Originally Posted by
Alan Mendelson
Dan thank you for posting this, because now we come to the heart of the matter. And this is where we have different opinions and have different views about what Caesars and NCL are doing. You wrote:
I actually agree with this strategy that CET and NCL are using. Why? Because I understand that a business wants to lower it's costs and when a business is able to lower its costs it can preserve its offers.
You said it and you recognize it too. By keeping this restriction they are reducing the possibility that a non-gambler will get on the cruise ship. Yeah, I know that sucks but look at it from the CET/NCL point of view: if more non gamblers filled up space that a gambler could fill, gambling revenue would drop.
Also, there might be a capacity limit for Total Rewards passengers. So why fill the cabins with non-TR members and disappoint a TR-member who wanted the cruise?
It's like I said before with the coupon industry: they expect 0.5% of coupons to be redeemed and if suddenly 2.0% of coupons were redeemed companies would find their financial models collapse.
Yeah, it sucks. I'll tell you what also sucks:
Years ago husbands and wives could combine their play and have one Total Rewards account and it was easier for couples then to both be 7 Stars. But when Harrah's took over Caesars the rule became no more joint accounts -- and the number of 7Stars dropped. (Actually, it was the number of full RFB players that dropped.) I remember that. My wife and I had a combined account at Caesars and we were full RFB -- but when the change went through our accounts were split. I was still 7 Stars but she was Diamond based on our independent play.
All I can suggest is this: if you really want the "marriage penalty" to be removed, be prepared to see the cruise benefit limited in some other way. It's just dollars and cents and bean counting. You can't have it both ways.
Now I admit that because I don't take cruises I don't really care about this marriage penalty. But I am suggesting to you that if you manage to get the marriage penalty removed that you might regret what Caesars and NCL does to balance its "cruise budget." You might find fewer cruises, higher fees, maybe even a requirement for a higher tier score to claim a cruise.
You know the phrase "be careful what you wish for"? In this case, be careful what you wish for.
You might win the battle but lose the war. I am sure you would hate to find out that the new tier point level for 7 Stars has been inflated to 200,000 but that's exactly what might happen. Or, I am sure you would hate to find out that there was a fee of $300 for taking a non-TR member on the cruise and that would hurt plans for taking a minor on the cruise.
Anything could happen.
So... is the marriage penalty for cruising so important to you that you want tier score inflation or cuts in other promos? Choose your battles carefully. Caesars doesn't exactly have huge profits to spread around to its players. And the margin on cruising isn't that big either.