The Lucky Donut

I’d seen plenty of screenshots, which in themselves were enough to get me very excited, but only just discovered this gameplay movie of the forthcoming video game This Is Vegas.

http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/this_is_vegas/screenshots.html

I thought I’d be more interested in being able to drive around a neon-lit virtual world of fake casinos than the clubbing elements, but the dancing missions do look pretty special.  I particularly like the way the character’s walk changes the minute he sets foot on the dancefloor.

If it’s possible to connect a dance mat controller, this definitely has the potential to be the best game ever.

I’m still not worthy enough to get a single free night at Harrah’s cheapest hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, but they’ll gladly fly me out to Laughlin for free and put me up for four nights.

This offer came in an email today:

If you would like to make a trip to Harrah’s Laughlin, Nevada, please call or email me directly. Based on your Total Rewards card you qualify for two complimentary seats on any of the following flights and room. The flights listed below are direct charter flights to Harrah’s Laughlin Nevada on Allegiant Airlines.

From a guy named Ryan, whose email signature revealed him to be "Senior Executive Casino Host.  Days off: Sunday & Monday".

He goes on to list 150 different flights over the next three months departing from various cities spread out across almost every state.  If you’re from Hawaii or Alaska you’re out of luck but for mainland USA, from the major cities to the back of beyond, Harrah’s have you covered.

If there’s a song about the city, it’s definitely on the list: Chattanooga.  Wichita.  (Deep voice) Albuquerque.  I’d never heard of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina but it has such a great name I want to go there now.

So just one slight drawback, I have to already be in the USA to get the flight.  I knew it had to be too good to be true.  I guess there’s no harm in suggesting a long haul charter from Manchester, or even asking him to get the private jet out for us, but I can’t think that one day of intenso play is going to be quite enough yet.

Really it’s just nice to see that my Diamond status is worth something decent, even if I can’t use it.

I was marvelling in the summer at how a junk shop pretending to be a Las Vegas casino memorabilia store had managed to put a standard Hooters carrier bag up for sale as "vintage" gear and price it at $7.50.  But perhaps they saw something coming.

The Review Journal has reported that breast-themed Hooters Hotel and Casino is to be sold and redeveloped.  The property celebrated its 2nd birthday just last month.

There’s not a great deal I’ll miss about the place, although I had discovered that Hooters was a good place to park when the major hotels on the South end of the strip were busy and limited to guests only.

However the casino had no games that I’d bother going out of my way for and the couple of times I walked past the poker room there wasn’t even a single game going on.

I tried to get some value out of the slot club signup offer.  The cuddly owl mascot in a Hooters T-shirt was almost as tempting as a free buffet or even cash, but only after I’d signed up did I realise you had to earn slot points on three consecutive days to get him. 

Free stuffed toy, or never having to come back here again…  Turned out it really wasn’t a tough decision.

The downfall of Hooters is, presumably, because if you’re looking for the thing guys want to see more than anything in the whole wide world (see one minute video below, if you really need it explaining..) you have quite a few options in Las Vegas.

With so many strip clubs, topless shows, hot girls direct to your room and legal whorehouses just an hour away, do guys actually come to Sin City to eat chicken wings served by a girl in a tight t-shirt and orange hotpants – just like they can get back at home?

Now, where can I get a beer sandwich?

It’s T-21 and the traditional jumbo-playing-cards-above-the-fireplace countdown to my next Las Vegas trip has begun:

Everything is finally booked now and it’s going to be a bit of a jaunt – four hotels in 9 days!

We start off at the charred remains of Monte Carlo for a pretty good $69.95/night.  With tax the total is $152.50, but the package includes $25 in food credit, $10 in slot play and $5 to spend at Starbucks.  I’m sure it will all get used!

Effectively that makes this stay just $112.50 – a bargain for that resort, but it’s still three times as much as we’re paying for the rest of the trip.  Six of the next seven nights don’t cost a penny!

On Day 3 we drive out to the Colorado River for a complimentary night at Harrah’s Laughlin.  We could spend as much time as possible here racking up Total Rewards credits on the video poker at Harrah’s to try to extend that elusive Diamond status for another year.  Or we could play a better game at almost any other casino in town.

