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Week In Review - Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Apps, Travel Review

Marc — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:06:56 +0000

It was a crazy week with CES in las Vegas. While I didn’t go to the convention this year I met some old friends and new friends during the week. While navigating the traffic into the Venetian I remembered my trick to avoiding CES traffic. Of course I remembered too late, but it reminded me to pass it on to others. We’ll see if I remember to blog it next year.

Next big thing in Vegas (for me)…the Super Bowl. Can’t wait to experience the game on the strip. Now I just have to find a place to watch it. Preferably somewhere with beer, food and a chair. I’ll look into that this week. In the meantime, let’s look back at the week that included the busiest day on the site since I changed the URL to AC2LV. (Thanks!)

AC2LV

Vegas Chatter

Week In Review

Marc — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:00:44 +0000

What a way to start the new year with a busy week that just passed. I took my first trip to Laughlin, NV (if you follow twitter or tumblr you’ve seen some pics) and looking back I loved it. This week also brought the announcement that there’s a new JMP in this world! Now CES comes to Vegas and I’m stoked. I love new tech toys but I decided not to attend CES this year since there was so much frustration last year. I’ll just read the news and figure it out. I’m doing CES a favor, there’s just too many people.

I updated the site this week with a larger font. It feels a little more easy to read to me and I like the feeling of space it gives. I’ll share more on my adventures to where aliens live during the week. In the meantime, let’s look back.

AC2LV

Vegas Chatter

Week In Review

Marc — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:10:46 +0000

I thought this was a busy week on ECG, but it wasn’t too busy on ECG proper. It was busy throughout the new ECG family, which now includes Get Vegas Apps and (the work in progress) Free Picks and Fun! Truth is all blogs are works in progress, but I’m still trying to find the right layout for Free Picks, while trying to find the right content mix. In any event I’m pretty stoked to have a place to pass on sports gambling tips and fun stuff as well as new travel (Vegasy) tech stuff without getting it lost in the mix of the casino ramblings of ECG. I’ve also been able to access more coupons and discounts through the additional sites, so I’ll be passing that stuff on – mostly through twitter. As always, feel free to pass on any tips or comments via comment, email or twitter.

I’ll continue to use the week in review to pass on links from all my works in case anyone missed anything. The few stories I make bold are the stories I’m particularly stoked on. Enjoy!

On East Coast Gambler

On Get Vegas Apps

On Free Picks and Fun

From Vegas Chatter

Harrah's Ak-Chin Hotel and Casino

Marc — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:36:51 +0000

I had a phenomenal time on my visit to Harrah’s Ak-Chin, just outside of Phoenix, AZ, and would gladly return. However, that return will happen in a different manner than this most recent trip.

Let’s take a look at the room first. The first think I noticed is that we were treated with a box of chocolates!

Since I was in transit or gambling with my free time I forgot to take some photo’s. Lucky enough, I was traveling with someone who wasn’t preoccupied with baseball and gambling. Check this video from Hotel Chatter.

The room was ample in size and very comfortable. Unlike, Caesars housekeeping in Las Vegas, our room was cleaned nicely and daily. The room was also turned down nightly. One of my favorite parts of having a room on the first floor was that I just open the screen doors to a patio and have a pretty nice view of the pool

All in all, I really liked the room at Harrah’s Ak-Chin. It felt very separate from the casino and even though we were in a separate building it took me less time to get to the casino than it does most since there was no elevator or super long hallway to slow things down.

Another treat was the ability to eat breakfast outside when dining at the main restaurant, Agave. I was in Arizona…why not enjoy the beautiful weather!?

At 2pm Agave, became the Diamond Lounge. The Diamond Lounge wasn’t very loungy as it was also a restaurant, but I think that’s about to change.

Another unfortunate thing is that drinks were limited to four per day. While this wouldn’t be so bad for one person it’s a bit stingy for multiple people. I love the ability to drown my sorrows all day for free after losing in the casino.

While on the subject of boozing, Harrah’s Ak-Chin was the first casino that I’ve been to that has drink ordering on the machines.

That was cool, but the casino charged per drink. I’m guessing this is because it’s an indian casino on the west coast. The casino’s in Palm Springs are the same. Also similar to the Palm Springs casinos were the lack of craps.

While I didn’t gamble much on this trip, I did play some video poker. I was happy to see that there was a bank of 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker. Thank you vpFREE. There were no royal flushes on this trip there where Four Of A Kind‘s all over

Gambling was fantastic to me on this trip. Every time I put $100 into a machine I would pull out $200 or $300. I would have liked to play more than $1 machines, but these were the only 9/6 games so I stuck to the $1 denomination.

