hawaiian shirts, three pairs of shorts.

What more do I need?

Las Vegas here I come…