Recent trip report writtten by a vpFREE Member and posted here
with their permission:
The following are my highly subjective thoughts of a first stay
at South Point.
Arriving At The South Point:
My first impression of the casino floor, was of a large,
rectangular, brightly lit Video Poker factory. As I Dragged my
wheelie to the Front Desk, I stopped to look at games and pay
tables on various machines. I was gratified to find 16/10 NSUD
in every denom. on most boxes. I knew immediately, that I would
enjoy staying and playing here.
There was no one else waiting to check-in when I reached the
Front Desk. Initially, I had been slightly disappointed at the
the lack of a VIP check-in area, as I have found this type of
facility to be a great, time saving convenience in other casinos.
At this time it was not at all necessary.
An efficient desk clerk inquired as to my room type preference,
found a suitable room, and gave me the key. When I inquired
where the card club was located, so I could have player cards
printed, he volunteered to make the cards for me. He then
pointed me towards the hotel elevators. Ten minutes after
arriving, I was in my room.
The Hotel Room:
Upon entering the room, which was three doors from the elevator,
as requested, I was pleased to note the spacious size, the light
streaming through the wall-to-wall draperies, and the general
brightness and cleanliness of the accommodation.
Peeking through the drapes, I was gazing down on a lovely pool
area, with tasteful and abundant landscaping.
The room was accessed through an entrance hall, which contained a
gold framed, full length mirror.
A nice bathroom was comprised of a good sized, single sink vanity
area, and a separate bath and toilet room, containing a phone
extension. All of the usual toiletry amenities were there, in
addition to an adequate supply of very ordinary towels, which I
found to be thin and lacking in softness. Also missing was a
bathroom TV and make-up mirror. The bathroom lighting was
excellent.
The bedroom area contained two Queen beds (as requested) with a
night table and lamp between them. Additionally, there were
excellent overhead reading lights, over each bed, which could be
operated while remaining in bed. A large flat screen, HD TV set
faced the bed, over a wide dresser. There was also a desk and
chair, with a wifi port, two lounge chairs flanking an occasional
table, and a small round table and two chairs for snacking in the
room. The furniture was fresh looking and in subdued good taste,
as were the draperies and bed linens. The desert colors palette
was mostly done in beiges, golds and pale orange. But the room
really shone in the number of light fixtures provided. (Forgive
the word play, please!) I counted NINE in the bedroom. Very
desirable and unusual, particularly in a mid-range priced hotel.
Using my arbitrary room rating system for "locals casinos", I
would assign the South Point rooms 4 points on a scale of 1 to 5.
For comparison purposes, I would rate the M rooms a 5, and the
old Silverton rooms, prior to remodeling, a 3.
The Card Club:
At the card club I perused a brochure which explained the club
rules.
I learned that one point was earned for each dollar wagered,
regardless of the type of machine. VP play earned at the same
rate as Reel or Video Slot play. This unusual feature both
surprised and pleased me.
The points were valued, at the same rate of redemption, for use
as casino comps, free play or cash back, at the rate of 4,000
points = $12.00 in cash back.
Free Play could be accessed without leaving a machine, by
enabling the "Bonus Credits" feature in the card reader. Handy
(I guess) for those who lose all the money in their wallet and
wish to continue playing.
I knew ahead of time that Michael Gaughan, owner of SP, does not
believe in "elite tiers" for bigger players. Each player is in
the same tier and is issued the same card, whether they play
through $100 or $10,000 per day. Of course, comps, mailers and
other offers are still based on coin-in, theo etc. From the
point of view of the casino, I disagree with the concept. I
believe that when management recognizes the loyalty of a heavier
player by granting additional perks, that it encourages the
player to continue play that is commensurate with retaining elite
status. I also believe that most players appreciate being
recognized as valued patrons.
The card club promotion on that Tuesday was a card swipe (after a
small minimum amount of play) for various prizes. My card swipe
resulted in an additional 500 points being added to my daily
total. The second time that I swiped, on the following Thursday,
I scored a $10.00 off coupon, good in any SP restaurant.
On a less pleasant note, I was not happy with a conversation I
had with a card club employee and her supervisor, regarding
approximately 4,000 points which mysteriously disappeared from my
account.
