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MSS & Suncoast 11/26-12/1 +some 4Q new room pictures

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Joe, Dec 3, 2015.

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  1. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    Our trip started out with a one night stay at the Hyatt in downtown Milwaukee and a 7 PM Bucks game that night. The Bucks lost but we wandered around downtown Milwaukee and hit a few bars after the game. It also cut 30 miles off our commute to the airport the next morning.

    The trip started out really well. We flew on Thanksgiving morning and boarding positions A19 & 20 on SWA non stop flight from Milwaukee to LV and an open center seat. It felt like first class! Flying on the holiday, the first drink was free.

    MSS provided the limo. Well, really they just contract with Bell, but anyway that is where my trip started going south. Our driver meets us and leads us to the carousel. When my bag comes down, I point it out and he grabs it, but then he moves backwards and leaves me to fetch my wife’s luggage a minute or so later. No offer to help and when we get to the escalator to head down to level zero, he warns me to make sure I have my wife’s bag completely on the step. We have never had a driver not offer to wheel both bags. Yes, I can do it, but it’s now the principal of the thing. I normally tip the driver $20. He got $10.

    We arrive at MSS 45 minutes after touchdown and not only is there not a room ready, but I’m informed our host didn’t block us for a suite. That is the first time in at least a decade and 50 trips we have not had a suite. The employee at the front desk tells me I need to take it up with a host. OK fine, our host is not there yet, so I talk to the one on duty and she can’t do anything for me. Four hours later when our host comes on duty I talk to her and I’m told she can’t guarantee a suite and there were too many Emerald members there on Thursday. I’m think BS, but then ask if she can throw in an extra comp for the Redwood the next evening. We are treating my brother and sil. “I’ll see what I can do”.

    The next night she finds us already seated at Redwood and says she can’t provide any additional comps for the food. Our server, Jannel massaged the bill very well onto our Gold Cards and I paid the balance with my points, but it still ticked me off.

    As mentioned, we are always in a suite, but all the suites face the train tracks and the freeway. The room we ended up in was just a standard room but faced south and we heard no freeway noise. I know others on VMB have complained about the freeway noise and I never gave it much thought until we got a room that didn’t have all the noise. Wow, it is quieter and except for no coffee maker, I could deal with that. I’ve also read here that you can have one brought to the room, if requested.

    My brother and sil arrived on Friday and I had them booked on a 3 night comp at Four Queens in one of the remodeled rooms. I thought the new rooms were very nice. They charge a premium for the new rooms, iirc $25, but no charge on my comp.
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    My gambling results were just awful but on our first day my wife had both a dealt straight flush and dealt royal.
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    No picture of the SF. The balance of Thanksgiving we spent at Boar’s Head watching the sucky Packer game.


    The rest is a brief summary because the details have become sketchy.

    Friday, we ate at the Redwood and just bounced around casinos. MSS, 4Q and Plaza.
    Saturday, we played at Chicago Brewing Co and watched the Badger game. Back to Cal and MSS after that. $80 in freeplay at 4Q.

    Sunday: We caught the 7 am WAX bus and went out to the Suncoast. We had a reservation for one night there. We didn’t check out of MSS but gave them no play or card swipe on Sunday. Suncoast is one of our favorite places and even though we only had a standard room, they are really very nice. $50 in freeplay.

    I asked the host via email if she could book us a suite, but she said she couldn’t since we hadn’t played there in a year. She did book us in a golf course-view room which was really nice.

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    I gave up. I rotated those pictures and re-saved them twice and they still post that way.

    We were really disappointed that they have gotten rid of the hotdog cart in front of the sportsbook. We don’t eat dogs at home and were really looking forward to that. It’s a treat! OK, so we went to the new sportsbar that is in the space that used to be TGIFriday. They open at 10 AM. The bartender gives us FOOD menus and takes our drink orders. It is now about 10:15 and he pours my wife her beer and comes back and says just a fyi, we don’t serve food until 11:30 AM. WTF? :thumbsdown:

    We leave there and settle for a hotdog at the Suncoast bowling alley snack bar. I told you we had a craving for a hotdog.:evillaugh

    On Sunday Suncoast had a “locals” promotion. Any 4oak of 5-9 earned a $25 freeplay for quarters and $50 on halves and dollars. We normally play on just my card but my wife hit two of the bonus numbers and just swapped my card out for hers before the person came around. Nothing was automated, a lot of paperwork involved. The card person had to fill out a long form, we had to sign and then the bartender had to verify and also sign. Then, it took at least 30 minutes for the FP to be downloaded to the card. Anyway, she earned $50 in FP and I hit every number but the 9, for a total of $200 in FP.

