El cortez establishes new limit on rooms

Well, you guys have experience that I don't have. I have never before heard of the El Cortez rescinding a booking after it has been made.
I am low level. Last visit I dropped some bucks in the VP for the first time in years. Years back I could play just 1000 points each day and be certain to get a mailing that gave me three nights/two rooms.
That was when full pay VP gave a a point for every dollar.

Then for a while there were no full pay VP in quarters. Lately more have drifted back.

I can't justify a host except perhaps for my next trip given my last play when I did pump in some quarters and lost. Generally, I patch together free nights and deals I find. I'll talk to a host before I do my final bookings, but I have to wait on what other places will give me to know what I might want from the El Cortez beyond what is now booked..

If they really confirm a booking and then rescind it, I won't go there at all, but for the two days on the ACG at the end of my trip as has been my recent pattern. That is just simply bait and switch, and I don't have time for that nonsense. Once I have a confirmation, I expect it to be honored. I have never heard of anything like that in all my Vegas years of going as a low roller. And maybe you guys would tolerate it, but I know plenty of folks who would not. Resort fees were enough of a gimmick. Booking and then rescinding is just too far.


Sam's Town had some glitch in their system before my May trip that offered all these nights for $10 on the B Connected site. It must have been a mistake because it was up for just a few hours. However, I booked nine nights right away and there was nothing rescinded. Much later I dropped three because I had freebies elsewhere. Why, in that deal I was not even charged the resort fee. Often bookings on B Connected are not charged. So I spent a good deal of my time on the full pay Deuces which are hard to find now in Vegas. I expect I may get some attention from them.

Well, I was hoping that someone might be annoyed with this. I guess not too many.
It won't make it any harder to be a low roller and still get good room rates as long as I don't want to stay in one place. I just really liked those Cabana rooms. The irony is that for the first time in a long while I was willing to pay $34 for ten nights in a row of rooms. My 16 nignt stay in May cost me $7.90 on average per night, taxes and all.
I rarely pay more than $20 on average for 15-17 nights. Hardest are the weekends, but lately 4 queens and Orleans have been taking good care of me on those weekend nights. The rest are easily booked and cheaper than El Cortez Cabana. Besides even with the new limit I can get quite a stay there with the ACG and often with that free room deal as well.

Quote: dewey089

Well, you guys have experience that I don't have. I have never before heard of the El Cortez rescinding a booking after it has been made.

Are they really doing this without providing alternate accommodation at no additional cost? A hotel booking is a legal contract. (Unless, perhaps, the entire stay was comped in advance, as there usually be some "consideration" proffered from the buyer.)

Quote: 7outlineaway

Are they really doing this without providing alternate accommodation at no additional cost? A hotel booking is a legal contract. (Unless, perhaps, the entire stay was comped in advance, as there usually be some "consideration" proffered from the buyer.)

One thing to clear up is that in none of this are we talking about comped rooms. These are paid rooms.

However, I made the bookings using booking.com. First I made 7 nights. Then I thought about it and decided I'd like to stay at least 10. Actually, I thought that I might stay more later in the month as well, fit them in around the 4 Queens where I know I will get comped 2 or 3, but the host there could not tell me what or decide when. Those sort of postcard comps are issued in late July. B connected comps run now only through October. Harrah's comps don't seem to go as far a November. But Booking.com offered a good deal, and so I made a second reservation for three nights.

I got confirmation until an EC hotel manager named Elle told booking.com that they could not honor the second booking. Booking.com told me. I called EC wondering if it was just limited to no more nights from the discounter, but they explained the new policy, just 7 nights per calendar month. I cancelled the second booking. Then I realized that I had two nights in October and the 5 in November, so I called and asked to use my ACG coupon to book two more nights. At first the clerk said no, but I asked her to ask the manager who had just told me, "seven in a calendar month." She asked and told me I would be allowed to book.
Then Hotel.com had an $18 a night plus $8resort fee sale at the Gold Spike, so I booked 2 nights there because I am hoping that the 4 Queens gives me the following three nights, the weekend of 11-12 and one more. That would put me downtown for the first two weeks.
Already IP offers the rest of my nights for $20, but I am thinking that a couple of those might be free and I might choose Harrah's instead, which is $30 a night.

