Trip Report 10/29/11 – 11/2/11
I haven't seen too many Las Vegas trip reports recently so I thought I would post my trip notes.
Travel:
10/29 – Flew out on Frontier Airlines. Frontier seems like they are actually glad you are flying with them. That's a welcomed change, especially when flying out of Detroit Metro airport. We are still victims to the Delta domination ( dominant carrier). It used to be the Northwest Airlines domination. Delta seems to have inherited all of Northwest's problems in addition to their own.
Frontier Airlines was comfortable and well run. We did have a delay on the trip home but they told us why there was a delay and about when we would board. We ended up making our connection so it all worked out. The chocolate chip cookie they give you on board was a nice touch.
Picked up a Payless car rental. The original price for a rental car for 4 days was $140. After several re bookings (with payless and other car rental companies) , the final rate was $72. Checking rental car prices after you book will definitely save you money.
I started reading the cancellation rules for various car rental companies and more of them are charging a no show or late cancellation charge. Please take a look at your car rental rules on this.
Payless is okay for a discount car rental place. They still do the hard sell on buying a tank gas and are deliberately deceiving about the value of this service. The gate person said "Our gas is $2.98 and it's $3.75 if you buy it yourself". What he doesn't mention is that you buy the entire tank, get no refund for unused gas and $3.75 is the price across from the rental car facility which is at least $0.20 higher than almost anywhere else. We had a Hyundai Accent, drove 136 miles, often with 4 passengers, and used 4.1 gallons. If I did the full tank purchase, I would have spent $40 on gas (12.5 gallon tank). Instead, I spent $14.50. I'll pump my own gas for $25.50. No wonder they have 35 BBB complaints.
Gambling:
The new player sign up at Cosmo is a great deal. $100 loss rebate but you can win on the first (or second or third day) and play the 4th day, lose $100 and they will still give you the rebate.
Lisa at the Cosmo booth was very helpful. I asked about the above and she said yes, that is how it works. They originally had me coded as a different offer but Lisa took the time to check with her supervisor and note my account.
I came back after losing my $100, had Susan as the booth person and asked for the $100 rebate. The first thing she asked is if I signed up today. I said no and she said then you are not eligible. I said please talk to Lisa. She said it doesn't matter what Lisa told you, that's not the way it works. I said again, please talk to Lisa. She finally did and saw there was a note in the file. She then said, "Oh, you were on a different new player sign up and then changed it and that's why I said you were ineligible. I told her no, Cosmo coded my new player sign up incorrectly in July and finally got it straightened out. So, Susan didn't bother to look at my account or read the note, assumed I was wrong and tried to blame me for the entire situation. Cosmo will get a letter about this.
New player loss rebate at Trop is still going strong. I did not get a chance to check out the new player loss rebate at Eastside Cannery.
Food:
Steak and shrimp special at Hard Rock is still $7.77 but the portions are smaller. Still a good deal with 3 medium shrimp, about an 8 oz steak, mashed potatoes and a salad. The salad was actually the best part of it with a very nice balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Hard Rock still sweats $10 match plays like they are giving out gold.
Went to the Rio Village Seafood buffet to use up some Great Race For Rewards points. Even with a $10 coupon and $30 in comp dollars, I'm not sure it is worth the cost. If I had to pay $40 cash for it, I'd be very unhappy.
New favorite breakfast deal is the make your own Grand Slam at Denny's next to Casino Royale. Pick out 4 items for $6.99, add 2 more for $0.99 each and my wife and I split it. Add 2 coffees and tax and a $15 comp works out just fine. The oatmeal and buckwheat pancakes are huge.
Hooters had a free steak dinner promo going on. I thought this was a mistake but my wife wanted to go. A 45 minute wait for a table to start. We order the steak special, wait 10 minutes and then get our drinks. Wait 10 minutes and get our salad. Wait 20 minutes and get a drink refill. Wait 25 minutes and get our meal. Finish dinner, ask for our check and after waiting another 15 minutes, leave about what we thought we owed ( drinks and add ons) and walked out. We weren't the only ones walking out.
At one point, I asked if we were ever going to get our meal. The waitress gave the excuse that the kitchen was backed up and they were working as quick as they could. I understand that a lot of people ordered this but the dining room was only half full and this was the last day of a 10 day promo. Seems they would have figured out that 90% of the people will order the steak and they can start cooking some of them before they are ordered because they will get sold. All in all, it was absolutely not worth the price.
The bright spot was that you had to buy a drink and Buds were only $1.50 so that was nice. They are $1.50 at all bars in Hooters.
Halloween:
If you haven't been out to LV for Halloween, you should. The costumes started on Thursday and were still going on Tuesday (day after Halloween). Outstanding people watching. Freemont Street was a circus. If you stay downtown, you have to do some maneuvering to get to your hotel. I'll be back for Halloween next year.
