AC trip report

[FAA]

i started going to borgata for safety reasons. When revenues
dropped, the casinos cut back on expenses and one
of those was security. Especially in the colder months, it was normal to
find someone sleeping at the machine next to you, i had no idea what
mental problems might exist. as one gets older, safety becomes more
important. The marina has a different crowd and i do not find the
stragglers in the casino.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Interesting and valid point! I had to shoo a slovenly African American woman sleeping at a full pay Sun morning. She stumbled off to a nearby machine to resume her slumber. Security was scant, and they only walk the main drag of the casino anyway. What a wreck! Such a turn off, and I was even less inclined to hang around. If it wasn't adjacent to the server doorway, I would have been much more vitriolic. No such issues anywhere in the marina. From now on, will transact my free play business and vamoose. CET has basically become a speed bump en route to Borgata!  

[notes1]

there was one thing about AC that made it a compelling place to visit, that sometimes is forgotten. outside of nevada, there is no where else to visit a number of casinos, all located in one location and all within walkng distance or a short ride. located on the east coast, within a couple hundred miles of millions of potential customers, it really was no brainer for long term success. no other location like it.  DB has mentioned this often, it took an enormous amount of blunders, greed and poor judgement to screw up what should have been a sure thing. i know there is more competition, but AC really should have had a better outcome than it has. they will be teaching MBA courses about this for years.  

[Carcounter]

Agree with you notes. That is why Borgata was successful from the start and has never looked back. They treated their customers well, had Vegas type amenities and pulled customers from the boardwalk properties. They put in good VP paytables, although they have removed quite a few of the 9/6 Jacks recently. Hard to get on them on a busy day. The other Marina casinos, Harrahs and the Golden Nugget are also doing better than the boardwalk casinos. The only way a boardwalk casino will get me back is with a superior VP paytable. Caesars has a DJ progressive that is a 99.9% base game, but too smoky and usually filled with some not so hygienic customers. I guess I might have offended someone, but so be it.

[DaBurglar]

there was one thing about AC that made it a compelling place to visit, that sometimes is forgotten. outside of nevada, there is no where else to visit a number of casinos, all located in one location and all within walkng distance or a short ride. located on the east coast, within a couple hundred miles of millions of potential customers, it really was no brainer for long term success. no other location like it.  DB has mentioned this often, it took an enormous amount of blunders, greed and poor judgement to screw up what should have been a sure thing. i know there is more competition, but AC really should have had a better outcome than it has. they will be teaching MBA courses about this for years.  EXCELLENT POST, and the other posts in this thread as well are spot on, reiterating with more emphasis and clarity what I have been exclaiming for years......One small thing NOTES that I might diverge with you a little though is what exactly they will be teaching in Business classes across the country for years (especially in the NEVADA schools which specifically offer curriculum in Hotel/Casino managment and the "industry" as a whole....or "hole"):     I think there really is not all that much to teach with regards to Atlantic City that is PROFOUND or complex enough to warrant a bonafide academic institution allotting it special attention.......the whole situation, and SAGA (more like SOAP OPERA) that is Atlantic City from the time it opened its first casino in 1978 thru the WILD 80s, the roaring 90s, the apex of 2005 and the Catastrophic and fast CRASH of 2007/2008 to the comatose post crash years of 2009-today  is really just a WARNING to people and businesses/politicians everywhere to NOT do all the things your PARENTS told you NOT TO DO.........-- Do not Be greedy-  Do not ignore obvious warning signs of Change of the horizon (or in other words, DO NOT BE LAZY and kick the can down the road!   You need to WORK WORK WORK to stay relevant.....and stay in BUSINESS!)-  Do not Lie, to others and especially to YOURSELF-  Do not live beyond your means-  Do not forget to save for a rainy day-  Do not forget to thank the "little people", or specifically, all the people who do the hard,  back breaking work that no one else wants to do...and finally (and realizing that NOT everyone's parent would tell them THIS unless the parents work in some SERVICE industry or business):-- THE CUSTOMER is KING!!!!  (or along the same vein......If YOU do not satisfy your customer and continuously give them a reason to feel good about COMING BACK,  SOMEONE else WILL!!!)I guess what I am trying to say, the whole saga of AC is not some huge mystery or some PROFOUND   "Case Study"  for business schools to examine and derive all kinds of useful profound lessons and nuggets of business and marketing wisdom.......like you said, and others,  AC had a virtual "SURE THING", and the whole excuse  "THERE was suddenly too much competition"  is just a pathetic cop out.      There is no doubt, the whole casino business  / industry is saturated, but AC had the inside track, the established position, as well as ALL KINDS of advantages and things in its favor, the BIGGEST being its sheer NAME and position as a BEACH/VACATION spot that had LOTS of casinos, when Pennsylvania opened its own gambling flood gates in 2006-2007 (before the recession)........Clearly, the "Salad days and gravy train" of the prior 25 years in AC, where they made money without even trying, were gone, but in NO WAY shape or FORM is the DISASTER that followed, whereby AC virtually folded like a  7-2 off suit against pocket Aces and lost HALF its business in 5 years, JUSTIFIED or acceptable!!!!!        No way should they have lost 1/3 of its operating casinos in one single year........In my estimation, I honestly think that, in addition to retaining all of the 11 casinos still operating in 2009 when the great recession bottomed out, AC could have kept 75-80% of its Business and REVENUE (instead of just barely 50%, which is STILL slipping away and by next year may be even far less than THAT!)    it would have required precisely ALL the things which have been totally absent and discouraged in AC the past 5-6 years, among them  EFFORT, HONESTY, INNOVATION, GUTS, DETERMINATION and above all, FISCAL RATIONALITY (or at least a complete elimination of the shortsighted, "Quarter to QUARTER" fixation that has dominated the business whereby the clueless, and greedy, executives have been more concerned about cutting costs to ensure they get a bonus THIS quarter, versus focusing on spending/upgrading/investing so that by NEXT YEAR the property is experiencing a GAIN in revenue, etc)As the EURO ZONE has learned the hard way, and as many fiscal dolts in the USA have learned,  when recession hits, this is the time TO SPEND and invest because things are much much cheaper and less expensive (which means your vendors and suppliers will bend over backwards to get you to give them ANY BUSINESS whatsoever, etc etc.)    Sadly, the Idiots (not just in AC but everywhere, such as even Foxwoods in Connecticut and most famously, CAESARS Entertainment)  in the casino industry did a whole lot of BUYING and expansion RIGHT when the market peaked in 2006-2007, where they paid TOP DOLLAR for everything they bought and upgraded, and then SPLAT!   BOOM!   the whole market crashed and they immediately saw huge chunks of net worth wiped out, but the DEBT they incurred did NOT disappear and a very horrific chain of events started which has really only recently shown any signs of letting up, and it is US, the player/customer who is now getting royally screwed over.

