Hey gang, We're going to reserve a cabana at the MGM pool (i.e. not Wet Republic...) and wondered which one might be best, as I've been informed that you can make specific requests. We are probably going to want to be as close as possible to the lazy river, but beyond that I'm not sure if any of them are better than others when it comes to layout, amenities, location, etc. Happy to hear your thoughts...Thanks!
I like numbers 1 and 2. they are on the far left as you walk in and it's a quieter area, away from WR and away from people walking by. also, they get afternoon sun, which I like because we never get to the pool first thing in the morning to take advantage of the morning sun.
Thanks shifter. I was also scoping out 5-8 as they seem to be next to the lazy river. From what you can tell - are they all effectively the same? Also, as far as the TV goes, is it DirecTV or something like that? I was wondering if they had NFL ticket with all of the games. Thanks!
yeah they're all the same size and stuff. as far as the TV, I'm pretty sure it's just the standard channels you get in the rooms. however, either way it's definitely not going to be DirecTV. in the Mansion and Skylofts, MGM has Comcast digital with the guide and everything. so at best that's what you're looking at, but I doubt it.
So something to consider if/when you reserve a cabana at MGM; When I emailed to reserve a cabana (which by the way is not a reservation but a "request". You don't actually know if you've reserved anything until the morning of...) they sent back a form to fill out and fax back, which included my credit card information. When I emailed them back asking if I could phone in the reservation, this was their reply: We cannot take your credit card information over the phone as it is not a secure line. I am sorry about the inconvenience. You are encouraged to request a certain cabana but please realize it is only a request and not a guarantee but we will do our absolute best to accommodate you. Possibly the most baffling response I could have received. At any rate, I was not going to fax my credit card info, so I called and was able to put in my request for the cabana over the phone.
It is because MGM treats the cabanas the same way they treat requests for a Mansion room, Skylofts room, or a high end suite. It all goes by priority and what high end players are in town at that time. They do not want all the cabanas to be taken up by reservations and then have a high end player request a cabana and not have one available for him. Once they know what cabanas are needed for the high end guests for that weekend, they will release the rest 2 reservations.
I get the priority part (that wasnt the bit of their resposne that i took exception with). I'm not comfortable faxing my credit card details. Are they just gonna stick that fax in some filing cabinet and sit on it for a month?
It just seems like an odd process to adhere to, especially since the same folks that handle the room reservations were able to handle the request without batting an eyelash. They could have just as easily directed me there if they knew people might be uncomfortable faxing CC details. No biggie, but I figured id let everyone know in the event they ran across the same situation.
faxing CC info really isn't that risky. of course the fax could get misplaced and fall into the wrong hands or something, but that's no more likely than a receipt from a store with your CC info on it being stolen or something. faxing CC info doesn't have the same risks as email since the data isn't going to be snatched by a third party during transmission or something, which is the reason emailing CC info is risky.
I wouldn't have emailed it either. I wanted to provide it via phone, where presumably someone is entering it into a workstation, app, etc. where there would be some reasonable security measures in place (for example most of those systems mask all but the last 4 once the information is entered). A store also shouldn't print the number on a receipt. Ideally, the thing never gets put on paper (thankfully the old carbon copy ka-chunk machine has all but gone the way of the Dodo). You really mitigate the risk of fraud/theft by by putting just a few small controls in place.
Yall, Maybe we should have our High Roller call to reserve a cabana. They will most surely take note of his outrageous gambling losses on night one and make him comfortable in a cabana for his subsequent nights of huge forfeits to the casino.
If you really want a certain cabana, I recommend requesting it ahead of time, but also stopping by the pool desk when you arrive at the hotel. On our last trip to MGM (which was a large family trip with 15 ppl) we really wanted a cabana on the lazy river. I stopped down at the pool desk the night before our reservation (they usually assign cabanas the night before) and I talked with the guy and slipped him $40 to make sure we got the cabana we wanted. I know people will chime in and say that cabana prices are already outrageous, so why should you have to tip on top of the price. However, it was certainly worth it to me and our group, as we got the exact cabana we requested.
We were recently in cabana 12 and I really enjoyed it. One thing to think about is that if you're there on the weekend, the music they're playing over the speakers is pretty much the same as what's coming from Wet Republic, except if you're farther away, you're not getting any bass. That might be a pro or a con for you. But yes, priority is based on play; I was told that cabanas 9-14 are usually reserved for higher-than-me rollers, but we happened to get lucky.
Ha - we'll have better luck getting a free buffet on myVegas :evillaugh We did reserve one - I was simply able to do it with the folks who do reservations. It was quite easy, but your suggestion about showing up, throwing a few bucks and getting some face time is duly note. Thanks for the tip. "Mr. Soup - thanks for the 10K donation last night. Please feel free to stop by the gift shop to select any of the bargain bin T-shirts at a special buy 2 get 1 free rate."
I guess, but honestly, as long as you're monitoring your accounts regularly, you don't have much to worry about; you're not liable for unauthorized activity, and if it's a CC and not a debit card, there isn't any real risk to you. On an unrelated note, after discussing this with a friend the other day, I'm kind of amazed by people who are very paranoid about credit card numbers, but still write checks; since any check will include your routing and account numbers, I feel like there's way more risk from that. I'm one of those people who doesn't keep a ton in my primary checking account (there's a separate "checking" account I use for my Vegas bankroll and line of credit) and monitors all my accounts daily, so I tend to not worry much about either.
Check fraud is mostly on the decline. Granted that is largely due to the fact that check use in general is waning, but nonetheless the crooks go for easier targets and these days that is CC numbers. Your policy of keeping less funds in checking is a good one, since most financial institutions allow easy transfer from online savings, but not direct access which is again another way to mitigate the risk of catastrophic loss.
I thinks Soup and I will head down to check out the pool situation Thursday morning and try to set us up with the cabana that looks most appealing. I'll try the $40 trick as someone suggested.