Maybe on the Strip I might be considered riff-raff.

Downtown, at the Cal I might be a mini-whale. Or at best a very fat goldfish.

Maybe.

The issue is "whales" want bigger rooms and not your standard 250sq foot one.  then the companies have various casinos for different clientel. A whale won't usually stay at Excalibur, but instead NYNY at min.

It comes down to diersifying and knowing your clientel.  The casinos pushed as hard as they could and alienated many.  This resulted in months in not a year of loss income from these people. Now they're trying to get them back, which would take time too.

I remember when Summer was slow, so they made summer specials during summer. But they did it too late as many people book vacays months in advance due to requesting time off from work.  This is their mindset, thinking of "what can we get away with". The majority demographic that would take this are the weekend drivers coming in from CA or so on last minute decisions.

All those emptry rooms, keep in mind 2 casinos are missing. So it would be even more.

My daughter is a teacher and keeps in touch with her former students.  2 of her former students are in Vegas right now.

Stuck at the airport.   Their flights have been canceled and the airlines are working to get them home.

Plus they said most of the places they went to eat at was junk.  Overpriced and one buffet they went to seemed to have food that was either from the day before or sitting under the heat lamp too long.

Moral of the story:  Don't eat at buffets since visitor count is down, the food will not be refreshed as often.

My daughter is a teacher and keeps in touch with her former students.  2 of her former students are in Vegas right now.

Stuck at the airport.   Their flights have been canceled and the airlines are working to get them home.

Plus they said most of the places they went to eat at was junk.  Overpriced and one buffet they went to seemed to have food that was either from the day before or sitting under the heat lamp too long.

Moral of the story:  Don't eat at buffets since visitor count is down, the food will not be refreshed as often.

I tried the MGM buffet years ago, and I was completely underwhelmed.  Seemed most were there for the crab legs, which meant a 20-30 minute wait for yours if the Fuller Family put their order in ahead of you.  The rest of the food was so-so, nothing to write home about.  The price back then was not cheap, so I'm guessing it's not gotten better.

The Main St Station had a wide variety, but again, the quality didn't blow my socks off.  But, if you left hungry, it's your own fault.  Cost was surprisingly high for downtown, but still affordable if you don't intend to eat again the rest of the day!  I usually used a comp, and one time it was a New Year's Eve party i was invited to from The Cal. 

The best IMO was the Fremont Hotel's Friday Seafood Buffet.  Super variety, good to excellent quality, fresh and plentiful.  Cost was a few bucks if you had the Boyd's food coupon.  If not, it was still affordable and a great value.  Comp's were made for these types of restaurants.  You get to enter through a shorter line than the riffraff ( ), and you get excellent service since the wait staff knows you're a preferred guest.

My problem is I'm not interested in eating until I'm in pain.  So, the amount of food for my dollar isn't the great value it used to be.

i think it was Golden Gate, but might have been 4 Queens, where I went to ask about the buffet.  They had stopped the buffet and turned it into kind of a cafeteria type thing.  Go through the line, pick what you like, and they charge per item.

My daughter is a teacher and keeps in touch with her former students.  2 of her former students are in Vegas right now.

Stuck at the airport.   Their flights have been canceled and the airlines are working to get them home.

Plus they said most of the places they went to eat at was junk.  Overpriced and one buffet they went to seemed to have food that was either from the day before or sitting under the heat lamp too long.

Moral of the story:  Don't eat at buffets since visitor count is down, the food will not be refreshed as often.

At least they got delayed on the way back and not when going.

there are only 2 buffets on the strip worth it's cost. Bacchanal and Wynn.  All others are way overpriced.

The moral of the story is watch reviews before going.  Or ask friends who are regulars.  I guess many have old vegas in their mind still.

Wynn is up 10% and in general the strip is down 6% gaming revenue.  Wynn's room occupancy was down.  What this means is that they know their market.  THey stated they were not trying to fill rooms, so no lower pricing or comps to not their ideal market.  Seems like they learned from covid reopening as when they and Palazzo/Venetian gave free rooms to lower income people, they got lower income problems.  Like more fights on the casino floors.  Palaz/Ven were the first to revoke giving comps to this demographic, followed shortly by Wynn.

So Wynn's statement about not lowering room prices makes sense.

At least Wynn gives free parking to hotel guest. Most do not. Wynn's snacks/drinks avaiable in their rooms also is lower than other hotels on the strip.  I mean, they're still much higher than Walgreens, but not $25 for a bottle of water.

He's doing the vid for clicks.  All the areas he's showing typically are dead.

The areas surrounding Fremont st is never busy, even precovid.  Fremont st itself doesn't pick up until the sun goes down.

Fashion Show Mall also is typically empty like how he showed.  Even precovid.

The area infront Palazzo is also usually empty like that as it isn't a high traffic area.

