Seminole Hard Rock: Now you're gonna pay...

to park.

Effective 01 AUG 16, for $10/day - you can park at the casino. Don't wanna do that? OK, use the $20 valet.That's right, boys and girls. A once unrealized revenue stream is being engaged. I don't know that this will have a negative impact on attendance - being the only game in town, and all, but it is sort of hard to embrace given that parking was free since the doors opened.

We found this out last night when we went to Grey Salt for dinner (four star cuisine, best cocktails in the casino) and post-dining gaming ( VP bankroll $300 - exited the parking lot with $500).

While I find this more of an irritant than anything else, I doubt that a ten-dollah-bill is going to negatively impact patronage. Oh, and the virtual blackjack has been removed and replaced with some rendition of slot machines.

That's it from the SHR.

 

I wonder if this is going to become the norm nationwide. Parking at all three of our boats here is free, but AFAIK that's just because parking has always been free at casinos. There's definitely no reasonable free alternative to the casino lots and garages. Is it time for me to get seriously chapped at MGM? I was not in favor of the parking fees, but I was not really too into the debate. It's not like I would ever consider driving in Vegas. Now maybe Vegas is going to lead the charge into paid parking everywhere.

 

This is crazy. Are they charging for the open uncovered parking as well as the parking garages ? Thanks for the heads up.

 

Much to my chagrin, I fear that the concept of 'uncovered parking' is going away. You'll notice that they're constructing a godzillaesque multi-level garage atop the existing open-air parking lot in front of the casino (facing Hillsborough). I can't imagine that there will be on pay and one free parking option. This is the way of the world.

 

Stay away and tell the casino why you did it. I don't play any more in Ohio. I drive to a casino in Michigan where parking is free and games have better odds. If I didn't have that option, I would not gamble at all except on Vegas trips. Still lots of free parking and fair games in Vegas. Just avoid the center Strip.

 

Yes, a $10 parking fee starts at noon today. There has been chatter about this for the past month or two at HR. The primary justification for this was to increase security for the pedestrians walking from the open air lot across the busy entry drive to get into the casino and for the patrons using the parking garages. I think this issue is legitimate. I have seen people nearly struck in the dark as they walk across entering and exiting traffic flows. I also know there have been assaults and robberies in the three garages from criminals just cruising around looking for victims. Just months ago, I had a very lucky day and was leaving with over $10K in cash. I stopped at the Players Club on the way out and asked for a security escort which the casino immediately provided right to my auto parked on level 4. I’m glad I did as I saw in the newspaper the next morning that someone was robbed at gunpoint that night on the very same level and garage I had used. There will be an elaborate enclosed bridge leading directly into the casino from the new garage protecting the pedestrians from traffic. You already see a dramatically increased security presence in the garages. HR also hopes the charge will cut back on bad people just cruising around causing mischief as well. There will be no charge for patrons who play enough to have the “Elite Card” which doesn’t really have that high of play requirement. I don’t like the parking fee either but think it’s just another sign of the times and circumstances. While another front garage won’t improve the curb appeal of HR at all, I don’t think it will make it any worse than it already was with the old open air hodgepodge parking lot. They are redoing the entire frontage of the casino itself which does promise to be more attractive both from the outside and inside.

 

Fair 'nuff on protecting the patrons. I've seen some alarmingly near-death experiences on crossing from the open-air parking lots to the front of the casino. And if it keeps out the undesirables from cruising the parking lot...I'm all for it. I don't like it, but..as I've said before...it is indeed the only game in town.

 

There's stuff I tolerate at SHR that, were it located in Vegas, I wouldn't. While $10 isn't going to break the bank, and I don't frequent the HR often enough to see it, this does fall into the category of 'one more thing'. Look, they pretty much have a monopoly here (as I see the casino as across town from anything at the dog tracks), but I'm leaning more towards opening up the peninsula to Vegas style gambling. I know this rubs the Disney Cosa Nostra the wrong way (because any dollar not going to the mouse...), but I've always felt that the kids are fine with rides but the over twenty-one crowd digs the tables.

Here's a column from the Tampa Bay Times...
http://www.tbo.com/news/business/romano-when-22-billion-in-revenue-isnt-enough-for-free-parking-while-you-gamble-20160809/

 

I couldn't believe when I went there last week and saw the cluster of parking. Ridiculous lines and people yelling at attendants. I go for fun and to have some drinks and wind down after work, I might have to find a new place.

