Just got an email from Caesars for the first of the 2016 Great Gift Wrap Up promotions.

This is a "bonus event" for a free hotel stay plus free points:


BE OUR GUEST AND RECEIVE:
• 84,000* Great Gift Wrap Up Gift Points
• Complimentary accommodations up to five nights, February 18 - 22 OR February 21 - 25, at your choice of one Las Vegas Total Rewards® resort: Caesars Palace, The Cromwell, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, The LINQ, Paris, Flamingo, Bally's, Harrah's or Rio


This would be worth about $240 in Shell gas cards which is about right for my level of gifts or free play on other promotions.

If I gamble there are additional bonuses:

Earn 7,500 Tier Credits during your stay and receive a total of 112,000* Great Gift Wrap Up Bonus Gift Points.
OR
Earn 12,700 Tier Credits during your stay and receive a total of 168,000* Great Gift Wrap Up Bonus Gift Points.


What's very important is the phrase "earn" because this means that the usual Bonus Tier Points that you get while gambling do not earn GGWU points.

Again Caesars is offering additional bonuses if you show up for more than one of these GGWU Bonus Events:

If you show up at 2 events you get a bonus of 25,000 GGWU points.
If you show up at 3 events you get a bonus of 50,000 GGWU points.
If you show up at 4 events you get a bonus of 75,000 GGWU points.
If you show up at all 5 events the bonus is worth an extra 100,000 points.


Do you notice how these event bonuses become worth less and less the more times you show up? But the good thing is NO gambling is required for these "show up bonuses." But in reality at an average of 20,000 points per trip, it's an extra bonus of only about $60 worth of gas cards, as an example per trip.

I didn't go to even one of these bonus events last year, and unless I have to be in town and there is NO other offer available during the trip I'll probably never make use of this promotion in 2016.