Returning from east coast trip to NYC/Atlantic City/Lancaster (Amish country)/Philly

[Dan Druff]

Why didn't you try and contact a host to get the suite?

I did.

Here's a copy of a post I made on another forum about this:

I have completed my trip (actually on the flight home right now), and I didn't get a suite.

It was really obnoxious.

The short story is that I have no play history in AC, so they didn't want me to have it, unless I paid a ridiculous upgrade fee for $350 per night.

However, they didn't want to admit this to me, so instead they tried to sell me a story that it was a "busy week" and that "there aren't any available" -- despite the fact that several suites were sitting open, available, and unreserved when I showed up.

So I showed up at the front desk and asked for a suite upgrade. They gave me the same nonsense about having to pay for the suite upgrade. I tried to tell them that all CET properties will upgrade Seven Stars to a suite on their annual trip if they have them sitting open and unreserved. They told me that they're the exception because of a limited number of suites they have.

Then they told me that it was a "really busy week" because of spring break.

I then asked the tough question: "Why does it matter how 'busy' you say it is, if we've already established that several suites are sitting open and available? Apparently the demand for suites isn't there."

Then I got a whole long story about how someone may want to show up and pay full price for the suite, and how they can't just give it to me comp for that reason. "In fact, given how busy we are, that's very likely", said the front desk manager.

I said, "Okay, that's fair. It's 7:30pm now. Would you say at midnight it's safe to say that nobody is going to suddenly show up unannounced and pay full price for a suite? Can I move to a suite at midnight if that happens?"

She said no.

I replied, "Okay, how about 1am? How about 2am? 3am?"

She again said no, and looked flustered.

I then said, "Then how is this about being too busy? You seem to be saying that you won't give me the suite even if it's sitting completely empty at an hour that nobody would be taking it?"

"Umm... because we're busy... ummm... and, uh... this booking isn't upgradeable complimentary, and ummm .... if it were just a less busy time we could totally make this happen, but...well, you need to pay the upgrade fee."

Just a bunch of nonsense over and over. They couldn't explain how this "busy" week required me to pay for the suite if the suites were sitting empty anyway!

I then asked for a host. She looked really frustrated and called one for me. I talked to him. He gave me an even dumber story, stating that they "allocate a certain number of suites for Seven Stars annual trips, and there are no more left", which was a bunch of bullshit. Then he tried to make me feel foolish by saying, "You know, if you hadn't booked at Caesars, we could have probably gotten you a suite. Bally's and Harrah's have far more suites than Caesar's."

I called his bluff and said, "I haven't checked in yet. Let's just move my reservation over to Bally's or Harrah's, if you can book me a suite at one of those."

Then the host started stammering and realized that I caught him in more BS. He didn't mean THIS trip. He wanted me to just go away and feel it was my fault for booking Caesar's.

So of course he looked up both of those properties and I "wasn't entitled" to a suite at either of those.

He suggested I just pay the upgrade fee and let it be comped on the back end "based on play".

Yeah right.

I ended up taking a standard room in the Centurion Tower, eating the $500 worth of food, and then immediately bouncing from AC. I no-played them.

F Atlantic City.

Interestingly, this story isn't too different from my experience in New Orleans in 2015.

Same beginning where I showed up, suites were available, and they refused to give it to me, citing that someone may show up later to buy it at full price.

However, upon my pressing the matter, they contacted a host, discussed it, and decided to just go ahead and let me have it.

I should also note that I was given a suite a few other times in New Orleans without even asking for one.

In AC, they weren't even considering it. It was a flat NO WAY from the get-go.

[Drexel]

I had planned on writing a detailed post regarding my experiences playing the limit Holdem bot starting all the way back in 2009 at Redrock until 2014 when I determined it was no longer beatable as well as the removal of any attached comps, tiers, etc. I may still write one up (it would be long) if there is any demand to read it.

I only bring this up because I initially became a 7 Star member at Caesars in 2012 by solely and only playing the limit holdem bot and I can relate to what Druff posted earlier regarding his experience in Caesars AC.