Had I read all the fine print around the EC, I'd have seen the limitation. The booking.com letter cited all of that. I was not annoyed with that. It seemed to me that getting back to me quickly and letting me know this early was fine. Everyone was nice. I was pleasant. I very much liked booking.com attention. Some discounters do not pay that much attention to details.
This is different from what another poster here referred to where the casino offers some rate and then pulls it back because on second thought they don't like my play. Perhaps that reference to rescinded rates after booking was just speculation.

So I wrote this up a few places and other EC regulars I know who book for longer than 7 days started to take a look and they too saw that they can't do that now. They have any booking longer than 7 nights in a calendar month rejected by the EC.

These too are small time gamblers who do not fall into the "I have a host" category. They book cheap deals and gamble what they want where they want. Some are primarily poker players. I probably play more than VP than they do, but until the last trip most of my VP play has been concentrated in other places. Last trip I got the $60 with food and freeplay kicked back at the EC Cabana and decided that I liked those rooms, and maybe I'd just arrange to be there for my entire stay and no,longer drag my 85 lb suitcase on buses to go between casinos as much as I have in the past. There are so many places to stay and play in Vegas, even for low roller and live poker players that it is not easy even with 17 nights to decide just how to arrange them.

Okay, that's the story. I have not started to really complain yet, or contact a host because until sam's-Eastside cannery-Harrah's-4Queens- gold Coast sends out their postcard come ons I have no idea where I want to go and so were any protest to elicit anything from any casino person, I would not know what I wanted. I'll do that later. I did put the Facebook up and thought I'd recruit a few more folks who also thought this was counterproductive on EC part to add to that comment.
However, I see that this particular recruitment was a dead end.
In fact, I get the idea that the sentiment here is that the casino is offering me such a grand opportunity in allowing me to risk my money there, I should be gratefull and loose and uninhibited and perhaps unplanned and why would I think low rollers or tourists deserved anything anyway.
Well, we all go at this from various perspectives. Mine is that the casino is not my friend, but my opponent. And whether I am shooting craps or booking a room, I want the best odds.
And in this case I think El Cortez would do better to offer me and other low rollers a price on their rooms regardless of how much we gamble.
I know live poker does not generate much income, but 10-14 straight hours of raking and my sometimes keeping the game going does add something to the EC coffers, just as it adds to the O'Shea's coffers. Harrah's-now-CET recognizes that.
I've said that to a few at the EC and they all think it makes some sense. Maybe I don't get comped, but I'd like them to know they don't get stiffed even when I don't drop quarters.


For low rollers, at first the hotel deals come and then when they find you are not dumping tons of money, the deals dry up, and then there might be years and out of the blue they send you some good deal because the recession has stung them and they need to attract some customers. So we move around a lot. We get what we can for free and we pay cheap rates for the rest.

I have no apology for any of that. It seems smart to me. I get an inexpensive trip, play poker everyday, am comfortable, use coupons, find deals, and that is a game in and of itself.

I don't play where I am not getting a shot at free rooms. I can always catch the Super 8 at Koval for about $40 or less on average and get location, free ride to and from the airport, free wifi, good television, free coffee, a heated swimming pool, free bingo at Ellis Island, the steak special or other cheap food, free rooms after a few stays, and all the amenities without any resort fees. They are actually "renting rooms" and not giving me some golden opportunity to lose my money gambling, and they charge only about $10 more than those Cabana rooms at the El Cortez when they are on sale. Less sometimes.
So there must be profit in renting rooms for cash. It must be part of what the low roller places do for profit as well. Such purchases are not just the largess of an overly generous casino industry.
The only largess I know about really is Jackie himself who splashes the poker pots daily for entertainment. The rest is all a game. Booking is a game as well. When they get me in the room, they then have an opportunity to entice me into playing. They expect I'll go on tilt once in a while or make mistakes, or become undisciplined and then they got me. Ironically that happened on my last EC deal and visit.

If I look like to them like I will do that often, then I get comped.

But we are not talking about their comp policy here. We are talking about their rental policy. I know it works to their disadvantage. The last time I stayed 2 nights I stayed for free and not based on play. Anyone can book that deal. I was tempted and dropped lots of quarters. They made out quite well. It was that come on deal that caught me. This push out deal just frustrates me. I need flexibility not irrational rigidity.

Quote: 7outlineaway

Are they really doing this without providing alternate accommodation at no additional cost? A hotel booking is a legal contract. (Unless, perhaps, the entire stay was comped in advance, as there usually be some "consideration" proffered from the buyer.)

What I should have said is in the past I have heard of point multipliers being rescinded to people who were only playing on those days (very rare and I imagine to regulars who are problems). As to room bookings are you just paying for the room or using a promo code? I can understand limiting the amount of promos you use.

