Bank or use casino comps?

In another discussion one of our Forum members said he has banked about $2,400 worth of Total Rewards comps known as "reward points" which can be used dollar-for-dollar for hotel charges including food and entertainment, and can also be converted into free play at less than a dollar-for-dollar rate.

I thought that was a lot of "banked comps" and while it might make sense for a casino player to bank comps for future use, you have to be careful about banking too many comps or "reward credits." Let me give a few reasons:

1. In the unlikely event that this player fails to earn any "tier points" over a six month period all of the Caesars Total Rewards reward credits (the comp dollars) will expire as worthless. This is one of the fine print rules for Total Rewards. Making a purchase through the Caesars website or using the Caesars-sponsored credit card can extend the life of your comps even if you don't play in a casino for a six-month period -- but you have to be alert to this.

2. The casino could change the rules for banked or strored reward credits. I am not saying Caesars plans to do this but it is possible they could announce some sort of change in the rules and require players to use up their comp dollars before earning more. Some "reward programs" don't allow additional comps to be banked over and above a certain amount -- and Caesars could adopt this change, or make other rule changes.

3. Caesars could file for bankruptcy protection and wipe out the comps without warning or notice. I'm not saying that Caesars is headed for bankruptcy court, but there are so many rumors about this company and what it might be forced to do to get a handle on its debt and bankruptcy has been mentioned.

4. Caesars could be forced to make changes in the face of creditors' demands or a hostile takeover. Caesars' stock price is expensive for a company saddled with as much debt as it has, and while a "Black Knight" would not want to buy Caesars' stock (fearing its overvalued) the unwanted hostile bidder for Caesars could purchase the company Bonds and influence management decisions as a bondholder.

Now, if Caesars is anything like General Motors, it will try hard not to alienate its loyal customers with changes to its Total Rewards program. I mention GM because when GM went into bankruptcy it made a public announcement that it would not interfere with its credit card program that awarded points for a discount on a new car. I have the GM credit card and I have more than $3,000 of credits towards a new car for myself or a relative.

Even if you have no fear of losing the comp dollars $2,400 is a lot of comp dollars that could be used in gift shops or taking friends for dinner or buying show tickets or getting free play.

In the case of a 7Stars player $125 of comp dollars gets $100 of free play. So $2,400 of "comp dollars" can buy $1,920 of free play and that's a nice bankroll to use instead of cash out of your own pocket.

Use them.

I say this because I had banked comps at the sports book at Caesars' Palace before the CET takeover. I was told -- many times -- that they would not lose value and would, in fact, be worth more. I didn't believe them (it is CET, after all), and used almost all of them. Good thing, because when the takeover occurred, the value dropped 60%.

CET can adjust the value of reward points at any time. Any sale of properties by CET could also result in massive changes to their programs. But bottom line -- if they hold the ability to change the value at any time, and they do, that value ain't likely to go up.

Go ahead and quiz the sports book folks at CP about the race/sports comp losses after the takeover. See if anybody tells you the truth or if they hem and haw. It happened, and it can happen again.

Let's face it. A simple tweak to the scheduling rules for total rewards credits could be a monster. Shift it to "earning a credit every two months" and do it quietly, and CET could reap vast rewards with the onus for the loss of credits on the customers.

I had accumulated over $4,000 "reward credits" (for lack of a better term) at a casino here in Chicago. This was over many years. I wasn't trying to save them. I simply couldn't use them up with a small lunch now and then and a fancy dinner in their steakhouse once a month. Then one day, they said they were changing their card program and you had to use it or lose it before they converted. So I went on line to their gift catalogue, and essentially items were marked up 400%. So a $250 item would cost 1000 points. So my comps were suddenly reduced to one fourth of what they were. I couldn't use up $4000 in the steakhouse in the month or so they gave us, and I wouldn't pay 4 for 1 for gifts I didn't need (like 2500 for an ipad). So I took the best option available to me----cash of one fourth or about $1,000 cash.


SO USE EM__DON'T BANK EM

When Harrah's bought Caesars my host warned me to use all comps so I bought all sorts of stuff in their gift shops.

I am the one Alan is talking about.

And yes, $2400 in RCs is a bit much. I won't argue with that.

There are actually a few other things that can happen to rob you of your comps:

1) The casino decides to take them away. This has happened to a friend (not at CET) who lost their equivalent of RCs because the casino determined he was over-comped on the machines he played.

2) You get barred from the properties. You lose your RCs at that point.

3) You die. Nobody can inherit your RCs.

However, at the same time, I don't want to waste my RCs. I have been using them for fine dining, for the most part. I have also used some of them for show tickets, but not all that recently.

Hosts love to encourage you to waste your RCs so they have control of what comps you get. I like the RC system, because I can pretty much comp myself and not worry about impressing a host with my most recent play.

I had over 1200 until I traded some for cash. My situation was different from the ones discussed above. When I travel to the casino we use most of all I am not only comped my flight and room, but also meals and a trip to the gift shop. Therefore, there was no reason to use my comps until I decided to trade them. I realize that this is different from most locations, but it is really nice to get all these things without using my comps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by carolinajacket

I had over 1200 until I traded some for cash.

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Hi. Please clarify this: was it actual "cash" (green money) or used like cash in gift shops, restaurants, etc.?

You are right in that it is "cash" to be used in the casino, the same way you would use the comps. I just used them for the machines one time when I didn't want to cash a check or go to the ATM.