For days 4 and 5, we’re back in Las Vegas at Terrible’s.  It’s a better-than-free deal: they’re giving me $50 in free slot play just for showing up.  In fact, I have a feeling that Mr Terrible has a complex about guests actually showing up.  He charged a $50 deposit to my card (for my complimentary room) when I booked, and apparently I’ll get this back at check-out.

So, if I actually turn up they give me $50 to play through their machines.  And if I’m still there two days later I get my $50 deposit back.  Really, the place isn’t that bad.

From day 6 we finally stay put for a few days.  It’s four nights at the Four Queens, three of them comped and one more for just $35.  Claire arranged this all over email, no credit card required even for the paid night.  Apparently a little bit of video poker play goes a long way here still.

She did get a second offer for three more nights in April, which is just too late for this trip.  However the same mailer also has an offer another $40 slot play for free though, which it looks like she will be able to claim on the morning of April 1st, just before we fly home.  Lovely.

So all in all, we have all 9 nights booked for a total cost of about $190.  But there’s $130 coming back in food credit and slot play!  Not quite the totally free trip we were aiming for, but it’s getting closer!

The message to Las Vegas bargain hunters is clear: fire is good.

After the blaze on the roof of the Monte Carlo last month, the hotel is re-opening on Friday and has slashed room rates as low as $70 until June to try to fill up the hotel. The deal also includes $25 dining credit, $10 slot play and $5 for Starbucks into the bargain.

I’ve just booked a $70 room for the first two nights of my upcoming trip. It’s still better value than anything I can get from Harrah’s with my Diamond card, apart from Imperial Palace. The next closest competition was Bally’s for $75/night, and that’s without the extra freebies you get at Monte Carlo.

I will get to use Total Rewards for a night at Harrah’s Laughlin though at least. I discovered that even though the rate calendar shows $31/night or whatever, if I actually click some dates to book it then it suddenly turns into a comp. I could book up to five nights at a time for free, it’s just a shame that I can’t ever see us wanting to stay there for that long in one trip.

I had the run of the hotel too; a choice of classic, luxury or premium room in either of the towers. The only differences I could see were a choice between flat screen TV or a view of the river. I went with the view.

The rest of the trip looks like it will be taken care of using comps from Terrible’s (2 nights free) and Four Queens (3 nights free + 1 @ $35). T-38!

Turns out the rumours were true – Cher is on her way to Caesars Palace.  It’s almost official!  Word has already made it to the local Las Vegas news channels and you can expect the Harrah’s marketing machine to start bringing the hype pretty soon.

Soon Cher’s face will be on the Caesars marquee sign, all over their casino chips and on her own tacky portrait over the casino entrance.

Same surely goes for Bette Midler, who starts performing there later this month.  Seems a safe bet to assume that Elton John will not be renewing his contract again when it expires later this year.

But Cher and Bette can’t have it all just yet.  You have to join the ranks of the Caesars alumni before some of the really great stuff is made in your honour.  Just so you don’t go forgetting about Celine Dion just, there’s some fabulous souveniers up for grabs, including an actual piece of the stage from the Colosseum (Elton and Seinfeld obviously bring their own) for a how-can-you-refuse price of just $149.

Or what about this fabulous collectors’ piece?  The price for two ticket stubs and six red chips is a mere $249.  Calling it a scrapbook really is doing it a disservice – it’s a lovely frame, you have to admit.

What you really want though is a souvenier you can drink, and thankfully there’s someone waiting to cash in on that urge.  In fact this is brand new this week, according to the spam I just got.  You can finally spend $90 on a bottle of official "Celine Dion – A New Day" wine.  Just two months after the 5-year show ended.

It’s such a shame none of these won’t ship internationally.  Otherwise I’d need another excuse.

EDIT: It’s official.

I just got a response from Harrah’s Total Rewards in response to a question I asked about why I don’t yet have any good Las Vegas offers since I became Diamond.

