It's Not Vegas

I know it's advisable to read the TripAdvisor reviews before you make the reservation. Mark and I rarely do it that way and this trip was no exception. The only difference this time was that we had no other options. The WinStar Hotel was the only option available. (The WinStar Inn was only $20 less and was completely sold out when we made our reservation. The only other option was a Best Western that is nearby, but not on the property and therefore not on our radar.)

The reviews were fairly mixed. However, most of the complaints and negative remarks came from people who were expecting it to be Vegas. Sorry, Las Vegas is unique. There's no place quite like it, not even in Nevada. Several people complained about the lack of free drinks at WinStar because they are free in Vegas. There are lots of hotels and casinos in Vegas. Think about it, if Caesar's Palace offers free drinks to players, doesn't it make sense that Bellagio would do the same? Of course it does! If another casino opened up in Thackerville, Oklahoma and offered free drinks to players, I'll bet WinStar would follow suit. (Anyone taking bets on another casino opening in Thackerville?) I read one review where the reviewer was outraged because the hotel would not comp his second night even though he'd lost $1100 his first night. It seems that the hotel and the casino do not have a common owner, so it's no wonder the hotel was not particularly interested in providing these people with a free night so they could lose their money to someone else. If you go with Vegas expectations, you'll be disappointed. It's not Vegas.

I went to the WinStar casino ten years ago with a Red Hat group. Back then it was a fraction of it's current size -- a few tables and some slot machines. No hotel, no bar, no restaurant. The only thing it had going for it was that it was closer to Dallas than Shreveport/Bossier. It struck me that you really had to want to gamble to go there, which is why I never went back until this past Sunday when we went there to see Rod Stewart.

I'm not really much of a gambler, especially not with my money. But somehow it doesn't seem much like gambling when you know that you WILL lose your money. But what I really don't like is the "pay to play" system they have in Oklahoma. You pay 50 cents for each hand of blackjack. There is no opportunity to win this back. It is just gone. If you consider that the average blackjack dealer deals 56 hands in an hour (seven players) it will cost you $28.00 per hour just to play. If there are only four players the average number of hands will go up to 91. That's $45.50 per hour just to play. You'll be lucky to win enough to offset the cost of playing. No thanks.

Because my son and his family have lived in OKC for the past six years, we regularly drive past WinStar. We have watched with somewhat morbid fascination as this monument to tacky has evolved from a smallish tent-like building to a gigantic building that incorporates numerous world landmarks into it's facade. I could not imagine anything more tacky. And I assumed that the inside would be as tacky as the outside. But it wasn't. The inside is on a par with Vegas casinos. If I'm fair, I suppose the outside is as well. Vegas does have all of those themed casinos - Venice, Paris, New York, etc. But they're all separate buildings, not one huge building that can't make up it's mind what type of architecture it wants.

Based on what I read on TripAdvisor, we were prepared to wait at check-in. But we didn't. In fact, the check-in process was much smoother than most hotels. The rooms are nicely proportioned and finished in neutral tones. Everything still looks new. The hotel is reasonably priced on a Sunday night ($149) although I believe it's higher on Friday and Saturday. Personally, I don't think it warrants a much higher price no matter what night it is. However, their pricing seems to have a great deal of elasticity. We wanted to attend an event once in the past and it coincided with the Super Bowl in Dallas and the hotel had doubled the room rate. Not nice. We decided to pass on Craig Ferguson that time. We'll try again next time he's back. But now that I know there's a 90 minute limit on the show I do have the option of driving home.