Monday, May 24, 2010

Super Deal in Singapore



With the Great Singapore Sale around the corner, I discovered a new site in town -- superdeal.sg. Initially, it sounded kind of like a spam site when I was first introduced to it, but I actually found fantastic deals there!


Get your 20 SGD Ikea voucher for ONLY 9 SGD today. 55% Off!

Cathay Movie Tickets at 89% off! Get your 8.50 SGD voucher for ONLY 1 SGD today.

Grab your SGD$10 Coffee Bean Gift Vouchers at 75% Off in the next 24 hours!

Golden Village Movie Tickets at 89% off! Get your 9 SGD voucher for ONLY 1 SGD today.

Grab your SGD$10 Starbucks Gift Vouchers at 75% Off in the next 24 hours!


I've met the creators of the site, and their intention was to discover fantastic deals, and leverage the power of group buy, (buying in bulk) and then selling it at a great discount.

I thought I'd share the information with you.

If you want to know more, they even have a Facebook Group: http://groups.to/superdeal/

Too bad this is only available in Singapore, and hope it will be available in a town near you soon.

Please spread the news!

-- Robin Low

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Wynn Casino in Macau


I visited Wynn Macau with my mother for Mother's Day on 9th May 2010.

The following is a review of the hotel.


Location:

Wynn is a 5 star hotel located at Rua Cidade de Sintra, Macau.

Location wise, this is a very nice location, beside MGM grand, near Sands Casino, Grand Lisboa, etc. It is quite centralized and convenient to get to. The shopping areas are close to get to, and Airport is about 10 minutes away by Taxi.



Tree of prosperity show.

This show is amazing. The detail on the ceiling and the dome is great. The ceiling depicts the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac and the dome has all the horoscope embossed on it. It is extremely detailed.










Facade:

The Wynn Hotel looks very impressive and fancy from the outside. When you enter the lobby, it looks great with lots of high end shopping. The hotel is fantastic, different from Las Vegas, but still gives you the elegant feel.



Room:

I booked a VIP Grand Deluxe Lake View Room, did not mind spending more on my mom. The room was fantastic, and one of the largest I've been in for a decent price. The view is very stunning, and had every amenity I would have hoped for, but no "free" wireless Internet.The room was not cheap, but no free Wifi? Come on! I really believe that in today world this should be a standard inclusion as it is many 5 star hotels worldwide.

I wanted a smoke free room, however, the stench of 2nd hand smoke is unbearable. I could not change my room either. I got an air freshener for every corner, and it was tolerable.

Service: I wanted to feel like a VIP, however the staff does not even try. The staff felt untrained, I wanted to know what kind of VIP treatment came with the room, but was told by the staff that the key allowed me to go the end of the corridor and take the elevator. Not sure if it would be considered "VIP" for that.

This was supposed to be a Mother's Day treat for my mom and I decided to spend some time with her at the Casino. I do not gamble much, but since my mum loved playing slots, I decided to bring along HKD$100,000 for gambling and entertainment.

On my way to my hotel, I saw an ad for Cirque du Soleil, and decided to check it out while I was in Macau, The staff at Wynn Hotel and at the Casino does not even seem to bother to give any advice or tell me where it was. (Not a problem, except for the fact that there was no Internet!)

I am a little surprised that they have such a bad clientele in the casino as well. There was tons of Mainland Chinese. Not that I have anything against them, a small group of them bumped into my mom which caused her to fall. There was not an apology and the staff stood there to watch. In the casino, these Mainland Chinese people spit into the trash bins, which makes me and my mom not want to go near any of the bins when we search for slot machines.

There was a 388 points for a HKD$100 East/West dining voucher deal going on, and my mom got me to become a member. After getting turned off by the unruly people in the casino, we decided to ask the staff for nice dinner places nearby, but again, we were ignored. We had to get a cab, which brought us to Venetian and we really enjoyed our Steak there, no thanks to Wynn Hotel.

Later in the night, at 9pm, we returned to Wynn Casino and we wanted to see if we could get free rooms if we play a lot. I mean, $100,000 does not mean I'm a high roller, but since I only booked one night stay, I did not want to change hotels. The reply from the staff at the membership counter was, 1,000+ points.

We started playing slots and within a few minutes we had several hundred points. When I clarified, the staff said that the points on the card was different kind of points. Then i asked if the meal vouchers of $100 can be combined as we were aiming to get about 5 of these vouchers for lunch tomorrow, and specifically asked, "If I get 2000 points tonight on my slot machine card, can I get 5 $100 vouchers? Can they be combined?" The answer was "YES"

As we played the $0.20 slots, we managed to accumulate 2000 points shortly and returned to our room.

The next day, asking the staff about the "Ruins of St Paul" and "A Ma Temple" was a failure again, as the English speaking staff had a strong pinoy accent and I could not understand him. Nonetheless, traveling on the cab was cheap and the driver got us to where we want to go.

Returning to Wynn Casino, we decided to get lunch there, and when we went to membership service counter again, there was an apparent rule they forgot to let us know. "You can only redeem your points and use the voucher on the same day."

This is an outrage! We possibly lost HKD$2000 to get that 2000 points at 11pm at night, and at 11am the next day, our points were not valid because it was earned 12 hours ago? I tried to speak with the manager, but the reply was, "This is the rules set by the casino and I have to abide by it."

I was very unhappy and decided to check out and the hotel even wanted us to pay a "Late check out fee" as we checked out slightly after 12pm, but they "Waived it"

I have a suggestion to all who are interested in going to Wynn Macau. Don't stay there, don't gamble there, MGM Grand is just behind and Sands and Venetian are also fantastic hotel. There is a lot more to do at Sands and Venetian, and I got to watch my Cirque du Soleil and enjoy myself at other casinos and hotels with more knowledgeable staff who can communicate properly and have rules which make sense. For Wynn hotel, I'll never go back to your hotel and casino, even if you offer free rooms. There are more than 40 casinos in Macau, and many better than Wynn Macau.

This has been the worst hotel and casino experience ever, even for my 70 year old mom who got to a different casino every month. Wynn Macau, you are simply the worst in terms of service there can ever be.

Conclusion:

There are so many different casino hotels in Macau, why pick Wynn?

Tips:

Visit Wynn Macau to check out the tree of prosperity show at night, so that you can watch the fountain display as well. It is no Sands, and does not have anything else going on, and the service is bad so don't expect much and you can have a great time!