Hotel-casinos create package deals

With Atlantic City touting itself as a resort not just for slots players and Boardwalk strollers, hotel-casinos are looking for new ways to attract visitors for more than the afternoon and evening.

The hotel package deal - a staple in most resorts - is starting to take hold in Atlantic City, too, said Jeff Vasser, who runs the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority.

"Packages are what longer-term visitors seem to want," said Vasser.

"There is perceived value there, and I would say there is real value as well.

"In the summer months, we don't have to worry about it, since virtually every room is filled," he said.

"In the fall and spring, though, we want to start attracting more people to stay over in the city."

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, as in many other areas, is a leader in the package business, though this fall and winter the Borgata is still limiting those packages to Mondays through Thursdays.

The "Wake Up Smiling" package includes an upgraded "classic" Borgata room with the hotel's breakfast buffet, at $179 a night for two. The package runs through Dec. 31.

Next door, the Trump Marina Hotel Casino is pushing its "Best of the Bay" package at $189 for a couple per night. That gives you a deluxe, bay-view room, a $50 dining credit in the hotel and two cocktails.

The two other Trump Organization properties have package deals through the end of November as well. The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort has its "Night at the Taj" Sundays through Thursdays. For $199 for two, a couple gets a night's accommodation, a $50 dining credit and two cocktails.

At the Trump Plaza Casino Hotel it's the "Fall Getaway Package," which is $140 a night for a regular double room and $160 for an ocean-view room, Sunday through Thursday, with a $30 dining credit, two "welcome cocktails" and a 20 percent discount at the gift shop.

The Convention & Visitors Authority's Web-page hit counts show its hotel package page getting 4,300 separate views a month, which is 62 percent more than in 2006. The authority's phone bank gets 100 calls a month asking about packages.

"People are coming to Atlantic City and looking for something like this. They even get to the visitors' center on the [Garden State] Parkway and stop in to ask for packages," said Vasser. "It is a newer thing for us, but we are determined to do it better."

The Tropicana Casino and Resort is mixing it up a little this fall. For instance, with the "Girlfriends Getaway Package" through the end of December, $153 per person gets a standard room, a $200 credit and a makeup application at the Blue Mercury spa, plus a $50 dining or entertainment credit and two tickets to the Tropicana Revue Show or the IMAX theater.

The "Night of Laughs Comedy Stop Package" is the real bargain at the casino-hotels this fall. For $52 a person for one night and $85 for two nights, Sundays through Thursdays, customers get a standard Tropicana room, two drinks at Tango's Lounge and tickets to the Comedy Stop stand-up show.

"We're going to do more things as the spring comes," said Vasser.

"There will be golf packages and spa packages. I am sure there will be shopping packages with gift certificates from . . . the Walk outlets or the Pier at Caesars.

' Some things are new to Atlantic City, but we have to embrace them, and packages are what people are now looking for."