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| Lobby, Gold Strike, Tunica, MS |
On the morning of February 3rd (2023), we were headed ever closer to our home, back to North Carolina from our over 2 months long cross country trip. We had traversed through the states of Arizona, making a stop at Flagstaff for 2 nights, followed by Albuquerque, New Mexico, then Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Stops in Albuquerque and Oklahoma City were both overnight stays, just getting a good night’s sleep before continuing ever closer to the east coast. We marveled at how big the United States truly is. It is a continent after all, with tons of empty spaces to roam. It is hard to fathom how big this great country really is, until you drive through seemingly endless continuation of prairies, deserts, forests, mountains, and valleys.
Even though we had done a similar cross country trip 20 years ago, this trip, this epic trip of more than 2 months, really opened our eyes to the beauty and the immense size of this land. At times, it seems we’re just driving straight for hours with nothing to see but grass and cows, while other times, it seems there’s something exciting to see with every passing mile.
We’ve seen plenty and experienced plenty during this great trip. But like all good things, this trip was also coming to an end. We were headed to our penultimate destination before arriving home, to a town in Mississippi called Tunica, a popular tourist destination known for gambling resorts.
We chose Tunica as our penultimate destination for several reasons:
- Gold Strike, a casino resort, was a MGM Resorts property at the time, meaning we would get free nights *As of February 16, 2023, it was sold to Cherokee Nation Businesses
- Tunica was close enough to the I-40 corridor, which is the highway we would be taking back to North Carolina
- Tupelo (Mississippi), the birthplace of Elvis Presley, was about 2 hours away from Tunica
After finalizing our reservation at Gold Strike for 3 nights (2/3 - 2/6), we headed out towards Tunica from Oklahoma City on the morning of 2/3. The drive would take roughly 9 hours (500 miles).
Early that same morning, as we were eating our breakfast, we heard of the winter snowstorm along I-40, near Memphis. At that time of the day, the Weather Channel reported that the highway had been closed at several locations.
We were hoping for the best but planning to arrive very late at Gold Strike in Tunica. We took our chance, hoping the road would reopen, and left around 9:30 in the morning.
Along the I-40, we kept seeing the highway closure message near Memphis, the closer we got to our destination. We feared the worst, thinking about a detour to bypass I-40, and probably eating up several hours doing so.
To our amazement and relief, by the time we arrived about two hours away from Memphis area, the highway had reopened! We were breathing a sigh of relief at that…
As we entered the suburbs of Memphis, we saw why the highway had been closed for hours in the morning. We saw ice covering trees, fields, electricity poles/lines, houses, and just about everything else.
It was absolutely beautiful to look at ice covered trees and fields glistening in the late afternoon glow, but we imagined how bad it must’ve been several hours prior.
Along the way, we also started to see many car wrecks along the road. This became more prominent as we took a local route south, going through Memphis towards Tunica, about 30 miles away. There were scores of abandoned cars on the median, and along the right shoulder. It was an utter disaster, reminiscent of something you would see in a disaster movie…
We paid closer attention to the road, the wreckage, and the signposts to get to our hotel. We made it safely in one piece, and arrived in Tunica. Our first impression of the area was of wide open fields with nothing more than the occasional gas station or a lonely shop here and there. It didn’t seem like there were large resorts anywhere.
After 10 minutes of driving in the state of Mississippi after crossing a bridge that links the states of Tennessee and Mississippi, we saw the mighty resorts, on right. We started to count off the number of resorts visible, and there were many. *Note: as of writing, there are 6 casino resorts in Tunica Resorts area.
We followed our Google Maps to a shining gold lights of Gold Strike, and pulled into the covered parking garage to our left. After grabbing our stuff, we headed towards the lobby to check in. We got our keys to our room, then headed upstairs to rest our weary bodies and our tired souls after a 9 hour drive…
For the next 3 days, we would get to know Gold Strike Hotel and Casino fairly well. These are our observations and notes about our stay, and our pros and cons:
Pros
- From most reviews I’ve read, and from our personal views, it’s probably the best and the newest hotel resort along Tunica Resorts area
Gold Strike added a 31 story hotel in 1997, then the tallest building in Mississippi. Since then, Beau Rivage in Biloxi wins that title. Just from our first glance, Gold Strike did seem like a nice enough place from the outside.
Garage was cleaner than the average casino hotel (at least we didn’t smell urine or worse), and the hotel lobby was clean and nicely done. Color of gold was prevalent throughout the property, from the hotel’s exterior, to the lobby, and to the hotel room. The look is fine, for a 3 Diamond-rated hotel like Gold Strike.
We counted 5 dining options at Gold Strike, which was just about right for a casino resort of this size. These were the options:
*Note: The restaurants below are what were available during our visit in early February. As of this writing, I show the website still shows these same restaurants. Not sure if they didn’t update the website, or they left them as they were…
- Buffet Americana - buffet
- Chicago Steakhouse - upscale steakhouse
- BetMGM Book Bar & Grill - serving Southern comfort foods, drinks, and other pub classics
- Sweet Tea - serving American staples like burgers, sandwiches, soups/salads
- Southern Roast - serving coffee and pastries
We thought the prices at Sweet Tea were good for a casino resort, as the two of us were able to eat a takeout meal for around $30 (steak sandwich, salad, soup, but no drinks). On the other hand, the prices at BetMGM Grill was on the high side, as we paid close to $45 for a similar takeout meal (sandwich, salad, appetizer, no drinks).