I discovered the missing points some time after playing next to
two friends, one of whom glanced at my card reader and commented
that I had accumulated over 12,000 points on my first day in Las
Vegas. An hour later, after leaving that machine, and putting
the player's card in a different machine, only 8.000 points were
recorded. When I called this to attention of the card club booth
person, after waiting in a LONG line, I was informed that "points
can't disappear". Asking for her supervisor netted me the
explanation, that "I had possibly read the total wrong
initially."
When I related this experience to my two friends who had also
seen the 12,000 points registered, they verified that I was not
delusional. The card reader had said exactly that.
Because my host was extremely gracious to me, I choose to drop
the matter, and not mention it to her. I didn't believe that
pursuing the equivilant of $12.00 in cash back, was a good
exchange for possibly alienating a very good host.
The VP Inventory:
South Point has an excellent selection of VP. Most games were
offered in denoms. from .25c to $2.00. Though none of the base
games is over 100% EV, most are full pay. As of Mid-January,
they include:
NSUD, BDLX, DDB, Single-line & Multi-play JOB & BP plus MS.
STP, QQ & SP. However, the best Joker game that I could find was
a bank of .25c single-line 5/7/18/4700 boxes.
The Restaurants:
The only South Point restaurants which I tried were the Deli, The
Buffet. The Coffee Shop and Primarily Prime Rib.
In the Deli I ordered a Hot Dog. It was a NY style, colorless
(and in this case flavorless) anemic looking sausage. I took a
few bites, just enough to stop my tummy rumbles, and discarded
the rest. I also wrote off the Deli for any future snacking.
Though this was not a fair sampling of their menu items, I did
not give them another chance
The SP brunch was good, though my guests and I all agreed that M
had no need to worry about the competition. We were dismayed
that only non-diary creamer was served with coffee. We overcame
this by putting whipped cream from the buffet, in our coffee.
YUM! Even better than half and half.
The weekend brunch buffet had all the usual ingredients, in
addition to really good smoked salmon and a variety of sushi and
sashimi.
The food was fresh looking, of good quality, and offered a fairly
wide selection of brunch items. It was priced fairly at $13.95.
I considered it to be very satisfactory and awarded 4 of my
arbitrary 5 stars.
I sampled both breakfast and dinner in the coffee shop, where
they had real half and half and not the awful non-diary creamer
stuff.
For breakfast I ordered my favorite casino breakfast food; a BLT.
South Point
gets very high marks from me for their BLT preparation. LOTS of
really crispy bacon, sliced, ripe, red tomatoes and dark green
lettuce, heaped on toasted white bread, with a little pot of mayo
···
on the side. Very good eatin'! An enjoyable morning meal, which, including coffee, was priced under $10.00. At dinner, my friends ordered from the Chinese Menu. They said
that the dishes were well prepared, and tasty. I ordered a
Porterhouse steak, which was flavorful, presented very rare, as
requested, but was also a bit "chewy".
The coffee shop earned 3 1/2 points.
I enjoyed treating some family members to dinner at "Primarily
Prime Rib" Restaurant. 0ne of them had inquired had about
dining at Michael's, but I told him that the only way that was
going to happen was if I received a personal comped invitation
from Mr. Gaughan!
We found the PPR prices to be reasonable, the service pleasant
and the food quite good. Because we dined there on the same day
that we had eaten at the M buffet, we were all lacking much
tummy space. We ordered only one appetizer (Hot spinach and
Cheese Dip $6.95), one large baked potato ($5.95) and three
orders of the South Point Prime Rib, thick cut ($14.95). All the
food was very good. The beef was presented to the table very
rare, as ordered. I awarded PPR 4 out of 5 stars.
Though, IMO, the good features of South Point far outweighed the
bad, I am listing my highly subjective overall opinions about the
casino. Suffice it to say, I intend to return again, which is a
recommendation in itself.
What I LOVED About The South Point:
The SUPER VP inventory, headed by the largest number of 16/10
NSUD games, that I've seen in any casino.
The friendly employees
The spacious, nicely appointed, very clean rooms
The reasonably priced restaurants, offering good food and value
My very gracious host
Being able to track daily coin-in on the card reader
It is only about a 5 minute drive from the M buffet.
What I Disliked About The South Point:
No "elite" tiers in the card club.
No line passes
Long waits at the card club
No VIP check-in
No 1/2 & 1/2 or cream in the buffet
Some "double talk" from card club employees regarding
"disappearing earned points"
The casino was INUDATED with young kids on Friday night. The
crowds and the kid's shrill voices as they raced around the
casino drove me to my room at 7:30pm.