Unsecured Tropicana Entertainment creditors are opposing Columbia Sussex's effort to borrow $67 million in operating capital (which would push existing creditors even further toward the back of the queue). The Wilmington, Del., bankruptcy court has yet to rule.
Whoops. By filing Chapter 11, ColSux put its Casino Aztar riverboat — lock, stock and accounts receivable — under the purview of the bankruptcy court. Which means a delay of the $220 million sale to Reno-based Eldorado Resorts. Not only that, the court would have the discretion to tinker with the terms of that sale. (And check out the third comment below the story.)
Flashy new marketing be damned, the Los Angeles Times' Richard Abowitz checked into the Las Vegas Tropicana and discovered the same old malaise — maybe worse. Yes, the escalator to "Bodies" is still broken "and has even grown some advertising." (On CEO William J. Yung III's gravestone, it will read: "Maintenance? What's that?")
Worse yet, "it took an hour of waiting in line to check in" — on a Wednesday afternoon, due to a dearth of check-in staff. Abowitz's conclusion: "The bankrupt casino is sure letting customers feel the pinch of its reduced workforce." In all, Abowitz's outlook is as bleak, if not bleaker, than when he stayed at the Trop last December and found it to be "a warehouse with gambling." And I can attest personally to his contention that the air there is "literally and figuratively stale." Sort of like its management philosophy.
Now they tell us. When Toni Braxton was riding high at the Flamingo, and splashed across the western façade of the building in a va-va-va-voom "building wrap," I asked Harrah's Entertainment if customers were trying to get, say, a room nestled within Mega-Braxton's "cleavage." Came to the answer: Oh no, no; hasn't happened. Today, however, at the end of an announcement that Braxton's Flamingo gig is prematurely finis, we read: "In fact, the Flamingo was said to get frequent request [sic] for rooms with windows at strategically placed body parts of the singer."
If you think the Trop is bad, check out this customer review of Hooters Hotel & Casino. The descriptions of lackadaisical service and spare amenities are redolent of imminent closure, while the room decor could stand as the textbook definition of "fugly." But the kicker is the noisy, broken air conditioner. With video. Hilarious. Or tragic, depending on your perspective.