I can get a fully comped room at almost any other Harrah’s location for up to 3 nights.  In Atlantic City, I can choose between Bally’s, Showboat and Caesars and not pay a penny.  Harrah’s resort in Tahoe or Reno – also gratis. 

Anyone know where Tunica actually is?  The Horseshoe (one that Harrah’s apparently wanted for more than just to chew up and spit out everything except the name of a poker tournament), Sheraton and Grand Casino Resort all want me to spend a few nights there on the house.

The normal rate for these rooms is $80-$120 per night.

So why is it that I can’t even get one lousy comped night in the $59 Imperial Palace?  Here’s my personalised Vegas offers showing my extra special rates (click to enlarge, or just squint):

And this is what it costs if you don’t enter any Total Rewards card when booking:

Should I really get excited about saving $5/night at IP, or $4/night at Paris?  It’s a slightly better $9 discount at Bally’s, $10 at Rio and Harrah’s and a whopping $20 on the luxury rooms at Caesars.

The Flamingo "GO" rooms have the best savings – up to $45 on some dates – but I’m just not the kind of person who goes for these fancy three-figure hotel rooms  Maybe on a weekend, if there’s absolutely nothing else available… after tax.

So here’s the explanation:

Hello Mr. Newman,

Thank you so much for your reply. It is my pleasure to assist you with your account/offer questions.

Please allow me a minute to explain how our offers and the Total Reward program works. Offers are sent based on tracked play in the last 12-15 months at the specific property or pod (2 or more properties in the same area), rather then tier score. Offers generally take up to 6 weeks after a visit to be generated.

Also, because Las Vegas is such a highly sought after vacation destination, we require a slightly elevated level of play for one to qualify for offers compared to some of our other properties across the nation (i.e., Atlantic City) this will also hold true for the different properties as each will have a set criteria needed in order to receive an offer for that property.

Please keep mind that although you may not have an offer for the Vegas area at this time, you may still qualify for discounted rates, based on your overall play. I would encourage you to contact our reservation experts at 866-583-2608 for further assistance with rates.

Mr. Newman, I hope that you will find this information helpful to your increased understanding of our Marketing system. If you have any further questions, or if we can assist you in any way please do not hesitate to contact us.

Have a wonderful day!

Thank you for choosing the one-of-a-kind Imperial Palace!

Although I can understand the logic behind not letting me exploit the system by playing the much better games in Laughlin and then staying in Las Vegas for free, it’s still is a little bizarre.

Firstly, I agree the Imperial Palace is one-of-a-kind, but I didn’t chose it.  It didn’t even chose me this time.  In fact I’ve never played anything other than poker (and a few blackjack matchplays) there.  I didn’t even play poker at Imperial Palace once at Christmas.  So presumably without any Las Vegas action on my card to associate me with a property, by default I end up at the place they want to demolish most of all.

Secondly, I played an awful lot at Harrah’s Laughlin to get Diamond in a Day.  It’s not quite six weeks yet, but if $30,000 coin in doesn’t trigger a mailer from there I can’t imagine what will.  This is also the cheapest hotel in Harrah’s fleet by some way, clocking in at $36/night if you walk in off the street.  My extra special Diamond rate is a pathetic $31.

What’s weirdest though is that I don’t even know where Tunica is – nevermind whether I’ve played enough to meet their requirements for a comp – but I can go there for free.  Perhaps I should…

The first batch of Vegas mailers of the year arrived today.  I don’t think there’s anything that would have been influenced by our play at Christmas yet, but still a few decent offers.  It’s already enough to not have to pay for five of the nine nights on our trip in March!  T-64, by the way.

I got a two night free stay at Terrible’s which includes $50 of slot play just for showing up – pretty good.  I’ve heard that Terrible’s have downgraded the 9/6 jacks-or-better video poker machines that were a positive expectation game when combined with food comps and gas card promotions.  If this is true then we’ll probably just take their hospitality and money and not worry too much if they kick me off the mailing list for not giving them any action.

