Casino Reviews

One of the casinos we really enjoy going to often is the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino in upper state New York. It is about a 1.5 hour drive for us compared to 30 minutes to another closer casino. However, we enjoy this one much more.  It is not nearly as crowded, there are lots of machines and tables, the food is excellent and they have lots of free casino promotions that are interesting to us.

Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Promotions – Why Look for Comps

This is really what got us thinking about doing a blog comparing the promotions or comps that casinos offer. These are an enticement to get you to come to their facility. The old adage about competition works here. Local casinos are just not offering very much in the way of enticements to come to their casinos. They have no competition. The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino is a bit out of the way and for us a long drive. However, the advantages of the casino comps make it worth our while to go to this location compared to others.

They have great hotel promotions and great meal promotions. There are a variety of other comps that really make a difference in our decision to go to this casino vs. others.

We decided to add a checklist of casino comps and/or promotions to this post. We will add others that we will be doing, which you can see below. Not all comps and promotions will be of interest to you. If there are some that you do not understand leave us a comment. We will add a post to let you know what they are. If we missed a comp or if there is a new promotion we are not aware of let us know and we will add it.

Compare Comps and Promotions

We will complete and add comments about the other two casinos that we included on this chart shortly. Watch for these posts or view our categories.

Service with a smile seems to be the motto of the staff at the Akwesasne Casino Service and also at the hotel. We have personally had great service and after sitting in the lounge near the check-in counter have seen this same service offered to many other customers.

Ready to help whenever they can, in fact, I asked a slot tech if he could call a server to bring us a drink and he personally went and got it himself rather than make us wait. Of course, if he had been really busy he might not have done this, but the fact that he did it speaks volumes in our mind. We have never seen that level of service at any other casino ever.

Akwesasne Casino Service – Concierge

The Concierge helps with the bags and other things that a concierge is supposed to do, however, these guys do so in a very friendly manner, joke with the customers, and do all they can to help the customer. I watched them for over an hour one day and everyone appreciated their attitude and support.  They provide directions and are very friendly. While readers might think that this is something they should automatically do, and it is true they should, we have seen enough places where they can barely give you the time of day. These guys are doing a great job.

Waitresses

The Waitresses are always helpful and friendly as well. They are fast and efficient and acknowledge return customers. We always tip, but a few times we have not had any money to tip, and they brush it off with a smile. They know we will tip them in the future and not put out by missing one tip.

This level of service is so different than service at Canadian casinos. When have you ever seen a technician get you a drink? How many times does the bartender or the waitress smile at you? Frankly, they just do not care about the level of service that Canadian casinos provide to their customers.
The Canadian casino staff is not nearly as friendly. When it comes to paying out jackpots, not only do you have to wait for them to show up, they expect a tip as well. The Akwesasne staff are fast and are not looking for tips when they pay out jackpots.

The writer is a Canadian, however, I would much rather spend my money in the US casinos due to the level of service and the comp’s you get. The Akwesasne casino is clearly at the top of the service bar and well worth the money spent to stay there.

The Akwesasne Casino Hotel is a very nice place to stay. It is brand-new, it is modern, and the people are very friendly. In fact, the hotel administration works really hard to keep their customers happy. But sometimes they just cannot do enough for some customers.

We recently stayed again at the Akwesasne casino hotel and found the service to be excellent. There was one customer who had a problem with the staff at check-in. We are not sure who was right, but the hotel definitely lost business over this confrontation.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel Administration

He had made reservations – for an AARP discount which gave him a 25% discount. He was asked to provide his AARP number which he had forgotten at home. Based on this they would not provide him with a discount. Even though it was clear that he was a senior and over 55. We felt that this was really making an issue out of something that did not need to be a problem. This particular client told me personally that he would not be coming back to this hotel.

In fact, the hotel is losing business over something as trivial as a senior discount is not good business. Not for the hotel and especially the casino where the real money is made. As a Canadian traveling in the US, all I need to do is show my driver’s license which proves that I’m over 55. All hotels that I’ve ever dealt with have excepted this ID, The Akwesasne Casino Hotel administration needs to get some of these bugs out of the system to maintain client loyalty.

The bigger picture as well is that they are going to gamble at the casino and this is where the real money is made so by discouraging this particular customer, they are not only losing money from hotel stays, they lose money from restaurant and casino spending that this particular customer will not spend in the future. The front desk needs to rethink and possibly re-educate their people so that this sort of thing does not happen in the future.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel Room upgrade to a king suite is not really worth the extra money. Yes  it has a larger room, bathroom and shower. But it is essentially the same room as other regular priced king bed rooms. In addition location in the hotel means everything . Always ask for a room overlooking the parking lot facing south. Otherwise you could end up looking north towards trees and over looking the roof of the casino which is not very appealing.

We like the hotel, the casino and the room but this room for us is not worth the $30 upgrade they wanted to charge us. We also think that the rate would have been even higher. However we had a coupon which gave us the upgrade at a reduced price.

Fortunately we were able to negotiate the lower price of the room. Because we would have been a bit annoyed to pay $30 extra for this room. If you want a larger room and a slightly larger bathroom, then you may be interested in paying the $30 upgrade, but we sure do not.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel Rooms – Comments

Other than that the room is very nice, clean. It has all of the modern conveniences that most people would look for in a hotel room.

One other point that might be of interest to readers is that these rooms are all located at the extreme end of the hall. While it is not a long walk, never the less for people who may have a hard time walking they may want something a bit closer to the elevator. The hotel and casino is closed on Monday and Tuesday as of 2022,07,22.

The Akwesasne casino hotel lobby is nicely decorated in earth tones. It is just off the main entrance of the casino to your left. You encounter the check-in area initially. A little bit further on there is a lounge area to sit and wait to meet your friends or just to relax. This is where I’m sitting right now as I dictate this particular post. The only complaint I have is that it is cold at this location. It is very hot outside at the moment. I guess the air conditioning is working over time right now to keep the casino cool for their patrons.

Akwesasne Casino Hotel Lobby – Lounge area

The second picture in this post is the actual  sitting area. I have noticed that in addition to the comfortable chairs and couches, there is lots of great lighting along. There is also free WiFi in this area and in fact throughout most of the casino.

The Akwesasne Hotel and casino is really well organized. They have managed to keep walking down to a minimum for folks who have a difficult time walking. Valet is at the main entrance of the casino. When you walk in you have the check in area immediately on your left, the Sticks Bar and Grille restaurant on the right and the casino immediately straight ahead. The lounge or sitting area is just past the check in counter which is where many people wait while their partner checks into the hotel.

This is a very nice place to spend one or two days relaxing and enjoying the casino. If you like swimming there is a very nice pool area. There are lots of windows to let in the sun and make it bright and cheery.