Sin City Replay
Why I keep going back to Vegas
Jeff and I just got back from another Vegas trip on Thursday night. It was the 6th time we’ve been there since 2022. That year, we went three times: April, July, and October. In the sweltering heat of July, when then temperatures rose to 42°C (108°F) and the heat radiated off the sidewalks and buildings long past midnight, I swore I would never return to Vegas during the summer.
But I’m a sucker for a deal, so when MGM offered to comp us a hotel this month, I reconsidered my vow. Free accommodation might temper (sorry, not sorry) the burning, sweating, fire pit that is Sin City from late June to early September.
I know you’re thinking “Wow, you guys must gamble a lot to get a free room,” but we don’t. We play penny slots, spend less than $100 each per day in the casinos. We never play table games. So how does a middle class couple earn a free room with MGM?
We are loyal to MGM, staying in the same hotel every time (except this trip, because our usual place wasn’t offered for free). We play at all their hotels, making our way up and down the strip, using the MGM rewards card at all their properties. MGM owns almost every property on the west side of the strip, except for Caesars, the company that owns almost every property on the east side of the strip, except for MGM Grand. A lot of Vegas regulars hated that two companies monopolized all the properties until they realized the benefits of being loyal.
When we eat out, we gravitate toward restaurants inside MGM hotels. We charge the meals to our room, as we do with drinks at the bar. When we stop for snacks and water in the hotel’s overpriced sundry/gift shop, we charge it to the room. Late night cake and coffee/tea is also charged to the room. If it’s money we are going to spend anyways, it’s to our benefit to let the hotel chain in on the deal. We can charge to our room at any of the company-owned properties. If you are staying at Aria but having drinks at Chandelier Bar in Cosmopolitan, you can charge that to your room.
It all adds up to free rooms (for us), free drinks (for the bigger spenders), and waived resort fees (for the even bigger spenders). I have been going to Vegas since 1992, and I’ve seen the comp world change.
Once upon a time, only the big gamblers got freebies rooms and top-notch service. The grannies and grampies sitting at the penny slots tucked away in the darkest corners of the casinos were ignored. Someone in the last 30 years realized that people spent a long time at those slot machines, playing 50 cents to a dollar per spin. Grandma Jean could push through $1000 in 4 hours. Over the past 20 years, slot machines got more sophisticated, with complex programming and what the industry calls “high volatility”: lower payout frequency, but higher payouts when it does hit. Nowadays, the penny slots take up the bulk of the casino floor. They are fun and engaging and the music, bells, buzzes, and whistles, reel you in (sorry, not sorry).
(This video was from our April visit this year. It was the first time we came home with more money than we took. We gave half of it back last week.)
So when people ask why we keep going back to Vegas, I can tell them that the casino made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. It’s a short flight from Calgary, we always find something new to discover, and we walk a million steps (okay, it’s more like 100,000 over four days, but in 44° heat it feels like more). Vegas is so much more than just gambling, as is evidenced by the number of families with small children. It’s a convention Mecca. A foodie paradise. An adult playground where the rules are very, very flexible. This trip, we made new friends as we cooled off in the pool, boozy blended drinks in hand, chatting about life, work, where we’re from, and why we love Vegas.
And the irony of my sixth visit to Vegas in 2 years aligning with this, my sixth newsletter mentioning Vegas is not lost on me. It seems every time we go, or don’t go, I am triggered to write about it.
Vegas, I love you for all the things you are.
xo Dana
What I’m reading
Alternately heart-breaking and amusing, I can’t stop turning the pages of this novel. This family is a mess on every level, but Eli and Abi, the brother and sister, are remarkable characters: bright, funny, and prematurely jaded. The story starts in the mid-70s and moves through decades, each era caught perfectly in the mindset and settings. I am hopeful for a happy ending, but I suspect even that would be couched in sarcasm and cynicism. I’d be okay with that.
I haven’t been to Vegas in years. You make me want to go back and check it out again!