• Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Seminole Hard Rock: Now you're gonna pay...well, not really!

Status
Not open for further replies.
deansrobinson

deansrobinson

VIP Whale
Joined
Jan 27, 2016
Messages
4,710
Location
Tampa
Trips to Las Vegas
12
I just got this in the mail today. Apparently our good friends in the Tribe have reconsidered and are now saying that if you have a wildcard (e.g. membership) ... you can now park for free! I'd love to sit in on the decision making process for these sorts of things.
Seminole Parking.webp
 
Ha! That is silly! Were they making too much off of parking and had to pay some taxes?
 
They had a 'free parking' promotion in February. Do you s'pose there was some mega bump in attendance compared to previous months? It being 'snowbird' season,
that might account for a bump as well. There was another promo last Wednesday...sign up for a wildcard and your parking is waived for that day. The garage has been full every time I've gone, so I suspect they were raking in a dollar or two.
 
As I commented on your other thread, HR has had some major swings in their business plan over the past several years. They went from being one of the most profitable local’s casinos in the country to international big game hunting and now to probably trying to become the dominant regional player east of the Mississippi. Why else would they be building another hotel tower, spa, entertainment venue and restaurants? There is a new president of Tampa HR as of last month and if I understood correctly, a new casino VP too. I’m sure they have another new business plan. HR Tampa was in the red last year probably for the first time ever so they need to try something different

Last week, we caught wind that that the parking fee was probably going away soon but I am miffed as to why they did so before the new garage opens. Good luck finding a parking space on the weekends before the end of tourist’s season. We’ve had free parking all along but now will get pushed into the $20 valet deal. At least they are waiting for the end of the state fair to open the garages. I think they are screwing their regular players on their drawings in order to drag in more warm bodies which probably won’t do anything but take up space, drink and stir up trouble. The place will remain a mess for two more years during the construction. I’m not optimistic as to our future interest in HR.
 
The kicker for me was the TITO kosik not giving change and comps disappearing. Grrr, how greedy can they get.
 
Congrats on the new benefit there, Dean!
Hopefully they don't have to charge for parking again to make up for the cost of sending out the mailers!

RICHARD
 
The comps system at HR is the worst ever, it was pretty good at first, then they changed it and now I think you have to spend over $100 to get one comp dollar...Just awful. Then they keep your fucking change from the tito cash machines, sorry ass bastards. No more. Biloxi is a much better option for me.
 
We were there Saturday night (15:00 ~ 20:00). Crowded is not the word to use. Packed to capacity. One of the garages had to be shut down temporarily - full! I have never seen this many people in the casino...ever! I think a lot of this is snowbirds...gonna have to eyeball the license plates next time I'm over that way.

And for those of you playing along at home, the answer is "the big cards giveth, and the small cards taketh away." Those dots are easily connectable. :thumbsdown:
 
Dean,
I didn’t think the parking fee was a good idea when HR initiated it but I actually came to agree with it following its implementation for three reasons. The first was the closure of the surface parking lot along Hillsborough due to construction eliminating 25% of their parking creating considerable more congestion in the remaining areas. The second reason was that it reduced many of the trouble makers showing up each weekend. The third reason was that they really did need additional security in the parking lots for the first two concerns. You had under aged punks driving around the property looking for an easy mark to rob or to just be malicious.

I saw this on the HR website just posted today confirming what you had written. “TAMPA, Fla. (February 16, 2017) – Free self-parking returns to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa on Tuesday, Feb. 21, with free self-parking in all garages. The change comes in response to guest concerns, re-opening of nearly 500 parking spaces on a surface parking lot, as well as the planned April opening of…. The initial posting stated that non card holders would still pay $5 but that is gone now.

I know the return of free parking will make a lot of folks happy once the word gets around but I think it was dumb to do so until they get the new Orient garage opened. We spoke to some regulars who are HR pals on Saturday afternoon. They had arrived to the south garage around noon only to find it full after driving around it for over a half hour. They were the ones to tell the toll attendant to close the garage. If you thought HR was packed earlier, you should have seen the title wave of people pouring in around 11:00 pm! They weren’t players. These people are the ones which contributed to the closure of Floyd’s restaurant which became a nightclub after 10:00pm on weekends. It was only a matter pf time until one of those patrons left and killed any number of people on the Interstate.
 
Well, apparently the security aspect needs some tweaking. Some guy got beat up there on Wednesday morning...MORNING! I'm guessing someone followed him out and robbed the old guy. I hate shit like that. We'll see what happens, but I think the pay-to-park experiment has run its course.
 
tampa hard rock also removed their last few %99 video poker games under $5. Their games are bad, comps are worse and they don't give change. But they might let you park there for free, sometimes.
 
scrappy said:
they don't give change.
Click to expand...

What does that mean?

You mean like you have a $50.35 paper ticket but the ATM only spits out $50 in cash and prints another ticket for $0.35 that you have to take to the cashier (or obviously use on another machine)?
 
for coins you must go to the cage (usually long lines and not worth it) and thats why there are a lot of tickets laying around.
 
Last saturday was a nightmare, I never even made it into the casino because of the parking situation. Charging for parking definitely had an impact on the amount of patrons on most days. Maybe with a new President some changes will occur to improve the payback and comps, but I doubt it. I've lost way too much money there, but since they are the only game for slots in town and it's not always possible to get away. I'll go occasionally and hope for the best.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top