Tropicana: A good price costs lots of patience
I am spending tonight at the Tropicana for a story for Las Vegas Weekly and to see Folies Bergere for the Buffet. The bankrupt casino is sure letting customers feel the pinch of its reduced workforce. Wednesday is one of the slowest nights of the week in Vegas and it still took an hour of waiting in line to check in. To make matters more frustrating, there were plenty more check-in windows available -- more space closed than open, in fact. There were just not enough employees to check guests into their rooms. This was similar to the wait I had at Luxor on New Year's Eve. But again, this is a typical Wednesday afternoon. The wait should have been five minutes. Most resorts want their customers gambling and not waiting to check in for their first hour on property. But Tropicana does not have enough staff working up front to make that practical today.As soon as I checked into my room, I went to examine the escalator that leads to Bodies: The Exhibition. When I visited Tropicana back in December for the Buffet to check on conditions here (after I had heard some horror stories), I wrote about how that key escalator to Bodies was broken.
I was curious, with all these months to work on fixing this escalator since December, if I would find the repair finally completed. After all, an escalator allowed to sit around broken endlessly says something about the care and money being put into a property. Sure enough, the escalator is still out of order and has even grown some advertising. There is a sign offering a line pass where people should be entering to take the escalator down to the exhibit. Any surprise Bodies is moving to the Luxor?
And, I wonder, after a vacation spent dealing with out-of-order escalators and waiting in lines, how long it will be before customers decide that a discount room at the Tropicana has too many discomforts to still be a bargain? (Photo by Richard Abowitz)
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Tropicana: omen or sore thumb?
The economic slowdown is the No. 1 topic in Las Vegas now in conversation and in media. The Tropicana filed for bankruptcy. While the drop in tourists may be blamed, I have reported on the Buffet about the problem-plagued property for some time.
The last time a major casino declared bankruptcy on the Strip was the Aladdin in 2001. In that case, the post-9/11 environment was cited as well as it being a resort with a Middle Eastern theme. I always hated the insinuation that somehow racism was at fault for Aladdin's failure.
The Aladdin had so many design problems when it reopened that Planet Hollywood is still spending millions to fix the place. And I am being generous by not dwelling on management decisions before Aladdin filed for bankruptcy protection. In short, the Aladdin's bankruptcy may have been accelerated by the economic downturn in Vegas after Sept. 11, 2001, but one felt that the process of the resort's fall was well underway before terrorists attacked New York. And it is meaningful that no other casino went bankrupt during that period.
Similarly, the Tropicana's problems date back to a bidding war that the new owner won, but at what most experts felt was a grossly inflated price. Problems continued through workforce reductions and continue at the Tropicana to this day as the resort is the only one on the Strip that has yet to renew its contract with the Culinary Union.
These are certainly hard times for Vegas. Among the casino companies to announce layoffs are MGM-Mirage and local giant Station Casinos. Only Steve Wynn has announced that his property will have no workforce reductions. Meanwhile, huge new resort projects like Cosmopolitan are haunted by uncertainty; Donald Trump has put off building his second condo/hotel tower; and the Plaza resort that was to replace the New Frontier also may not break ground anytime soon. There is also the problem of the residential mortgage crisis that is taking place in the suburbs outside the scope of this blog.
Much has changed since a few years ago, when even Trump's former wife had the towering Ivana planned for luxury Vegas living. That said, Palazzo at the Venetian has just opened. Encore at the Wynn is about to open. CityCenter by MGM is coming along with incredible alacrity, as is the little-discussed Fontainebleau resort. In entertainment, big projects like "Jersey Boys" at Palazzo and Cher at Caesars Palace are opening at a regular clip, including Cirque's plan to invest $100 million into a Criss Angel show later this year.
The Tropicana can certainly blame the economic slowdown in Vegas in part for its bankruptcy. But plenty is still happening at other companies on the Strip. And, while there may be sales, I doubt any other Strip properties will need to resort to bankruptcy.
By the way, the Trop continues to have one of the best locations on the Strip: next to MGM Grand and New York New York, with easy access to Luxor-Excalibur-Mandalay Bay.
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The Tropicana has issues
Life has not been good at the Tropicana for some time.The casino is the only one on the Strip that has yet to reach a contract with the Culinary Union. The union has been asked by the property to change pension rules and medical plans from the deal agreed to by all of the other union properties on the Strip. According to the Review-Journal a marathon bargaining session Monday produced little progress.
And, over the past days, the Culinary Union has gone public to the Las Vegas Sun producing employees who in addition to other complaints say they were asked to wait a couple of days to cash their paychecks. The company denies the allegations. If true, this would be a shocking request from a Strip resort. And right now the Culinary Union employees have a better record for honesty.
"Despite Columbia Sussex’s recently being stripped of the Tropicana Atlantic City’s gaming license, and the company’s earlier decision to abandon Tropicana’s former sister property in Missouri because Show Me State regulators made it clear Columbia Sussex wouldn’t get licensed, Nevada regulators have not taken action against the company. New Jersey regulators said Columbia Sussex executives defied the regulatory process and lacked good character, honesty and integrity. "
The Tropicana apparently bought a full-page advertisement in the Review-Journal to deny the allegations of the Culinary Union and in Simpson's column. Simpson responded to that with another column:
"It’s my opinion that Columbia Sussex flouted New Jersey gaming regulations and that Nevada regulators should file a formal complaint against the company, hold a public hearing and consider pulling its six Nevada casino licenses. I believe regulators would be justified in yanking the licenses."
In December, before this latest round of problems, I had heard so many stories about problems at the Tropicana that I spent a night there to see how it is for guests. I wrote an item about the experience for the Buffet. I found the Trop to be a typical run-down older property, but no worse than, say, the Sahara. Of course, the Sahara is getting renovated.
So, I would suggest you consider a stay at Tropicana only if you get a very good bargain, and/or you are someone who just wants a bed to crash in while enjoying Vegas. I found that while the Tropicana was not a great or even a good place to spend the night, the place is still adequate. And there is the Bodies exhibit.
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Problems mount for Tropicana owner
Columbia Sussex, the owners of the Tropicana, have been removed from operating their casino in Atlantic City by regulators. According to the Review-Journal, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission issued a statement saying Columbia Sussex displayed "a lack of business ability, a lack of financial responsibility and lack of good character, honesty and integrity." It is unclear, if or how, this will impact the Tropicana in Las Vegas. (Photo by Sarah Gerke)
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