I think I'm "over" Vegas

Having spent many years in the F&B biz, there are many with varying degrees of that attitude. Some think that merely spending money "allows them" to act how they want. Some look at bartenders and servers as something less than the customer and exist to be ordered around. Some try to show they are big spenders until time comes to leave a tip. The list goes on and on.

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

 

I do remember that report. Sadly, I traveled to Vegas with 3 ladies several years ago and one of them turned out to be his female counterpart. It was the worst experience and that ended the "friendship".

 

Id love to read that TR. By chance anyone have the link saved?

 

Vegas to Timbuck: "Oh, okay....ummm, Thank you for coming.......Bye." poke:

Not trying to be a jerk, Timbuck, I was just playing around. I'm just sayin that Vegas really doesn't care if any of us eventually gets over it. Maybe after a while hopefully you'll consider visiting again.

 

I get what Timbuck/OP is saying. I'm at the point now where I've pared down my trips to LV to just one one week visit per year.

All the crap that goes with comps doesn't affect me as I don't play for comps.

The rooms are great where I stay (GN Rush Tower) even with the resort fee it's a value compared to other cities I visit, which also have resort fees.

As far as customer service goes I think most of us can agree that customer service has markedly declined over the past several decades. I'd wager that in decades past customer service in Vegas was better that it was in other resort areas. I attribute the poorer customer service to the prevailing corporate behemoths that own most of the casinos. I'm not excusing it, but I see how it devolved.

Food is much better now and yes we have to pay more for it. No biggie for me. I don't mind splurging on a few higher ticket meals when there are still a lot of mid priced niche restaurants that serve really nice meals.

The strip is a definite wow factor, didn't see this coming in '82, but the crowds are definitely different. Same for Fremont St.

My main gripe is the deterioration of gaming conditions. I go to Vegas to gamble and relax. Finding a good gamble is harder and harder to find and I don't have as much fun as a result.

There is a lot about the newer Vegas that I really like and there is a lot about the older Vegas that I really miss. I'll just take my other vacations elsewhere and find some other cool places and things that I enjoy.

Vegas will always be there for me and I'll be back every year for a week but it's time to do some other things that will ramp up the fun and excitement factor.

I'm about 100 days out and I'm pumped. Really looking forward to immersing myself in the Vegas scene for a week. But I'm pretty sure when I get back I'll only plan one trip for 2017 instead of two or three. I feel fine with that though. I've come to reconcile the fact that I still like to go to Vegas for a week each year but additional annual trips just don't do it for me anymore.

 

I think I'm getting over it too. Not by choice, but just that I found I'm feeling less excitement for planning a trip.

Due to our vacation schedule at work, I have to sign up for my vacations for the year around Thanksgiving. So my opportunities for spontaneous trips are nil. Plus, there are no late flights from our airport on Friday nights.

Hotels then (2000s): There was always something new to see.
Hotels now: The last new place was the Cosmopolitan. So not much new to see anymore.

Strip gambling then: Could find $5 tables, at least during the day. $10 at night wasn't a big deal, because going bigger in Vegas is the thing to do.
Strip gambling now: It's way more difficult to walk up to a relaxing game of blackjack at noon. I don't want to spend an hour on this board for "The blackjack table third from the left of the pai gow pit at X casino is 3:2." Sorry, it ain't worth it.

Planning a trip then: I got energized by looking online for the Next Place to check out.
Planning a trip now: The Next Place is a $200 per person dinner. Or a nightclub, and I don't dance.

Then: Comped rooms for three or four nights.
Now: Maybe two nights, plus resort fee at a hotel I've already been to.

Downtown then: Fun to watch the FSE show.
Downtown now: A couple years ago (the night Whitney Houston died) my brother and I had to go look in about ten casinos for a $5 craps table. It's hard to find. Also, the last time I was at the Fremont, they had only double odds on craps. So when people post about downtown having better gambling, I remember my own experiences.

Strip walk then: I was weaving in and out of hotels seeing the new stuff.
Strip walk now: I am weaving in and out of posers (beggars in costume, but still beggars). I am turned off by my feelings of the contrast of money being spent frivolously all around beggars. I go to Vegas to enjoy myself, and beggars don't do it for me.

Pools then: Relaxing days around the Flamingo pool, with a $9 pizza.
Pools now: Twenty minutes walking around to find one lousy chair. Last Labor Day, the pool at the Rio was so cold I was walking funny because my legs were numb. But props to the Mirage.

Food then: A nice yogurt/granola parfait for $2.50, which is awesome after a hard night, or steak and eggs after 2am at the Victorian Room at Barbary Coast.
Food now: Holy shit, food prices are ridiculous. Disneyland is cheaper. $9 for yogurt/granola. And Vegas has turned me off of steak and eggs after having it for breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi. Every place I get it seems to use the WORST cut of beef for it. So thin they can't cook it medium and a safe temperature. However I am still a fan of Greenburg's Deli in NYNY and Gran Lux Cafe, which I think is the best value in Vegas.

Shows then: Couldn't wait to see the next Cirque show. Bought tickets online to get good seats.
Shows now: Haven't seen a show in three years. Will settle for one next time because that's what you do in Vegas.

