Hit Vegas on May 19-22 for fun and excitement at the new Cosmopolitan! So we thought. Let me preface my report before I begin. I am an RFL/RFB player at the Mirage and other MGM casinos but I mostly stay at the Mirage. I am very well taken care of and it always feels like home when I arrive. All of that said, on New Year's Eve, we visited the newly opened Cosmopolitan and fell in love. The casino was exciting, the craps dealers were great, and we found out that the rooms had balconies overlooking the Bellagio fountains!!! What more could you ask for? I have a crew of between 10 and 30 people that goes to Vegas about 3 times a year, so I told all of them that the Cosmo was the new place to be. We couldn't wait.
This trip, we had 13 people all arriving at different times. We were given 6 rooms comped up front and would gamble for anything extra. I should have known what was going to happen before I left, but I am an exteme optomist and didn't let anything deter my Vegas thoughts. Nothing was catostrophic, but it all came down to customer service.
We arrived at McCarren expecting a limo for 4 of us. When I got to the bottom of the escalator, I did not see my name on any of fhe Cosmo welcome signs. I had put in a request 2 months prior and called back a week before my flight to check on the pickup. The VIP attendant that I talked to the week before said that nothing was in the system, but booked the limo during our phone call. When arrived with nobody waiting for us, I became concerned with the whole trip. I asked another limo driver if I was on the list and he called his dispatch. He was not very convincing, but said that the driver was running a little late. 30 minutes later, our driver showed up. She was wonderful and after a trip to IN and OUT burger in the limo, all was forgotten.
We arrived at the Cosmo and were escorted to VIP check in. If you have not been in the Cosmo or the VIP check in, it is absolutely beautiful!!! Everything about the place is very well done....except the customer service. My friend and I were in the VIP check in for over 10 minutes without anyone even acknowleging our existance. They could have at least said that they would be with us shortly, but not a peep. After check in we went up to our room. Room 6295. This was an upgraded room in the East tower. The room was beautiful and the balcony was amazing!! I watched the Bellagio fountains about 20 times during the 4 days that I was there. After freshening up, my wife and I went down to the casino. This next screw up was kind of big. I asked for a maker for $2,000 and the dealer slid over my chips at the craps table. After winning a few bets and havin two rollers seven out, I looked down at my chips and realized that I only had $350 left. I had only been there 10 minutes and only been through two rollers. I knew something was wrong. I finally figured out that the dealer shorted me $1.000 on my initial buy in and asked the pitboss to check his cameras to verify. Sure enough, after 10-15 minutes, the casino admitted that they had shorted me and gave me the other $1.000. I am glad that I had not been drinking at this time, b/c I would have never figured out what went wrong. The pitboss appologized but the dealer that screwed me never did. This same dealer also paid $120 to another player (and not my friend) and refused to admit to his mistake. Fortunately, the player did not pick up the $120 and it finally went to the rightful owner after about 10 minutes. I dropped about $1500 here after all was said and done.
After a few hours of gambling, we went to the M to eat dinner at Veloce. WHAT A VIEW!!! The food was excellent, the service was excellent and we had a great time. If you ever get a chance to eat there, jump on it. We ate right at dusk and you can see the entire Vegas Valley and strip from the 16th floor. As hot as the meal was, the casino was COLD to me. I dropped another $1600 after dinner and went back to the Cosmo with my tail between my legs. I love to visit the M b/c my host from the Mirage moved out there. I just would like to come out on top one of these times. That night, back in the room, we noticed that it was a little loud, but thought that it was just because we had the balcony door opened. We were wrong. In the East tower, you can hear the night club music pound on the walls until 4 am. We were on the 62nd floor and could still make out the words to the songs.
Next day we went to a Vegas wedding down at the Shalimar wedding chapel at the Howard Johnson's. It was wonderful. I had never been to a Vegas wedding and this was perfect. We went to get a cab and ended up walking down the seedy part of the strip to find anything. Cab, bus, horseback??? We ended up getting on a double decker all the way back to the Cosmo. It has been about 10 years since I had been on the bus and lets say that it may be 10 more before I get on again. I hit the BJ table after I got back and won about $800 for my first win at the Cosmo. I ended up winnig a few hundeed more that day before going next door to the Elvis show at ARIA. If you haven't been to the show, I recommend it. It was very enlightening on his life and history and the music was great. Craps at ARIA rocked and I was getting close to getting back to even for the trip. Back to the Cosmo for more club music until 4 am. Boy, I was getting tired of this.
Next day I dropped $1200 at the BJ table early and became tired of losing at the Cosmo and went back to the Mirage. I immediately dropped another $1000 right away at the BJ tables. I put on my big boy panties and headed over to the craps table. For the next 4 hours, I won over $3,000 with the dice being in my favor for once on the trip. This still didn't get me back to even, but I felt like a champion at this point. As we walked back to the Cosmo, we stopped in at O'Sheas just to chalk it up to experience. We played a BJ table that allowed you to bet that the dealer was going to be you. If you had seen my cards this weekend, you would have bet this bet with me. I colored up after an hour with a $30 win. It is definately not a game that you are going to win, but it was a fun change of pace. Back to the Cosmo and club music until 4 am without paying a cover charge.
