Now, this is just silly

Yeah, you were obviously sincere when you called me "the world's smartest person." FYI, I'm actually ranked #573.

I don't consider AZC Decatur to be a dump--at least insofar as their rooms are concerned. AZC Boulder isn't nearly as nice. But both places have great food, and yes, on the cheap. Not too many places left where you can get steak and eggs for $6.

As far as "pumping in 10 hours of NSUD a day"--well, I don't play that game at AZ Charlie's, because I don't have to. However, I've visited South Point and played NSUD, during months when they had their gift card promos, and my actual play duration was 3-4 hours a day, a mixture of .25 and .50. For that, I got three free nights, on a successive basis, four consecutive times. This was over a span of 18 months.

I don't consider South Point to be a dump, either. Far from it.

All I heard from my host was that there were "a lot of things going on" this weekend, including the Raiders game and the pot show. However, I was able to get the next weekend comped. I guess Halloween weekend isn't going to be nearly as busy. Maybe people stay hope to go trick-or-treating with the little nippers.

I was definitely surprised when I got room offers from AZC and South Point, given that my action was unprofitable for them. (In fact, my results were WAAAAAY over expectation.) But that's how they roll these days. I suspect it might be a strategy to steal business away from their most direct competitors, such as Boyd, Stations, etc.

I was making a funny.

Sorry Kev, but I've got an even sillier example for you.

Harrah's Las Vegas, 12/12 - 12/18 - for $66.33. Not per day, but for all seven days including taxes! (No resort fee for those of us with Wyndham Earner credit cards.)

Silly, huh? And Harrah's is no more generous and good-hearted with this rate than they are evil ripoff artists with the ones you're complaining about.

BTW, you want an incredible deal on a Christmas tree? Here's the secret: December 26.

Since most of us don't have Wyndham Earner credit cards, they're basically charging $9+resort fee per day. What is that resort fee now--$45? $50? $900?

The period between the end of the Big Yahoo Rodeo and Christmas has always been dead. (I assume the rodeo is still happening.) This is not that unusual, given that the real price of those rooms is about $55.

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to excuse price gouging.

Calm down, please.

The resort fee is $30 per day for those that haven't earned Diamond or don't have the credit card which gets you Diamond automatically. That still comes out to less than $40 per night. 

I guess you didn't get my point. A $100 Christmas tree is worth firewood on December 26. Both prices are equally fair. 

Your point was obvious. It's also wrong.

The price of something should be related to its utility. Obviously, a Christmas tree has much less utility on December 26 than it did before.

The same cannot be said of a hotel room. Its utility is constant.

So you're saying that people who get the $9 a night (or $39 with the resort fee) are wrong? And the hotel is wrong to offer it.

I mean, if the utility is constant...

No. I said that the room sells for $39 a night establishes its worth from a utility standpoint. Therefore, someone who pays $400 for that room (at some other time) is receiving $39 worth of room and is paying $361 in markup. The hotel must be making money even at $39.

Obviously, I get that demand influences prices. But this range of variation is absurd. It's like the local coffee place upping the price of a latte to $50 because it's cold outside.

And regardless of how right or wrong the current gouging may be, I think it's horrible business strategy. The jonesing gamblers flocking to Vegas right now are paying those insane prices, but they'll remember, and next year they might decide to go somewhere else that isn't a ripoff. What happens in Vegas shows up on your credit card statement.

Kevin, I'm pretty sure that rodeo got moved this year so I'm not sure why all the high prices.  The best mode is to stick to your locals type places and hammer a good 8 hours through on VP if at quarter level.  I do 4 hrs at .50 or some multi line quarter and try to shoot for 10K+ through a day and I can get comped rooms.  The rest of the time I play poker but that doesn't do much for me.  Most times 3-4 nights comped on the VP.  

My play is usually at about that level; I try for a minimum of $8K a day but usually wind up playing a little more.

There does seem to be the usual effect of how busy it is/will be on the strength of the offers I get, but I do get free rooms no matter what. One insidious effect, though, that I'm noticing is the greater prevalence of "blackout dates" when I can't use my offers.

I've been saying all along that the construction of Allegiant Stadium and the wooing of the Raiders would have an overall negative effect. That seems to be happening; every time there's a Raiders home game, the price of everything skyrockets. It's frustrating for those who don't give a flying fart about the game but are forced to pay premium prices for everything anyway. (Plus, I wonder what horrible effect the game has on the already awful returning-to-LA traffic.)