I live in Southern California and there’s a fair number of Native American casinos that are clearly trying to compete with Las Vegas, with giant 20 story hotel towers and all sorts of amenities in the casino complex like huge pools and massage places.
My thing though is that while it seems nice, I never understood why I would stay at the actual hotel. They tend to be in the middle of nowhere but also within an hour of a major city, and the rooms themselves are prohibitively expensive, $200 a night minimum on a weekday when I can go to a Vegas casino (since I live near Los Angeles) and get a nice room for the same time and duration for only $100, or much less if it’s off-strip.
The vast majority of people visiting the casinos are local residents anyway so they can easily drive to the casino and back and not need a hotel room, while the fact they also tend to be in the middle of nowhere means you can’t just use the hotel as a base to do other things like you can in Vegas or any other major tourist destination. Plus (at least in SoCal) Vegas is just four hours away and has way more stuff to do.
Has anyone actually done this? I always wonder who the market for those hotels were for.
I doubt I constitute the target market and expect your premise isn’t refuted by a single data point, but I stayed at the Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino in Henderson NV during a recent trip stateside.
Am not a local, and travelled a substantial distance to stay there. It’s also not 20 storeys and I paid about USD200 though that includes a bloody good dinner and a nice bottle of red with it.
There was sufficient to amuse me in the environs. There are a couple of nice concrete structures to visit. That it was a couple of hours from Vegas was a considerable attraction.
Its also an option for the casino to comp a high roller or someone who is losing a lot a free or discounted room in order to avoid them leaving. Cost the casino practically nothing to do this while betting that they will either drop their winnings the next day or continue to lose money. The odds are, as always, in the casinos favor.
Many years ago, I stayed at the Turning Stone casino hotel several times. I was going to medical appointments a few times a year near there, and it was a long enough drive from my home that I’d drive down one day, stay overnight, and drive home the next day. Yes, it was in the middle of nowhere, but so were all the other hotels in the area, and this one had a poker room, so why not?
I have a friend who goes gambling at another such casino, and she gets enough comps to get free rooms all the time. She seems to enjoy it, and it builds brand loyalty.
There are a few around NorCal and are also in rural areas. They seem to offer side attractions like a renown golf course, a concert venue, a massive arcade with cart racing, spa, etc. IMHO these are all distractions from the core business of extracting money from people’s wallets, but if you squint a little, can see the idea of making a weekend trip to play some golf or see a particular singer at one of these places and staying a night or two. Being captive there without much else to do…and a casino right there…well, ya know…this is all part of the manipulative design of these places.
I’ve stayed at several. For various reasons. The ones I’ve stayed at were perfectly nice and priced the same as other hotels of that caliber. When you’re gambling $25 per hand at blackjack, who cares if the hotel is $100 or $300 per night?
One time I stayed at the Northern Quest in Spokane, because I was in Spokane for business and wanted to gamble at the casino.
One time I stayed at the Clearwater casino, because our office had our holiday party there and we were planning on drinking (and thus no driving, even though it wasn’t far from home)
I’ve stayed at a few others. Never had a bad experience. I like supporting native businesses (although many have significant non-native partners, they do hire locally)
I’d say it’s the other way around. Not everyone likes to gamble, so if two people are planning a get-away, the argument “Hey, you can golf while I’m gambling” might tip them into staying here, rather than going somewhere else.
The original idea behind putting slot machines in casinos was to keep the wives and girlfriends entertained, allowing the men to spend more time doing the “real” gambling. However, casinos quickly noticed the slot machines were bringing in more money than many of the other games on the casino floor.
I live 20 minutes away from Casino Morongo in SoCal. Last time I stayed there was when the neighbors warned me that their son was getting married and they were throwing the party for them that Saturday. I decamped to the casino rather than trying to sleep with noise-canceling headphones on. No biggie. Decent food and I think I ended up ahead on the night.
CT has two large Native American casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Both are significant entertainment destinations, so people go there for concerts, sporting events, comedy shows, etc. and spend the night.
I don’t know about California, but around here (North Texas), the nearby Native American casinos on the Oklahoma border are the closest legal gambling to the DFW area.
So they’ve got huge resorts up there that have famous/formerly famous acts playing there regularly, all sorts of pools, shopping, etc… and all the gambling you can stand.
It’s not uncommon for co-workers of a certain socio-economic strata to talk about going to Winstar or Choctaw Casinos for the weekend to gamble and see the shows, etc… Or they go to Shreveport, where there are “riverboat” casinos. People with a bit more scratch tend to just fly to Las Vegas and do their gambling there.
In the San Diego area there are a number of native American casinos. I haven’t stayed much at them, but they are definitely convenient if you see a concert that lets out late. Much easier to just take an elevator up to your room than to drive home after the show.
I’ve only stayed at one Indian owned casino. I’m not sure if it counts for the OP since it’s not on a reservation. Wind Creek in Pennsylvania was owned by Caesars but was bought by the gaming group owned by the Creek tribe. It’s not far from where I live but we were on our way back from somewhere further and decided to stay there over night. Dinner at a good restaurant, some drinks, staying out late without worrying about driving. They have good concerts there. I could see myself staying over after going to a concert.
It may be foreign to you but some people go to decent hotels as a sort of mini vacation. In the town I worked in we had a decent but not overly fancy hotel that offered suites. People from some of the surrounding towns that are a bit economically depressed go there to relax, get room service and use the pool. It’s a lot cheaper than a full vacation with travel expenses.
When my family went on a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, we stayed at a hotel that was attached to an Indian casino. Never went to the casino, it just happened to be attached to the hotel. Nice stay, affordable prices (it was post-labor day), so I guess we were the target audience: a family visiting the area.
I had to find a place to stay for a couple of weeks while I started a new job at a college in Minnesota. The small college town has no hotels/motels, since 12 miles away is the big Native casino complex (and a few other hotels). The reason I absolutely didn’t want to stay there was they had absolutely no internet. I guess they don’t want you in your room - you should be down at the casino. (They’ve since added wifi.)
Yes my wife and I stayed at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt Pleasant. No problems, the place was modern, clean, and comfortable. We only live about 60 miles away but it was an anniversary and we both enjoy casinos so why not.
I was consulting at one, and since it was a long drive to-fro they offered me a free room- except Fridays, saturdays & Sundays. It was decent. However, a friend lived fairly close, so I stayed at their place more often.
Their mid level restaurant was excellent and the employee cafeteria was cheap and good. I never ate at the gourmet place, since that wasnt included.
I’ve stayed at one of the ones in Connecticut. As far as I can tell , those hotel rooms are no more expensive than staying at a casino in Atlantic City or Las Vegas. Could I stay somewhere else for less- sure , just like I can stay at a Days Inn type of hotel in or near Atlantic City. But the days of me looking to get a cheap hotel even a couple of miles away when I’m going to the casino for a few days are long gone. I want to be able go back to my room while my husband is still gambling , which is inconvenient if we aren’t staying at the casino.