Harrah's Reno about to be sold, and won't be a casino anymore
The Nevada Independent reports that Harrah's Reno is about to be sold to "Reno City Center", who will turn it into a non-casino property.
https://thenevadaindependent.com/art...-gaming-entity
This sale is likely being done as part of the downsizing due to oversaturation in certain markets, as a result of the sale to El Dorado.
El Dorado, which has purchased Caesars in a deal which has not been finalized, owns three properties in Reno, including Silver Legacy, El Dorado, and Circus Circus Reno.
El Dorado is looking to sell Montbleu in nearby Lake Tahoe, as Caesars already owns Harrah's and Harvey's next door.
I had a frustrating check-in experience there during my only stay there in the 2000s.
At the time, they had those "sensor minibars", which were very popular in the '90s and '00s. As I'm sure you know, these were prone to false positives regarding sensing merchandise being taken. If you bumped the minibar, or even if there was some vibration in the building, it would often erroneously trigger the sensors, and you'd be charged for merchandise you never touched.
Anyway, they handed me a form at checkin which I was supposed to sign, agreeing to pay all minibar charges indicated by the sensors.
I said, "No fucking way" in more polite terms, and refused to sign it.
The dumb girl behind the desk refused to check me in, telling me, "You have to sign it", and "These sensors never make mistakes" (lol).
We got in a standoff, and I demanded a manager, who reiterated both that signing the paper is a requirement for check-in, and that the system never makes mistakes. The manager also told me that "nobody" had ever refused to sign the paper prior to me, which I found hard to believe.
Finally I came up with an idea. "How about you just take the minibar out?"
The manager said, "Ummm... it's locked to the floor, so that's impossible, but we can lock it."
"So if you lock it, I don't have to sign the paper, and can't be charged?", I asked.
"That's right", replied the manager.
Idiots. Why didn't anyone suggest this in the first place?
I haven't been back there since. When I went to Reno about 5 years later, I chose to stay somewhere else because my entire experience at Harrah's Reno basically sucked.
In general, I don't like Reno. All of the casinos there have an aggressive, customer-hostile vibe, and they are all super paranoid about APs.
