Boulder Station Buffets appear to be going, going, gone

My spouse lured me to Boulder Station tonight with an offer to use her points to buy us dinner at the Broiler. Before the pandemic, we enjoyed the 1960s Vegas atmosphere at this locals casino steakhouse. One great feature of the restaurant was its salad bar, which included two kinds of soup, appetizer-like salads such as shrimp and fake crab, and fruit. We would often order just entrees and maybe a side to share, filling in the meal with trips to the salad bar.

Not surprisingly, we found the salad bar closed. I didn't ask whether it's coming back, but my guess is that it won't. I figure they will be able to sell an average of at least one appetizer, salad or dessert per person as a result of the salad bar being gone, for an average of  $10 additional per person. Maybe they'll lose some customers, but where are those people going to go? I think the loss in patronage will be minimal and that, overall, they will come out ahead. Over time, the salad bar will fade from memory, and any negative effects of its elimination will shrink to zero.

Like most other Vegas casinos, Boulder also had a buffet restaurant, which seemed to be very popular. It was nicely remodeled a few years ago. My recollection is that the regular dinner price before rhe pandemic was $10 or $11, plus $1 or $2 on Fridays and Saturdays, which were barbeque nights. Lunch was a couple of bucks less than the regular dinner, and breakfast $1 or $2 less than that. Members of the players club got discounts of up to 50 percent when paying with points, depending on card level. Those with higher-tier player cards were able to use a special line, with little or no wait to get in.

As for the food, the main attractions were variety and quanitity, though the quality was more than acceptable, especially for the price.

The Las Vegas Advisor recently reported that an executive of Stations' parent company, Red Rock Resorts had told a stock analyst that the company would not be reopening any "money losing" buffets at its properties. It was unclear whether that meant the buffets at all Station casinos, but my guess is that it did.

At Boulder, there were signs advertising the new food court, which pictures made clear was going in to what had been the buffet. The buffet itself was completely walled off, indicating constuction coming soon or under way.

A food court, which Boulder does not already have, is a logical use for the buffet area because of the large central seating area and multiple food preparation stations around the perimeter. It also offers the freedom of people dining together to eat different types of food, and a relatively short dining time. A food court also offers the casino the option of outsourcing one more aspect of its operation.

It will be interesting to see how customers react to this change. I guess it will depend in part on the execution, but I don't think the concept will be popular. How many people go to the mall to eat at the food court? Since the Chuck Wagon at El Rancho Vegas, the first casino on the Strip, buffets have become an expected part of the casino experience. Only one locals casino -- South Point -- has reopened its buffet, and the lines have been double or more the longest I saw before the pandemic. I would not be surprised if more buffets come back, due to popular demand.

The closing of the buffets, ostensibly "because of covid" (the new all-purpose excuse for cuts in amenities and lousy service) is also the result of two secular trends in the casino business -- giving the customer less value and insisting that every part of casino operations be a "profit center." As for the latter, I don't have an MBA like many casino executives today, but it seems to me that if someone comes to your casino to eat at the buffet and that costs you a few bucks, if he stays for a while and gambles, the house is usually going to come out ahead. Yet for some reason it's more important not to lose that $5. Maybe they think he'll eat at another restaurant where the casino can make a profit, but that is not necessarily going to happen.

I don't know how much Boulder Station was losing on its buffet, but I think it was more than it had to. If it were open now, they could at least try to raise the price since none of the other casinos on the Boulder Strip has an open buffet. Also, in my opinion, many buffet discounts have been wasted. As a high-tier player club member, I always had more points than I could use for buffets or other types of comps. I did not need a 50 percent discount. A couple of dollars off would have made me feel appreciated enough. The important thing to me was not having to wait on line, which the casino can give me at virtually no cost. Eliminating buffets before even trying to squeeze more money out of then seems to be classic throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I hesitate to draw any conclusions based on one visit, but the crowd at Boulder Station tonight seemed to about half of what was typical on a Saturday night before the pandemic. One reason we went was to see if they had any promotions such as drawings going on; as best as we could find out, there weren't (except for a bingo promotion).