Overall, I really liked Harrah’s Ak-Chin. The casino was small, similar to Harrah’s in Joliet, but worked nicely for the hotel (thanks to Nancy from Royally Flushed for warning me about the white haired buses that arrived at 10am). The rooms were very nice but nothing flashy. They are supposedly being renovated for next year. I will gladly return to Harrah’s Ak-Chin, but only for a couple days of gambling.

Harrah’s Ak-Chin is 20 minutes away from any kind of civilization and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing it was for this past trip as it made all of the Spring Training facilities sites about an hour trip each way. It was not only taxing to make those drives, but it would have been extremely expensive to get a cab. It’s also about 45-60 minutes away from the airport so a car rental is a must. That said, there were way more positives than negatives and I had a blast!

Least Favorite Restaurants in Atlantic City

Marc — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:04:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago I shared some of my favorite things in Atlantic City. This week I’ll pass on some of my least favorite things in Atlantic City.

The good news is that most of the fine dining in Atlantic City is at least average. The bad news is the low budget dining leaves A LOT to be desired. Unfortunately there aren’t many options inside of the hotels, so unless you feel like braving the winter cold you’re SOL for now.

6ix (Bally’s) – Slow service and bad food and the most awful coffee known to mankind. Good thing this isn’t the only option for low priced food. Stay away from breakfast unless you’re really hungover. Stay away from late nights unless you’re already hungover.
Canal Street Bread & Sandwich Co. (Showboat) – The only late night food option at the Showboat has the worst pre-made sandwiches and, again, slow service. I’ve had food from a gas station that’s better (no joke). Their fresh brick oven pizzas take forever to make and are extremely mediocre. Thankfully a Johnny Rockets was recently added otherwise there would be nowhere to grab a quick bite.
Corky’s Ribs & BBQ (Tropicana) – This is the only BBQ restaurant in Atlantic City. The food isn’t very good and I’ve been here three times and have gotten sick every time I’ve gone here. Why did I keep going back? I’m dumb and when I’m drunk with a craving there’s no stopping me.
La Piazza (Caesars) – Note: I’m not a buffet person, but the food here was cold and bad. It was easily the worst dining experience I’ve had in Atlantic City
Honorable Mention: The Steakhouse (Harrahs) – The Steakhouse isn’t bad, but it’s the most mediocre high end steak I’ve had in Atlantic City. This makes the least favorite because the food doesn’t match the prices. You can get an equally mediocre steak at Outback. It’s edible, but not worth $50. Tip: Get the Cowboy Ribeye and eat at the bar if you go.

Least Favorite Hotel Rooms in Atlantic City

Marc — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:51:51 +0000

A couple weeks ago I shared some of my favorite things in Atlantic City. This week I’ll pass on some of my least favorite things in Atlantic City.

There are good and bad hotel rooms in every casino and while there really aren’t any horrible hotel rooms in the casinos, there are some that aren’t as great. The main word of advice is that the hotels that don’t have casinos (besides the Chelsea) are super sketchy. It’s worth paying the extra money to stay in a casino.

1. Bally’s Claridge Tower - These were old 5 years ago. Curious to see what the renovations bring. If nothing else the rooms will be cleaned once. Knowing Bally’s housekeeping that will be the only time.
2. Harrah’s Bayview Tower - (review) These rooms aren’t horrible. They’re just very out of date. The rooms are large, but they’re just ugly looking and uncomfortable. I have to imagine a refresh is coming in the next year.
3. Bally’s Dennis Tower - (review) From the outside the Dennis Tower is a beautiful old building. After renovations a couple years ago, the rooms are nice inside. So what’s wrong? The rooms are various sizes and run from awkward to tiny and you never know what you’re going to get.
4. Dishonorable mention – Showboat Bourbon Tower – I like the rooms, but a couple years ago I found a furry little visitor and refused to give the hotel another chance after showing no sympathy when I called to complain.

Thoughts On Cosmopolitan

Marc — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:32:33 +0000

I wanted to share some thoughts now that Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has been opened for a couple weeks. Let me say this, in general, as someone with a marketing background I usually try to avoid all of the grand opening hype. Most people will report nothing but the good at that point.

I prefer to let other people break in a property for a few days before I grace it with my presence. I did the same with CityCenter last year (which I need to look back at 1 year later). I’ll have more thoughts moving forward, but I’ll break my thoughts on the Cosmo today down like this:

Tall, Skinny, Ugly on the outside but Pretty Inside

I’m not enamored by the way the building looks on the outside. However, once I looked inside of the building I saw lots to like. There are plenty of modern features and beautiful, shiny crystals and chromes. The Cosmo is bright inside, but not in a bad way. Think the opposite of Aria.

