Agreed--the check-in with Budget/Las is a huge pain. You have to wait in line (no auto check-in machines) and then your reservation
isn't "right"--it's more than you booked for. . . so they have to go to the manager to have it fixed. Funny--my print-out was "correct".Total waste of time! Even tho I got a good price thru Costco--will not rent from Budget again in the near futureJean H
From: "greeklandjohnny@aol.com [vpFREE]" <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 11:34 AM
Subject: [vpFREE] XVP Trip Report Las Vegas 2/27/15 -- 3/3/15
I haven't posted a trip report in a while. I didn't find anything newsworthy on the VP side, so this TR is mostly non gambling.
Trip Report 2/27/15 – 3/3/15:
Flight:
We flew Southwest from Detroit to Las Vegas, non stop outbound and 1 stop inbound. The 'cost' was 19,500 SWA RR miles and $23 in 911 security fees. The RR miles are from the 2 SWA Chase credit cards I opened last year. By opening 2 credit cards, fulfilling the minimum spending requirements and transferring 6,000 points from my Chase Sapphire card, I received a free companion fare for my wife. Anywhere I fly ( even using frequent flier miles) my wife flies for free. This is the 4th time we have done the DTW-LAS trip on SWA and out of pocket costs are about $125 ( my wife likes the $12.50 priority boarding option and sometimes 'splurge' for that). I also have about 57,000 miles left so that will be one more Las Vegas trip and maybe a trip to Florida or New Orleans. Those credit cards are great.
Hotels:
The D: had a 2 night stay on the 14th floor. Elevators were incredibly slow. There are only 4 elevators. There are signs saying they are adding 2 more. At one point I walked down from the 14th floor instead of waiting. Had been waiting 20 minutes and decided it was never coming. The stairs actually take you outside to the employees break area, through an emergency exit door that was propped open. Room was at the east end of the FSE and pretty noisy til 1 AM. Rooms are okay. Used to have Keurig coffee makers in the rooms but don't have those anymore. The reason given was that too many were disappearing. We were double booked on Saturday and ended up checking out at 7 PM (one night early) because we couldn't stand another night there.
On the plus side , on Friday night, a man in his 20s, threw up from his seat near the Vue bar ( where the blackjack tables used to be). His friends took his away and The D people were at the area in 3 minutes and spent the next 45 minutes securing the area and cleaning it up. They did a very thorough job and had the sanitizer spray going full blast.
The Rio:
We hadn't stayed here in many years. We stayed in the Ipanema tower ( only 20 floors high). Very nice, pretty quiet ( except for some people walking in the halls late at night. Don't people realize how loud they talk?).
Food:
The D Grill.
Very disappointing. Long wait for your order to be taken, long wait to get your food and the food was average and that is being generous. My wife ordered blueberry waffles. The waffles were warm ( not hot) but the blueberries were very cold, like they just came out of the fridge or freezer. I ordered an omelet and the omelet itself was warm ( not hot) but the onions inside were cold. Again, like it was just out of the freezer. Bad enough they are using frozen onions but they didn't even bother to warm them up before using them in the omelet. The hash browns were overcooked on the outside and yet soggy on the inside. Tough to do. The couple next to us ordered scrambled eggs that came out cold. They replaced the order after she complained and they came out cold again. The lady ate about 3 bites and left the rest. Another couple was talking to the manager about food being cold so it sure looks like they have some troubles in the kitchen.
Also, the D grill is only open until 10 PM. I asked the waitress and she said it has been this way for about a year. Bottom line is the food is now average, the wait is painful, pricing is high for what you get and the hours aren't very convenient.
The Rio Hash House a Go Go
Our first meal there was okay. I had the vegetarian hash which was okay. The potatoes are square cut and fried. They were soggy and not very tasty. My wife has the veggie and bacon scramble. It was okay but nothing special. Service was leisurely , the bottom end of acceptable.
The second meal was better. I had the bacon waffle and my wife had the oatmeal. Her bowl of steel cut oatmeal was huge and a bunch of fruit in it, bananas, blueberries, apples and some other stuff. $9 is a lot for a bowl of oatmeal but this was a meal. My bacon waffle was pretty good.
We had breakfast the last day there because we didn't anything else open for breakfast. The carnival buffet is lunch and dinner only. The American Grill doesn't serve breakfast. There has to be another restaurant open for breakfast but we didn't find it.
Emerald Isle : The coffee shop was pretty good. Not fancy but good food at a reasonable price.
Luxor Buffet : Surprisingly good. Luxor was a ghost town on Monday night. For $24.95 ( free with My Vegas) the buffet has snow crab legs, little neck clams, sautéed mussels, peel and eat shrimp and pretty good pizza. We were pleasantly surprised with this buffet.
White Castle. The line at the White Castle was reasonable but I can't spend $1.29 for a White Castle when they are $0.70 back home in Detroit (and I think $0.70 is too much). I hope they do well but I think the hoopla may be over.
Jean Phillippe:
We went to the Aria for crepes at Jean Phillippe ( My Vegas offer). The crepes are $12 a piece and are pretty darned good. I don't know if I would spend $12 of actual money for them but they are good and made fresh in front of you. Now, the location is crowded and a little confusing. The plastic plates used for the crepes are undersized so you have to get the crepe back to your seat without burning your hand or dropping your crepe. The vegetarian crepe I had was very good.