 I don't know if this affected tonight's patronage, but Stations cut the effective value of its slot points during the pandemic to one-sixth (!) of what they were. Most people aren't going to do the math to figure that out, but eventually they will realize that they're coming up short of the points they need to eat at the casino as often as before, especially if the absence of a buffet forces them into restaurants where they will have to pay twice to four times what they used to spend.

 

 

After the pandemic

 The Covid pandemic pretty much ended my gambling career, which I had been winding down anyway. I stayed away from the casinos almost completely for more than a year because of the reckless conditions under which they reopened. Allowing people to chainsmoke and drink while playing pretty much obviates any protection provided by a mask mandate.

Undoubtedly, the casinos took a big hit from the pandemic. They reacted largely by cutting players' benefits and promotions, which hasn't hurt the bottom line, at least yet. The casinos are benefitting from pent-up demand, which probably won't last forever, especially if people feel that they have been taken advantage of, which is happening throughout Vegas. My advice to prospective visitors is to avoid long lines, lousy service, high prices and continuing closures by staying away for at least six months. Sorry, Convention and Visitors Bureau.

I have been back to a few locals casinos and taken a couple of trips in the past month or so in my new role as a recreational gambler (but still interested in making a little money). 

Most of the casinos in Vegas are no longer mailing me offers, and have cut their benefits to the point where there's no reason to play there. The major exception is South Point, which had a decent promotion in June and was very busy throughout the month. South Point is the only locals' casino with an open buffet, which I would have loved to eat at, but the lines were consistently too long for me to bother with. Whether other locals casinos will reopen their buffets is a matter of much speculation (and trepidation). It's clear they don't want to, but I think some will be forced to by popular demand. I hope so, anyway.

My spouse and I got some good offers from the Eldorado in Reno and Harrah's/Harveys Lake Tahoe. We booked a trip and hit the road a day after the high temperature in Vegas reached 117 degrees. Eldorado recently merged its player rewards system into Caesars Rewards, and it was a disaster. There was no communication at either the Eldo or Harrah's/Harveys on how to use our offers, engendering frustration in casino employees as well as us. Basically, no one knew anything. It is hard to imagine a bigger management failure.

In Reno and Tahoe, as well as Vegas, restaurants and other amenities were limited. The buffets at Eldorado and Harrah's were both closed, with no indication that they'll reopen. The Eldo's buffet is one of the best anywhere, and I looked forward to hitting it immediately upon arrival during prepandemic trips.

Everything about the Caesars system is complex and often frustrating from the players' point of view. I was hoping that since Eldorado bought Caesars, the latter would become more like the former, but it looks as if the opposite is going to be the case.

We just got back from another trip, this one to two casinos in Southern California, Pechanga and Pala. We had been to both before the pandemic and got generous offers from them, particular Pala. Pala's offers ran out just before we were able to visit, but we had free roooms, free play and dining at Pechanga. We decided to spend a couple of nights there and play at Pala as well, in hope of restarting the freeplay gravy train.

We were very impressed by Pechanga, a beautiful resort nestled among mountains and with a casino bigger than any in Vegas, including the MGM Grand's. And it's all nonsmoking! We played $5 NSU deuces wild, which is no longer available in Vegas (only one place I know of, South Point, has even $2 NSU).

We found freeplay and dining credits easy to use. Dining credits were accepted everyplace we ate, including the food court and coffee place. There was a swipe card promotion on Tuesday, which awarded $150 in freeplay to my spouse and $125 to me. In Vegas, this type of promotion has ususlly been worth about $5 to us. The only negative is no free alcoholic beverages for players, which was also the case at Pala. I'll gladly trade that for a smoke-free casino!

Pala also had $5 NSU but I played another game there, $2 9/6 jacks or better Super Times Play. I had never seen STP, which adds more than 0.2 percent to the underlying game, on anything better than 8/5 bonus poker, and the ones I used to play in Vegas are long gone. I had an exceptional afternoon at Pala, hitting a 4-of-a-kind with a 4x multiplier for $2,000 and a straight flush with a 10x multiplier for $5,000. My total take was $8,700! We'll see if I get any more of their generous freeplay offers.

In my opinion, anyone wanting a relaxing vacation at a first-class resort hotel would be at least as happy at Pechanga as at Red Rock, the M or the J.W. Marriott in Vegas.