I want you all to know that over the past couple of days the management of Casablanca Express and I have been trying to salvage their promotion and deal plus the advertising they won in the charity auction.
They concede that there were several errors made in the preparation of their first advertising video and I admit that I did not properly investigate their offer which would have prevented the misunderstandings.
We've gone over the "fine print" again and I expect that we will have a corrected TV advertisement on my TV show in late September.
Here are some of the important changes:
1. The price that we will advertise will now be $30. We are dropping the $29 price because the $30 price is listed throughout their computer systems. The special $29 price that they wanted to offer through my TV show creates a conflict with other pricing in their system and this is why our forum member Dan ran into a problem when he called to book the $29 offer. When we shot the video they came up with a special $29 price which was not in their computer system -- and they admitted to me that they ran into problems trying to change it because the $30 price is listed in so many different offers and advertisements.
2. Yes, there is a $25 refundable deposit. I questioned them on this and here's why they have the fee: too many people had booked the trips, made reservations, and then failed to show up or cancel. It seems that when $30 (the price of the offer) is involved people don't care about making reservations and not showing up -- but when you ask them to also pay a $25 refundable deposit then the customers get serious about showing up or cancelling.
Some of you might remember back in the 1970s and early 1980s when you could make as many plane reservations as you wanted at no cost and without a reservation fee. That practice stopped because the airlines were hit with too many "no shows." Now, many airlines have no-refund tickets. Casablanca has the $25 refundable deposit for a similar reason -- it wants to eliminate "no shows."
Why does it care about "no shows" who paid for their rooms? Well, while the room might be sold for $30 a "no show" does not gamble, does not eat in restaurants, does not go to the gift shop and does not add to any other hotel/casino revenue.
Let's be real here: hotels give low prices on rooms to induce visits and casino play. Many casino companies do this, and as we know Caesars is probably the industry leader for offering cheap hotel rooms to get people to play in its casinos.
Yes, you can cancel or change your reservation and the $25 refundable deposit will be refunded. They assured me of that. But they need something to cut down on the "no show" problem.
3. We are going to make it clear that the $30 price applies to TWO PEOPLE in one room for TWO NIGHTS. There was some question that the price was per person. Again, $30 covers two people in one room for two nights.
4. Yes, the deal applies to Sunday through Thursday nights but there are blackout dates for holidays. For an additional fee there are rooms available on weekends and during the "blackout dates."
5. Yes, you will still have to check-in with a credit card for normal room charges, or make a cash deposit at check-in. This was not mentioned in our original video.
6. Yes, you have to make your room reservation 30 days in advance and for most people that's normal. I realize that the forum members here probably visit Vegas more often and often on short notice -- but this promotion is not geared to Vegas regulars who get comped rooms. This promotion is to bring "new visitors" to Vegas.
About their Yelp reviews.
I had a long conversation with Casablanca about the Yelp reviews. Casablanca says several of the damaging reviews on Yelp were posted by people who do not show up in their data base as true customers. and there are various online reports that 25% of the reviews on sites like Yelp are bogus.
Let me say this: I know of several companies who said they have been unfairly treated by Yelp because they told me that they refused to buy advertising on Yelp.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS about the promotion, I would appreciate if you would ask them so that I can get clarification before I edit the new TV video -- and that will be done in about a week. Thanks.