Orleans shuttle

I just found out that the Orleans/Gold Coast shuttle was discontinued.  I was planning on booking at the Suncoast (love the view and rooms there!) but with the high cost of rental cars, decided to not rent a car this trip.  So, off to the Orleans where I could at least get to the strip for free.   I checked the web site for any changes and could not find any mention of the shuttle.  I called to confirm and yep, it had stopped in May.  Oh, but Enterprise rental is at the front desk now, she says.  I checked, the prices were as bad as the airport.  One more reason not to stay at Boyd properties.  On the other hand, the stock market thinks they are doing great!  I have recently stayed in 4 different Boyd casinos and the hotel rooms all are in need of refurbishment.  Wait until that hits their bottom line.   

So where are you planning to stay?

The Westgate is still fairly cheap & you can ride monorail to the strip.  

Travel Ruby on YouTube has a video on the hotel & the rooms (& you don't have to worry about parking fees)

I'm Emerald level with Boyd so my stay is free at the Orleans.  I'll stay there this time along with some days at Southpoint.  I'm in the process of moving most of my play there.

Palace Station has also discontinuted their shuttle run to the airport and to the strip in May.

There is no longer any reason to patronize, let alone stay at, a Boyd property.

After all, their unequivocal message for the last few years has been, "Stay the %^%#$ away, we don't want your business" (strange slogan for the "hospitality" industry). So we should oblige them. They're like the crabby aunt who always says you shouldn't visit her for Christmas. So don't.

 After some 20 years of being a sapphire/emerald card member of Boyd's, I also have no use for their current structure of how they deal with long time card members. I have received zero room offers for the last 19 months even though my play stayed the same for the first 6-8 months of this time frame. Now I only visit and play there on Tuesdays, which is their 10X VP day and while there I utilize the points in my account to eat there. I really like the Sun Coast- but everytime I visit, I see very few people there. Whenever I am staying downtown, I do visit Main Street and the California and I see fewer people there compared to 2 years ago.The Fremont stays busy because they are right in the middle of the canapy covered Experience. I have no idea how much business the other Boyd properties have, but I venture a guess that those casinos are not as busy as they used to be. With the huge influx of Vegas starved visitors the past few months, Boyd has been able to capitalize on the masses to support them - but long time clientele have been tossed to the wayside. I am curious to see just how well Boyd does with the forthcoming recession looming on the horizion. I don't think it bodes well for them.

They must be trying to run their properties into the ground.  I went to Tunica in April, and the Sam's there was all but dead.  They've removed slots and tables both, although a few of the tables have been replaced with "computer based" tables, where the dealer that is on a TV screen seems to follow you with her eyes to the point it's creepy. They used to have a bar named Flights where we would eat and have a couple of drinks, but it hasn't reopened since COVID. 

I was at IP in Biloxi last month, and part of the casino has been behind contruction panels for so long, one has to wonder if there really is any ongoing construction, or if they just gave up and stopped working on it.  They've also removed some slots and tables with nothing to replace them.  They have a sports bar, but they won't properly staff it until late afternoon, so you can't eat or drink there unless you physically sit at the bar.  Anyone that sits at a table is told those tables are not open for drinking or eating. 

Bean counters continue to ruin casinos. 

Anthony C mentioned on a recent Youtube that while visitation is still high, spend per customer is down.  This seems to indicate people had planned trips but inflation/recession has forced people to spend less when they get there.  On our recent trips we have been spending less on food; free breakfasts from the Hilton chain, pizza for lunch & cheaper restaurants for dinner.  We have been going to cheaper shows with coupons.

I have noticed room offers are increasing from MGM & Caesars.  Interestingly the so called local casinos offers have disappeared.

I was in Green Valley last month and it was pretty empty

"After some 20 years of being a sapphire/emerald card member of Boyd's, I also have no use for their current structure of how they deal with long time card members. I have received zero room offers for the last 19 months even though my play stayed the same for the first 6-8 months of this time frame. Now I only visit and play there on Tuesdays, which is their 10X VP day and while there I utilize the points in my account to eat there"

Not happy to read this, but it makes me glad that I already made the same decision 2-3 years ago.   Reading this tells me that I'm not missing out!     For years, I had a Gold card at my Sam's Town stays.   Soon as they pulled that, I began to stay elsewhere.   I still have points there to spend at Boyd casinos, so I stop in to keep my points alive.   They also ruined all my favorite Boyd restaurants by either closing them, or "upgrading" them (slightly) and making them ala carte (much more expensive).

Stations situation is even worse, and the changes began eariler, so I've abandoned them 5 years ago!

It was a few years ago--I had gotten up to Emerald with Boyd, and then I didn't visit for about six months, and I found out I had been kicked downstairs to Ruby--and I found out that Ruby doesn't earn any points at all. I asked them if I really would have to go through the process all over again and they said yes, as far as they were concerned, I was a new player and my play history didn't count. So as far as I'm concerned, they can pound sand. I had a player's card with them for 20+ years and probably had over $5 million coin-in. Now, I'm worthless to them, apparently.