I don't know if you've heard, but I go to Las Vegas every once in a while. I am fascinated and a little sad with the way that the place has changed since my first trip - as a 21 year old. Don't get me wrong... it is not like the magic is gone. Sure things have become impersonal, corporate ... and frankly, a little cheesy... ok a lot cheesy. In fact, Las Vegas is California with better tourists and nicer restaurants. But the magic is still there. Where else can you eat Mall Chinese for lunch and Five Star Cuisine for dinner (in the same building), where else can you buy 5 t-shirts for 10 dollars and one jacket for 5000, where else can you play Keno while eating your breakfast, where else do beautiful women wearing almost nothing expect you to stare at their chest and rear ends and where else can you see billionaire CEO's (and their thousand dollar hookers) rubbing shoulders with tattoo covered, beer bellied yokels? You know, many people try to tell me Las Vegas is about greed, gluttony and materialism. Well those people just don't get it. Las Vegas is about self awareness. How often does one find themselves in a place where they can get virtually anything, anytime? People that are insecure won't like Las Vegas. People that haven't realized that life is about much more than money... won't like it here. Survival in Las Vegas is simply about living. It is about risk, reward and self control. Gambling isn't fun is you are willing to part with the money. You are, more often then not, paying a high premium for the lights, drinks and adrenaline provided by Casinos.
Given my take on things, there are relative changes that I have noticed in the spirit of Las Vegas. The paradigm has shifted from classy, personal casinos, operated by the mob and entertainment folks... to corporations (big ones). The Las Vegas hotel ownership has woken up to the reality that this business, like any other, is a simple numbers game. Get the folks to stay and play on your terms. And since some very large corporations have stepped into that role by operating most of the largest casino, hotels, those terms have come to be crappy odds. This means higher minimums, lower odds, slanted rules (like dealer must hit soft 17), being nickel and dimed at even the nicest hotels and much higher thresholds of playing to get comps. I can remember when you could just sit down at any sportsbook and get doused in free booze. Now-a-days, you need drink tickets (given sparringly with bets in that book).
This time I am staying at the Westin Casuarina. Make no mistake it is a Westin, the rooms are well planned and impeccably decorated. But the Spa and Pool are a little lame (even compared to other Westins). The casino is really kind of sad. It is small and sort of depressing and the music is just awful (I think they are letting the starbucks pick the tunes). Nonetheless, the other larger casinos are taking a page from the starwood strategy book. Properties like Bellagio and theHOTEL have ultra luxurious rooms for the regular guests (not just VIP's). Cab service has gotten more expensive and worse around here (which is odd given the legislation to improve it). The club scene here just seems to get more and more crazy. After hours places like Drai's have large crowds until 6 am. The Fashion Show (mall) is so damn big, they should have cabs inside it. posted by Keith at 10:36 PM