[FAA]

Borgata was successful from the start and has never looked back. They
treated their customers well, had Vegas type amenities and pulled
customers from the boardwalk properties. They put in good VP pay tables,
although they removed quite a few 9/6 Jacks recently. Hard
to get on them on a busy day. The other Marina casinos, Harrahs and the
Golden Nugget are also doing better than the boardwalk casinos. The only
way a boardwalk casino will get me back is with a superior VP pay table. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I never dreamed that they would pull a stubborn player like me off the Boardwalk. It happened. I have been ignoring all my old haunts lately for the glitz and glamour of Big B. Winning the first visit rationalized the marginal time and expense of a round trip from mid walk. Winning twice as much the next week confirmed my opinion. CET is now just a free play speed bump en route to Big B. My feet are content walking on the thick floor carpeting. Bartenders are competent and efficient. Waitresses are likely the industry pacesetters. CET does match the pay tables, but on dismal machines and amidst a less desirable clientele. All the forum raves finally prodded me. It has been quite an impressive upgrade.

[doris13]

well i had my first trip to borgata yesterday,my neighbor went for a gift pick up and asked me to go.i found an allstar triple poker machine and after about 10 minutes hit a royal!i also played hot roller for nickels and while playing tdb hit awak,no multiplier of course,but still good for $200.my only complaint about borgata was the lack of servers on the floor;i played about 2 hours until i finally flagged down a server and got a drink.

[notes1]

well i had my first trip to borgata yesterday,my neighbor went for a gift pick up and asked me to go.i found an allstar triple poker machine and after about 10 minutes hit a royal!i also played hot roller for nickels and while playing tdb hit awak,no multiplier of course,but still good for $200.my only complaint about borgata was the lack of servers on the floor;i played about 2 hours until i finally flagged down a server and got a drink.
  surprised that this was your first visit. i thought you played in AC a lot. if you are diamond, you can convert to their black card. for those who are not frequent visitors to borgata, there is a bank of VP machine in the very back of one of the smoking areas, hard to find. back of the casino, near the bathrooms.

[FAA]

There you go, Doris. You experienced the same stroke of luck. Of course my Royal Flush had to be the min coin $62 variety. But that's a fault of my timid betting. I'd already had a decent day and was slowly frittering away a $5 bill on the way out. Lady Luck floored me. What was your RF pay out if I may ask? I'm surprised that it was that hard to get a floor drink on a Thursday.

[doris13]

$1000 for my royal faa

[FAA]

Congratulations! I've got to substantially crank up my risk appetite. Here it could actually benefit players.