Harrah's Summer Promotion: The Salesman Problem (POLL: How many will you get to??)
Poll
 | 8 votes (22.85%) | ||
| | 2 votes (5.71%) | ||
| | 1 vote (2.85%) | ||
| | 7 votes (20%) | ||
| | 17 votes (48.57%) |
35 members have voted
Quote: fremont4everTo make a very long story short, I did the major portion of this this past weekend. From my home base in Michigan, I swung through Joliet, St. Louis, Metropolis, and Elizabeth in 34 1/2 hours (including one overnight). I spent lots. I risked little. I won a bit.
For those who like very long stories, you can read this.
Very good trip blog! An enjoyable read with a lot of humor sprinkled throughout...
Harrahs Joliet: They USED to have a decent BJ game on the main floor (6-deck, S17, RSA), but I've been told they have since changed to H17. I have to say in my entire time gambling, they also used to have consistently the best dealers in terms of mechanics. I have never played anywhere that EVERY dealer's speed and accuracy in placing cards, taking bets etc. was as fluid and consistent as Harrahs Joliet. I guess most of the dealers have been dealing since the boat opened.
I saw you stopped in Normal, IL. I used to live there for 3 years. It's a very boring town, but central to everything (Chicago, St Louis, Indianapolis, etc.)
Harrahs St Louis: I'm surprised you couldn't find anywhere to eat there. They have an excellent buffet, Charlie Gitto's is pricey but very good, and their on-boat deli is pricey but tasty. They do have the small bank of Full-Pay machines, and it amazes me how most of them are open when other ones nearby are full. Actually most of the St Louis casinos have Full-pay machines, they just don't advertise them like Harrahs does, and they are hidden in one bank in the other casinos instead of out in front.
Driving in St Louis can be confusing, especially since the locals have different names for their highways.
Harrah's Metropolis: I've only been there once, but I remember there being VP. However, I know game selection is thin, so I didn't spend much time there either.
Btw, Metropolis is only about 3 hours away from Tunica. I'm surprised there were that many Tennessee cars there.
Horseshoe Southern: As I've stated many times, this may be my favorite casino, because of the game mix, decent rules on some games (mainly Spanish 21 and 100x odds on Craps), good VP (9/6 JoB all over the casino), and one of the best poker rooms around. The walk to the casino, especially from the hotel, is a bear, but otherwise, this is a good place. What deck did you load on?
I completed the tour about a week ago. I got lost in St. Louis too. Didn't go to Metropolis. BTW, it is about the same distance from Nashville as Tunica, and a more direct drive (don't have to skirt Memphis), so many Tennesseeans prefer to gamble there.Quote: Tiltpoul
Driving in St Louis can be confusing, especially since the locals have different names for their highways.
Harrah's Metropolis: I've only been there once, but I remember there being VP. However, I know game selection is thin, so I didn't spend much time there either.
Btw, Metropolis is only about 3 hours away from Tunica. I'm surprised there were that many Tennessee cars there.
Horseshoe Southern: As I've stated many times, this may be my favorite casino, because of the game mix, decent rules on some games (mainly Spanish 21 and 100x odds on Craps), good VP (9/6 JoB all over the casino), and one of the best poker rooms around. The walk to the casino, especially from the hotel, is a bear, but otherwise, this is a good place. What deck did you load on?
In HSI, loading was on deck 4 (top deck).
Quote: cclub79So is anyone doing the SASE thing? You figure you can mail the card and a 5 dollar bill for a Slot Machine, and the receiver gets to keep anything from the winnings? Maybe it's not too late to figure out how each place checks and which you can just swipe?
harrah's KC, Harrah's STL, and Horseshoe Southern Indiana all had player-facing kiosks for swiping in. At each property I've visited, the people have made a point to tell me that you only need to swipe once for the whole event.
I'm a little worried that the SASE loophole might cause problems for the promotion later. I've been taking pictures along my journeys, mostly for Caesar's Entertainment's benefit, but I'll also probably blog them at the end of the journey.
