teddys
teddys
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June 26th, 2012 at 6:18:34 PM permalink
I've been getting some nice offers from Bill's. The only play I've given them was a brief walk-through a few trips ago when I dropped $600 in 20 minutes playing the don'ts in craps. (Don't ask, I just happened to buy in when the HOTTEST SHOOTER IN THE WORLD started his roll.)

The first offer was for July/August/September and included:
-3 free anytime nights
-Two free tickets to Jubilee!
-Buy one, get one free to Frank Marino's Divas.
-$25 credit at the Steakhouse at Bill's or BOGO at Flamingo, Harrahs, IP buffet (why would you use that? :) )

The second offer was for September/October/November and could be used once per month:
-3 free anytime nights.
-2 free tickets to Empire Comedy at Paris. (A good comedy club. I've been multiple times).
-BOGO to Legends in Concert.
-Same $25 food credit at the Steakhouse or BOGO buffet.

No mention of Harrah's/Caesars anywhere on the offer, which leads me to believe they do their own marketing. Anyway, nice to get, although I don't know if I will take them up on any of it.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
1BB
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June 26th, 2012 at 6:21:58 PM permalink
Don't forget Big Elvis! It's free for everyone! Thank you! Thank you very much!
Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth. - Mahatma Ghandi
teddys
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June 26th, 2012 at 6:44:30 PM permalink
Quote: 1BB

Don't forget Big Elvis! It's free for everyone! Thank you! Thank you very much!

Big Elvis moved to Harrah's.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
1BB
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June 26th, 2012 at 6:51:53 PM permalink
I completely forgot that he moved last month. Have you seen him perform?
Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth. - Mahatma Ghandi
AcesAndEights
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June 27th, 2012 at 5:33:38 PM permalink
Quote: teddys

I've been getting some nice offers from Bill's. The only play I've given them was a brief walk-through a few trips ago when I dropped $600 in 20 minutes playing the don'ts in craps. (Don't ask, I just happened to buy in when the HOTTEST SHOOTER IN THE WORLD started his roll.)

The first offer was for July/August/September and included:
-3 free anytime nights
-Two free tickets to Jubilee!
-Buy one, get one free to Frank Marino's Divas.
-$25 credit at the Steakhouse at Bill's or BOGO at Flamingo, Harrahs, IP buffet (why would you use that? :) )

The second offer was for September/October/November and could be used once per month:
-3 free anytime nights.
-2 free tickets to Empire Comedy at Paris. (A good comedy club. I've been multiple times).
-BOGO to Legends in Concert.
-Same $25 food credit at the Steakhouse or BOGO buffet.

No mention of Harrah's/Caesars anywhere on the offer, which leads me to believe they do their own marketing. Anyway, nice to get, although I don't know if I will take them up on any of it.


I got a similar offer for Sept/Oct/Nov, but slightly better. 4 nights, Two tix to Empire Comedy, Two tix to Legends in Concert at Harrah's, and a $50 food credit. But I've given them more action than you, so it makes sense. Might take them up on it if I get hard up for free rooms. Has anyone stayed at Bill's? I always thought they were just a casino with no hotel, until I found out they had to have a hotel for their gaming license (I think this is correct?). The place seems too small to have any rooms, but I'm sure that's just perception.
"So drink gamble eat f***, because one day you will be dust." -ontariodealer
Ibeatyouraces
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June 27th, 2012 at 5:53:42 PM permalink
deleted
DUHHIIIIIIIII HEARD THAT!
Doc
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June 27th, 2012 at 6:13:58 PM permalink
Quote: AcesAndEights

Has anyone stayed at Bill's?


I haven't, but Croupier and his wife stayed there for part of their Vegas trip in June last year. I am not sure he is visiting this forum enough these days to find your post.
teddys
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June 27th, 2012 at 6:41:11 PM permalink
Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Not worth $600 IMO.

You of all people should know that's not the point since I was playing a 0.27% house edge game, but anyway . . .

It's a decent offer because weekend rooms are always hard to get, so it should be worth about $250 retail of hotel. The show tickets I would have paid for anyway, and the food is not that great since $25 doesn't go far at an expensive steakhouse. You can't beat the location for convenience.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
Ibeatyouraces
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June 27th, 2012 at 7:12:55 PM permalink
deleted
DUHHIIIIIIIII HEARD THAT!
LonesomeGambler
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June 27th, 2012 at 8:29:50 PM permalink
Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Just get revenge on the tables next time.

At Bill's? Good luck! Although it's a great hotel to stay in if you plan on hanging around the Strip.
Nareed
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June 27th, 2012 at 8:44:31 PM permalink
Quote: AcesAndEights

Has anyone stayed at Bill's?



No, but there's a review on the hotels section of this site.

From my own experience, I can recommend the Victorian Cafe.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
AcesAndEights
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June 28th, 2012 at 10:33:42 AM permalink
Quote: Nareed

No, but there's a review on the hotels section of this site.