My first 7 start yearly trip was to Lake Tahoe. Although I had no history at that property, they did (at my request) book me into a nice suite for the duration of my trip.

My next 7 star trip was to Caesars AC which I again had no history. I haven't thought about this for ages, but I remember they also gave me the run around about no suites being available, even though my trip began mid-week! I assumed they could see my play in Vegas and didn't realize not having a history there was the cause. They were adamant they just had no availability.

The following year, they denied me a suite for my 7 star trip even though I tried to get one weeks in advance. I ended up booking the standard room, using the $500 folio credit to eat at their steakhouse but I ended up staying in a gorgeous comped ocean view suite at the Revel.

For all it's fail, and there's plenty, the Revel did have gorgeous rooms.

Also, I haven't been to Caesars AC in two years, but on my prior visits they had a 7 star ONLY lounge. Something that isn't available anywhere in Vegas.

This place was incredible!!!!

I remember you were allowed at least one guest free of charge (I always brought someone) and this place rivaled or was better than many gourmet restaurants!!!

Everything was free. The customer was just expected to pay gratuity. The food was what I would consider tappas style, but way way upscale.

Kobe sliders, fresh oysters and clams, tuna tartare, beef carpaccio, huge shrimp cocktail, duck, fresh homemade desserts, and much more.

The first year I stayed there I want to say I ate "dinner" there at least 3 nights. Yeah it was free and saved us money, but more importantly it was very very good.

[David USF]

Had an argument with a pizza place by Times Square. Basically I ordered a pizza and a salad over the phone, and when I showed up, they forgot my entire order. The guy who took the order tried to lie about it, and finally admitted that, yes, he took my order but that the cooks "just didn't get it" (meaning he forgot). Dude didn't apologize once, and was a total dickhead about it. It was some asshole, young Puerto Rican guy, and he was aggressive and nasty with me from the start. I asked if he could at least prioritize my order ahead of everyone else, because mine should have been done already, and he refused.

LOL @ expecting first class service from an independent business anywhere near Times Square. Double LOL for thinking they'd kiss your ass to remedy the situation. You were indeed lucky they didn't kick you out.

At that point, I decided I was done with them, so I told them to go ahead and make my food (didn't pay yet), and intentionally never showed up to get it.

Wow, you sure showed them! That huge order will really hurt their profit margin. Ouch!

[David USF]

I've never had four colds in a year in my life.

I did a quick google search and read a few sites such as WebMD and the consensus does seem to be that the average healthy adult does indeed get 2-4 colds per year.

This actually surprised me.

Now this isn't to bash Druff or anything but I always thought he did get more colds than the average adult in his age range. Apparently not.

I have maybe had 2-3 colds at most over the last 10 years, the most recent one being in October of 2016. When I say colds, I mean bad ones. Ones that last numerous days, sometimes lingering well over a week. Not just a sore throat or congestion for a day or two.

Most of the time, I may feel a cold coming on, and I will pound orange juice, vitamin C, fluids etc and within 48 hours I am back to 100%.

To my benefit though, I also am an extreme germophobe. I probably wash my hands on average of 30+ times a day. Always before I eat, anytime I touch money, poker chips, or even shake hands.



ZoD

30+ TIMES A DAY??? Geez. That can't be good for the skin. And I thought my hand washing 8-10 times a day was excessive!

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

Drexel, curiosity question...when did you take your 7* trips in AC? were they during the june-august period or outside of that?

[Dan Druff]

LOL @ expecting first class service from an independent business anywhere near Times Square. Double LOL for thinking they'd kiss your ass to remedy the situation. You were indeed lucky they didn't kick you out.

Why am I lucky they didn't kick me out? I kicked myself out anyway.

You are missing the Yelp/Tripadvisor/Google Reviews factor. That's huge nowadays. People in an area like Times Square look up pizza there and typically go to the best rated one. There's no clear leader over there, and every 1-star pulls them down and can mean far less business down the road, especially if others give 1-star reviews over similar poor service.

