I returned from my first Harrah's junket a week ago. I was really looking forward to it
based on the accounts of others that I had read on these message boards. Here's a report.
We had a good time, but I'm emphasizing the "surprises" the downsides.
Got up at 4:30 AM in order to get to the San Antonio airport two hours ahead of our 8:00
AM departure. This was not a chartered flight. Rather my wife and I had freebie tickets on
regularly scheduled Express Jet flights. Except for the early hour, all went nicely until
after the 80 minute flight to New Orleans.
The letter I had stated that we would be met in the luggage area by a Harrah's rep who
would guide us to ground transportation to the hotel. After retrieving our bags, my wife
and I wandered around the entire luggage area no representative. I finally spotted a
chauffer holding a sign with a passenger name (not mine), and a small Harrah's logo at
the bottom. I asked him where I might find an agent puzzled look, no answer. I asked
if he had Harrah's number so I might call he called for me after that prompt. He
reported back that transportation should be there "very soon" but he could find no
information about the missing welcoming agent. I spotted a group of people loitering
outside the terminal doors, and asked if any of them were heading to Harrah's Hotel all
22 of them were. After about another 20 minutes, a guy showed up looking as if he knew
something about what was going on, though he bore no identifying logos or
paraphernalia identifying him as working for Harrah's. He muttered something about
transportation being on the way, delayed in unexpected traffic. It turns out that this
fellow was called in from home on an "emergency" basis, and knew little about what was
supposed to have been arranged for us he did his best, I guess. Another 20 minutes,
and the two dozen of us were herded through a portion of the parking garage to two
waiting limousines. Surprise! 24 people with luggage cannot fit in 2 limos. Four of us
were told our limo would arrive in an hour or so, or we could schlep to the taxi stand a
block or so away. We schlepped.
Finally! A reasonable cab ride later we arrived at Harrah's Hotel. Here, I was told, I would
be met by a host and given an envelope with instructions, some goodies and room keys. A
rep did meet us, and directed us to check in while he made out some vouchers for
reimbursement for the cab fare. Checked in, but was told our room was not ready, and
they could make no predictions about when we might have a room available. Just as I was
skulking off to the bell stand to check luggage, the room clerk called me back, and stated
that she had a room with two double beds rather than the king we had reserved. I could
have that room now, or wait until a king was available. Since we had been hassling with
travels from 5:15 till 11:00 we snapped up the available room.
The room was OK. Clean and comfortable, but as I expected, it had less "living" room with
two beds there rather then one larger one. Horizontal surfaces consisted of one small
round table between a couple of (reasonably comfortable) stuffed chairs, and a small night
stand. I travel with a laptop in order to stay on top of business via e-mail my little
laptop filled half of the round table, and I had to type on a keyboard just below chin level.
Hard on the wrists and on the neck when you wear bifocals. But I was grateful for a place
to stash my stuff and sit a bit.
By now we were pushing noon and hungry, so headed down to the casino for a sandwich.
On the way, we stopped to cash in the vouchers we had received. My wife and I each
claimed the $15 we had paid, and were pleasantly surprised to get $100 back in cash. An
OK sandwich and cup of soup at McAllister's Deli, and a stop at Total Rewards, and finally
at the machines by 12:30PM.
My wife put $20 into a double diamond slot, and between that and a Wheel of Fortune
bandit, ran that twenty up to over $500. We decided to break for dinner. Had a huge
taste for Cajun food, so headed a few blocks down the road to Muletta's. Contrary to what
we had read, we were able to use our $50 food credit coupons there, and would have been
able to charge more directly to our TR card had we chosen we didn't have to go through
the hassle of getting a voucher form the boothies first. She was still well ahead when she
headed back to the room around 11:00PM. I played mostly $1 short pay deuces, some
9/6 JoB, and a little Super Times Play, and went back at 2:00AM having run through about
¾ of what I'd allocated for the day.