Gambling:
The Rio:
I decided to play in the Rio daily poker tournament. Even though the advertising throughout the casino says there is a 9 PM tourney, it is actually an 8 PM tourney. I got there at 8:45 PM and bought in as an alternate. I saw that there was $10,000 in chips and they were in the third round so I figured it was okay to buy in. What I didn't bother to check was that the first round of blinds wasn't $25/$50, it was $100/$200 so when I sat down in the 3rd level, the blinds were $300/ $600 and I had under 17 BBs. If I had realized that, I would not have bought in. Didn't play a hand until it got to $500/$1000 and I had $9000 left and picked up QQ UTG. Unfortunately, the button had KK and I was out of the tourney after playing one hand.
The tourney is $75 with a $750 guaranteed pay out. So, if there are 10 players, you have a 100% equity tourney, a rare find, especially at a Harrah's property.
I did play some $4/$8 at Bellagio and this room is as nice as ever. They have pretty good espresso in an actual glass espresso cup. Jennifer Harman was playing in the big room.
Casino Royale.
I did use the $20 loss rebate offer. I played $20, lost it and immediately had the $20 credited as free play. Now, the second part of the offer is not clear. It says you get $20 loss rebate for every $100 you lose. I don't know if that is for the first time you play and whether it has to be on that particular machine. If it is $20 for every $100 lost, there might be a play in there. I didn't ask at the booth for details.
My Vegas:
We did quite a few my vegas offers this trip. We used My Vegas for the Luxor buffet, Jabawookeez at the Luxor, a couple t shirts at Palace Station, crepes at Aria, Faberge Egg exhibit and 2 buffet at Palace Station ( that we ran out of time to use).
An interesting addition on My Vegas is Allegiant Air. For 2,000,000 points, you can get a $2000 vacation ( air and hotel) through Allegiant. For the Detroit area, only Detroit to Florida is available. Other cities have Las Vegas as a destination. 400,000 My Vegas points gets you a $400 airfare.
Now, Allegiant is not the greatest airline but if you can get a free flight for playing on my vegas, that is a pretty good deal.
Santa Fe is another new addition to My Vegas. I'm not sure what they are offering.
Southwest Airlines is supposed to join but hasn't yet.
Now, My Vegas is not as good as when it started but it is still valuable, if you actually enjoy playing their games. It isn't a great deal as a job but as a hobby, it works.
Rental Cars:
Payless Car Rental:
My buddy booked through Payless and had a 6 day car rental. After waiting for 30 minutes, the person at the counter tells my buddy "We don't have a car in your class size. All we have are mini vans". My friend says that he doesn't want a minivan, so Payless says you can come back tomorrow and maybe we will have a car for you. My buddy says, okay, I'll take your minivan. He gets the paperwork and it says $200 for the rental. My buddy says why is my rate different? The guy says, you rented from carrentals.com and the taxes aren't included. This is total nonsense. Tom (my buddy) says that's not true and they go through the bill. He finds he is charged an extra $40 for the minivan. Tom complains and they guy said, well, it's $40 more because I gave you an upgrade. After going back and forth, the guy tells Tom to come back and talk to a manager (of course, no manager on duty). When Tom returns the next day and talks to a manager, the mystery $40 is for Roadside Assistance. Tom says he doesn't want roadside assistance. Manager says that Payless policy is to put this charge on every rental and if you don't use it, they will refund it when you return the car. So, you have to make an extra stop when you return the car to get a credit for a service you didn't want in the first place.
I have put up with Payless and their relentless hawking for insurance that would make a time share salesman blush, their cars with 50,000 miles on it and their absolute lack of customer service. This sneaky, underhanded tactic to squeeze more money out of you is the last straw. I wrote to Payless to complain about this policy and have not received a reply. I am going to email them again and turn in my Payless Perks card and have them remove me from their subscription list. Enough is enough. I think rental cars and consumer rights would be a great topic for Bob Dancer's Gambling With an Edge program. It's not gambling but it is money and potentially a lot of money.
Budget:
I rented from Budget this trip. The rate was a little more than Payless but I get 600 RR points on Southwest. To me, RR points are worth 1.7 cents each. What I didn't realize is that you get charged $1 per day (not for the rental) so between the difference in price and the $5 frequent flier charge, it was a breakeven proposition but it did let me avoid Payless. When I got my SWA statement, I actually got 1200 RR points ( worth about $20 to me, so this is still a good deal for me).
The one strange thing was that I had the tire pressure light come on. I went to Discount Tire and every tire was inflated to 52 pounds, well above the 33 pound recommended limit. This vehicle only had 83 miles on it when I picked it up. I have never heard of a vehicle with this issue. They cost themselves a lot of tire life plus had a potentially dangerous situation for me. I will email them and see if they do anything. Also, the checkin checkout with Budget is a pain. You go to the counter and then to the counter in the garage and then to your car. When returning the vehicle, you have to go to the first attendant and then take all your paperwork over to their desk in the garage. More trouble and no reason to have to do it that way.
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