From my own experience, I can recommend the Victorian Cafe.


Ah, thanks for the pointer. I checked the forum section but forgot to check the main site.

No room safe is a bummer for me as I like to leave stuff in there, but not a deal breaker. I do find the idea of getting in and out of the room and back to the strip quickly pretty appealing. I've exclusively stayed in the mega-resorts on my trips to Vegas, and it can be quite a trek from the street, through the casino, to the elevator, and finally through the endless hallways to your room. I may try out a stay here just for that reason.

It still baffles me that they haven't subsumed Bill's into the Total Rewards program. Are they trying an experiment to maintain a different "brand" for some reason? Seems like a strange property to try that out on, considering how many dozens of properties they've acquired over the years, and immediately switched to TR.
"So drink gamble eat f***, because one day you will be dust." -ontariodealer
hook3670
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June 28th, 2012 at 11:16:31 AM permalink
Friends of my wife stayed there and really liked it. The location is great and your deal sounds pretty good. They accept TR comps but are on a different card, go figure!
travisl
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June 28th, 2012 at 3:57:04 PM permalink
My TripAdvisor review follows. I reserved a room there March 4-6, but only stayed one night. (TL;DR: Imperial Palace has better, cheaper rooms. It's that bad.)

Quote:

Spend $10 more and go somewhere that cares
What a dive. I've stayed at other bottom tier properties in Vegas (Imperial Palace, Riviera, Circus Circus), and didn't think that Bill's would be among them. I'd go back to IP before I'd stay here again.

I arrived at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon and attempted to check in. My travel agent said check-in time was 3:00; the front desk (and Bill's web site) says it was 4:00. Would I like to pay $10 for early check-in? Fine. My wife and I head up to the room. The elevators are creaky, and we exit onto the third floor. A stained marble shelf in the elevator lobby clearly used to have a vase bolted down to it -- the bolt hole and the round stain make that obvious. To my left, an ice machine with a semi-permanent handwritten "out of order" sign exudes class.

We head to the room, open the door, and it's a smoking room. We'd requested non-smoking. We've got a view of the parking lot. There's no safe, no refrigerator, no closet. The bed's very firm. The shower head fixture is attached to the wall with lots of red putty; the cover for the connection is loose on the pipe.

My wife wants to take a nap, and fortunately, we've got one more comped night at the Riviera to use (we thought we'd skip it and stay here, but that ain't happening). I drive her back, and then come back to Bill's at 4:30 to request a change to a non-smoking room. The front desk says they have none available, and that they don't guarantee such requests. Really? Maybe ask again tomorrow, he says. So if I'm understanding correctly, on a Sunday in early March, when there's no major events in town, there's no non-smoking rooms available for early check-in (fine, maybe they weren't clean yet?), and none after the regular check-in time either? And you can't assign me one that you'll know will be available tomorrow or the next day? Really?

We stayed at the Riviera instead of Bill's on Sunday night. I dropped my wife at the airport on Monday morning, went to work, and returned on Monday night. By this time, I'd given up on the non-smoking issue. I only use the hotel to sleep and shower; I could tolerate the smokiness.

There's better hotels nearby (Flamingo, Harrah's, Ballys, Imperial Palace) usually for the same cost or less. Look elsewhere.

Room Tip: If you take up smoking, you won't be disappointed when they assign you a smoking room.

1BB
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June 29th, 2012 at 9:16:23 AM permalink
Wow, a dump and an uncaring staff! Did you consider speaking to the front desk supervisor? No wonder Elvis left the building!
Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth. - Mahatma Ghandi
LonesomeGambler
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June 29th, 2012 at 9:40:24 AM permalink
Making a firm judgment based on another person's isolated experience is not very sound reasoning, in my opinion. People who have a bad experience somewhere are far more likely to write reviews on a review site, or post on a forum, than are people who had a good experience. It makes sense—you expect staying in a low to mid-level hotel to be non-event; if it ends up being that, then it's off your mind, while a bad experience will make you want to vent your frustrations.

I've enjoyed staying at Bill's simply because I like the vibe of the older hotels, and I don't care about fine amenities for the most part. I spend very little time in my room when I'm on the road. I've stayed in massive suites that are bigger than my house, with all sorts of crazy features (although I am partial to the remote-controlled picture window blinds and curtains), but at the end of the day, I really just prefer a bed, a desk, and a shower. At Bill's, my floor and room was clean, if a bit musty, and I was amused that my shower had a window that physically opened (rare in Vegas), giving me fresh air in the room while taking a shower. There was absolutely nothing else special about the room, but it was comfortable and I had zero issues, which is what I look for. Combine that with the convenience of the location and I would stay again.
1BB
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June 29th, 2012 at 10:05:06 AM permalink
Quote: LonesomeGambler

Making a firm judgment based on another person's isolated experience is not very sound reasoning, in my opinion. People who have a bad experience somewhere are far more likely to write reviews on a review site, or post on a forum, than are people who had a good experience. It makes sense—you expect staying in a low to mid-level hotel to be non-event; if it ends up being that, then it's off your mind, while a bad experience will make you want to vent your frustrations.

