Christmas Promotions in Vegas, and NYE Comps

[Alan Mendelson]

Probably the two slowest days of the year for the Vegas casinos are Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day. There is no convention business and most families have their minds on other things besides going to casinos.

That's why the casinos are hungry for players and hotel guests and they offer various incentives to get them.

I'm getting emails now for free play, resort credits, and free rooms from all sorts of casino companies. Too bad I couldn't get these same offers on days when I could visit!

My "normal" free play offer from Caesars now is $250 and they just sent me an offer for $300 of free play plus $150 credits for dining.

The free play boost is 20% and the $150 credits for dining on top of the free play is pure icing on the holiday pie -- but I won't be using it.

Actually the period running from Thanksgiving until December 29th is very slow.

Vegas locals do go to the casinos for Thanksgiving buffets and dinners.

December 30th is when New Year's guests start to arrive.

Out of curiosity I called a few hotels this afternoon to see if they were sold out for NYE and not one of them was as of today.

Caesars Palace was quoting a room rate starting at $535 for NYE and I was told there were rooms available at The Rio and Bellagio. I did not check their prices.

Comped rooms is a toss up: A friend who is a mid level Diamond player with Total Rewards who did not quality for any mail offers for NYE tried calling today for a comped room and was told he could not get a comped room. He is also a mid-level player with MGM and he was able to get a comped room at several properties.

[RS__]

I just got an email for this as well. $1k FP / 400 resort credit.


Question, does resort credit mean I can buy stuff at gift shop or somewhere and charge it to room and make it free? Like can I get $400 in cigarettes then sell for $300?

[alpax]

I just got an email for this as well. $1k FP / 400 resort credit.


Question, does resort credit mean I can buy stuff at gift shop or somewhere and charge it to room and make it free? Like can I get $400 in cigarettes then sell for $300?

How do you get that of offer from playING jacks or better?

[Alan Mendelson]

I just got an email for this as well. $1k FP / 400 resort credit.


Question, does resort credit mean I can buy stuff at gift shop or somewhere and charge it to room and make it free? Like can I get $400 in cigarettes then sell for $300?

You got an offer for $1,000 of free play and you're asking this question?

[RS__]

I've never used resort credit before.

[Alan Mendelson]

I've never used resort credit before.

But all of a sudden you got an offer of $1,000 of free play and a $400 resort credit?

[alpax]

Being able to use the $1000 free play and to use the $400 resort credit to sell off items like alcohol and beer to build up bankroll is a big part of the traditional advantage play.

[RS__]

None of my previous offers have had resort credit. But the free play offers are not "sudden".

[Alan Mendelson]

Let's try to be logical for a moment.

1. The offer is for two days.
2. RS___ says he's getting $1,000 of free play plus $400 resort credit.
3. He's getting this much free play but never had a resort credit before????
4. He's going to be in the hotel for two days and he's just going to use the free play and not eat?
5. Oh, I forgot, he's a dealer in Vegas... and he is somehow getting a resort credit and $1,000 of free play so he's probably not even going to bother to check into the hotel room.
6. Why would he even get the offer when the goal is for the casinos to book hotel rooms and these offers are targeting out of towners and not locals?

Something doesn't add up.

But to answer the question: yes "resort credits" can be used to cover purchases in gift shops IF there isn't an exemption on alcohol and tobacco products and IF there isn't another exemption for gift shop purchases. So I would suggest you call YOUR HOST who got you this offer.

[RS__]

Thanks Alan.

[Rob.Singer]

It doesn't add up because he didn't know what he was talking about before making that up. Ho-hum....

[redietz]

Don't be so quick, guys. I'm primarily off the radar since 98% of my betting is sports, but I frequently get small free play offers plus "resort credit" offers of $200 from various casinos even though I haven't played there in years. It wouldn't surprise me if someone could snag a hefty "resort credit" offer out of the blue, especially if it's gotta be used in restaurants or for shows.

[Rob.Singer]

Red, what Alan was getting at made sense. VP players don't get $1000 free play offers without some sort of serious history. And it wouldn't make sense for that history not to have included a resort credit. Pretty simple.

[Dan Druff]

I generally agree with what RS_ posts out here, but I have to join the group questioning his freeplay offer.

CET is very tight with their offers these days, and as far as I know, they don't have much as far as good paying VP, at least not for $10/tier credit.

So given that RS_ is an AP, how did he rack up the amount of play that would generate a $1000 freeplay and $400 resort credit?

[Dan Druff]

Probably the two slowest days of the year for the Vegas casinos are Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day. There is no convention business and most families have their minds on other things besides going to casinos.

That's why the casinos are hungry for players and hotel guests and they offer various incentives to get them.

I'm getting emails now for free play, resort credits, and free rooms from all sorts of casino companies. Too bad I couldn't get these same offers on days when I could visit!

My "normal" free play offer from Caesars now is $250 and they just sent me an offer for $300 of free play plus $150 credits for dining.

The free play boost is 20% and the $150 credits for dining on top of the free play is pure icing on the holiday pie -- but I won't be using it.

Actually the period running from Thanksgiving until December 29th is very slow.

Vegas locals do go to the casinos for Thanksgiving buffets and dinners.

December 30th is when New Year's guests start to arrive.

Out of curiosity I called a few hotels this afternoon to see if they were sold out for NYE and not one of them was as of today.

Caesars Palace was quoting a room rate starting at $535 for NYE and I was told there were rooms available at The Rio and Bellagio. I did not check their prices.

Comped rooms is a toss up: A friend who is a mid level Diamond player with Total Rewards who did not quality for any mail offers for NYE tried calling today for a comped room and was told he could not get a comped room. He is also a mid-level player with MGM and he was able to get a comped room at several properties.

Your friend being a mid-level Diamond is meaningless when it comes to qualifying for comped rooms. Unless you are Seven Stars, comp rooms are given based upon your recent and semi-recent ADT and AMT.

The biggest myth about Total Rewards is that your tier level affects your offers and comps. It doesn't, aside from the clearly stated guaranteed benefits.

[Alan Mendelson]

Dan my point about my friend was that while Caesars would not comp him, MGM would and did.

MGM is also giving me much more lucrative offers than Caesars right now and I have very little play history at MGM.

[redietz]

I'm no expert on comps, especially at CET or MGM. Let me ask a question that may seen obvious to you guys. Alan says his MGM comps are currently much better than CET. Are both parties likely aware of this? In other words, can CET keep tabs in any way on Alan's comps either through some info-sharing arrangement or back channel kind of discussions? Although both parties allegedly guard this info, how obvious are gamblers' cross-statuses to each company when there are hosts and such switching employers all of the time?

Some companies offer to match status elsewhere, so I assume everybody has cheat sheets that lay out the parameters of various properties' requirements and can slot everyone pretty precisely. Is that likely the case?

[Alan Mendelson]

Caesars is in bankruptcy and that limits offers -- period.

[Dan Druff]

Unless someone is stealing data, MGM should not know about player info at Caesars, and vice versa. The two companies are each other's main competition.

MGM is giving better comps because Caesars is cutting across the board.