I had some annoyingly bad service issues at Harrahs New Orleans this
weekend. First my limo failed to show at airport and when I phoned, they had
the wrong flight, time, and carrier. I took a taxi and my host reimbursed me
and insisted he'd sent in the correct information to the bell desk. I
phoned limo desk and gave them my departure information which they seemed to
have correctly. Fortunately limo did arrive on time to wisk me to airport,
but strangely, limo driver still had wrong carrier.
Then there was the hotel room - after last month's visit with a horribly
made bed, I checked on my bed before I climbed into it. I was on a
completely different floor. Yet again there was a twin or double-sized mattress
cover under the sheets - on a king sized bed! And yet again, the bed had been
poorly made up with the bottom sheet neatly tucked in, but with about 1
foot of it not covering the bottom of the bed - where your feet go.
Obviously something is wrong somewhere! At least this time I was smart enough to
check how the bed was made before I got into it at 3 a.m.!
My phone didn't work and I called on day one for it to be fixed. Day two
- again had to call. Day three called. Finally it was fixed for day 4 (I
was leaving!)
The toilet had a noisy internal drip - this was fixed promptly at least!
The amenity in the room has been changed again - this time to some root
beer and chips and odd snacks. I looked at the root beer and it said - pry
off the lid - but no can opener was in the room or with the amenity.
Finally I kept playing with the lid and was able to twist it off, so I guess it
was a twist-off despite the print. Odd. Harrah's New Orleans always has
some bad amenities. Why don't they just give you a small fruit basket with a
banana and an apple and some nice chocolate chip cookies?
The turn down service keeps running out of their delicious pralines. Why
don't they stock enough?? But annoyingly, they always turn on the radio
for you - I have no idea why! I can turn it on myself if I want to.
They spend a lot of money on having greeters at the door for you, but they
would be better off to spend money on new, properly fitting mattress covers
(protectors) or to have someone inspect rooms for faulty equipment!
(Usually it is the remotes that don't work right!).
Also they will deliver a paper to your door - if you ask -- but why do you
have to remember to ask for this service? And if you ask on Day 1, it
doesn't mean you will get the paper on Day 2 or Day 3.
The maids do a good job of cleaning the room, but the bed making is weird
and seems to be caused by a lack of the right sized mattress covers and not
being taught how to make the bed so the bottom sheet comes down all the way
(this isn't just the 2nd time this has happened, it has been more
frequent).
ยทยทยท
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Re Capping - they are now shortening the length of time you can cap a
machine, thank goodness. I spoke to a host who told me he was glad that several
of us had written letters about this because it was a constant problem for
the hosts (and probably other personnel). Without a note on top of the
machine, the slot people couldn't tell how long a machine had been put out of
service, so sometimes machines were left out of service way longer than
they should have been. Apparently there were constant complaints to hosts
about the capping - but nothing was done until letters were written. This
host is hoping they totally do away with all capping.
For once that annoying couple was not at "their" progressive and I saw a
lot of other people at the progressives and sometimes they were even empty!
Yippie. Also definitely seemed like the numbers of capped machines had
dropped. Thank goodness.
So for some of you doubters, writing a letter can be helpful to solve
problems!!
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Re "Trip of a Lifetime" - no didn't win it. This was a weird promotion.
Only about 50-100 people at the dinner, so probably less than 50 entries,
presumably because you HAD to take the trip on that one two-week period, and
no "cash" equivalent offer either. Decent food and orchestra and
decorations. I figured the odds were probably about 40-1 to win. Several people
were heard complaining afterwards though that there was only 1 prize. If
this drawing really was just offered to some of the better players, couldn't
they have given out say 10 $100 free play prizes or something? Just to
spice it up and make people feel better? Also they should draw for something
like this after 1/2 hour or so, because some people ate and then waited 1
1/2 hrs for the drawing. I was told you didn't need to stay for the actual
drawing but could check at VIP, but some people didn't get this message.
The Trip consisted of a 2 week trip to London and South Africa including a
safari and stops at a number of casinos! Value $40,000 plus a $2000 gift
card for expenses (like meals). I was told the only taxable item would be
the gift card (thank goodness for the winner!) - I guess they will write it
off as some sort of a promotional trip, not a "gift" since they had all
those stops to visit various casinos.
Thankfully no capping at all will be allowed during
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