Friday morning was an adventure, though not one featured in the Harrah's ads. We slept
in at 9AM the speaker in the room blared like a horn, with the message "A possible
emergency has been reported. Please evacuate the hotel immediately. Do not use
elevators." Since I thought Harrah's might object to a 65 year old naked man running
through the lobby, I set a record for dressing, grabbed my laptop, and headed for the
staircase. Twenty-two freakin' flights later, my wife and I both had screaming leg muscles
and buckling knees. As we entered a work area on the lobby floor. A Harrah's employee
took one look at us (me?) and said "Here have a seat. I'll get you some water". It turned
out to be a short in the alarm system that affected only our floor and one other. My legs
finally stopped hurting Thursday almost a week later.
Friday night was not the best. There was a huge slot tournament going on. The line
waiting to play their turns snaked through one end of the casino. The casino overall was
packed uncomfortably so. I was trying to play $1 VP machines two banks of back to
back machines, about 18 of them in all. A third of them were marked "not in service" or
had the service candle blinking; of the remaining machines, about a third would either not
accept the TR card, or cash. The techs who keep the machines running were obviously
overtaxed (they were all in service and working reasonably well Thursday and Saturday).
Cocktail waitresses were also overtaxed. I went to bed early. I am kind of sorry that I
didn't enter that mob-scene slot tournament one of our group got on the plane home
carrying a 5' X 3' check for $50,000 first prize in that tourney.
I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow on the gambling, since it was pretty uneventful.
Summary: Roe went home slightly ahead after playing those rip-off slots; I went home
down about $1K. It would have been worse had I not hit my ONLY four deuces the
morning we left.
The last surprise came the day of checkout. Checkout time is 11:00 (or 11:30, or 11:20
depending on what you read). The limos back to the airport left at 4:40. I had asked at
the VIP counter when we arrived whether checkout would be extended for us, and was told
that I'd have to request late checkout the day we were leaving, but that there should be no
problem. HA! I called at 8AM on Sunday and was told by the desk clerk that the latest
checkout time possible was 12 noon. I explained the situation, and that the whole trip
was supposed to be coordinated by Harrah's marketing, and got the same reply, only with
an icy cold tone. I asked who could authorize a later checkout time, and was told that
only management could do that. I asked to speak to "management" . "I'll have him call
you" she replied. 20 minutes later, "management" called. He sounded like a teenager. He
proclaimed very authoritatively that the hotel policy was not to grant checkout times later
than noon, and that failure to checkout on time would result in a half- day room charge
which, he suggested, I might be able to get reimbursed at the VIP booth. My reply: "You
left me stranded at the airport for over an hour; You failed to provide the promised
transportation and made me take a cab with other strangers; you did not have my room
ready when I arrived, forcing me to settle for a non-preferred room; you forced me to
march down 22 flights of stairs on a malfunction in your equipment; and you can't give me
a break on a couple of hours in this room?" "I'm afraid that's hotel policy, sir" was reply.
"I will be out by noon and this will be the last time I or any of my friends will trust
Harrah's offers for special treatment." And I hung up. 15 minutes later the teenager
called back. He had checked and discovered that we had been given a room other than
that requested (the LEAST of our hassles!) and therefore he would extend the checkout
time to 3:00. "But sir, if things aren't meeting your expectations, and you are unhappy,
you should notify us early in your stay so that we can address the problem." To which I
replied quite honestly "I took these things in stride. I know things can happen to foul up
plans. But when I ask for a minor concession and am stonewalled after being treated
badly, I get angry." He backed off, apologized. The maids kept hassling us between 11
and when we checked out, but that's just in keeping with the theme of our stay, I guess.
We checked out at 2:30, schlepped our own bags, checked them, and went to Gordon
Biersch for a very nice lunch and some good beer. To our surprise and gratification, there
was in fact a limo for us at 4:30, and the rest of the trip
Despite the hassles, we had fun. Except for the checkout problem and the Friday night
mob scene, the hotel staffers and those in the casino were very pleasant, efficient and
helpful. The room was fine, we ate good food on Harrah's or TR points, and had a good
time between the hassles. I appreciated the coupons from mailers for $200 in food
credits and $200 in free play. I've been to Harrah's NO before, and will go again. I like
the casino, and the people. The jazz band that parades through the casino and stops to
jam occasionally is a nice lagniappe..
I'm also scheduled for me second junket in a couple of weeks- this one on a chartered
flight to Laughlin. I'm eager to see how that one goes.
