Vegas Bargains Part 1

[Tisha]

We just got back from 10 days in Vegas on a budget & had a great time! We are small time gamblers. Only play the tables with wins chips or matchplays & usually nickel slots. After 10 days of gambling, we left winning $100.00. We track our money.When I refer to coupons they are American Casino Guide Coupons unless I specify otherwise. Here is where we saved money:
-Stayed at Terribles for 4 nites. 1st 2 nites were $39.00 total with a coupon I had & next 2 nites were $49.00 with a coupon my husband had off Terribles website. Both were buy 1 nite during the week get 1 nite free. 4 nites cost us $88.00. Terribles also picks you up & takes you to the airport if you call their shuttle for free. We joined their players Club & got 1000 points each which they told us couldn't be used til we got a lot of points. However, we activated our cards in a slot machine with a couple of dollars & used them at their buffet everyday. Breaksfast was 500 points, lunch 800 & dinner 1000. They also have 2 for 1 buffet coupons in their magazine that is in your room & also in the Players Club. Ask for a room with a king bed. They are larger. There is a nice pool & hot tub. Sometimes during the day a little noisy due to construction. Down the street at Hard Rock there is a free shuttle that goes to & from the strip every hour on the hour from 10-7 P.M. everyday. It stops at MGM, Ceasars, Fashion Mall & Stardust. Walked to Tuscany & joined the Players Club & got 2 free drinks & 2 for 1 meal coupons each. Tuscany also has 2 for 1 meal coupons in the local paper.Continued on to Ellis Island where we joined the Players Club & got a bunch of points that don't kick in for 48 hours. Used these points for free meals. Also we are seniors so they gave us a gift, coupons & free pull. Also if you give them your email address they give you 500 points each. Also used coupons for 4 free drinkks & 2 for 1 meals. Used this coupon on $4.95 steak dinner not on the menu & got 2 steaks for $4.95. Ask for it. Walked across the street to The Westin & joined their players Club & got $10.00 free slot play each. Next went down the street to Barbary Coast where we joined the Players Club & got a funbook for all their hotels with free drinks, 2 for 1 buffets & meals, matchplays. They also have a free shuttle to all their hotels from the Barbary. Watched the free Big Elvis show here from 3-6 Mon.-Fri. Signed up next door at Flamingo & got free slot play with my coupon.Took the Hard Rock Shuttle to The Tropicana & saw a great free show "Airplay".Got coupons here. Wnet next door to San Remo & got coupons for 2 free mini burgers each when you sign up for players card.They were good. Went to Excalibur & got win cards. You pay $10.00 & they give you $15.00 to play the tables. Went to Alladin & signed up & got a fun book with $25.00 matchplays. Luckily we won. Got fun books as we went in also & free slotplay, gifts etc.At Hard Rock we got a fun pack with our coupon & free slot play. This was our 1st 4 days & I will write another report on the rest.

[gamalicious]

Hi Tisha!

I love budget reports. Keep them coming! You signed up for a bunch of slot clubs; tell me, is that a long process? Is the payoff in coupons and points and such worth it? Thanks!

~The Stupid Kid

[beach3993]

Hi Tisha!

I love budget reports. Keep them coming! You signed up for a bunch of slot clubs; tell me, is that a long process? Is the payoff in coupons and points and such worth it? Thanks!

~The Stupid Kid


Just for your information Harrah's Total Rewards is one of the best Slot Cards and Comps are incredible. It is not a long process and if you have a Harrah's or one of their properties close to your home that even gives you more chances for additional comps by playing at that property. The "WORD" is that Caesars and & Harrah's hope to have their cards combined by Feb 2006 and it will be Total Rewards Program. I strongly urge you get Slot Cards and start collecting Comps. Hope you do;) :)

[Mr. Papageorgio]

I signed up for cards wherever we went this last trip. You can't beat anything free from a casino. Whether it's matchplay, T-shirts, etc. I'm also hoping that some offers might come in the mail.
We are thinking of missing a year, but, if the right offer comes along I know we'll be winging our way back to the lights in the desert.

[chris5984]

Man I love to hear about all the freebies. You guys did well. Can't wait to read part II.

[kestral]

thanks for posting the report!

Gamalicious - sign up for every card you can. Unless there is a line it does not take too long. Make sure you know your Social Security #, you will need to provide it (Dont carry your SS card, just know the number)

Its not just the points - but if you get in their system, you will get offers for future stays; even at places where you don' gamble very much.

