Where should I stay downtown?
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30 members have voted
So, I'm looking for a place to stay for a few nights when I first get into Vegas. I usually grab the 108/109 bus or WAX to go downtown because it is convenient and saves on a taxi. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to have to pay for a room since all my other free offers are used up or unavailable.
That said, I'm looking for a place where it will be easy to get the room comped ex post facto if at all possible. I can usually run a good amount through the video poker machines, and have been known to throw a little craps or BJ in there as well.
Some more relevant details:
-Las Vegas Club offered two nights at $25 with $15 in freeplay. I'm not sure if that rate extends beyond two nights.
-El Cortez is offering their "effectively free" promo with a $35 room cost being offset by $20 food + $15 in free play per night. That's tempting.
-The Ditz sent me a mailer with an offer that doesn't coincide with my trip (buy 1 get 1 free night), but did say to call them if you are planning a trip at another time.
-I kind of know a host at Main Street, and have a sapphire level card with Boyd.
-I haven't stayed at the Cal, Four Queens, Plaza, Ditz, Gold Spike or ElCo before.
Quote: teddysWell, I just got off the phone with "casino services" at the Las Vegas Club and apparently my offer for two free nights + $40 free play has been rescinded.
Funny you should mention that. The Plaza sent me a mailer for 3 nights and 60 dollars in free slot play/promo chips about two months ago. I finally booked it and played about $5,000 coin-in there the first day. When I inquired about a food comp with my host she said that my play "was about even to what the room charge would be" so she couldn't help. The next day I played about the same amount and got the same story. Is this normal for a hotel to send a free room and then hold it against you? Normally for this amount of play I would receive at least 30 dollars in food comps (my gf put about half this amount of coin-in for the two days and received 40 dollars in food complimentaries.)
I just received an offer for 4 free nights at the Plaza but what's the point if I'm going to be slaving away paying for the room with my play? I should take the free room and just play at the Four Queens. The Four Queens seems much more generous than all the other casinos downtown. I noticed their room comps accumulate separately from their already generous cash back/food comps and bounce back offers. Four Queens is my vote.
Unfortunately, that is all too common at many casinos. They often want to see you "cover the room" before they offer anything else. This is typical of MGM properties, among others. I find Boyd is pretty good at going above-and-beyond, but I've figured they don't like you having a lot of points on your card, which is why I'm cashing them in next trip. (I have $135 worth).Quote: RogerKintFunny you should mention that. The Plaza sent me a mailer for 3 nights and 60 dollars in free slot play/promo chips about two months ago. I finally booked it and played about $5,000 coin-in there the first day. When I inquired about a food comp with my host she said that my play "was about even to what the room charge would be" so she couldn't help. The next day I played about the same amount and got the same story. Is this normal for a hotel to send a free room and then hold it against you? Normally for this amount of play I would receive at least 30 dollars in food comps (my gf put about half this amount of coin-in for the two days and received 40 dollars in food complimentaries.)
Not a bad idea. I've never been afraid to "stiff 'em." Just don't expect the offers to continue (although sometimes they do anyways).Quote: RogerKintI just received an offer for 4 free nights at the Plaza but what's the point if I'm going to be slaving away paying for the room with my play? I should take the free room and just play at the Four Queens. The Four Queens seems much more generous than all the other casinos downtown. I noticed their room comps accumulate separately from their already generous cash back/food comps and bounce back offers. Four Queens is my vote.
Quote: teddysUnfortunately, that is all too common at many casinos.
Thanks. I'm still pretty new to all this so I wasn't sure if that was typical. I've noticed the staff at The Plaza is no where near as nice as when they reopened... guess sweeps are over.
I second Roger's liking for the Four Queens as well. I have no knowledge of the rooms, but I do enjoy the casino itself and the "freebies" that they offer to the extreme low-rollers like myself. Four Queens also allows you to use any accumulated slot play in their full-pay JoB Video Poker machines, something that many casinos do not.
Hope this helps. Win big!
Just read Roger's response about the staff at the Plaza. Didn't spend too much time last visit dealing with them, strictly saw the renovations at face value.