Claire got two separate room offers from Four Queens.  One is specifically for Superbowl weekend and even though we can’t use I’m quite excited that any casino would consider us valuable enough for a free room on one of the busiest weekends of the year!  Of course, they’re not allowed to mention the NFL’s championship game by name, it’s simply an invitation to "the most spectacular game of the year".

We can actually use the other offer on our next trip.  To very tenuously commemorate the Chinese New Year, we can take 3 nights free any time in February or March and add additional nights at a bargain rate if we can’t get enough freebies anywhere else.

Not only that, but as it’s the Year of the Rat, there’s another very special players club offer that’s going to be very hard to resist.  Earn 777 slot points ($6216 coin in) and get a free "collectable jeweled rat".

I do hope it’s in addition to the $19 cashback those points will earn, not instead, but however it works I’m sure curiosity will get the better of me on this one.  Who wouldn’t want a lucky rat?  And with jewels too!

Finally my online status for Harrah’s Total Rewards is showing up as Diamond.  I had a slight suspicion that the nice lady at the Rio hadn’t actually ugpraded me properly, but that she’d simply reprinted my details on a nice shiny diamond card to shut me up.  Seems like that was actually the case.

I had to talk to someone at the Rio as I had the wrong kind of ID in Laughlin.  A UK driving license was good enough to get a brand new card printed when we arrived, but suddenly no longer good enough to have anyone at Total Rewards want to speak to me after I’d finished cycling thirty grand through one of their machines. 

I’m only a little cynical, because to their credit it only took one email to get everything put right.  I’d waited two weeks, checking the web site daily for the colour of the little card icon next to my name to change from gold to diamond.  Eventually I wrote to ask when they would start to make with the free stuff.

Hello Mr. Newman,

It appears that you earned that tier score out our Laughlin property. I’ve contacted their personnel to upgrade your tier status.

Thank you!

Imperial Palace

Total Rewards Central is Imperial Palace?  A few months ago it wasn’t even worthy of being part of the Total Rewards program!  More likely their web site remembered the last casino I’d been looking at for room offers, and I had been rummaging around, desperately trying to find something – anything – for free.

I’d heard Tim and Michele on Five Hundy By Midnight saying they could usually get a Luv Tub room or even a Suite at Imperial Palace comped on any weeknight with their Diamond offers.  I got excited.

My best deal though was (and still is, even now with my shiny new status gleaming in the corner) a basic room for $62 per night.  It’s really not hard to get a better rate than that from almost anywhere else, so maybe I should give it a bit longer for the offers to come through…

While logged in tonight I took the opportunity to update my mailing address.  They had it ever so slightly wrong, and I didn’t want anything to come between me and my junk mail.

I also wondered if I might be able to update my name.  It really doesn’t bother me that the only people who call me by my full name besides my parents are slot club staff, who generally copy everything verbatim from my ID without asking.  But Christopher is sometimes a bit long for the slot card display, and I really don’t like being called Christophe by a machine that was programmed by someone who decided nobody would ever have a first name longer than ten letters.

No, it’s not possible to change your name but, should the need ever arise, changing your gender is really easy.  Just two clicks and I could be a woman.

Now, some thought must have gone into this.  It’s an updateable part of the profile with it’s own submit button, but your name and date of birth are read only.  The only thing you can change is your gender!

Why might I want to update my date of birth?  Perhaps because Americans write dates in a funny order and it’s usually a lottery over whether they put me down for May 3rd or March 5th.  The only way I could tell if they got it right here is by checking to see which of the sets of numbers you would pick from to change it only goes up to 12.

Your name never changes though, right?  Well, maybe just once when you get married… but, that happens so rarely in Vegas that I guess it’s hardly worth considering and Vegas weddings don’t count anyway.

So, do women get the best casino offers?  There’s one way to find out…

The Palazzo may not have manageed to open on time, but Station Casinos made sure that this place did.

Affectionally dubbed "Trailer Station", the smallest gambling joint in Las Vegas opened Tuesday and lasted just eight hours before being closed again – with no plans for a spectacular implosion.

That’s just long enough to make sure that the former site of the Castaways casino retains its gaming licence.

Looks cosy, doesn’t it?

The Review Journal has the full story.