    They also had a 10% bonus going on all Royals on Sunday, but we never saw one of those. :cry:

    Dinner at Salvatore’s at Suncoast on Sunday night and that was very good. I paid for that with points, so a 40% discount off the total. I didn’t want to deal with begging a host for a comp and if I charged it to the room, I couldn’t use points when we checked out if the host said no.

    We put 16,000 points on my card and caught the WAX back to Fremont Street on Monday morning. There and back on the bus we just flashed our Wisconsin DL and paid $1. Not a RTC approved ID, but this is probably the 15th time we have done it and the driver has never questioned it, or requested the additional dollar.

    Except for more losing and another enjoyable meal at Redwood. While playing at the Boar's Head on Monday morning, the slot manager wandered by and said hello. I mentioned our host "not being able" to give us an additional comp for dinner on Friday and his comment was "well we have clamped down on the hosts and comps". He says let me have your card and I'll see what I can do for tonight. 15 minutes later he comes back and says I added another $75 to your comp. So between the Gold Cards and their meals, dinner was free, but things are getting tighter. :thumbsdown: I have no memory of what else we did on Monday. Drank and lost. :evillaugh

    A 9 am flight back on SWA on Tuesday.

    Total points on B Connected for the trip was 56,000 for five nights.

    If plans don’t change and they might, we are booked to arrive on Christmas Eve at 6 PM. That will be our 8th trip this year. We had to cancel a trip to Seattle and one to Phoenix and both times we just said, hell, lets go to Vegas.
     
  2. kingpasty

    kingpasty High-Roller

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    Thanks for the report Joe. Sad to hear things are tightening up. As far as the 4 Queens pics, the bathroom is much improved but it looks like all they did in the rest of the room was just slap a (much needed) coat of paint on the walls and call it good. I'm sure they replaced the mattresses, but I was really hoping to see more of a complete overhaul. At any rate thanks again, great report!
     
  3. swimjim10

    swimjim10 Low-Roller

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    Make the trip to Vegas every 4 years and heading to the D from the 26th (DEC) til the 30th with a friend... we will obviously be entitled to nothing! Any DT tips that you have for two knuckleheads that like to drink and bet sports? Nice little TR btw... sorry about the bad luck.
     
  4. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    Joe,
    Do you ever have plans on leaving MSS?
     
  5. Ty

    Ty ?

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    Thanks for the TR, I enjoyed reading it. Congrats to Mrs Joe on the nice VP hits!

    It's disappointing to hear about the cut-backs on the comps at MSS. TIMSPEED talks favorably of the comps at Sam's Town, we may end up staying there sometime.

    I believe it's time for you to organize a VMB Christmas meet-up.
     
  6. Ty

    Ty ?

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    Tim, you must have posted while I was typing up my reply. Are you happy with the comps you get at Sam's Town?
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2015
  7. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    Two dealt Royals on the same day, that's crazy.

    It does seem like maybe Boyd is taking your for granted. I hope this comp clamp doesn't crimp my future goodies.
     
  8. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Just a clarification...it was one dealt royal and one dealt straight flush.
     
  9. bubbakitty

    bubbakitty Doing retirement again and happily so....

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    Good report on a good trip Joe. Can you clarify? The host said so many emeralds that weekend (which I can understand as you could just be outnumbered vs. number of suites available) there was no room at the inn. I am then thinking it was timing but then to be told they could not accommodate your food request (which I would have assumed would be more liberal as you were in a regular room vs. suite) it surprises me more so as it then does appear to be a tightening of comps.
    You have said before you do not book your offers but call and set up your stay via host with offer in hand. Did she plan to give you the expected accommodations and simply get overwhelmed by the emerald members showing that weekend? What would you expect to receive on a benign week in another month?
    I really like Boyd as a low roller because they never seemed to sweat the small stuff and things would generally progress smoothly throughout the stay. Hope this was just an anomaly and not a change in policy.
     