Quote: duckmankilla
Just read Roger's response about the staff at the Plaza. Didn't spend too much time last visit dealing with them, strictly saw the renovations at face value.
Maybe that was a bit harsh. I guess they were going out of their way to be very accomodating when they reopened. I'm a very low roller and they were still very generous. On my last trip I felt somewhat of a cold shoulder. To be fair I don't gamble at The Plaza so my comments only included one host, not dealers or other employees.
ETA I guess the honors go to MathExtremist. Funny stuff.
Quote: RogerKintI should take the free room and just play at the Four Queens. The Four Queens seems much more generous than all the other casinos downtown. I noticed their room comps accumulate separately from their already generous cash back/food comps and bounce back offers. Four Queens is my vote.
We stay on the strip but always make a trip downtown. We are primarily VP players and on past visits to four queens never found a big selection of VP machines and could never figure out why people said that the four queens was a good place to play VP. This last trip we tried going thru four queens again and was surprised to find lots of VP games! Where were they before? I hit one of my four dueces there and was able to play on that machine for a long time before cashing out ahead. Then.. I decided it would be worth signing up for their card. Going to make that a regular stop now.
PS. Tried the main street buffet the trip before this and liked it enough to go back again this trip, both times using the bogo coupon from the Fremont street experience. Was kind of disappointed this time.
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Quote: RogerKintFunny you should mention that. The Plaza sent me a mailer for 3 nights and 60 dollars in free slot play/promo chips about two months ago. I finally booked it and played about $5,000 coin-in there the first day. When I inquired about a food comp with my host she said that my play "was about even to what the room charge would be" so she couldn't help. The next day I played about the same amount and got the same story. Is this normal for a hotel to send a free room and then hold it against you?
For all of you who like to lay it heavy on Caesars properties (I lay it on in small amounts), this is one thing they will NEVER do to you. If they send you an offer, then you get that offer with ZERO restrictions on play. In the future, they may be more careful about booking rooms for you, but once you are there, if you don't play once at a Caesars property you will hear NOTHING about it.
Last year, I stayed at Caesars Palace twice. I made sure to play 4 hours at one of the properties each day, but my average bet on PGP was about $30, which is nothing in their world. When I checked out, they used my RC's to pay off charges (and a host couldn't get any more, but that's typical), but NOTHING was said about the room.
Quote: TiltpoulFor all of you who like to lay it heavy on Caesars properties (I lay it on in small amounts), this is one thing they will NEVER do to you. If they send you an offer, then you get that offer with ZERO restrictions on play. In the future, they may be more careful about booking rooms for you, but once you are there, if you don't play once at a Caesars property you will hear NOTHING about it.
Last year, I stayed at Caesars Palace twice. I made sure to play 4 hours at one of the properties each day, but my average bet on PGP was about $30, which is nothing in their world. When I checked out, they used my RC's to pay off charges (and a host couldn't get any more, but that's typical), but NOTHING was said about the room.
Funny, as I typed the previous post I was thinking the same thing. We booked 10 nights at caesars properties with 8 comped and never worried about how much we played and never had any problems. We always stay at Caesars properties because most of the nights are free or comped, and if we happen to not play too much on any particular trip we just see less comped nights offered on the calender in the future, usually the weekends, but still have enough free nights to put together a good trip.
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Speaking of the Plaza, I just got a mailer from them for three nights. I think we're gonna use it in July. (Nothing like Vegas in the summer!) I guess we'll see how the remodel looks.
Quote: inapFunny, as I typed the previous post I was thinking the same thing. We booked 10 nights at caesars properties with 8 comped and never worried about how much we played and never had any problems. We always stay at Caesars properties because most of the nights are free or comped, and if we happen to not play too much on any particular trip we just see less comped nights offered on the calender in the future, usually the weekends, but still have enough free nights to put together a good trip.
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I concur. Three nights at Caesars last year all comped. I can always get a room on the strip or the Rio for three nights comped with them. And I don't even play there. The comps are due to my play at the Horseshoe in Bossier City. I know they are viewed as evil but the whole industry has changed so much over the years. I still get treated fairly by them. I just wish they would buy a casino downtown!
