Las Vegas: Dear Ceasars and MGM, it's not me, it's you.

For a while now, on this blog and other places, I've been bemoaning the continual decline of a majority of the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Particularly I've been going on quite a bit about MGM and Caesars properties.

MGM properties are nice enough, pretty things to look at and they have tons of dining and entertainment options that are good, their rooms are of good quality but their gambling is just this side of horrific.

Caesars lost me a while back.  Once they eighty-sixed TAG Sports Bar from the LINQ my relationship with them fizzled. As a matter of fact, I haven't played but just a little in any Caesars property in the last year. I haven't stayed as their guest in just over two years.  Their rooms are thread-bare, and worn around the edges, their gambling is just the other side of horrific and you REALLY get the sense that they would turn you upside down to shake out any loose change that might be in your pockets prior to you leaving if they could get away with it.

Yesterday, on the Twitters, screen-shots were shared showing that they will now charge you $75 for the sin of placing a personal item in their in-room mini-bar.  Of course, they offer no other refrigerator for your use, so it's warm water for you then.

Then, I got home from work and, lo and behold, an unexpected tiny offer arrived in my Inbox from Treasure Island.  Nothing big, two free nights Mon-Thurs with $45 in free play, a typical offer for someone who has "dropped in" on occasion and blown a couple of hundred dollars in their casino.

But, you know what? It's better than the offer I got from MLife which was based on approximately $25K coin-in average over the last few stays and it reminded me that staying at an MGM or Caesars property is probably not the best choice for someone who gives a shite about their gambling budget etc.

I LIKE TI. I have a soft sport in my heart for the old girl because it was the first casino that the wife and I visited on our first trip to Vegas together. Back then I thought it was the biggest place in the world and the nicest "hotel" I had ever been in.

Long story short, I'm changing my reservation. 

I've decided that it's stupid to continue to do business with companies who don't value your business, but who only view you as someone to extract as much money from as possible without providing anything of value in return.

It's for much the same reason that I've boycotted all Stronach Group-owned horse racing tracks, a decision that will make me a spectator in this year's 144th Preakness Stakes.

So MGM and Caesars are out, done, Finito Santiago. I've cancelled a planned stay at the Luxor and am spending those days at TI.  I'll head over to Venetian and Palazzo, spend some time at the Strat and SLS, drink too much at the Cosmo.

Sure, I'll still walk through Bellagio and look at the conservatory, and I'll still watch the fountains, until MGM starts charging for those somehow, but I'll neither gamble or stay at an MGM or Caesars property until such time that they understand the value of customer service and stop making business decisions that hurt the customer and (to be honest) their workers.