The next day was checkout day and I was greeted with the same NON customer service at VIP as the day I arrived. At least the limo was on time to take us back to the airport. Looking back at the Cosmo, I would have to have a huge upfront offer to stay there again, and I would stay in the west tower. The food at every restaurant was excellent, the decor is awesome, but I run an extremely high customer service based business that I cannot put up with mediocrity. Over all I was down about $1700 and I never once saw a jackpot on ANY slot machine or video poker machine at the Cosmo. Next visit is back to the Mirage and Jimmy Buffett in October!!! I can't wait to go back to my home away from home!! Thanks for listening. Joey in San Anotnio
This trip, we had 13 people all arriving at different times. We were given 6 rooms comped up front and would gamble for anything extra. I should have known what was going to happen before I left, but I am an exteme optomist and didn't let anything deter my Vegas thoughts. Nothing was catostrophic, but it all came down to customer service.
We arrived at McCarren expecting a limo for 4 of us. When I got to the bottom of the escalator, I did not see my name on any of fhe Cosmo welcome signs. I had put in a request 2 months prior and called back a week before my flight to check on the pickup. The VIP attendant that I talked to the week before said that nothing was in the system, but booked the limo during our phone call. When arrived with nobody waiting for us, I became concerned with the whole trip. I asked another limo driver if I was on the list and he called his dispatch. He was not very convincing, but said that the driver was running a little late. 30 minutes later, our driver showed up. She was wonderful and after a trip to IN and OUT burger in the limo, all was forgotten.
We arrived at the Cosmo and were escorted to VIP check in. If you have not been in the Cosmo or the VIP check in, it is absolutely beautiful!!! Everything about the place is very well done....except the customer service. My friend and I were in the VIP check in for over 10 minutes without anyone even acknowleging our existance. They could have at least said that they would be with us shortly, but not a peep. After check in we went up to our room. Room 6295. This was an upgraded room in the East tower. The room was beautiful and the balcony was amazing!! I watched the Bellagio fountains about 20 times during the 4 days that I was there. After freshening up, my wife and I went down to the casino. This next screw up was kind of big. I asked for a maker for $2,000 and the dealer slid over my chips at the craps table. After winning a few bets and havin two rollers seven out, I looked down at my chips and realized that I only had $350 left. I had only been there 10 minutes and only been through two rollers. I knew something was wrong. I finally figured out that the dealer shorted me $1.000 on my initial buy in and asked the pitboss to check his cameras to verify. Sure enough, after 10-15 minutes, the casino admitted that they had shorted me and gave me the other $1.000. I am glad that I had not been drinking at this time, b/c I would have never figured out what went wrong. The pitboss appologized but the dealer that screwed me never did. This same dealer also paid $120 to another player (and not my friend) and refused to admit to his mistake. Fortunately, the player did not pick up the $120 and it finally went to the rightful owner after about 10 minutes. I dropped about $1500 here after all was said and done.
After a few hours of gambling, we went to the M to eat dinner at Veloce. WHAT A VIEW!!! The food was excellent, the service was excellent and we had a great time. If you ever get a chance to eat there, jump on it. We ate right at dusk and you can see the entire Vegas Valley and strip from the 16th floor. As hot as the meal was, the casino was COLD to me. I dropped another $1600 after dinner and went back to the Cosmo with my tail between my legs. I love to visit the M b/c my host from the Mirage moved out there. I just would like to come out on top one of these times. That night, back in the room, we noticed that it was a little loud, but thought that it was just because we had the balcony door opened. We were wrong. In the East tower, you can hear the night club music pound on the walls until 4 am. We were on the 62nd floor and could still make out the words to the songs.
Next day we went to a Vegas wedding down at the Shalimar wedding chapel at the Howard Johnson's. It was wonderful. I had never been to a Vegas wedding and this was perfect. We went to get a cab and ended up walking down the seedy part of the strip to find anything. Cab, bus, horseback??? We ended up getting on a double decker all the way back to the Cosmo. It has been about 10 years since I had been on the bus and lets say that it may be 10 more before I get on again. I hit the BJ table after I got back and won about $800 for my first win at the Cosmo. I ended up winnig a few hundeed more that day before going next door to the Elvis show at ARIA. If you haven't been to the show, I recommend it. It was very enlightening on his life and history and the music was great. Craps at ARIA rocked and I was getting close to getting back to even for the trip. Back to the Cosmo for more club music until 4 am. Boy, I was getting tired of this.
Next day I dropped $1200 at the BJ table early and became tired of losing at the Cosmo and went back to the Mirage. I immediately dropped another $1000 right away at the BJ tables. I put on my big boy panties and headed over to the craps table. For the next 4 hours, I won over $3,000 with the dice being in my favor for once on the trip. This still didn't get me back to even, but I felt like a champion at this point. As we walked back to the Cosmo, we stopped in at O'Sheas just to chalk it up to experience. We played a BJ table that allowed you to bet that the dealer was going to be you. If you had seen my cards this weekend, you would have bet this bet with me. I colored up after an hour with a $30 win. It is definately not a game that you are going to win, but it was a fun change of pace. Back to the Cosmo and club music until 4 am without paying a cover charge.
The next day was checkout day and I was greeted with the same NON customer service at VIP as the day I arrived. At least the limo was on time to take us back to the airport. Looking back at the Cosmo, I would have to have a huge upfront offer to stay there again, and I would stay in the west tower. The food at every restaurant was excellent, the decor is awesome, but I run an extremely high customer service based business that I cannot put up with mediocrity. Over all I was down about $1700 and I never once saw a jackpot on ANY slot machine or video poker machine at the Cosmo. Next visit is back to the Mirage and Jimmy Buffett in October!!! I can't wait to go back to my home away from home!! Thanks for listening. Joey in San Anotnio
