Does My Bad Experience at the Mirage Reflect on MGM as a Whole?

I had an absolutely horrible stay at The Mirage in December. I’ve stayed almost exclusively at The Mirage for the last 10 years and at MGM properties for the last 20. I had serious issues in December with the hotel mishandling my credit card, rude service at the Mlife desk, and my room was in such bad condition I couldn’t believe I was at a major Strip property. I'm looking to stay elsewhere on my next trip. My question is how much autonomy does each of the hotel casinos have within the MGM corporate structure? If there's a notable lack of service and upkeep at one hotel, is it the result of poor management at the very top or poor management at that particular hotel?

During the tenure of then-CEO J. Terrence Lanni, then-MGM Mirage was in the practice of "siloing" its properties, encouraging them to operate autonomously and compete with one another.

But when current CEO Jim Murren took over, he horizontally integrated management of hotel operations, at least that's been our impression. His decision reportedly to led to the departure of a number of hotel chiefs, including Felix Rappaport, who later became CEO of Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, a position he held until his sudden death last month.

Since MGM Resorts International, as it's now called, was loath to answer your question, we asked a couple of industry experts, both of whom disagreed with our contention that the management of MGM Resorts' resorts is horizontal, rather than vertical.

Spectrum Gaming Group’s Michael Pollock was surprised by this complaint about the Mirage. He responded, “Certainly, in my experience, MGM is an industry leader. [The Mirage] would seem to be an outlier.”

We also contacted Clyde Barrow, president of Pyramid Associates. “What an interesting question,” he responded. “My experience in talking with casino employees in both Las Vegas and Atlantic City is that within the large casino companies with multiple ‘brands,’ each casino hotel stands on its own and actually competes against the facilities operating within the same umbrella. For example, Harrah’s [Resort] competes against Caesars in Atlantic City even though both are owned by the same company. The Mirage will be competing against Luxor. The result is that each hotel (or at least each brand) is attempting to establish its own identity and to outperform facilities owned by the same company. This means that each casino hotel has a considerable amount of autonomy with regard to local operations. I would say to your reader that this was a failure of local management.”

On the one hand, the Mirage is the second-oldest of MGM’s Strip properties — although nowhere so antediluvian as Circus Circus — thus likely to be at the low end of the food chain when it comes to staffing and maintenance. Formerly one of the Strip’s premier resorts, it has slipped into the mid-price category.

On the other hand, it's still able to command a $159-per-night price (as of this writing in mid-July), higher than Caesars Entertainment hotels were charging.

So it's a bit of a mystery to us why Mirage staffing and service were so poor at the time of your visit. We can only hope that someone at MGM corporate gets your memo and takes it up with whichever vice president is responsible for the Mirage.

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Comments

Jackie Jul-29-2018

It's all about

I'm sure you have had a job where management above you put undue performance pressure upon you, in fact every employee in your tier, along with veiled intimidation of firings.  When this happens, customers start receiving the same kind of treatment you suffered in a semi rebellion against management.  Nothing personal toward you but unfortunately you suffered for it. If it happened to me, I would have demanded an immediate meeting with the top manager of the facility, gotten his/her name, chewed them out for being stupid enough to lose a long term customer, found out who there supervisor in corporate is and then contacted that person on my cell phone in front of that manager and commenced to chew out his/her manager.  You would be amazed at what happens next.

[email protected] Jul-29-2018

Overpriced Hotel

There was no separation of the WC from the rest of the bathroom. TI, the former "sister hotel" is a far better value most of the time, these days. Luxor has been a far better value in the past, but these new stadiums have changed all that. We personally had bad experiences at "The Bird" and Bally's many years  ago. Both were run-down with faded furniture and semed "unfriendly". If "Panda World" and That Towering Blue Thing" ever open, they will probably blow the aging casinos right out of the water, but they "ain't gonna be no bargain" price-wise.