The furnishings are things I’d love in my house, but I can never seem to find affordable, comfortable modern furnishings. I guess that’s what $4 billion can do.

The profile of the building(s) are very tall and very narrow. Every time I’ve walked through the place looked and felt crowded. There were a lot of people just looking around and not gambling or eating or shopping so I’ll look into this again in 6 months after the curious people are gone.

It would be great if Cosmo remains crowded but with people spending money. She’s pretty today, but we’ll see what happens after a little wear and tear.

Casino and Sportsbook

As I mention above, the casino is narrow and feels crowded but upon further inspection those were just people looking. Maybe the feeling of being crowded will lessen with time as people quit gawking and/or hit the tables.

Each visit I’ve seen the tables and machines have all been fairly quiet. Maybe 1 player per table on average. Tables are pretty good for a strip casino: blackjack minimums are as low as $10 with 3:2 payouts for blackjack on all except double deck games. As per Vegas Tripping the video poker pay tables are slightly above other strip casinos.

The sportsbook is TINY. I could never see myself hanging out watching games here. It feels more like a lounge than a sportsbook. Planet Hollywood has a tiny sportsbook, but at least they have Blondies and the PBR bars in the Miracle Mile shops for overflow.

They also have a stage in the sportsbook with free concerts, that’s pretty nice but it will definitely get in the way of the gamblers. I’m stoked for the free shows, but I wonder how the two will work together.

I’ve walked by the sportsbook about 4 or 6 times and only noticed sports on the TV’s once. I’m not sure that’s always the case, but that’s what I noticed.

Lastly, there is no poker room. I’m pretty sure this will change in time. There’s really no reason not to have one except for differentiation.

Restaurants & Shopping

The restaurants and shopping are on the second and third floors. There are a lot of restaurants that seem as if they’ll be good. My first dining experience was great!

Some friends and I split a bunch of small plates & appetizers at Holsteins. Everything was fantastic. In fact, this was one of the best meals I’ve had in Vegas in a while! The beer list was huge and the prices weren’t insane like most casino restaurants. I cannot wait for a return trip.

On another trip I tried Comme Ca. It was ok. Not priced too bad for a casino, but there wasn’t anything amazing about my meal. I’m looking forward to trying the others – specifically the pizza place, China Pablano and Scarpetta.

On name value, the shopping is the polar opposite of its neighbor CityCenter. There are no chain stores. Each store seems to have something that makes it special. Prices were high, but not insane. I’m not sure how the stores will do and, to be frank, outside of the property’s success I don’t really care.

Summary: Restaurants: 1 amazing, 1 good, more to come for sure. Shopping: Cool stores don’t care.

People Watching

I had a blast looking at the people touring the Cosmo. There was almost an even amount of people in TapOut and Ed Hardy type clothes as skinny jeans and bad haircuts. “Hipsters” and “Douchebags” may be morphing into one at the Cosmopolitan. If that happens this building may blow up!

Not ironically, neither of these groups were spending money they were just taking up space. “Normal” looking people were the ones in the restaurants, stores, tables.

Marketing

Mystique and an indie atmosphere have been created by all of the initial marketing. From what I saw they’ve attracted all the cool people to look, but not spend.

It still amazes me that the Cosmo has not mentioned gambling or casinos in their ads. In fact this is a major miss, in my opinion, that MUST be fixed. It’s about 70% of the revenue they can expect.

I also heard from non-Vegas nerds that they didn’t understand the commercial and have no idea what the identity of the resort is. The ads may have been too mysterious with not enough branding. This is from people in the target market and out of the target market. A small sample, but interesting to hear none-the-less.

What’s next?

Overall

I really like the property, I’ll go check out shows and eat there and grab a drink there. I’m open to gambling at the Cosmo, but I don’t need to. That can easily change as the wind changes direction.

Another general thought is that there’s no way Cosmo can sustain as it exists today. The independent spirit is great, but you MUST market to people that will increase your income stream. That’s how business succeeds.

When Palms opened they focused half there marketing on the local gamblers and half on youth that would give the casino the cool vibe they were looking for. Sure things have changed over the years, but they were careful not to pass up on people willing to give them money.

In the coming weeks I’ll have more thoughts on smaller details about the Cosmo and their business, but I wanted to get down initial thoughts.

Caesars Centurion Room Revisited

Marc — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:58:31 +0000

I recently stayed at Caesars in Atlantic City and, like last year, stayed in the Centurion Tower. The Centurion Tower has the most recently renovated rooms. When combined with the added size of a corner room, the Centurion rooms at Caesars are easily the best standard rooms in Atlantic City.

