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Comment by strictnein | Hacker News Reader

Had a room visit. The two security guys were friendly in that weird way where they're all smiley and talkative, but completely ignore anything you say. Weird stuff.

Oh, and they made fun of how much I paid for room service, which is weird because it's overpriced to help pay their salaries... shrug

I get the why of what they're doing, but they didn't look through anything, so if I was planning something I could have had it all just in my dresser.

Defcon is moving to Paris, Bally's, and Planet Hollywood next year, but those are all Caesar owned properties, so it doesn't address anything. Although the room service may be cheaper.

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> Defcon is moving to Paris, Bally's, and Planet Hollywood next year, but those are all Caesar owned properties, so it doesn't address anything.

DEFCON was at Bally's and Paris for two or three years two or three years ago. The theory a few of us have is the Caesar's Palace people were looking for soldering equipment (that might damage their tables) and that Caesar's doesn't care as much if there is damage to their less prestigious properties.

Strange theory, why not just charge people retroactively for the damage and then repair it? Is that not how hotels usually work?

The last time I went to Defcon, someone drove the security golf cart into the pool. Others were flushing bags of concrete down the toilet. There's damage, and then there is Defcon.

Why the hell do people act like that at the conference? That sounds like children running amok, not a security conference.

The age requirement for Defcon is 18. There is also a large cross section of counter culture and drug culture. There were many parties happening. I recall smoking salvia out of a hooka, which later tipped and burned the bed sheets. A random guy came in to the party with a 50 gallon trash bag full of dried salvia.

No, defcon has no age requirement.

Yep you're correct.

Yes, there were a number of intelligent looking young children there. This however is only in furtherence of the argument that we must set good examples.

Because it's defcon, not blackhat. Defcon is the Saturday before graduation at a frat house. Blackhat is a the 4th of July at a country club.

Could someone translate that from American to European for us non-US residents, please?

Frat houses[1] are known for having a lot of parties. This partying will crescendo around the university's graduation date. DEFCON is being compared to one of these peak parties.

Black Hat is a bit more subdued. It costs a lot more to attend Black Hat. Black Hat parties are more like casual social gatherings. I believe that in Europe, country clubs are more likely to be called gentlemen's clubs. In either case, it's usually the richer people attending.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_fraternity_and_...

When was the last time that you went to DEFCON?

over a decade ago :(

The room can't be used while it's being repaired, and people would push back pretty hard if they were charged for lost business too. People also tend to dispute damage charges.

Is the room service really that expensive? I do remember paying extra taxes on taxes at the Encore

$75 for french onion soup, a caesar salad, and two beers

$55 for a bad 18" NY style pepperoni pizza

There's an 18% gratuity and a $10 delivery fee for every order.

That's astonishingly expensive. I bet you could get a local pizza place to deliver an 18" Pepperoni for half that, let alone the $10 fee.

Everything on the strip is jacked up beyond anything I've ever seen in Tokyo or NYC. Pizza delivery might work, but otherwise... literally everything on the strip is jacked. I can find $1 slice pizza in Manhattan. Less-good version in Vegas? $6.

Vegas has discovered that it doesn't really matter what they charge. People will pay it. Gone are the days where they subsidized food costs with gambling revenue -- I really wouldn't be surprised if the casino floor cocktailers disappeared in the near future.

Delivery food is a great way to save money, but they can't deliver to your hotel room. You have to meet them at the entrance to the hotel.

That seems pretty ok.

No pizza places deliver to rooms in casinos on the strip, you have to go down and meet the driver.

At least fees are included and you don't get a bad look for not tipping.

> because it's overpriced to help pay their salaries

That's something you assume but cannot know unless you had a look at their books. Paying security out of room service seems quite odd. I don't think that the salary of security is based upon room service at all.

Apparently these security people weren't that useful security wise, but maybe it's more that they know that too.

What? Money that people pay for room service is money flowing into the business, all of which helps pay staff salaries. I didn't realise there was any controversy around this arrangement.

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