  10. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Well, we decided we don't need the suite. The rooms facing south are so much quieter and my wife decided she likes two queens instead of the only option of one king in the suites. If they take away my Gold Card and limo, then for sure I'd look for an alternative. Maybe Sam's, but my preference would be Suncoast. Even the base room at Suncoast is very nice, but the suites are wonderful.

    Transportation is an issue. Suncoast does have a free airport shuttle, but the times and our flight times don't always jive. I do know a cab from McCarran to SC is ~$40. The WAX is also a great option, but my wife is not fond of schlepping luggage.

    Also the bartenders at Suncoast are all very nice and the bar is the only place we play. We have only played there once since we moved back to WI in 2010, but three of them greeted us by name when we sat down. Two more recognized us, but didn't remember our names.
     
  11. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Nice report!

    Sucks to hear about the cutbacks. And that Suncoast promo while good for you, it seems like a pain in the ass for them!
     
  12. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Bubba, it is hard to explain or rationalize. We always just email the our host and she books us a suite, limo and Gold Card. Her reason that there was too many Emerald Card holders was just a bunch of BS. Yes, there are only 15 suites available, but that would be one hell of a coincidence on a slow Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe our play no longer qualifies for a suite? Or, as the slot manager said they have clamped down on comps.

    My mailers no longer have any freeplay and the mailers now only offer 3 free nights. We still give them ~10,000 points per day. Maybe I'll get another wrist slap after this trip since we didn't play at all on Sunday, instead going to Suncoast and giving them 16,000 coin in.
     
  13. wanker751

    wanker751 Dutch Rudder Enthusiast

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    Sorry to hear about struggles you had regarding suite and limo driver.

    I always enjoy your TR's Joe. I love the bars around the BC, we sometimes come up when the Wolves (AHL) are in town and will stay over night and drink after the game.
     
  14. nhcris

    nhcris VIP Whale

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    I always enjoy your reports, Joe. You tell it like it is with no drama or whining which I appreciate.

    That was sure a lovely dealt royal and one of my elusive dreams :) I had a 4 Queens room just like that one last April and thought it was comfortable and perfectly fine. I have pretty much moved my Downtown play from MSS to 4 Queens but miss Mss just a bit. Reading your report makes me feel better about my choice.

    Do you ever play at Rampart? Seeing you at Suncoast made me think of it since that was the view from my window last March. I loved Rampart (most comfortable bed in Vegas by a mile) and had a nice vp run with a pair of royals within a couple of hours. I have a decent offer in hand from them, and plan to return in March.
     
  15. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    We've only been in Rampart once back when we were locals and that was just to play and get our free gift. I think it was a hat or tee. :evillaugh I really don't have an opinion of the place but to say it felt like a nice locals place. If we ever stay more than one night at Suncoast, I'd certainly walk over and give them some play.
     
  16. LVHooked

    LVHooked High-Roller

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    Great report, I was at DTG Thanksgiving and a couple in Packers jerseys walking thru. I didn't see a wristband but, I wondered if that was you.
    And if you got a smart phone you could us Uber or lyft and save on cab fare. But then you'd probably want to do live reports. Lol
     
  17. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    I had my Rodgers jersey and VMB wristband on all day on Thanksgiving, not that it helped, but never made it to the Grand.

    Smartphone and live report-very funny! I might have to give in and get the phone one day, but you will NEVER see a live report from me. Much more to do in Vegas than typing, but maybe I'll try and take better pen & paper notes.
     
  18. Jimbucc

    Jimbucc VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the report Joe. Glad to see the royals are still coming for at least one of you. Maybe a blessing in disguise that you didn't get the suite. Quiet is always nice.
     
  19. sunny123

    sunny123 Tourist

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    The Suncoast folks are the friendliest casino folks I've ever met. We go there every other month and everybody says Hi as soon as they see us.
    This includes front desk, restaurants, bars, hosts and slot people. And these same folks have been employed there since the day they opened.
    Also the poker machines are very friendly and they always seem to have a promotion going.
    I used to mess with downtown but after I found the Suncoast, I found heaven and I'm not leaving.:beer:
     
  20. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    God bless America:thumbsup:
     
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