Story on Vegas downturn mentions Mr. Curtis

It's as true as it always was, though, that you can visit, stay, eat, and gamble without succumbing to the gouge. You just have to know where to look.

It's nothing new that the people who stay on the Strip and pay $24 for a grilled cheese sandwich, then sidle over to the $50 shit blackjack table, are taking it in the shorts.

I've have Canadian friends who have told me that they're not setting foot in the U.S. anytime soon to show their disdain for being threatened by America with invasion.

     "Invaison"?  What invasion? 

There are a lot of Canadians saying this.  I have a friend who lives in the Central Coast of California that is a transplanted Canadian and many of her Canadian friends and relatives have said the same thing, about not setting foot in the US for who knows how long.  We'll see, I guess.   

Here's an article from my news feed, the headline says it all, for people tired of the gouge, then it quotes Casino insiders making excuses for the high prices. You have to acknowledge it's very much about The Strip, and you could always find a deal in Downtown and local places. Hopefully, it helps with the non-strip offers to improve.

‘Vegas is not fun anymore’: $9 cups of coffee and pricier rooms are steering travelers away from the vacation mecca

"“Vegas is not fun anymore,” said Amrita Bhasin, a retail-industry entrepreneur who has traveled there frequently for business as well as pleasure."

"“Very little of the drop is a Vegas issue,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Hill pointed to a significant decline in travelers from Canada as a critical factor, since Canadians have traditionally been the city’s biggest international market.

Specifically, Hill said the number of Canadian visitors has declined around 20% in Las Vegas. ""

Hill is nicely making excuses

"The Vegas of today also demands a highly qualified workforce, one that requires good salaries and benefits, says Tony Abou-Ganim, a renowned bar professional who’s been based in Vegas for more than 20 years and is now a managing partner at Libertine Social, a craft cocktail establishment at Mandalay Bay.

“It takes a $9 cup of coffee to provide that,” said Abou-Ganim. “In turn, hopefully the guest experience is elevated.”

Heck, I'll grab a cup of coffee from Starbucks while traveling for less the $9, and I don't usually go to Starbucks

We'll be out there in Oct. for a bowling tournament that my wife is bowling in. When I checked the Rio in early July for a couple of nights, the remodeled rooms were over $100/night, I just booked 2 nights, Sunday and Monday at the Rio for $40.95 a night using the LVA25 coupon code. I also booked the Plaza for Friday and Saturday, I had a free 3-night Deluxe Room offer emailed to me this week. I called in to book and paid $40.00/night for a Luxe upgrade. 

I've played a little bit at the Plaza this year for the first time in a long time, so I thought my offer was pretty good for the amount of play. I plan on giving both the Rio and Plaza a bunch of play and see what happens. 

Nice.  I hope you have a great time and your wife does well in the bowling tourney.  

Would be nice if you can get that $500 FP at the Sand Dollar with a Royal hit.  Best of luck to you both. 

Good job on keeping track of the prices.  They continue to flucuate for both the Masqueade and Impanema towers.  I'm checking temps in August as much as I am prices.  I didn't know that your wife was a bowler.  Continue hitting those jackpots in Black Hawk.  Take care.

At the Plaza, charge meals to your room (Oscar's, Pop-Up Pizza, HHAGG, etc) and make sure to see a host the night before you leave, they'll likely take some or all off your room including resort fees.  As always, slots will accrue far more points than VP.  Plaza has always treated me well even though my play is primarily .25 and .50 VP with some older machine reel slot play at lower limits.

As always at the Plaza, get a room facing the strip (south tower) or facing the mountains in the north tower (newer remodeled nicer rooms).  I prefer the South Tower since you can park in the ramp and take the 3rd floor easy access to the room elevators and avoid the ultra slow parking ramp elevators.  You can also use the 3rd floor convention / bingo level to bypass walking through the casino to get to Oscar's or over to Fremont Street.  This 3rd floor level is also how you should get to the front desk check in if you are parking in the ramp and dragging your bags across the property, you can avoid going through the casino level and it's a direct shot.

 If you can see the Circa Stadium Swim pool or Fremont Street, you're in for noise boom boom booming until 3am. Also avoid any and all Jr. Suites as they are directly facing the Fremont stage should you get a free upgrade.

You probably already know all this but if not maybe you'll have a more enjoyable trip.

Any downtown property has some rooms that are quiet and some boom boom rooms. It would be nice if someone collated all that info.