For years, Seven Stars members have been entitled to four free nights in any market Caesars serves, provided 48 hours notice is given.

However, you have always been able to get 5 nights instead of 4, by simply asking for it.

The procedure was very simple:

1) Call the CCS (1-800-CAESARS).

2) Tell them, "I'd like to book 5 nights at (hotel name) starting (date of arrival)"

3) They book it, give you confirmation code.

That's it!

You'd get this done in just a few minutes.

Last year when battling with a Lake Tahoe host for 5 comp nights there, he kept steadfastly refusing, but sheepishly admitted (only when I asked him) that "the CCS has different blocks of rooms and different rules, so they probably will give you 5 nights."

The CCS came with other advantages, such as the fact that you won't have a host breathing down your neck regarding your play (they will see the reservation, but you won't have bothered them with booking it, so there's a lesser or nonexistent level of contact with them). Also, CCS supervisors will sometimes bend the rules for Seven Stars members, such as allowing you to book a 3-day mailer offer and then tack on a 2-day Seven Star stay with it for a total of 5 comp nights -- something hosts were reluctant to do unless your play really justified it.

Oh, and the CCS has no access to your play history. They just see your offers and your tier status. So if you haven't played too actively lately, they are more likely to help you than a host.

Well, things are getting a bit tougher.

I attempted to book a 5-night stay at Rio during WSOP, and the CCS refused. They kept quoting the rule at me about the 4 nights free for Seven Stars. I was repeatedly told that this rule has existed "for years". When I insisted that I've been booked 5 nights "more than 30 times in the past few years" and invited them to look it up to verify, the supervisor blamed "operator error" for those (lol).

That's what bugged me. If they changed the way they're doing things in 2016 and are now enforcing the 4-night thing, that's fine. But everyone I spoke to treated me like I was crazy when I was talking about getting 5 nights easily in the recent past, as if that hasn't been an option for many years. BS.

I tried with two different supervisors and neither would budge.

I also ran into a really annoying situation where I couldn't book three future comp reservations at the Rio. I was told that, "In the Vegas market, you can only book 2 future reservations comped."

Huh? Unlike the 4-night thing, this is a rule I've never heard of before. I'm not even sure she's correct.

I definitely booked as many as 4 future Rio reservations in prior years, including 2015. The only limit I ran into involved not being able to have more than 5 future reservations TOTAL (which they sometimes bent anyway).

I finally got tired of the whole thing and just excused myself from the call, and will try someone different today. This sounds ridiculous. If I want a 3rd stay at the Rio for WSOP, I have to wait until the other two are complete before booking it? The supervisor claimed that I could book the third now, but it wouldn't be comped (lol).

My girlfriend came up with an interesting idea, suggesting that I just book at the rate and then change it to comp after I complete my first two stays. That actually might work.

Anyway, the glorious era of using the CCS to book rooms without a host might soon be coming to an end -- or at least become much less useful.