could plaza have a revival plan not announced yet?

you would think plaza management would have some kind of announcement to try to revive their business after seeing the place still dead so long after spending all that money fixing the place up.

what are some of your opinions?

 

All they have to do is change their gambling rules so they are a small amount better than MSS and they will be fighting off the crowds. Think of 20Xodds on the crap tables, no 6/5 blackjack, good rules for 3 card poker and let it ride.
Add a name show and have Oscars do 2 fers. Dreaming.....

 

I'm afraid their only hope is to sell the property (and the Vegas Club) to someone else downtown who knows how to run them. I wouldn't be opposed to Boyd taking them over or even that guy from the Golden Gate/The D.

 

Yes, you would think that, but they dont. Which means they are just plain bad casino managers who deserve to go out of business. Nothing sadder than making your first vegas trip of the year, entering the plaza(or spike), hoping against hope that they've learned something...only to see nothings changed...and the place's near deserted, all while the rest of downtown has decent to very good crowds.

 

No, I dont think they have a plan. I dont think the have the foresight to plan much of anything. They seem to just throw things at the wall and hope some of it sticks.

 

Well, they DID bring in the Phat Pack.

[youtube]CiLr0pqBaUQ[/youtube]

 

I am hoping the failure will discourage the Grand from having a resort fee.

 

The management at the plaza have lost their footing with reality. They think that by sprucing the place up a little, adding a resort fee, and a big screen tv to the front of the building that they will be able to compete with the big boys downtown and on the strip. They can't.

All they have to do is read the many comments posted by members of this board. Then...take those comments to heart.

Seriously what do they have to lose? The place is already almost deserted!!!!
Make ALL BJ tables 3/2 5 dollar minimum (10 dollar minimum on some tables on weekends) Offer 20x-100x odds on craps. Offer decent video poker pay tables and ADVERTISE the HELL out of it. TELL people you offer better rules and better payouts.

1 of 2 things will happen when you do this.

#1. The place is so beyond reproach that even this fails and you go out of business.

or #2. Your business doubles/triples/quadrouples/ or more. Sure you're making "less" money in vig but the money you are making due to every table being full of players is better than making NO money on empty tables in an empty casino.

Try it for a month. 30 day trial....if it works it works...if it doesn't Either sell out to someone who has the knowhow to run these hotels, or close up shop and hope someone with some ingenuity buys them and does their best to bring back the ol' gal to her former glory.

 

I know for a fact that management reads the comments here, since before the renovation was complete. I've witnessed it with my own eyes. They don't appear to like suggestions, as it all gets ignored. Maybe I'm not representative of the masses, but I've gone from staying there monthly to not even stopping by on my visits anymore.

 

They also seem to have accountants making gaming decisions, they put continuous shufflers at Bj tables that get no play , and think they are increasing the take! From what I've seen they have less customers now than before the remodel, since their room rates seem to be right back where they were, what have they gained?

 

I think you need more people like Benny Binion and Jackie Gaughan who knew how to take care of the customer.Please the people and the bottom line takes care of itself.

 

Maybe it's just me but I love casinos that are brightly lit. Ever noticed MSS? It has a brightly lit, cheery atmosphere. It makes me want to stay and play there.

Of course favorable table rules, better odd offerings at the bj and crap tables are the key to success imho.

I've noticed all the new casinos are dark with loud music and decor depicting a nite club atmosphere. I guess it works on the strip but for downtown where the undeniable demographic is mostly older clientele, it should be keyed down a little. I know they are trying to attract the younger crowd but still....

Brighten up the place. Add favorable gambling rules. Employ employees that are not afraid to smile and say how are you and thank you. Throw the resort fee out the window. Establish yourself as a decent place to stay and GAMBLE.

Downtown was always known as a place to gamble and it should be played up as such. It will attract the degenerate low rollers like me and a million others like me. We will keep Downtown afloat, lol!!

 

+1 bbking. This is especially true downtown.

 

I agree that the dark places are kind of depressing but I remember the first time walking into the tropicana after the remodel

bright enough in there to cause a seizure!

