Question of the Day - 23 June 2009

It took several runs at both the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and its corporate parent, Morgans Hotel Group, to produce a response.

The Hard Rock's verbatim response to your query is: "The Hard Rock is known as one of the best party spots in Vegas, so naturally we attract a younger crowd. The security checking for alcohol being brought in is a safety measure we take to help prevent minors from having alcohol in the rooms."

• "HRH also would not allow a bag of pretzels or potato chips up to the room. Those crazy underage kids eating chips, you never know what's going to happen."

• "Why doesn't Hard Rock let me take SOFT DRINKS into the hotel room? There is a guard watching for violators. They tried to confinscate a six-pack of Coke at the elevator. I had to leave, hide it in my suitcase, and return later. I thought they might even search my suitcase."

• "Not a question: in your answer to the person who inquired about why they couldn't take booze into the hotel rooms in Hard Rock, the real answer was not mentioned: In actual fact, the reason is that the HR doesn't want you drinking your own booze in the room; they want you drinking at forty times the price in the bars, or a hundred times the price in the nightclubs. Vegas has NEVER been friendly to people who want to party at private-room prices: They WANT YOUR MONEY."

• "Years ago the cruise industry started the practice of not allowing any booze purchased off the ship to be brought back to your stateroom. It is confiscated and given back at the end of the cruise. They say it is to stop underage or over-indulgent drinking, but we all know it is simply to force you to buy your alcohol from their bars, in high priced individual servings."