Also, not for nothing, but I told Caesars this spring that I was planning on visiting all of their north american properties this summer season and asked if they wanted to use it for publicity. They told me they'd get back to me, and then didn't - but I got the flyer for this promo in the mail. Maybe this promo was already in the works, but that stings a little. And I really will visit every Caesar's-operated property in North America by October 3rd (ending with Harrah's New Orleans).
My six included:
1) Las Vegas
2) Council Bluffs
3) Kansas City
4) St Louis
5) Metropolis
6) Horseshoe Southern Indiana
Quote: TiltpoulQuote: fremont4ever
Driving in St Louis can be confusing, especially since the locals have different names for their highways.
Not true! We only have a different name for one highway. Local's call Highway 64 "Highway 40" instead, because that was the designation for many years until the DOT decided to finally 'officially' change the name. If you hear a traffic report on the news/radio, they refer to it as 40/64 so everyone knows which one they are talking about.
We call all the other highways by their appropriate numbers. The problem is that some moron decided long ago that we should have highway 70, highway 170, highway 270, and highway 370 all in the same metropolitan area."Bite my Glorious Golden Ass!" - Bender Bending Rodriguez
Has anyone else noticed a change in the offers they have been receiving since participating in this hit-a-bunch-of-areas promos, if you did participate? As I noted two posts above, I only made it to four of the market areas during the promo period. Earlier in 2011, I had visited and played in Biloxi (April) and Las Vegas (June), and I made trips to Reno/Tahoe in October and Biloxi in November.
Prior to the promo period, I got lots of room offers from Tunica, Biloxi, and Las Vegas. Now I get them from Biloxi, Atlantic City, Chester, and Reno/Tahoe. I have received no promo at all from Las Vegas since the promo, maybe not since I was there (for WoVCon I) in June. I can understand that I receive offers from the places that I visited most recently, but I don't understand what killed the offers from Las Vegas.
Has anyone else experienced anything like that? Do you think it is related to the promo? Any other ideas? I am hoping to make another visit to Las Vegas, perhaps in May, and I am surprised by the lack of offers. (By the way, is there any progress in establishing a date and participants for WoVCon][?)
Quote: DocSo this promo ended four months ago, and I'm reviving a dormant thread.
Has anyone else noticed a change in the offers they have been receiving since participating in this hit-a-bunch-of-areas promos, if you did participate? As I noted two posts above, I only made it to four of the market areas during the promo period. Earlier in 2011, I had visited and played in Biloxi (April) and Las Vegas (June), and I made trips to Reno/Tahoe in October and Biloxi in November.
Prior to the promo period, I got lots of room offers from Tunica, Biloxi, and Las Vegas. Now I get them from Biloxi, Atlantic City, Chester, and Reno/Tahoe. I have received no promo at all from Las Vegas since the promo, maybe not since I was there (for WoVCon I) in June. I can understand that I receive offers from the places that I visited most recently, but I don't understand what killed the offers from Las Vegas.
Has anyone else experienced anything like that? Do you think it is related to the promo? Any other ideas? I am hoping to make another visit to Las Vegas, perhaps in May, and I am surprised by the lack of offers. (By the way, is there any progress in establishing a date and participants for WoVCon][?)
I've noticed a huge decrease in room offers across the board from the Evil Empire. I've got to think that it's because my play-per-stop went into the toilet when I participated in this promo.
Quote: DocHas anyone else experienced anything like that? Do you think it is related to the promo? Any other ideas?
We played in the required minimum three markets--Las Vegas, Chester and Atlantic City--and didn't receive a solitary extra credit. In addition, a rough estimate shows that the online offers have been cut in half and that the half-dozen or so mailings in a month are down to one or two. Heck of a way to maintain the faltering business, Mr. Loveman and Mr. Marandino.
Quote: Doc(By the way, is there any progress in establishing a date and participants for WoVCon][?)
I think I ought to do a last, final, for-true-this-time poll on the date.
I will as soon as I can guesstimate when I'll get my visa.
Quote: SanchoPanzaWe played in the required minimum three markets--Las Vegas, Chester and Atlantic City--and didn't receive a solitary extra credit. In addition, a rough estimate shows that the online offers have been cut in half and that the half-dozen or so mailings in a month are down to one or two. Heck of a way to maintain the faltering business, Mr. Loveman and Mr. Marandino.
