Hi all --
Well, I got over the halfway mark last night with Sam's Town, so there are two
remaining -- Mirage and Venetian. Better to take the time and do it right.
My wife mentioned that (1) today's my birthday and (2) we've got some
"today-only" money waiting in Bally's AC and -- most important! -- (3) there's
still a small inventory of large bills left over from Vegas. So we really
have to take some time out today. This'll resume in 12 hours or so.
Meanwhile, I think I can quickly answer a couple quick questions that showed
up in the digest:
The "Bush" recession??? If one must bring politics into the threads, at
least have the facts correct. The recession started in the summer of 2000.
There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that if Robert Rubin had stayed Sec
of Treasury, the 2nd or 3rd quarter '00 dip would have bounced right back.
"W" spent a lot of time in his campaign talking about the stock market being
too high. Guess what? He got his wish. Karl Rove remembered what happened
to Pappy Bush in '92, and now the stock market's outperforming the economy.
Think it'll stay up after November '04?
Now, if Ashcroft ever gets around to locking up Enron honcho + major Bush dono
Kenny Lay, I'll start to believe -- like the rest of the world -- that this
administration is finally interested in establishing some credibility, instead
of exclusively fousing on personal enrichment. Been watching the dollar
lately? (Tried to make a Euro trip lately?)
From: "Harry Porter" <harry.porter@verizon.net>
Orange group rating for LVH, huh? I thought that would be reserved for New
York New York :).
Harry, I think it would be ... if we ever stayed there. But I don't think
Park Place, overall, deserves a dark blue. 
(Maybe Caesar's.)
I thought this coding might be innovative and allow more freedom of
interpretation than a numerical ranking, especially since AC is "home" to the
Monopoly board game. I did not really consider that anyone hadn't played
Monopoly (or forgot the various property relationships). For those people, a
visit to http://www.monopoly.com should solve the problem. [Anything you want
to find on the Net, prefix an "http--" to and add dot-com or dot-org, and
you're probably there already. ]
-- The cocktail waitress service is indeed inconsistent at best. But I
hardly think that, or quirks of any other LVH personnel, has much if anything
to do with the acquisition. (They've long been noted.)
I hadn't followed this forum until a couple-three months ago, then tried to
zoom through the last 5000 posts or so too quickly. If LVH had had an
historic problem, I honestly didn't see the mention here.
That also means there's a heavier burden on management to correct the issue,
and so (if I'd known, when it happened) I would have raised a WHOLE lot more
stink. That level of behavior has no place in a casino.
-- Your assessment of the deal itself is based upon sketchy knowledge of
details at best. As far as the effect of a potential timeshare, well there's
one already on the general property and plenty of space for another. I
wouldn't sweat it.
Absolutely. I'd love to learn the details, and so will be tracking the stock
of PPE to see what shows in their next 10-Q. (Quarterly financial statement to
the SEC, including management discussion.)
The financial analysts rate the sale "good" for PPE to reduce the debt burden.
These are the same people -- I've worked with a lot of them -- who would ALSO
rate the sale of your soul to the Devil as "good", if it measurably improved
your bottom line. And I think that when the LVH goes, PPE as a company loses
what's left of its soul -- not that you want to carry one around in Vegas all
the time.
A good deal of it reflects the aggressive improvement plan for Caesars LV
which may bear out extraordinarily successfully in the long term.
Again -- an excellent observation. Caesars has major changes happening.
I think, though, that there are probably a number of people right here in this
Yahoo group who have the knowledge, experience, and cojones to make the LVH a
"hitter". I look from the outside at the property, and all I see is a forest
of opportunity. Must be there's something in the trees (of detail, to
continue the metaphor) that just makes it unworkable.
... I have to wonder from your account if you may have missed some of the
better VP opportunities at LVH. Did you check the directory here?)
Yes, and to be honest, I'm sure there were a lot better plays all over the
City than I found in our limited time to research and play.
Even though the vpFree database is a HUGE help with respect to machine
inventory, there's a thread going on right now about whether "pro's" should
offer up all the "good" plays they find to the public at large. (Someone like
Bob Dancer will wait a respectable 3-6 months AFTER a promotion or other
advantage play ends to bother to tell people about it.) So -- we follow the
notion of "Trust, but verify", and look for ourselves. And some games (like
All American) I have yet to master to the point where I'm ready to play with
Real money.
Also -- if you look at the vpFree entry for the LVH right now with respect to
their comping ... there's just too much. I think the corporate policy changes
all the time. The casino hosts change all the time, and the policy seems to
change with each of them.
In a scenario like that, the computer history of your play only goes so far in
determining what comps you'll get. Better to wear a really nice watch (better
than a Rolex, I mean) and shoes (jewelry, for the ladies) and look like the
kind of person they'd like to see more of on their property. Our Tumi black
leather luggage is a real PITA to carry around, but gets us noticed... while
the heavy stuff goes in the old Samsonite.
From: "Nancy Liedel" <naliedel@earthlink.net>
[ re: RIO Trip Report ]
So you're saying you didn't like it?
ROTFL! Nancy, I do not normally suggest "crack cocaine" as a better value for
your entertainment dollar than ANYTHING. I hope the subtlety of this
observation was not lost on most readers. <g>
The Rio is not for everyone. I love it but won't stay there anymore because
the service is horrible. I will visit one night tho to eat at Voodoo or
Buzio's and show my friend the Parade in the Sky, which is fun..
Yes -- I think it's possible to have a good stay there. But it hasn't
happened for us once in three attempts, and as far as I'm concerned, life is
too short to try again.
The "Parade in the Sky", or, as I like to call it "floats dangling from a
track in the ceiling" was DARK for all 11 days we were in Vegas. It was DARK
twice before, separate occasions, when I visited.
Is it really all that hard to keep a motorized, automated thing running 24/7?
Maybe some Harrah's honcho needs to take a trip to Disney -- Land, World, or
Euro -- and maybe, Buy a Clue.
From: Pid Stu <pid0001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Monopoly Colors???
New to the group and I'm lost re the Monopoly colors???
I'm I on another planet?? Can't figure it out.
Sorry, an short explanation or arrow to where I could find it would be
appreciated.
Pid, Harry gave you the best answer on this.
When you're young and life is long, you can spend many hours playing this
trivial board game with the properties you buy and sell named after the
streets in Atlantic City. Forty years later, you'll probably still remember
the "rents" on most of the sites -- but only the geekiest of us will remember
the exact dollar amounts with houses and hotels built.
(And YES, we always put a $500 bill on "Free Parking".)
/JJG
···
From: "vpscott2003" <ST102@msn.com>