I probably invested $20-$40 at MGM one afternoon last February, I have been getting offers for $59 nights with lots of extras.

ANd believe, me once you go to Vegas you WILL want to go back!

[grannyvegas]

Great report, cant wait to hear more from you. Heading to Vegas next month so will take note of some of the good deals you got.

[dewey089bluegill]

Wow! What a lot of information. I do just what you do and I still learned some things. Thanks especially for the tip on the shuttle from the Hard Rock to the strip.

I would suggest only one difference. If any readers are near retirement but not there yet, don't sign up for every casino in one trip. Save a few for the next visit. You get those free room offers for new sign ups after you sign up as a newbie. So if you get all of them at one time and while you are working, and don't have time to use them, you have wasted your initial signup juice.

I get good room offers from Terrible's, but not from strip casinos.
They require a lot more play. Downtown sends good stuff especially the often maligned but newly renovated El Cortez. Fiesta casinos have good comps. And I do well at the Orleans and Gold Coast. Also, if you go to laughlin just once, you can get offers there. It is a good place to escape for cheap weekend nights. Palms Resort sends me two free nights every month.

[Buick Riviera]

We just got back from 10 days in Vegas on a budget & had a great time! We are small time gamblers. Only play the tables with wins chips or matchplays & usually nickel slots. After 10 days of gambling, we left winning $100.00.
Good Job! We gamble MUCH higher stakes than that and our "winnings" are MUCH lower.:( :( :(

In fact our "winnings" are actually...ahem...los...wait...there's no losers in Las Vegas!! Good job!

Buick

[allie-oop]

Just for your information Harrah's Total Rewards is one of the best Slot Cards and Comps are incredible. It is not a long process and if you have a Harrah's or one of their properties close to your home that even gives you more chances for additional comps by playing at that property. The "WORD" is that Caesars and & Harrah's hope to have their cards combined by Feb 2006 and it will be Total Rewards Program. I strongly urge you get Slot Cards and start collecting Comps. Hope you do;) :)


I beg to differ, beach3993. I DO NOT think that Harrah’s has "incredible comps" and "one of the best Slot cards". I would truly like to know what your experiences have been that make you say this?

I frequently go to Atlantic City and now that Harrah’s has purchased Caesar’s Entertainment, our options and choices in AC are becoming less and less. I was so happy when the Caesar’s properties started the connection card that could be used in LV, AC and elsewhere. I liked their program better than Harrah’s and they both needed to have some competition. You know the rest of the story, Harrah’s bought out Caesar’s Entertainment (the competition) and soon Caesar’s Entertainment will be Total Rewards, too.

Our other choices in AC are the Trump casinos with no connections to any Vegas casinos; the Borgata in AC, which does not let customers use the same card at any of the Vegas Boyd/MGM Mirage/Coast casinos and although the Tropicana in AC, which is a large, beautiful, newly re-modeled a greatly expanded and enhanced property, might offer its customers rooms in Vegas, I've seen the Trop LV and don't care to stay there. The Resorts/Hilton group has recently started-up in AC but the LV counterpart, the LV Hilton, to me, is off the beaten path. So that leaves Harrah’s as the only casino with viable connections in both Vegas and AC.

Now, I don't know how other readers feel, but the OLD Total Rewards program, I think, offered me better incentives. Figuring out how to play their comp game was the biggest problem. After being in Vegas, I would go back to NJ and I would have earned cash back for my play in Vegas. It would register on the slots as I played and it would automatically just come onto my account back in AC. That no longer happens with the new Total Rewards program. Every property is like a separate account with the bigger account. So, if I play at Showboat in AC, that play DOES NOT give me offers to Harrah’s AC, although it is right down the street. I used to get offers to try out other Harrah’s casino properties that I had never visited, but no longer with the new Total Rewards program, even though I have been at diamond status for several years.

And furthermore, I am amazed that in the years I've been going to Vegas regularly since 1997, Harrah’s has not renovated their casino on the center of the LV strip. The place looks old, outdated and dirty. They have done over the bathrooms, which are a nice improvement. But that carpet, ugh! And those cartoon figures of the fake customers behind the cashiers cage, are just tacky. The decor looks like they are still back in the 20th century. That property SHOULD BE a SHOWPLACE for the Harrah’s brand based upon the neighborhood in which it resides.