Hmmm, this possibly suggests that the promotion carefully identified those who'd hunt for a promotion across the country, and therefore might not be as good value as the local who doesn't travel as much.
It seems my 9 free Vegas nights, with very little play (no slots, just tables), did more to chill offers than the Race promo did. Then again, I can't make heads or tails of Caesars' methodology. Boyd is being more generous, anyway. I made sapphire level this last trip, and already have 8 free nights in Vegas including weekends.
My point in saying that is that they have been keeping reasonably accurate records of my play for several years, so they already knew that I wasn't going to come in and bet heavy if they gave me a room, and they knew that I had played in Tunica, Biloxi, Laughlin, Las Vegas, Southern Indiana, etc., so it wasn't as if I just started running around to different places during the promo.
My real question now is why am I considered a good enough customer to be offered cheap rooms in Biloxi, cheap or free rooms (free offer now expired) in Atlantic City, but nothing any more in Las Vegas, when I have been staying at Caesars/Harrah's properties there 1 - 3 times a year since 2003 and have been receiving email or snail mail offers regularly until recently?
Quote: DocHas anyone else experienced anything like that? Do you think it is related to the promo? Any other ideas? I am hoping to make another visit to Las Vegas, perhaps in May, and I am surprised by the lack of offers. (By the way, is there any progress in establishing a date and participants for WoVCon][?)
Yeah, Doc, my offers decreased this year... I think this honestly has more to do with Harrah's cutting back it's offers, rather than to a correlation of taking part in the Great Race. I just spent a majority of the credits that I earned from the trip this past weekend, so I'm not sure if I'll get better offers going forward or not. My place increased A LOT, although I did play mostly 9/6 JoB at HSI to earn about 65% of the credits (maybe more). I hit one Royal so I should have broken even for last year. I already have 2260 credits under my belt for this year, and while the HSI rewards are the same or slightly better (especially for hotel rooms), my other offers from other casinos is dwindling.
Btw, while HSI got most of my play last year, I had enough play in Las Vegas and Council Bluffs, IA to justify receiving offers from both destinations. I did take advantage of the Augustus Tower rooms twice last year, but that shouldn't make a difference... key word is SHOULDN'T, because I'm pretty sure it did, when I wasn't playing $1000 a hand BJ or $1 slots.
This past weekend, I had to EARN 175 credits at Horseshoe CB before they would give me two nights of free rooms, Sun-Thurs. If I booked online, it was about $40 avg a night room. I stay with family, so I don't NEED the rooms, but they are a nice getaway.
Quote: thecesspitHmmm, this possibly suggests that the promotion carefully identified those who'd hunt for a promotion across the country, and therefore might not be as good value as the local who doesn't travel as much.
Please don't tell Dan or someone else who might call me a counter or a scammer. I have trouble counting just the cards I'm dealt in blackjack.
Quote: darrenfromindyForgive me if this has been mentioned already, but many of the participants in this promotion KILLED their future comps by committing ADT suicide. It was a bad idea for many to take part in it (they'll get their promotion reward but lose free hotel stays because they didn't gamble enough during their visits).
I guess I'm guilty as charged. But I'm happy with
$ 300 in comps if I understant the point system
correctly.
I'll play at Harrah's more than I used to, partly
out of appreciation for this promo. It would
be nice to have at least some decent VP
paytables, though.
Quote: JohnnyQI'll play at Harrah's more than I used to, partly out of appreciation for this promo. It would be nice to have at least some decent VP paytables, though.
There are Caesars properties that do have decent paytables. Horseshoe Southern Indiana is mostly 98% + tables on VP. Harrah's St Louis has a small number of machines that payback 99 % +. There are some NSU All-American machines at Harrah's KC as well. Tunica Roadhouse has a lot of good machines too (but not sister property Horseshoe... those stink to high heaven). The Las Vegas and AC offerings are pathetic, and you may struggle at other properties like Harrah's Joliet. You won't find any 100% + machines anywhere, but to be honest, there are very few places offering those anyways.
