Question of the Day — 12 Jan 2007

As ever, thanks so much to everyone who took the time and trouble to write in – your responses contain some great tips and salutary tales of caution, together with a host of amusing stories, poignant personal revelations, and hilarious anecdotes, which we hope everyone will learn from and enjoy. It goes without saying that all of these are subjective opinions and experiences and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of LVA, but we have added our two cents worth where we felt it appropriate or helpful. In most instances, however, we haven't meddled. Here goes.

"Worst of Las Vegas, 2006":

• "I always play three- and five-play VP at Caesars, my "high-end" haunt (at least until now - seems like Harrah's has crippled it). So, naturally, at Main Street Station – a favored LVA downtown emporium that is one of my "low-enders" - I was a dealt a club royal, straight out. The machine froze and I was momentarily bewildered, then realized I'd hit the big one for $4,000. About five seconds later, I realized it would have been $12,000 or $20,000 if I'd been at Caesars. So it was simultaneously my best and worst moment of the year."
• "My worst experience in Las Vegas for 2006 was a personal horror, but it also produced some lasting positive memories.

  "While walking around the Venetian, waiting for the showing of the Blue Man Group, I discovered my wallet missing. I can't describe the horror I felt at that moment – it was paralyzing. The wallet contained about $1,000, a credit card, driver’s license, and various other forms of personal information. Either the wallet was lost in the cab ride over to the Venetian or, less likely I assume, I was the victim of a pickpocket.

  "I contacted the nearest security desk and explained to them what happened. Their reply was to let me know that I was, in essence, screwed. Have a nice day.

  "I walked over to the Customer Service desk in the hotel lobby and the lady there (I wish I’d written down her name) was very sympathetic and as helpful as she could be. She informed the Venetian cab greeters (the ones who wear those cute gondolier-type outfits and stand out front and open your cab door on arrival) of my situation. They, too, were very sympathetic and immediately began inspecting the back seats and quizzing every cab driver from that point on and continued to do so for the next several hours (they explained to me that all cabs eventually come around again and again and the cab I rode in would do so as well. Unfortunately, I made the common mistake of not getting a receipt from the driver, nor noticing the cab number or the name of the cab company on my ride to the Venetian - a mistake I'll not make again!) All their efforts, sadly, didn’t yield my wallet, but I'll always remember the sympathy, kindness, and words of encouragement I received from the Customer Service representative and the cab greeters of the Venetian.

  "There was nothing more I could do and not wanting to waste the money I had spent on show tickets, I attended the Blue Man Group performance and, bless them, they were able to take my mind off of my sinking depression for short periods of time.

  "I returned to my hotel downtown, the Golden Nugget, and explained my situation to the hotel manager. The Nugget reversed all the charges for the phone calls I had to make contacting my credit-card company, my return-flight airlines, and the lost and found of every cab company in Las Vegas – and there are a lot of them! (After returning home, I sent a letter with picture description of my wallet to every LV cab company. While that didn’t produce any results, I did get some very nice replies with helpful suggestions on other things I could do to try and find my wallet. I really appreciated their concern and help.)

  "That left the last hurdle of how to get through airport check-in and security to fly home, without having any ID. I need not go into detail about this, other than to