Here’s a look at the room.

The carpeting in the hallway isn’t the typical casino carpeting and is very modern looking. This is a nod to the modern room I was about to enter.

My room was offset and behind the stairwell. This was fine with me, but seems kind of unsafe as someone can be hiding in the stairwell waiting to do something unscrupulous.

Walking through the room there are floor to ceiling windows pointing in two directions with amazing views. Here is a view down the boardwalk.

Here’s a look straight out to the Atlantic Ocean with the Caesars Pier Shops to the right.

Back inside the room we see the seating area with comfortable chairs on top of a marble flooring surrounding the carpet. The wall has plenty of outlets to charge computers, phones, etc. This isn’t often the case with older rooms.

The bed modern Roman design continues with the comfortable king bed. The bedding and headboard have very clean lines.

Opposite the bed is the TV and dresser. On the good side there is a coffee maker and refrigerator. On the bad side the giant TV doesn’t have HD channels.

HGTV tells me that kitchens and bathrooms are what sell the house. I don’t think that’s the case with the Centurion Tower room, but the bathroom was very nice and plenty big.

I’m a shower guy and the lack of a tub is no problem for me. The modern Roman design continues into the bathroom with a marble vanity and glass encased shower.

The fixtures are a pretty sweet looking brushed copper. The right side of the vanity and mirror show a remote that supposedly worked with a TV in the mirror. Like last trip to Caesars, I couldn’t figure out how to get this to work, but I bet it’s cool!

Against the right wall is a nice size water closet for the business. Nice powerful flush, but nothing overall special here.

There wasn’t really much of a door too the bathroom as there is only a sliding glass door that seals the room from the rest. It looked really nice and this photo doesn’t really do it justice…but I tried.

There are a few more pictures of the Centurion Room at Caesars Atlantic City as well as a few other pictures from my stay on my flickr.

Planet Hollywood Hollywood Hip Room

Marc — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:26:34 +0000

My last trip to Las Vegas was my longest and I split duty between Planet Hollywood and the Venetian. Generally, I love staying at Planet Hollywood and this time was no different. I love the casino and Miracle Mile Shops. The rooms are OK.

My thoughts on the Venetian and room weren’t all that great, but I wasn’t totally disappointed. This was opposite of my stay at Planet Hollywood where I got what I expected – a good time, but not mega-luxurious. I was prepared for the worst as the last time I stayed at Planet Hollywood my Hollywood Hip was still a mess from the previous guests. Kindly, I received an upgrade to a Resort room which was huge and awesome. This time, I wouldn’t receive an upgrade beyond a nice view.

Inside the room was pretty awesome. As I mentioned on Vegas Chatter I had a “Spaceballs” themed room. That ruled as I love that movie! The room was clean and plenty roomy, although the bathroom could be made a few feet smaller to make the main living space a little more roomy.

I was right across from the Cosmopolitan, which is almost finished being built. Please excuse the filthy windows. Apparently, Planet Hollywood doesn’t wash their windows on the outside. Click to view larger images.

Bellagio and Paris were just to the right. I had a nice view of the water show at Bellagio.

The bathroom was pretty nice, but overall I would rather have some of that room to lounge in as I mentioned above. The vanity was huge, marble and because I’m sloppy covered with a wash cloth. There’s also a giant mirror so you can always see yourself. I’m not so into that.

Like most rooms, there are separate showers, tubs and a water closet for the toilet.

This room must have been bigger than my last trip because there was plenty of room between the work station and the very comfortable bed.

I’m not sure what happened to the rest of the pictures from this trip, but I’m missing the ample room for the work station and sitting area.

Overall, this room seems bigger than the last Hollywood Hip room I had. I was extremely comfortable with everything and always had a smile with the “Spaceballs” theme. I’m curious how this room will feel with queen beds and I’ll find that out on my next trip to Las Vegas because I plan on staying at Planet Hollywood again.

Week In Review

Marc — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:55:45 +0000

Last week was a lot of looking back at my trip to Las Vegas. There will be a few more in the coming weeks. Unfortunately ECG is having some problems, which I’m working on getting fixed but that won’t stop the goods from going up. I’m back home for a week before I take off again for another adventure.

Speaking of adventures, football season starts this week with some NCAA games. I’ll be sharing my picks on my tumblr and twitter once again this year if you’re interested. I’ll also have JMP back with his NFL picks. So get ready! Here are the highlights in the past week on ECG.

Buy “Las Vegas” – Season One