You can contact their host while you're there and possibly find out what sort of coin-in would get you free rooms etc. I stayed there and just spent a few hours playing VP at the bar and that was enough to get me a discounted room rate on the whole week of my stay.
Blackjack that previously was a decent 2 deck game is now the dreaded 6:5 BJ and I refuse to play. I thought VP was a little tight at the Plaza but I only played a couple of hours and maybe caught a bad run.
They have an enlarged sports book area that is nice, especially for downtown. I also hear that Oscar's Steakhouse is very good. It opened about a week after my last trip to LV.
I agree with the other members that replied on the El Cortez. Pretty easy for comps, best BJ in town, rooms are OK at best but price (often free) is right. I seem to do well at 50 cent and one dollar VP there, so it gets a lot of play from me and the wife.
While we would like a little nicer rooms and casino to play in ........ we stick to downtown as that is where the best BJ games are. We log 6 to 8 hours a day at BJ tables.
Good luck to all you guys going in the future. I'm getting too old but will try to go back downtown this fall. By the way, I'll be using the 2 free Southwest flights that I learned of on this Forum. Thanks for that info. While we like nicer places, we are still practical (and frugal) and we go where we get the best deal and the best BJ games.
Quote: texasplumr
Speaking of the Plaza, I just got a mailer from them for three nights. I think we're gonna use it in July. (Nothing like Vegas in the summer!) I guess we'll see how the remodel looks.
Make sure it doesn't expire before July. I just received my offer a couple days ago and it expires at the end of June.
The remodel is great but it's more expensive to play there than LVC. In my opinion the 20 dollar trick isn't worth it there because they will just put you in the South Tower with a view that faces the strip. For whatever reason people prefer the South Tower so if you book the North Tower (with no extra charge) you'll get on one of the top floors and almost always have an elevator to yourself, without a wait. If you don't mind being alone The Plaza does have a 25c full-pay JoB slant top upstairs (this is not on VPFree2). They also have two full pay machines downstairs but they are in a very loud location. They recently put in a party pit but due to my jealous girlfriend I was not able to wander near it to see what the limits and payoffs were.
Quote: RogerKintMake sure it doesn't expire before July. I just received my offer a couple days ago and it expires at the end of June.
The remodel is great but it's more expensive to play there than LVC. In my opinion the 20 dollar trick isn't worth it there because they will just put you in the South Tower with a view that faces the strip. For whatever reason people prefer the South Tower so if you book the North Tower (with no extra charge) you'll get on one of the top floors and almost always have an elevator to yourself, without a wait. If you don't mind being alone The Plaza does have a 25c full-pay JoB slant top upstairs (this is not on VPFree2). They also have two full pay machines downstairs but they are in a very loud location. They recently put in a party pit but due to my jealous girlfriend I was not able to wander near it to see what the limits and payoffs were.
That's information that I can definately use, Thanks! The offer that I got is good till July 31 so I should be ok. Never stayed there so didn't know the difference in the towers. I think people prefer the south tower because of the noise from Fremont Street but if you get high enough that shouldn't be an issue. I'll seek out that machine as I prefer being alone first thing in the morning and since I don't drink I don't care if a waitress ever comes by.
So, the streak of never paying for a room continues. Someone please tell me I enjoy playing these games too much.
i haven't paid for a room in my entire gambling career, which started in 1985.
Quote: texasplumrI think people prefer the south tower because of the noise from Fremont Street but if you get high enough that shouldn't be an issue.
Correct. I have stayed in the North tower twice now, once on the 18th floor and once on the 19th, and never noticed street noise. I also didn't have neighbors (or at least noisy ones) like I did at the South Tower.
Quote: teddysWell, I just got off the phone with "casino services" at the Las Vegas Club and apparently my offer for two free nights + $40 free play has been rescinded.
Your offer was rescinded? WTF?
The poll above is a list of dive joints. If you absolutely must stay downtown, then go to the Golden Nugget. At least you won't have to worry about the bedbugs as much.
The strip is much better and the hotel rates are reasonable.
Quote: Oliver
The strip is much better and the hotel rates are reasonable.
MKL? Jerry? Is that you? 5 posts and they're all
negative, good job.