I've enjoyed staying at Bill's simply because I like the vibe of the older hotels, and I don't care about fine amenities for the most part. I spend very little time in my room when I'm on the road. I've stayed in massive suites that are bigger than my house, with all sorts of crazy features (although I am partial to the remote-controlled picture window blinds and curtains), but at the end of the day, I really just prefer a bed, a desk, and a shower. At Bill's, my floor and room was clean, if a bit musty, and I was amused that my shower had a window that physically opened (rare in Vegas), giving me fresh air in the room while taking a shower. There was absolutely nothing else special about the room, but it was comfortable and I had zero issues, which is what I look for. Combine that with the convenience of the location and I would stay again.



No judgement at all just summarizing the review. To be fair, any concerns should be given the chance to be remedied and that doesn't appear to be the case here.
Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth. - Mahatma Ghandi
travisl
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June 29th, 2012 at 12:13:16 PM permalink
Quote: LonesomeGambler

Making a firm judgment based on another person's isolated experience is not very sound reasoning, in my opinion. People who have a bad experience somewhere are far more likely to write reviews on a review site, or post on a forum, than are people who had a good experience.


You're quite right. A data point of 1 is probably worse than receiving no opinion at all. A roulette wheel isn't biased towards 17 just because you walked up and saw the ball drop into 17. Bill's isn't a bad choice just because I had a bad experience. Get a sufficient number of results, and then you'll have a picture of what to expect.

Other reviews on TripAdvisor run the gamut, from "this is my new favorite place to stay" to worse than mine. The worn rugs and lack of non-smoking rooms seems to be a fairly consistent thread. It ranks #48 of 284 in Las Vegas.

I've stayed at Sahara and at Imperial Palace, which both met my low expectations. I've stayed at the Riviera, which far exceeded my low expectations. I've also stayed at El Cortez, Cosmopolitan, Caesars (twice), Flamingo, TI, and PHo. Looking at my TripAdvisor reviews, it seems that the ones I write about are not the ones that meet my expectations (which, of course, vary based on the property's reputation), but rather, those that exceed or fall below those expectations. I expected scuffed furniture at El Cortez; I didn't write about it. I expected nice toiletries and views at Caesars; I didn't write about it. I expected stellar service at Cosmo; I didn't get it and wrote about it. I expected a well worn room at Riviera; I wrote about how nice it actually was.

Quote: 1BB

No judgement at all just summarizing the review. To be fair, any concerns should be given the chance to be remedied and that doesn't appear to be the case here.



It was tolerable, and I'm pretty non-confrontational, and because I still had a night at the Riv I could use (we hadn't even packed it up yet), it wasn't worth the argument. Once my wife flew home, I cared even less, because, like LG, I only need a clean bed, desk, and shower. But as I said in the review, with other similarly cheap choices within a literal stone's throw, I don't plan on giving them a second chance.
LonesomeGambler
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June 29th, 2012 at 1:25:47 PM permalink
Fair enough. Bear in mind that I wasn't criticizing your review or thoughts on the experience at all; I was simply noting that making a conclusion that the place is a "dump" or that the staff is "uncaring" based on a second-hand bad experience is the type of uncritical thinking ("fuzzy logic," to borrow a term from Sklansky) that APs of all people should be able to avoid. 1BB clarified this, so no worries there.
teddys
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June 29th, 2012 at 4:15:46 PM permalink
Warning: Bill's is the new O'Sheas. The Leprechaun moved there from O'Sheas (he is no longer a Leprechaun, obviously, just a garden-variety midget), and they opened a new frozen booze bar called Slush. The beer pong also moved there. Caesars is positioning it as a replacement for O'Sheas, and they are going to run it into the ground just like they did O'Sheas: Abuse it and take all the income without any capital improvements. Enjoy (?) it while you can.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
AcesAndEights
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July 2nd, 2012 at 8:11:54 PM permalink
Quote: teddys

Warning: Bill's is the new O'Sheas. The Leprechaun moved there from O'Sheas (he is no longer a Leprechaun, obviously, just a garden-variety midget), and they opened a new frozen booze bar called Slush. The beer pong also moved there. Caesars is positioning it as a replacement for O'Sheas, and they are going to run it into the ground just like they did O'Sheas: Abuse it and take all the income without any capital improvements. Enjoy (?) it while you can.


I am glad the beer pong moved somewhere, I do enjoy it sometimes. Thanks for the update!
"So drink gamble eat f***, because one day you will be dust." -ontariodealer
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