January News and Promotions

Wishing everyone a successful 2018, whatever your life goals!  And a good time to give you a promotion warning.  As always, read the fine print on any coupon you plan to use.  Many food coupons, especially from Vegas local properties, are not valid on holidays, for example tomorrow, New Year’s Day.

And while on the subject of fine-print, here are some more warnings.  Are you tired of reading about these?  Actually, I am tired of writing about them – but I am still getting e-mail and face-to-face complaints from people who were “tricked.”  The first one comes from a full-page Station Casinos newspaper ad from today’s R-J advertising the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day buffet prices.  However, if you don’t have a Boarding Pass players card or you have just the bottom tier-level Preferred card, your price will be higher.  Fine print says that “Prices shown are for Gold, Platinum, President and Chairman members.”

Station Casinos recently also ran a newspaper ad about multiple point days that fooled a lot of people.  I have given this warning before.  In ANY written material or ad about Station Casinos offers or promotions, you MUST check the logos at the bottom of the page.  That multi-day Holiday Bonus multiplier did NOT have the Palms logo!  If you checked the Wheel of Fortune jackpot ads in the same newspaper, you would see the difference.  That was property-wide and included the Palms logo at the bottom of the ad.

This careful reading is necessary not just for newspaper ads. Individual mailers are getting more property-specific and player-specific for the big casino companies, including Stations and Boyd properties.  You can’t figure if your friend or neighbor is doing a particular promotion or has multiple points on a particular day that you can take advantage of these.  Promotions can be different for players at different tier levels or who play more or less at particular properties.

Okay, end of warnings and rants!

PALMS

Renovation is still in full swing here, but welcome news is that the new buffet is finally open.   It is called A.Y.C.E, pronounced I assume “ace.”  (May take a while to figure it out unless you read somewhere that this acronym stands for All You Can Eat.  Very low-brow if you compare it to the hoity-toity and commonly mispronounced originally advertised name of Haute Plates.)   It has a large selection of food items but divided into various categories based on how they are prepared, rather than the usual ones of ethnic roots.  Although new restaurants these days try to make things “different,” some unusual dishes and combinations just end up seeming “strange.”  Although I don’t mind trying new menu items, Brad was not impressed – he felt the whole thing just was “weird” and he couldn’t find much that appealed to him.

I like the new modern “small-plates” style.  However, there is a major problem with this.  Although it works well on the salad bar and anywhere that cold selections are offered, it falls short with most of the hot choices – they aren’t hot!  There needs to be a remedy for this fast cool-down problem.  Related to this is that items like slider sandwiches quickly end up with stale buns.  I’m not sure what the solution to this problem could be – maybe see-through individual plastic/glass covers that hold in the heat and keep out the drying cold air – but it certainly needs to be addressed.

Opinions of friends have been mixed on this buffet, but that is not surprising.  Food likes/dislikes is such a personal choice!

There is one major frugal action I can tout here, one of the first frugal tips I wrote about almost 20 years ago when it used to be more common before many buffets started closing an hour or two between mealtimes:  Since the Palms buffet opens at 8 a.m. and doesn’t close until 9 p.m. (10 p.m. Friday and Saturday), you can save money by careful timing of your arrival. Lunch prices start at 11 a.m. but go just before that time and pay breakfast price, which is $3 cheaper.  You can do the same thing later in the day when higher dinner prices start at 4 p.m.; go just before 4 p.m. and save $6 for each person in your party and still be able to enjoy the upgraded dinner selections.

TUSCANY

PUB 365 (where the Mexican restaurant used to be) – Voted “Best Beer Selection” in the R-J “Best of LV.”  Tuesdays in January earn 100 points for a 2-for-1 entrée coupon for this sports bar.  Also, seniors 50+ get 20% off here for the January senior special.  An extra plus for some:  you can watch all Golden Knight games here.

BOYD PROPERTIES

The Young at Heart (YAH) senior promotion on Wednesdays continues to be a popular program at all the properties.  It is important, as I keep repeating, that you read the official rules so you know the benefits and the restrictions of this promo.  You can go to the website of the particular casino where you want to do this promotion, click on YAH, and there is a link to the official details. Be aware that the programs do not all have the exact same benefits or restrictions.  Also, be aware that the rules sometimes are modified with no official notice to the players so it pays to check these links every month.

You can find Brad and me at the Gold Coast most Wednesday afternoons pounding away on the $1 NSUDs.  We sometimes take advantage of the free food offers, depending on our schedule that day.   If you have a book to be autographed or just want to chat, join Brad and me at a table near the Red Zone at 4:30 where we can all wait – and hope – for our names to be called in the drawing.