Mark Hotzel Jul-29-2018

Great QoD

What a fantastic question, I have wondered the same.  One thing I noticed was Mirage recently picked up Bill Maher shows and he used to be at Palms.  I wondered why a Strip property would pick up an incendiary entertainer when most are so careful about image.  Want proof?  I won't spend money at Mirage while Maher is part of their line up.

Michael Jul-29-2018

Really?

What an interesting hill to die on.

Sandra Ritter Jul-29-2018

Bill Maher

I'm going to LV in 3 weeks. I plan to spend some money at Mirage simply because they have Bill Maher as part of their line up. Else I'm a CET person.

Roy Furukawa Jul-29-2018

Color me surprised

I usually stay at MGM’s Bellagio and have never had this kind of problem. I realize it’s on the higher end of Strip hotels, but that seems to be an issue at Mirage. I would definitely write to customer relations at the Mirage and copy someone at corporate MGM. Stay once at Bellagio and you can compare the two properties and their employees.

Carey Rohrig Jul-29-2018

Recession

The Vegas we see now in 2018 are very familiar 
to the 2007 experience, prices, service, and generally
attitudes of the casinos need an adjustment, 
the 2008 recession brought everything back down
to earth.

Annie Jul-29-2018

Bill Maher 2

Congrats to Mirage for hiring Bill Maher. His monologues on "Real Time" are the best. If I were gong to Vegas, I'd go see him at the Mirage if only to support him. He's so liberated as to what he can say on HBO though, I wonder how much more he can do in person than he already does on TV.

O2bnVegas Jul-29-2018

not so surprised

What Jackie said.  We stayed at Mirage when new, 1990 or so.  Loved that 'clean' feeling, like you could almost 'hear' the cleanliness, the polish, the fit and finish.  For some reason had not returned.  A year or so ago we passed through to play some slots, see a show.  It felt sweaty, old smoke smell.  Thought maybe it was my imagination.  I wish the QOD writer had requested a change of rooms immediately, at least.  Do fill out those surveys, and don't rate something a "9" when you think it was really a "2".  Give it a "1" and say why.  That gets attention.  A rating of 8-9 gets no attention.  Even better if you have guts like Jackie and can raise a ruckus right then and there.

O2bnVegas Jul-29-2018

not how Steve Wynn ran them

Mirage is no Bellagio, but neither is like they were when Steve Wynn was in charge.  I dread watching Wynn/Encore go down the tubes...hope not.

[email protected] Jul-29-2018

No its not the Bellagio

I stay at the Mirage exclusively and while it is certainly no Bellagio, it still rates high in my book.  I'm always greeted by name and made to feel welcome. I've gotten to know many bar staff and blackjack dealers over the years and it's come to be my second home. 
I would feel like a traitor staying anywhere else. 
Having said this, there is one MLife clerk that is really quite rude and I will not deal with this person.  If I see this person at the MLife desk I will choose to come back later.  
I'll be back in 4 weeks:)

[email protected] Jul-29-2018

Not the same Mirage

The Mirage is another cookie cutter MGM casino like all the rest of  properties they destroyed.  Mirage was special when Mr. Wynn ran the joint.

Annie Jul-29-2018

Mirage odor

Soneone above wrote, "A year or so ago we passed through to play some slots, see a show.  It felt sweaty, old smoke smell."

The Mirage used to pump some odor into the lagoon and live games area to enhance the tropical island atmosphere or whatever it was. Maybe they no longer artificially odorize the place.

Andrew74 Jul-30-2018

No longer stay on strip

I no longer stay at strip properties since paid parking. I would recommend the locals casinos. I really don't see much difference between the rooms at Orleans and the Mirage and you get more value. Half the resort fee & no paid parking and a better gaming experience. If Mirage is getting $159 per night plus a $40 resort fee per night & $25 a day parking and taxes. Then the locals casinos are the much better value. I liked staying at the mirage & the location, but no way I'm paying those rates.

Question of the Day - 29 July 2018

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