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| Sweet Tea, Gold Strike, Tunica, MS |
- Proximity to Memphis and to Tupelo if you’re a fan of Elvis Presley
This is one of the major benefits of the hotel. Memphis is about 30 minutes away and Tupelo is about 2 hours away. It’s a nice enough (and safe enough) location to use as a base camp.
In fact, I’ve read a review of a fellow traveler, who choose to stay in Tunica area due to safety concerns vs Memphis. Some parts of Memphis can be sketchy, and unless you’re staying at mid level or higher hotels, safety may become an issue.
At least near Tunica Resorts area, we didn’t run into any safety related issues nor did we feel unsafe.
It was just about what we expected of a 3 Diamond rated hotel like Gold Strike. We had stayed at plenty of 3 Diamond rated hotels in the past, and it’s just about par for the course. Nothing fancy, exciting, or upscale, but clean and most importantly, everything worked.
It was a no frills type of hotel room with the usual stuff found in hotels the world over: two queen beds, desk/chair, tv, bathroom, and a lounge chair. It felt like Tropicana Hotel when we used to stay over with our parents in Atlantic City all those years ago.
Our room had a nice view of the Mississippi River below and the surrounding areas. We certainly enjoyed the view.
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| Nice views of the Mississippi River |
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| Queen Room, Gold Strike, Tunica, MS |
Cons
- Worst customer service experience among all the MGM Resorts portfolio
I see why MGM Resorts sold this property. Most employees we interacted with, were basically clocked out. We didn’t get a friendly greeting, nor a particularly memorable experience from any of the employees.
For the most part, it felt like most employees were just killing time, clocking in to get paid, not enjoying their jobs at all, and had a very detached and nonchalant attitude towards customers. Checking in was just ok, with no greeting at all. I got the hotel keys and that’s that. Maybe we need robots replacing these human automatons. At least robots can be programmed to say a friendly greeting!
When I went over to the MGM Rewards desk to inquire about any promotions, I got the cold shoulder from the customer service (or shall I say non-customer service) member, who repeatedly told me to check the kiosk. She didn’t want to work, and it showed. Wow…
Even buying food at BetMGM Grill was an event, where I had to wait 5 minutes just to be acknowledged by someone so I can order the food. Overall, it was one of the worst places for customer service anywhere, and absolutely the worst among all MGM Resorts properties.
- Worst casino layout and that smoke!
The casino has two floors but it’s one of the smallest casinos at MGM Resorts properties we’ve visited. With only 1400 slot machines, there weren’t really enough machines to go around as the place was packed even in February.
What’s worse about the casino is the lack of ventilation at the casino floors. The place absolutely reeked of smoke. The second floor was even worse, as all that smoke had nowhere to go but up.
We played a total of 20 minutes during our entire 3 night stay as the so called non smoking section was anything but. We smelled smoke everywhere, even near there. We gave up playing there after 20 excruciating minutes.
It was once again, the worst we’ve experienced at any of the MGM Resorts properties and we’ve visited at least 10 of them including: Bellagio, Mandalay Bay/Delano, MGM Grand, New York New York, Excalibur, Borgata, MGM National Harbor, MGM Springfield, Aria, Luxor, etc.
- High prices for food for a 3 Diamond rated hotel/resort
Except for Sweet Tea, their casual American style fast casual restaurant, prices at all the other restaurants are overpriced for that class of hotel. I perused the prices at Chicago Steakhouse, and they were exorbitantly expensive: Appetizers in the $20 range and up, soups starting at $9, and entrees starting at $41 and up(!).
The buffet was priced from $20 and up, with dinner prices around mid $30. According to many reviews of the place, the taste and quality left much to be desired for that type of price. Prices at BetMGM Grill were high, and I couldn’t understand why a 3 Diamond rated hotel charges as much as a 4 Diamond rated hotels.
And one more very important thing: Tunica is in Mississippi where the cost of living should be lower. They shouldn’t charge the same as Las Vegas, or Atlantic City. I don’t get it…
At least in Las Vegas or even Atlantic City, I expect to pay high prices because it’s such a sought after tourist destination. Tunica? Not so much…
In conclusion:
We had known about Gold Strike being sold to another company, and we were crossing our fingers it would still be under the MGM Resorts umbrella during our stay. Lucky for us, that was the case, as we got our free 3 nights stay. Unlucky for us, it was the worst MGM Resorts property we had ever visited.
The customer service was a brand new concept over there: all the employees looked disinterested, disconnected, and uncaring. I totally understand why MGM Resorts sold that property. They probably read the reviews just like I did. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the place is not worthy of MGM Resorts banner…
For those of you looking to visit Gold Strike, know the pros as well as the cons. Don’t get your expectations high, or you’ll get totally and utterly disappointed. However, if you’re looking for a no frills establishment with nice enough hotel room, and you don’t care too much about customer service, then this place will work for you.
In all honesty, I don’t think I’ll revisit this place in the future. There are so many other more interesting and beautiful casino resorts out there, that also happen to offer better customer service.
Bottom line: Don’t get your expectations too high. It’s an ok place if you’re visiting there for the first time, but you may be better served elsewhere…
Thank you for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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