As a Seven Stars in the CET empire I have shared trip reports, usually based on Diamond Lounges, Spas, VIP seating at shows and fancy meals. But in the last couple of trips I have been losing more than I like on gambling trips (partly because I have been caught in the CET trap of playing to accumulate high daily average action and get the “bonus” tier level). But I had some solo time as my wife and daughter were traveling last weekend, and I wanted to “get back to my roots” and have a vacation not based so much on gambling but on just enjoying the Vegas vibe – on the cheap.
I dropped off my family at the airport on Friday night to fly to Asia and since I had Sat and Sunday by myself, I flew into Vegas on Saturday morning, flying back on Monday before work. This itinerary had the benefit of having a cheap flight on Sat as most visitors from Silicon Valley California leave Friday night.
Since I was by myself, I decided to stay at a cheap place downtown. It had been so long I stayed in downtown Las Vegas, my offers at downtown including the Fremont Hotel, Four Queens and Golden Nugget had dried up. So I reserved a place at El Cortez on line for “cash”– yes that is right, I VOLUNTARILY went from my usual of staying in a comped suite at the Augustus Tower at Ceasars Palace to a room at the El Cortez downtown with no discount other than the 10% website discount. Even the 10% discount had to be wrung out. As I learned on another LV forum, I went to the regular El Cortez website and put in my personal information, and email address, then did not input the payment information and did not complete the reservation. Within 20 minutes I received an email offering me a 10% discount good for 24 hours if I reserved a room—score! I was thinking of the “vintage” (aka World War II era) walk up room accessible by stairs but decided to spurge $10 a day and stay at the well maintained “cabana” rooms even it required me to cross the street to get to the fabulous El Cortez casino. I had stayed one night at ElCo in a Cabana Room about two years ago and got my room comped on checkout. I expected that my gambling action would be sufficient to get comped on the backside at El Cortez so I picked it, even though the Golden Nugget rates were competitive with the ElCo. I did not want to gamble it up so much so I was not confident I would get a Golden Nugget room comped on checkout.
As part of the cheap and solo vibe, I figured out how to get from Las Vegas airport to downtown on the public bus. The WAX bus is a pretty efficient “express bus” on Terminal One’s “Zero Level”, down from baggage claim. Ironically enough I had to walk past all the waiting hotel limos parked there that I had used in the past. The only problem with the WAX is that it only runs about once an hour so if miss it, you are stuck for a while. Luckily, my delayed flight gave me just enough time to catch the WAX with minimal wait. Although the Vegas Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) kiosk only offered $6.00 for a two hour all access pass or $8.00 for a 24 hour pass, I knew to just get on board and pay a $2 fare for a one-way ride. The WAX bus takes the highway to downtown so was not much slower than a taxi (and NO TUNNELING). The bus was not crowded. I got off in downtown next to the Golden Nugget and walked with my carry on bag to the ElCo about four blocks.
I checked in the El Cortez and dropped off my bags. Although the rest of ElCo may be a bit run down, the Cabana rooms were pretty clean and well maintained. . Here is my high tech hotel key photo. The key was touch pad proximity which was a technical innovation which surprised me.
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