Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

duchy

ferf1223 wrote: »

We'll just miss you - we're also flying on Good Friday, but a stop in the midwest to see family first, then a night in LA and then onto Vegas...if you would have a word with the slots that we're on our way and expect to be properly welcomed by them it would be appreciated.

Coffee at Heathrow ?
I'll have a word with the slots for you !!

Whitters03

Hi

My husband and I are off to LV in April and we're now looking at hotels, but having real trouble deciding - they all look so great.

What are your opinions on the best of Treasure Island, MGM Grand or the Monte Carlo?

Also, some of the prices at the moment are looking pretty good (e.g. £511 for the TI, 5 nights from 18 April). Do you think I should book now or wait?

Thanks for your advice!

Whiters03

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

nvh wrote: »

ferf, if you don't mind me asking - and i know it's a difficult question to answer anyways!, but how much would you say you put through harrahs slots per day to get offers on comped rooms?

also, another quick question, but where is best to sign up for a harrahs players card?

believe it or not, despite spending a month of my life in Vegas, I haven't signed up @ Harrahs or Wynn!!! They are on the to-do list for next time, but i wondered (if like MGM) it was better to sign up for Harrahs cards at a particular location (ie. better freebies )

Hi - on the where to sign up, when we took the in-laws we signed one up at Flamingo and one up at Harrah's since we had vouchers from the ACG for free gifts at each (t-shirt and backpack respectively in October)...https://www.advantageplayer.com usually has a list of the bonuses for signing up too...I think that's really the only difference -the freebies that you might get.

As for the comp question, it's really hard to say to be honest...normally we mostly both play on my husband's card until he gets to 4,000 tier credits which gives him platinum status...after that we move to both playing on my card (I do play a bit here and there on mine just to be sure that they see I am playing)...we never get to 4,000 points unless we do at least 2 trips in a year...I think on an average 8-night stay, with both of us mostly playing on his card we earn probably about 2800-3000 tier credits a trip across all of the HET casinos in Vegas which is $14,000-$15,000 coin in (NOT ACTUAL MONEY IN, we are not insane. ) Even on one trip a year and not making platinum we can normally get 5 nights comped.

Sometimes we'll have a really good run on a slot where we put $20 in and won a bit and lost a bit and played for ages...each spin counts toward your coin in - not just the actual note you fed into the machine. So just for example if say a slot pays out at 90% (most will be higher, but it's over time so there's no guarantee at any one time you'll have that sort of return but just as an example)...if you start with $20 and win back 90% of that, you've got $18. If you play that through and win back 90%, you've got $16.20...etc...so assuming a 90% payback played through until ultimately lost, you've got nearly $200 coin in.

Sorry if this is a) something you already know or b) really confusing...I think I'm babbling.

But even me with my lowly gold status can sometimes get comped rooms on my own (usually 3 nights)...I can always get casino rate on my own.

Plus a lot of people regularly get offers for 2 or 3 nights free (technically different from comped but at the end of day both are free)...we don't get snail mail offers but do sometimes get them in our online account.

The other thing is that HET is most kind to slot players...whereas from what I understand and my limited experience, MGM is less kind to slot players and favours table players...so depending on your preference you may or may not get much from HET.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

Whitters03 wrote: »

Hi

My husband and I are off to LV in April and we're now looking at hotels, but having real trouble deciding - they all look so great.

What are your opinions on the best of Treasure Island, MGM Grand or the Monte Carlo?

Also, some of the prices at the moment are looking pretty good (e.g. £511 for the TI, 5 nights from 18 April). Do you think I should book now or wait?

Thanks for your advice!

Whiters03

5 nights starting 18th April will put you there over the NAB convention which is a very busy time in Vegas so hotels will be quite full and rates will be relatively high...so I would not expect to see any deals rolled out for the period 19th to 23rd...so I would probably look to book soon, but book something refundable direct with the hotel on the offhand chance there is something better that comes along. Or if it happens that you are seeing an exceptionally good rate with a 3rd party that the hotel can't beat, then maybe booking something and not looking back would be good.

I haven't stayed at any on your list myself, but think that Monte Carlo doesn't fit with the other two really...it's surrounded by construction and I think in general a step below the other two.

nvh

The Bellagio Fountains

cheers ferf am familiar with coin-in (used to do the online casinos for the 'free' money) but was probalby worth stating for others anyways made perfect sense so no worries! we are mainly slot players, and we would probably categorise ourselves as those people that try to make $20 last all night! (as long as the free drinks keep coming!)

as our Paris stay is the first non-MGM hotel we've stayed at, we're going to sign up and see how we get on

cheers for the link! will check it out!

pebblesmax

The Bellagio Fountains

We have several HET comp nights in May this year. Granted, it's only at Imperial Palace, but we had reduced rates for Rio and Flamingo too. We play very little in comparison to others, but almost always on the one card (mine).

I would definitely recommend signing up for a Harrah's card when you're at Paris. You can then ask at checkout about having you bill reduced. You never know if you don't ask.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

ferf1223 wrote: »

I can upload our planner we used if you'd like to have a look and see if the format might help? It's one of those things that worked for us, but may not work for anyone else but maybe it would.

Thanks for the offer. I do do a planner in Excel each trip with shows and likely places to eat. It's not cast in stone and is flexible apart from the booked shows. However the longest we've stayed before is 12 nights so I'm going to have a problem squeezing 14 nights onto 2 sheets of paper.

Mine has the day split into 4 - morning, afternoon, early evening, late evening.

We have seen a LOT of shows in Vegas, some more than once, but here is the proposed list for next trip:-

Le Reve - best I have seen is an offer on TravelZoo
Mystery Adventures LV
Lion King
Tom Jones - booked
Donny and Marie Osmond - Ticket seem pricey
Comedy Stop at the Tropicana
Carrot Top
Legends in Concert - for the umpteenth time
Defending the Caveman

Looks like the shows will cost more than the hotels.

duchy

Whitters03 wrote: »

Hi

My husband and I are off to LV in April and we're now looking at hotels, but having real trouble deciding - they all look so great.

What are your opinions on the best of Treasure Island, MGM Grand or the Monte Carlo?

Also, some of the prices at the moment are looking pretty good (e.g. £511 for the TI, 5 nights from 18 April). Do you think I should book now or wait?

Thanks for your advice!

Whiters03

Both
Book something you are happy with now -on a refundable rate (hotel will only take 1st night cost at this point) and keep checking for better deals which personally I think will happen-and then you can switch to the better deal.
I'm doing exactly this for earlier in April-have a great rate at the Flamingo but will still keep looking.

Of those 3 I'd go for TI with MGM second & MonteCarlo a very poor third.

duchy

Luci
I thought just over $100 for Donny and Marie was great value. (The $250 seats are too close you miss some of the overall effects-but do include meeting them both afterwards)
The show's great (OK I'm biased Donny was my first love as a teenager ) and unlike a lot of Vegas shows everyone seems to enjoy it -most other shows seem to have some grumblers afterwards
It's fast moving ,lots of dancing, light on their own hits and non cheesy

twinmumagain

nvh wrote: »

ferf, if you don't mind me asking - and i know it's a difficult question to answer anyways!, but how much would you say you put through harrahs slots per day to get offers on comped rooms?

also, another quick question, but where is best to sign up for a harrahs players card?

believe it or not, despite spending a month of my life in Vegas, I haven't signed up @ Harrahs or Wynn!!! They are on the to-do list for next time, but i wondered (if like MGM) it was better to sign up for Harrahs cards at a particular location (ie. better freebies )

Oh my word, I know so little!!! Whats a player card and freebies???