 

The human mind and human spirit are strange things. It likes to make change and rationalise it's for the better. When this happens, it lives off the recognition. But then it seeks perfection where it is unobtainable. It also refuses defeat when it is sometimes is obvious. It does this as a means of protecting it's self worth and it's ego. I think the owners of the Plaza may be in this latter stage. A new owner would start at the begining of the cycle. Hopefully the owner would stop after the recognition, but many go on to the next objective, seeking perfection. Then the rest of the statement becomes self fulfilling. If I were the Plaza's owner, I would yield to the next owner in line.

 

I've been saying this forever.

A place like you described would get ALL of my business.

TFK

 

At this point I think the Plaza is underrated on this board. They did a lot of things right with the renovation. It looks nice and they improved the food offerings.

When I stayed there about 6 mos ago the check-in sucked, but everything else I was happy with. Even if you include the resort fee I've found the room rates to be competitive

But yeah, the casino is a bore. They did to do something to make it more interesting and inviting (3/2 BJ isn't a cure all). When you walk in the door on the left side of the valet area it's really unremarkable. If I were them I'd remove the cupcake place and put a nice bar there or something eye catching.

edit -

People like to say this, but The Riv tried it and no one cared.

 

I have to disagree with this, in my own opinion, they did very little right with the remodel. The furniture, while they got it cheap, IS cheap. Falling apart already. I really dont think it even looks nice anymore. I have stayed there 3 times in the last 6 months, and every room already looked tired and dated, with things falling apart, huge paint scrapes on the walls, stained carpets, etc. They did a poor job training new employees before opening. Its not like they were really involved in the food options, they simply leased space to restaurants who had the money, and fortunately THEY were good. As good as the restaurants are, they made more poor decisions on who to lease the other spaces to. The timeshare company, the jewelry and perfume hawkers, The Drink and The salon were all poor fits. Valet parking at the wrong end of the building. I could go on and on about things that I think they did wrong.

It looked nice for the first 6 months, but they opened before they were finished, so a lot of the people at the begining were disappointed with no hair dryers, no irons, no luggage racks, no bed skirts, no ice, etc. Those people were giving them a shot, and probably wont be back, especially with a resort fee now added on.

Hotel management is not an easy field to get good help in. The pay is not great for what it involves, and good people get snapped up and retained by the larger corporations that can pay better. The best independent hotels are the ones that have the owner with experience, a little skin in the game, and are directly involved in decision making. People like Jackie and Michael Gaughn and Benny Binion are prime examples. Unfortunately there are few places run with their talent for seeing the big picture these days.

 

Regarding the posts above about the fix being to offer good gambling rules, $5 3/2 blackjack, good VP paytables and so on...

I'm not sure that is going to be enough to make the difference. The Vegas Club had a promotion a year ago or so where they put in all kinds of full pay VP, loosened slots, and advertised it like crazy.

It wasn't enough to overcome the miasma-like stench that subtley wafts through the place on warmer days and nobody hung around.

 

I think the changes to the strip caused some of this. The strip started going upscale and started charging resort fees along with bad paytables. The spike then tried to become "upscale" downtown and started charging their resort fee. The Plaza owners saw this and thought they could get on the bandwagon, do a remodel and claim to be "upscale". Unfortunately while they did the remodel they still had the "lower class" mentality, didn't train their workers how to be "upscale" and were not good upkeeping the rooms and the hotel that an upscale operation needs to keep doing to stay on top. While bad paytables and resort fees might work on the strip, downtown customers usually are grinders, look for deals and good paytables and generally aren't impressed with upscale things.

I think their original plan was to also convert the lvc to an "upscale" hotel but that probably fell through when the Plaza tanked.

As others have mentioned, management still doesn't understand how to run an "upscale" hotel. In addition to offerring better hotel service they need to bring in the customers on the tables and machines. By having bad pay tables and bad table odds and pit crew who only go through the motions the customers are avoiding playing at the Plaza. Management priority should be getting the customers into the place and playing on the tables and machines but ego probably has a factor in their actions or inactions.

Perhaps they need to take a page out of the Boyd property book and try to have more of an "aloha" spirit. You see it at the Cal and MSS especially, many of the employees seem to be friendlier and seem to genuinely appreciate that the customers are playing in their casino. When you sit down at the table you are greeted with a smile and are welcomed with open arms. Not as much at the plaza, looks like the dealers are just doing a job and going through the motions. I hardly see Hawaii people playing at the Plaza, mostly because the Plaza employees don't show an "aloha" spirit (can you say wet blanket?:Þ).