EDIT. This sounds like something between Booking.com and the El C. But if you book directly through the El C they comp you back the entire room rate in Free Play and Food.

The game is fun. I play it too, and your input and experience is certainly appreciated. I just consider these things a curveball thrown my way. For example, I used a ton of free rooms from Harrah's in a cross-country trip recently. Now, they've completely cut me off: no discounts, no comps, nothing besides what I already had before.

I rolled into LV expecting three free anytime nights at Tuscany that it turned out I didn't have on my account. Fine. I stayed with my friend over the weekend, and then rebooked at Terrible's for weekday rooms that eventually were comped. Roll with the punches. These offers ebb and flow, and you have to make the best of it. Don't get angry or you'll wear yourself out; the casinos will dick around with you to no end.

Quote: Wavy70

What I should have said is in the past I have heard of point multipliers being rescinded to people who were only playing on those days (very rare and I imagine to regulars who are problems). As to room bookings are you just paying for the room or using a promo code? I can understand limiting the amount of promos you use.

I see. That is in the comp category and has little to do with paying for a room on the open market.

Quote: Wavy70

This sounds like something between Booking.com and the El C. But if you book directly through the El C they comp you back the entire room rate in Free Play and Food.

That is what I thought at first, but no, it is not between booking.com and EC. It is for any booking you want to do if you are just paying for a room. I called EC thinking I might be able to book directly with them for a few more nights.
"No.," says the hotel manager.
"And could I come back later in the month for a couple nights?"
"No."
"So I am in Vegas for 17 nights. So once I have my seven nights booked, I need to look for another place to stay?"
"Right."

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Try calling directly without your host and see if you can book 8 nights in a row.
This was not personal to me or particular to book.com. Others have done this recently and been surprised,
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The dates for the entire booking in freeplay and food do not fit my dates. Those are defined differently each month and this time my trip does not include them. Solo it is a bit hard to eat up $25 of food a night with all the poker comps I get as well.
Especially when I am coupon foolish as I was last trip and had to have a restaurant.com coupon as well. My Flame story from last trip is here:

http://vegasbirthdaybash.blogspot.com/2011/05/tr-snippet-last-night-in-vegas-solo-at.html

But even if I ate up half of it, it would be better than renting at $34 a night. However, that is an average. I would pay more for the weekend nights in that booking that would not be comped food and freeplay.
The freeplay is cool but can't be used on full pay VP so there is an edge they have to get some of it back. Not much really. I played the $70 through once and cashed with $102, so I did well. Then I lost a few hundred on the full pay machines playing real money.

Odd. Did you kill a waitress last time there? ;) The Spike does have a pool.

Quote: teddys

The game is fun. I play it too, and your input and experience is certainly appreciated. I just consider these things a curveball thrown my way. For example, I used a ton of free rooms from Harrah's in a cross-country trip recently. Now, they've completely cut me off: no discounts, no comps, nothing besides what I already had before.

I rolled into LV expecting three free anytime nights at Tuscany that it turned out I didn't have on my account. Fine. I stayed with my friend over the weekend, and then rebooked at Terrible's for weekday rooms that eventually were comped. Roll with the punches. These offers ebb and flow, and you have to make the best of it. Don't get angry or you'll wear yourself out; the casinos will dick around with you to no end.

No problem. I did roll. Ended up saving money, getting more nights downtown with more flexibility for changing my mind. But after we roll with a punch sometimes it is possible to throw a few ourselves. I'm suggesting the opportunity to do that is now for anyone who would like to say that this policy inhibits their booking and play at the EC.

Now, yeah...the waitress....ya heard about that, right?
Listen.
Was that a mistake?
I mean if someone had told me that they looked askance at a small stabbing at the El Cortez, why I'd have worked harder to restrain myself.
I did use the table cloth to cover her, and I tipped my hat to the picture of Bugsy Seigel on the wall on my way out.
Actually, I thought it might earn me a comp to the new suite that features a mural of the desert because the desert was sort of the "table cloth" for the wise guys back in the day.
Hey, Vegas Streats is cool but heritage should be honored. Don't ya think?
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Look, this is not personal to me. Make a call and see.
Okay, enough for me.
Hey, I love the casino reviews, Teddys, if I have the right poster. Great stuff. Vegas Club South Tower may be my next cheap booking even if I can't come off the elevator into a cool nightclub with The Next Movement performing.