Harrah’s LV was renovating a wing of rooms down the hall from me when I stayed there last summer. I asked if they were putting in high-speed internet lines. The answer was "no" but they were thinking about putting in a business center. Well, I don't know about you, but I'd rather use my own computer in the privacy of my own room.

Sorry to rant on and on but you pushed that button in me that gets me started about Harrah’s and their lack of commitment to their customers.

I am certainly more than curious about your comment and would like to know what your experiences are that make you say that Harrah’s has "one of the best Slot cards" and "comps are incredible".

I sure hope others will share their good and bad experiences, thoughts and comments, too.

Thanks for listening.

[sonntex]

We are Harrahs card carriers. Hubby is Platinum and I am Diamond. It works for us because we can use comp points at any Harrahs (and now Horseshoe, and soon Caesars) casino in the country. Points we earn in Vegas can be used for rooms, food, etc. in Bossier City, Tunica, St. Louis, Hammond, and where ever else we may end up. Hubby stays at Lake Charles, La quite often on business and only plays a few dollars there, but they let him use his points for meals and send him coupons for free rooms and small amounts of cash back. He gets offers for New Orleans for free rooms and shows, and we have never been there. I get offers for Reno/Tahoe including free air fare, and we haven't been there since 1988. He gets offers for Laughlin with free air fare and we have never been there either. We have received coupons for Atlantic City and San Diego. Never been to either place.

Since we are Platinum/Diamond we get special treatment. Don't have to stand in long lines, upgrades on rooms, free show tickets, etc. That's a big plus for us. We have built up over $800 in comps because we get so much free stuff that we can't use it all up. All in all it is a good deal for us. We build up time that we can get free rooms without it coming off our comps. We are going to be staying at the Rio in December on his coupon for 2 nights plus one night comped.

Lately, we have not been winning much at Harrahs properties, but then we are not winning anywhere much else, either.

We also have an MGM card and have played there and NYNY as well as Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Excalibur and Circus. Last summer I put several hundred dollars in the machines at MGM and NYNY. In September, we went to the rewards center and asked about comps, they said we had not earned any. We only had $35 in cash back and we both had to be present to get it.:( Only thing we get from them is a occasional e-mail from Excalibur and Luxor for cheap rooms and a few dollars off on the meals and from Circus for deals in Reno. Why should we pay even cheap prices when we can get everything free at Harrahs properties?

We do get some good deals on the Caesars card from Paris, Bally's and Flamingo. Paris and Ballys give us coupons for free nights and we can comp meals there on our play. We get good cash back, too. When Harrahs and Caesars are finally united I think their system will be absolutely the best.

The one thing we don't like about Harrahs is that although their cash back is quite lucrative, the coupons only come from where you played and you have to us it there. Hoping that will change when the Caesars/Harrahs consolidation is done.

All that said, when we go back in a few days, Oct. 27th for a Slot Tournament at the Rio, we hope to be have time to play at some of the MGM properties, because we have won some good pots on their slots. (Maybe that's why we don't get much back from them, heh, heh.)

[Kaiden]

Although I only know about Harrah's comps, mostly from customers of theirs that have become unhappy with the changes they have made, I have been a very happy Caesars customer for a number of years now. However, I do understand like you said that in Feb. of 2006 Caesars Connection Card will be Harrah's Reward Card. When that happens I will most likely make another "home away from home" destination. I am accustomed to having my room and food comped and occasionally tickets to Celine or whoever happens to be there at the time of my trip. I have been totally loyal to Caesars but I have never been fond of Harrah's. I had an unhappy experience with them and have never wanted to return. I am not going to make rash judgements, I will take a wait and see attitude for the time being, but I don't have a very good feeling about what transpires in the future. :( Kaiden

[walpolebd]

I'm a semi-low roller: quarter Video Poker about 4 hours/day.
I stay on the strip but eat many of my meals at Terribles and Ellis Isle. Went to Terrible initially on a 2-1 breakfast buffet, signed up for the club (1000 pts) and gave email address (500 points). Effectively got 5 breakfast buffets for the price of one without even playing a dime. But I also love to play there on the 5X points days, thus racking up even more food. Result is I now have over 10,000 points, on a Video Poker cost basis (loss) of about $80. Thats the equivalent of about 10-20 buffets, depending on when I eat.
I always try to eat cheap, using coupons and points only. On two recent trips of 4-5 days each I spent $23 and $18 respectively on food.
Other tips: always check the hotels website. Recently stayed at Excalibur ($49/nite) and their offer came with one free buffet (it was awful though).