I have been claiming the $500 Total Rewards Gift Cards for my Seven Stars Experience Credits for my play at Caesars casinos. And I have been using the cards to pay for my various bills including gift shop purchases and restaurants.

I recently discovered that you can pay your tips with the gift cards. In the past when I used Reward Credits to pay at restaurants I had to pay the tip in cash. With the gift cards there is no more cash out of pocket.

I also used the TR Gift Cards to settle my hotel bill including room service, gift shop purchases, and restaurant meals. Again the cards were accepted "as cash" and no cash out of my pocket was needed.

But ironically, the Gift Cards are NOT accepted for check-ins. You must still provide a real credit card to check-in to cover the basic $200 hold.

Why not accept the Gift Card at check-in? I asked and was told because you might go over the credit on the Gift Card.

In fact, when you use a credit card at check-in -- there is a hold placed on that card for everything not being comped such as room service, restaurant meals, etc. And that hold can easily go above your $200 hold.