The area in front the LINQ,Harrahs, Flamingo is like that since Covid. The days of shoulder to shoulder of people in that high traffic area hasn't returned.  This is the new "normal".

The Bellagio area did seem emptier than normal though as thats a high traffic area at all times of day.

IMO, he's jumping on the band wagon as Vegas has been like this since Covid and it's been 4 years now.

Lot of locals and of course visitors are saying: F----F1!!!

I cracked up at one of the comments below the video:  "I can't imagine why someone would sit in a stand and watch a car zip by".

During set up and break down times locals living in nearby condos report 45 minutes just to get out of their fricken parking garages.  Nuts.

Went to vegas this past week.

The bright idea fairy came and decided to make the entry to the strip, 1 way in and 1 way out. Instead of the years prior 2 directional roads.

Spoke to some workers who had to travel to the strip and it took abt 4 hours. Leaving took only 30 mins, but thats at 5am.

Tips are unknown yet as my sources worked a banquet style, which means auto grat that shows up in the next paycheck. And auto grat at 1 location i know of wasnt 18% like how u see on a restaurant bill for a part over 8. It was 5%. But 5% of a $50,000 table can add up. IMO it should be 15%.

It was much busier than last thanksgiving. Last one it was mainly indians and middle easterns. This year it was everyone. The strip was shoulder to shoulder of people. Havent seen it like this since precovid. Lots of families (kids) also.

Casinos werent as busy. That was abt the same as last year. I think the families who come dont gamble very much thats why.

Caesars on a friday night abt 7pm was dead on the gaming floor. Abt 3 people playing craps, they even had $15 tables. BJ had maybe 30% tables full. Slots were 30% full at best.

Compare this to venetian who had 3 full tables of craps players ($25min). Abt 80% BJ tables full, abt 75% slots full.

This was the 1st time in years that the venetian didnt have $15 craps in the day time. All week it was $25.

I hit the below. Was playing $3 spins, but decided to switch to $10 spins. Hit this on the 1st spin of $10.

Car traffic was the same as last year, even with the F1 stuff up still.

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Primm used to be a great place to visit.  If the Strip is deemed "dead", Primm is deader than dead, lol!

My first visit there, I played craps as a newbie in the Primm casino.  Didn't know what da hell I was doing but only knew how to play passline and make come bets.

Ended up clearing $800 profit at a $5 table.

Sad to see and hear places like this die.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Wor_zBrzJfo

There might still be hope for the Strip:


https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Cd65mf843Ds

YTD
Vegas incoming tourism down 8% or 3 million visitors compared to last year. But gaming on strip is up about 1% from last year and about even downtown.

Follow up to my friend who worked a banquet style this F1 instead of just a regular bartender type.  The "banquet" style has tables you can buy and a automatic 5% gratuity.  So a table for 2 by the window and it cost $50,000.

She made this time about $3K, which is much better than the last 2 F1's where she only made like $40 and $70 for each years entire F1 weekend.

Well, I just got back from my Vegas trip yesterday.

Had a lot of fun.  Avoided the Strip entirely.  And for someone with my age, preferences, and disdain for lack of value, I didn't miss anything by not going there.

Stayed and played Downtown where things are more relaxed, prices are more reasonable, and people and casino employees are much nicer and friendlier.  Nothing fancy or pretty or mind-blowing but things and conditions that speak to my heart.

Rented a car and visited local casinos, checked out the Bass Pro Shop.  The firearms and ammunition section were really busy.  They set up comfortable seatings for people waiting to be served by the clerks and I think it's a "pick and number" type of system.  Lots of people buying firearms.  And there were lots to choose from!  Ammunition was displayed right out on the floor, from cases to smaller packs ranging in all calibers.

Really makes you think how different a free state lives vs. a state where banana trees grow all over the place and politicians are more concerned about criminals than law-abiding citizens.  (hint hint) guess which state I'm talking about.

I'm diabetic and I really let myself go this trip.  Sometimes I forgot to take my meds and I drank lots of Coronas with lime, (only time I drink is when I am in Vegas) and ate things I shouldn't be eating in excess.  Played at the craps tables for hours, one session 8 hours straight, then slept 2 hours then played another session for 7 hrs. straight.  My ankles and calves were swollen from the hours of just standing, refusing (out of stupid pride) to accept a chair that the dealers were offering me.

Now it's time to get back to my regimen.  Watch my diet, not drinking, and resume exercising.  I did go to the hotel's small fitness room and did some dumbell presses and jumped on the treadmill.

I was already 10 lbs overweight when I left for Vegas.  I gained 4 lbs. there.

Lot of work to do.  Another New Year.  At my age it's one day at a time and being thankful to wake up and see another day.

For nov, thats a major month due to F1, tourist were down almost 10%.

Like i said, people avoiding nov due to the F1 BS.

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