 

I used to just buzz in there, if I were on that side of town and had about thirty-minutes to spare. Not now! Can't just be dropping $10 for 30 minutes of distraction.

 

Projections were that the tribe grossed $2.2 BILLION last year. The number of suckers playing Casino War fro $25 per hand just inflates their bottom line. I used to like to pop in a have a walk around, maybe play some VP, but no more.

I'll save my bankroll for Vegas and play poker at Derby Lane.

 

You seldom see a casino make a decision not to the liking of its patrons and back off following a flood of complaints. Perhaps there is a reason to hope that HR will drop the parking fee however. Apparently last weekend, it took drivers 45 minutes to depart the south garage. We had parked in the newer north garage and that too was a mess as all cars had to drive down the Hillsborough ramp as the one to the Orient stop light was blocked off. Good luck turning south to get to the west bound lanes of I-4. The reality of it is that none of the three parking garages was designed to accommodate pay tolls. The 45 minute line of vehicles trying to exit last weekend will still be there six months from now. It won’t get better because they can’t redesign the garages already constructed. This will create more anger from patrons than the $10 fee.

 

You have no idea, how much satisfaction I feel, knowing, it takes 45 minutes, just to get out of the South Parking Garage.

I have always kicked myself in the ass. Cindy and I, go once a month. Every time, we ask each other, if we just took that $100,
placed it into an envelope, we could go to Tunica.

But Cindy and I, after talking this afternoon, together, are experiencing joy about the $10 parking at the Tampa Hardrock.

1) It finally made us realize to cut the crap, and... We are going to Tunica, yea, 3rd trip. This September!

2) The nasty is, as I write this post, at 10:30 PM, People are waiting ... UP TO.. right now... 45 minutes to get out of the parking garage.

Right now, at 10:37PM, the people leaving the South parking garage will sit in their car, for up to 45 minutes, to pay the $10 fee.

3) Because it is a peak, night, weekend. It is up to 45 minutes to get out of the garage.

Can anyone out there, say in good faith, you would do the same, or... are people in Tampa
desperate, or insane?

 

We visited HR on Friday from around 1:30 to 7:30 parking in the far north garage. We had no trouble getting in or out. We saw why once inside, there were the fewest players we have seen there on a Friday in a VERY long time. Most people thought it was the result of the parking fiasco. I don’t know about Saturday. Right now, the front of HR looks like it had just been heavily damaged by a hurricane. It’s just one awful mess! Rather than to start charging for parking now, HR should have instituted free valet service for everyone to help people overlook the construction inconveniences. I think the improvements will prove attractive and once done, people would then have a reason to pay for parking. I also think OSHA will fine HR for placing their security guards at the exit gates to assist people coming and leaving. These guards have no protection from vehicular traffic nor do they have any air handling to protect them from the auto exhaust they must breathe for hours on end.

 

Maybe the 45 minute delay is on purpose. May was we'll wait around and gamble for a few more hours until the exit line dies down.

 

I'd park off the property, and catch an Uber.

Still might cost you $10, but it's not going to HR, and no 45min wait.

 

So If I understand their thinking it is this. We can't keep our parking garages safe, so we are instituting a parking fee to keep out the undesirables who will rob you coming out of the casino. Although if they comp the parking, then it's tolerable.
However I would NEVER go to a property that can't control their own guests safety onsite. Seems like staffing with private security in the garages and patrolling would have the same effect. This sounds like a gaming tax wrapped up as safety project cover story. Thanks for posting this, I can now add this place to my Casinos to avoid in America list.

 

I was just at Seminole Hard Rock Saturday night while visiting family in the area (live in TX). This was my fourth or fifth trip to the casino in the past year and a half now that much of my family has moved between Tampa and Orlando from the Northeast.

I was shocked to see they're actually charging you $10 to go into their casino and spend a bunch of money. And four of us split the check at dinner two ways for around $35-$40 per couple, so they wouldn't comp us on the way out. This was on top of another $100 or so spent on drinks and food court stuff throughout the night, plus all the money we gambled (and lost, on this particular evening). It was total bullshit.

 

$10 to keep a guy out from robbing you in the garage, much like taxing ammunition $.05/round will stop homicides.


Lollerskates


If I were a thief, I'd pay $10 to get into a garage where I know people are carrying cash. Or, I'd just walk into the garage.

 

Actually in Germany, you pay for admission to the spielbanks and you must meet their defination of acceptable dress.