So I ask myself, Why do I go to Las Vegas? I've only found two reasons: The hot weather and the nice pools, which limits our choices of hotels. The other is the adult time. We get to drink whenever we want, and not have a schedule or clock.

Why not go? Been there, done that. We've seen pretty much what we want to see there. Las Vegas is not conducive to relaxing or decompressing, it's all about energizing. And as I get older I am valuing decompressing more than partying. Plus, it's about a thousand dollars per trip, minimum, for just a weekend. Way more for five or six days. We have found Mexican all-inclusive resorts that we find better values at this stage in our lives. Drinking, food, weather, pools, adult time, and not being concerned about spending after we get there. It's a little more per week, but we find it fresh and a good value for the money. And when I get the gambling bug, I go to the local tribal casino.

I'm not saying "Vegas isn't like it used to be" or "It was better back when I was young". I have experienced what I wanted to in Las Vegas.
I think it is one of the great tourist destinations. And I will continue to visit. It simply doesn't excite me like it used to.

 

From what I understand from Timbuck, it makes perfect sense what he /she is saying. Everyone has their own standard of quality and lack of. I know that with kids, there are many other places to go and you should take your kids there. I suspect that there is more to it than the staff treatment or service. Sometimes we have to make a change and so we discount our previous habits to justify our new focus. When i was raising my daughter, where we went was different than now that I am retired. When I go to Vegas, I do not expect superior service and I surely do not go to high end restaurants. I stay at cheap places so I am happy to have free rooms and food plus free play. To tell you the truth, I do not even think of how the service was I received. It is just food to me not a measure of my success. I tip for bad service! I go to gamble not to eat or dance. I spend time with my wife 100% and that is really why we go. I hate the people sleeping on the walkway, asking me for money or selling water or illegals sticking obscene cards in my face and kids walking around drinking but not gambling and I do not even want to discuss those pushing baby strollers around. Never once did I consider service as a reason not to return. I do not go to clubs so I do not care what they charge for a table or a bottle. I do not pay for food so I do not care what the service is as long as I get to eat. I like to live within my means and when I step out of it and then am disappointed at the experience because I spent so much money and was not treated like an upper class man I am pretending to be, I think I got what I deserve. You will be ready for vegas again when you get your mind into just going with the flow and have fun.

 

Good stuff in this thread.... To me the Vegas experience is about timing. I learned early on to book my trips during the 'slow' times... I know that some folks like the crazy weekend energy but for me I'll take a Sunday night through Thursday trip in August every time. I actually just got back today from 4 nights at Excalibur. This was a last minute trip, just decided to do it and booked it just over 2 weeks ago. I had 2 free nights and checked the rates elsewhere and determined that it would not be too busy during my stay, except for Friday where the rates skyrocketed (final four weekend).

Anyway Friday was crazy and if everyday was like that for me in Vegas I'd probably get sick of it real quick, all the tables were full, the best slot machines were taken, heck it looked like a 20 minute wait to buy a Krispy Kreme donut! But since my last day is usually very little gambling I didn't mind so much. So maybe those who tire of their usual Vegas routine should take a break or as some suggested mix it up a bit. Change when you go, if you think you want a mellow experience find a slow time, if you want to get crazier go on a weekend... For me I'm going to stick with the 'slower' days, that's what works for me and I'm already looking forward to the August trip!!!

 

September's even better, when the kids are back in school, and most people's vacations have been taken. Obviously, people go to Vegas for a variety of reasons. Some young 25 year olds might go to get as drunk as possible and party and hit the clubs 24/7 and never go near a slot or table. Others are just the opposite. At 65, of course I tend to take a mellower route. Sometimes I'll relax with a beer out by the sidewalk and watch the people. Or I might sit at a penny slot, put in $20 and play 2 cents a spin. That gets 2,000 spins, which will last a while, and again just watch people, sip a cocktail, and maybe chat with somebody nearby. I can imagine some of the names I've been called by the guys in back watching the security cameras....:evillaugh

Usually there's some place where you can get your shoes shined, and swap old Vegas stories with the shoeshine guy. I got a haircut once at Orleans, and the guy was this old Vegas veteran who had cut Frank Sinatra's hair. The rest of the time I'll just wander around, drifting in and out of stores and casinos, pausing every now and then to put a buck in a machine or play a spin on the roulette wheel. I might enjoy a good exhibit like the Titanic.

The only thing that really gets difficult is finding good food for a reasonable price. There are cheaper buffets, but their food is abominable. You have to spend $30+ for one that even comes close to the buffets of the late 70s.