Ten years ago, the average tourist customer didn't need to be kept happy, because he had zero power to influence the success or failure of the business. Now restaurants need to be careful not to piss people off, unless they have overwhelmingly good reviews to where anything bad will be drowned out.

At that point, I decided I was done with them, so I told them to go ahead and make my food (didn't pay yet), and intentionally never showed up to get it.

Wow, you sure showed them! That huge order will really hurt their profit margin. Ouch!

I felt it was an appropriate "fuck you" to them after what happened.

[Dan Druff]

Because I had the family with me, I didn't bother to go into the 7 Star lounge, as kids aren't allowed in there.

I have heard that it's very nice.

In fact, these lounges are so coveted that people pay hundreds of dollars to get a 7 Star Companion Card -- something which is seen as mostly worthless in Vegas and other western Caesars locations.

[Brittney Griner's Clit]

Wow. I'm really surprised Chirs "Birdman" Andersen had sex with a 17 year old girl.

[Dan Druff]

I should point out one other thing.

I have said many times that Seven Stars is a schizophrenic program.

What I mean by that is the fact that it's a great marketing tool for Caesars, but at the same time, it annoys the hell out of hosts and individual properties.

Why?

Because for decades, casino comps have been a "what have you done for us lately" exercise.

Your comps would always be given based upon either your play during your last few trips (advance comps) or your play during your current trip (back-end comps). Thus, each property could be confident that the comps they were giving were attached to some sort of (presumably -EV) play which occurred recently.

Seven Stars ruined all of that. Once you earn it, you have up to two years of guaranteed benefits, even if you repeatedly stay in comp rooms and don't play at all. This makes it very tough on hosts, who are judged by how much play you do versus the comps you redeem.

Furthermore, it misleads the player into believing that he's elite and special. They market it as you attaining their highest status and being one of their true VIPs, which is why it angers people so much when they get denied simple perks such as complimentary suite upgrades on slow nights.

Since Caesars is a mishmash of tons of properties which mostly operate independently (even though most are corporate-owned), this causes another problem. When players travel outside their home market, they are often using the out-of-market property as just a free hotel room, and aren't necessarily making it a gambling trip. This is especially true for the Seven Stars annual trip, which comes with $1200 free airfare and $500 in food credit. Therefore, these properties are sometimes cautious when handing out comps (such as suite upgrades), given that they don't have proof yet that you'll gamble there, even if you do gamble at your home casino.

This isn't defending what Caesars AC did. The last thing you want to do to a potential gambler is piss him off by making it feel like you're not appreciating his business. The problem is that the Caesars AC market has become so paranoid regarding being comp whored that they are shooting themselves in the foot while trying to prevent it.

Caesars could solve some of this mess by simply making a suite guaranteed for the Seven Stars annual trip, instead of leaving it up to the individual property.

They're just infuriating their best customers with this BS.

But no one ever said that Caesars was smart with operations.

[sonatine]

Honestly its just weird seeing people expect anything from Atlantic City in 2017 except scabies.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

Honestly its just weird seeing people expect anything from Atlantic City in 2017 except scabies and utter incompetence.

made one minor addition...anyway to get this post nominated for post of the year for 2017?

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

the smart thing for them to do would make it very, very, very difficult to make 7* via poker/VP...solves a lot of issues...

I know they've made it harder for people to get it via VP, but its obviously not enough...if you are a "hassle" as a VP 7* then they aren't getting enough theo to make it worth their while...if that's the case move the fucking needle...not that fucking difficult...if you want to keep it as is, then you are fine with getting the theo/CI as is...VP 7*s are playing by their rules, so they should be treated as such...and yes I would never say advantage VP players should take priority over whales/etc, but again the time of year we are talking about and time of week it's a moot point...

the marketing in that organization is fucked as fucked can be...the CMO left in may of 2016, think he went to google...id be willing to bet a ton of money he left because the marketing operation is such a fucking mess...

and yes I would love for all the high priced execs to lose their fucking shirts while somehow have it not affect the front line workers...unfortunately that'll never happen...

[Dan Druff]

the smart thing for them to do would make it very, very, very difficult to make 7* via poker/VP...solves a lot of issues...

