My blog entries of April 22 and 25 must have hit a nerve because I got a lot of comments, not just here but in personal posts.  Here is one that spoke to some of the issues:

“I have been an advertising and marketing executive all of my life.  So when you mentioned a correction about your emailed offer from The Palms for $49 in April, I went back and looked at it.  You were right the first time.  Sometimes the Palms and other hotels say that a promotion is specifically for (name of cardholder + account number).  The email you referenced only required that you mention "OPER 226." In fact, I emailed that offer to many friends outside of Vegas because I specifically checked to see if it was for me only or for anyone with knowledge of the code.

“I have been coming to Las Vegas continuously since 1964 and now I live here.  The cutbacks that I am seeing just in the past year are astounding.  I live next door to a guy who is a manager at U. S. Foods, which delivers virtually everything casinos use in their food and beverage departments.  They are the primary vendor to 70% of the hotels here in Las Vegas.  He says their business is down 20%.  First, the cuts came from the small bars and taverns that closed their kitchens due to the smoking ordinance.  Then, the vast majority of taverns who still serve food have seen their business shrink to a fraction of what they had been doing.  Now the hotels have cut back on quality and variety.  I was surprised to learn about the wide range of pre-prepared frozen foods that are available in case lots, virtually anything and everything you can name and in various quality grades.

“So with tighter machines, increased prices of buffets, less selection and lower quality food, and poor service, the casinos are only going to increase the downward spiral in their business.”

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