But I accept that today's Vegas isn't made for people like me. Yes, you can go cheap and find relative bargains, but Vegas really isn't that kind of place any more. It's like going shopping at Sak's 5th Avenue or Neiman-Marcus; you can "go cheap" and find some rags over on the sale rack, but that's not really what they're all about. To really, truly enjoy Vegas the way it's set up to be enjoyed, you have to shovel out the money. It USED to not be that way, and I think that's what many people like me miss the most. The old Vegas was for everybody. I remember Bertha, who worked down in the basement in a hospital supply room for minimum wage. Her husband was a school janitor. Once or twice a year, they'd take one of those cheapo weekend Vegas trips and have a ball. They'd play the penny and nickel slots and the $4 prime ribs and maybe even come back with a spiffy "Las Vegas!" t-shirt, and a couple of silver dollars for souvenirs. I remember running into her a few years later and she was one of those saying "oh, we stopped going, it's no fun any more, they just ruined it....."

But that's not to suggest that Vegas was for Berthas. Far from it. The guy in the private jet and the limo could go to Vegas, stay in a $5,000 a night penthouse and have a great time, too. But at the end of the day, it just didn't matter. Vegas was for everybody, and no matter who you were, when you went to Vegas, you knew you'd have a good room to sleep in, plenty of good food, and have a good time. In this way, Vegas was as part of America as mom and apple pie. Now that's all gone. Now the focus isn't on customer service and making sure that everybody has a good time; it's on sucking as much money as possible out of you, and the hell with everything else.

It's a little hard to talk about the Vegas of the 70s and 80s to somebody who didn't experience it. It's another one of those unique, special things we once had that's gone forever.

 

It's a good thing you don't, because now it is the third table down from Let It Ride near the $1 Wild Cherry slot.

 

Voila. It's not quite as bad as I recall, but still pretty bad.

 

That escalated quickly.

 

Thanks!!

 

It's funny Money Magazine just listed Vegas as #5 in their US destination article.

 

40+ million visitors can't all be wrong!!

 

That might be part of the problem. Why should I give a rat's ass if you are pissed at me, when there will be 1,000 more bothering me today? Ho hum........"Next!"

 

I think that everyone has some place special for them that money does not become the issue.
I love Vegas and from the time the plane lands and my spine starts to tingle, my step gets a bit
of a bounce in it, and my stress level from work completely leaves, I am in my special place - as long as I feel that way
every time I land - I will go. Yes, things are more expensive now than they used to be, but for me that is not an issue for
going. I know people that go that are truly on a budget and they can make it work in Vegas and still have fun.

I mean - one of the guys I work with pays thousands of dollars every year - I mean thousands - to
go to Spring Training Camp for the Rangers. After listening to what a drink cost, what his room costs him,
and what he pays for the right to stand at a certain baseline and watch them train - I feel lucky every time I
get a lovely free suite to stay in for 5 nights. He pays a bundle to do that because that is his "Vegas" - he loves
it. Do I get it - no. I have no interest in paying to watch guys train at a baseball camp. But - it is his right to enjoy it.
Likewise for the guy I work with that spends thousands to buy box seats at the Cowboy's stadium.

My point is - find what you love and do it. If you don't like Vegas anymore - find something else to be your passion.
Each of us has a special place we love and for me it is Vegas. I don't know of anyplace else I could stay in
a lovely suite for 5 or 6 nights, eat free, play games I love, enjoy the people I'm with every day with no stress or
time constraints and be able to afford it as often as I go. Before I discovered Vegas in around 1982 - my husband and
I used to go deep sea fishing and stay at the Coast for days and days. You talk about expensive - that was expensive and that
was in 1980. I cannot imagine the prices of those places we used to rent now.

I'll take Vegas anytime over so many of the other places I used to travel. But if the OP doesn't like it anymore - then I hope
he finds another place that he can enjoy. Everyone should have "their special place" to go.

Mine is Vegas!

 

And THAT is the point of travel!

For us, we don't have just one happy spot, so I guess it helps keep Vegas somewhat fresh, even with the erosion lamented throughout this thread, even with having been there way too many times for putatively sane people.

I've just finally nailed down the last particulars for two weeks in Hawaii this spring. Terri is all excited about our upcoming bike ride in Chico. The guys and I chatter pretty much nonstop about the annual golf trip, this year heading back to Bend. I'm working on getting some of the gang together for Vegas and death ray golf in August. Two GREAT pals are coming here in September. We've booked Tucson and the PNW for the holidays. And I'd damn well like to get back to WA wine country this fall!!

Keep it fun, keep it fresh ... life is too fucking short not to enjoy every moment possible.

 

The difference is that, believe it or not, most people stay in customer service jobs because they like and want to help people. You will run into the occasional surly bartender, waiter, clerk cashier, etc. in LV just like you will at home without the 40 million visitors. I've spent my life in the customer service sector, so I tend to look at things in an objective way, rather than just critical. Some people get into a business they don't belong in. Worse yet, sometimes they stay in it! Many a time I finished an interview thanking someone for coming in and after they leave asking myself what the hell they're doing in this business!!! My experiences in LV have been good overall. The only thing I still need to know is whether it's airline or hotel checkin, if you give them a confirmation number, why do they have to tap keys for two minutes to pull up your reservation? I've been tempted to offer $20 just to come back and see what they're doing!

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

 

Additionally, the expectation of the frontline employees from management is to do more with less. The long check in lines can, in part, be contributed to fewer people at the workstations. If someone feels overworked and underpaid it's easy to use that as an excuse for poor customer service.