I know they've made it harder for people to get it via VP, but its obviously not enough...if you are a "hassle" as a VP 7* then they aren't getting enough theo to make it worth their while...if that's the case move the fucking needle...not that fucking difficult...if you want to keep it as is, then you are fine with getting the theo/CI as is...VP 7*s are playing by their rules, so they should be treated as such...and yes I would never say advantage VP players should take priority over whales/etc, but again the time of year we are talking about and time of week it's a moot point...

the marketing in that organization is fucked as fucked can be...the CMO left in may of 2016, think he went to google...id be willing to bet a ton of money he left because the marketing operation is such a fucking mess...

and yes I would love for all the high priced execs to lose their fucking shirts while somehow have it not affect the front line workers...unfortunately that'll never happen...

That's a good point. As much as I'd hate it if they moved the "needle" of making 7 Stars farther away to where it becomes prohibitively expensive for advantage players to obtain, it would be the smarter move for them. That would eliminate the issue of their constant paranoia that "Seven Stars grinders" are getting over on them, though I'm sure we'd still see the bullshit where certain properties like Caesars AC are nervous that out of market players still won't play much.

Honestly if they moved it from 150k tier credits to 500k, that would separate the low-value Seven Stars from the high-value ones.

They've already set aside a few extra benefits for 500k+ tier players, so why not just move Seven Stars there, and be done with it?

I think they're afraid that they will scare away the lower Seven Stars players who are still profitable to them, but they can't continue with this schizophrenic bullshit where their highest tier players are often treated like assholes.

I'm not even all that pissed, because I know what I'm dealing with. I understand Caesars and knowingly wade into the cespool, being aware of what I can get out of it despite the frequent frustration.

But for the average gambler... I really do wonder why they bother.

[David USF]

Why am I lucky they didn't kick me out? I kicked myself out anyway.

Because it's Noo Yawk. They have less tolerance for customers who raise a stink.

You are missing the Yelp/Tripadvisor/Google Reviews factor. That's huge nowadays. People in an area like Times Square look up pizza there and typically go to the best rated one. There's no clear leader over there, and every 1-star pulls them down and can mean far less business down the road, especially if others give 1-star reviews over similar poor service.

Ten years ago, the average tourist customer didn't need to be kept happy, because he had zero power to influence the success or failure of the business. Now restaurants need to be careful not to piss people off, unless they have overwhelmingly good reviews to where anything bad will be drowned out.

All this doesn't matter in an area where the majority of customers are tourists. Most of them don't bother to check the reviews, especially tourists from other countries. Besides, the Yelp factor is overrated anyway, as not all bad reviews can be trusted to be fair.

At that point, I decided I was done with them, so I told them to go ahead and make my food (didn't pay yet), and intentionally never showed up to get it.

Wow, you sure showed them! That huge order will really hurt their profit margin. Ouch!

I felt it was an appropriate "fuck you" to them after what happened.

Yeah, I'm sure they felt totally fucked. In reality, they were thinking "later, fag".

[Dan Druff]

This place is located on a side street about 1 1/2 blocks from Times Square. It's a tiny place and does not have much of a street presence. I doubt they get all that much foot traffic.

We're not talking about the Olive Garden with a huge sign and huge presence in the middle of Times Square. That type of place is mostly immune to shit reviews.

I'm pretty sure they survive these days from the mostly good Yelp ratings, which is what many people do these days when searching for a place to eat in a city unknown to them.

I would agree with your assessment in 2007, but not in 2017.

[David USF]

This place is located on a side street about 1 1/2 blocks from Times Square. It's a tiny place and does not have much of a street presence. I doubt they get all that much foot traffic.

Meh. Close enough. Then again, I don't know what the location looks like, so you may be right in this case.

We're not talking about the Olive Garden with a huge sign and huge presence in the middle of Times Square. That type of place is mostly immune to shit reviews.

I'm pretty sure they survive these days from the mostly good Yelp ratings, which is what many people do these days when searching for a place to eat in a city unknown to them.

I would agree with your assessment in 2007, but not in 2017.

When considering businesses in tourist areas, I bet more people would agree with me.

[handicapme]

This place is located on a side street about 1 1/2 blocks from Times Square. It's a tiny place and does not have much of a street presence. I doubt they get all that much foot traffic.

We're not talking about the Olive Garden with a huge sign and huge presence in the middle of Times Square. That type of place is mostly immune to shit reviews.

I'm pretty sure they survive these days from the mostly good Yelp ratings, which is what many people do these days when searching for a place to eat in a city unknown to them.

I would agree with your assessment in 2007, but not in 2017.

See this is where you are wrong. I tried telling you in person that the review won't impact them 1 bit. While they may not be in timesquare, their location is close enough that they will 100% get the traffic from both tourist and regular working people. The review was more to make you feel better, it will have 0.0 impact to them.

[Dan Druff]

This place is located on a side street about 1 1/2 blocks from Times Square. It's a tiny place and does not have much of a street presence. I doubt they get all that much foot traffic.

We're not talking about the Olive Garden with a huge sign and huge presence in the middle of Times Square. That type of place is mostly immune to shit reviews.

I'm pretty sure they survive these days from the mostly good Yelp ratings, which is what many people do these days when searching for a place to eat in a city unknown to them.

I would agree with your assessment in 2007, but not in 2017.

See this is where you are wrong. I tried telling you in person that the review won't impact them 1 bit. While they may not be in timesquare, their location is close enough that they will 100% get the traffic from both tourist and regular working people. The review was more to make you feel better, it will have 0.0 impact to them.

How can you say 0.0 impact?

Most tourists on Times Square have no idea they're there, and would not even have occasion to walk by the store, since it's 1.5 blocks in a direction they're not likely to walk too often.

And if they did walk by, it's a tiny place with a low profile, so they could easily miss it and not even realize it's a pizza place.

So aside from locals, how would most customers find them without sites like Yelp?

I'm telling you... this place is mostly being found via internet searches.

If my 1-star review is what pushes their average slightly below some other place near Times Square, they will suffer big time. And if not, a few more 1-stars combined with mine could easily do this in the future.

Again, unless your business gets lots of foot traffic or word-of-mouth traffic, or unless you are far and away the top performer on the review sites, then bad reviews will always hurt your business.

[simpdog]

How many people actually look at yelp for a pizza joint?

I might look for a good Italian/Mexican/whatever restaurant, but for pizza I'm either on foot/driving around/looking through a phone book.

*But I may be out of touch on a subject like this.

[handicapme]

See this is where you are wrong. I tried telling you in person that the review won't impact them 1 bit. While they may not be in timesquare, their location is close enough that they will 100% get the traffic from both tourist and regular working people. The review was more to make you feel better, it will have 0.0 impact to them.

How can you say 0.0 impact?

Most tourists on Times Square have no idea they're there, and would not even have occasion to walk by the store, since it's 1.5 blocks in a direction they're not likely to walk too often.

And if they did walk by, it's a tiny place with a low profile, so they could easily miss it and not even realize it's a pizza place.

So aside from locals, how would most customers find them without sites like Yelp?

I'm telling you... this place is mostly being found via internet searches.

If my 1-star review is what pushes their average slightly below some other place near Times Square, they will suffer big time. And if not, a few more 1-stars combined with mine could easily do this in the future.

Again, unless your business gets lots of foot traffic or word-of-mouth traffic, or unless you are far and away the top performer on the review sites, then bad reviews will always hurt your business.

Again in that location it will have no impact to their bottom line. Just way to much foot traffic from working people in the area + proximity to TS. I understand why you did it and I'm not knocking it for you like others but you need to realize that them losing 5 customers(if that) over your review means nothing to them. You don't have a location that close to TS that has been open for yrs relying on good reviews at this point, they could care less tbh. Think about the amount of rent they are paying for that location....

I know places in that area that have roaches crawling on thier deli meat and have 2star reviews.... They're still open 5yrs later (last time I worked around there). They're obv still making a profit otherwise they would close and I'm sure they don't give a fuck about thier 2stars on yelp at this pt.