This has been going on for a few years, but seeing regnis and Alan post about the situation in this thread reminded me about something I wanted to complain about for a long time.

So here goes.

Total Rewards offers, especially ones with open ended dates (such as "Stay between 2/1/17 and 3/31/17 and get...") have a redemption limit regarding the number of customers accepting them.

Once the redemption limit is reached for a certain date, it becomes UNAVAILABLE on that date for you.

If you wait until fairly close until that period actually starts, you will often find few or no dates available.

This occurs DESPITE the hotel being wide open as far as standard rooms being available.

The explanation?

"The offer is sold out, but the hotel isn't."

Huh?

An offer should be an offer. It should always be good unless the hotel literally cannot accommodate you.

It also doesn't make sense. They are making the offer because they want you down there to gamble. Whether a lot of people or few people redeem it shouldn't matter. You will still be playing either way.

This occurs less often when it's an offer attached to a specific small date period (such as 2/14/17-2/18/17), but this still happens plenty.

Here is your course of action if you run into the dreaded "offer sold out" or "offer unavailable" problem.

IF UNAVAILABLE ONLINE, do not panic. This seems to happen frequently when the offer is actually available. Simply call 1-800-CAESARS or contact your host.

IF THE 800 NUMBER REP TELLS YOU IT'S UNAVAILABLE, ask for a supervisor. Sometimes they can find a way to push it through by getting creative. For example, if you need 4 nights, but only 2 are available, sometimes they can make 2 nights on the offer and 2 nights regular non-offer comped stay.

IF THE 800 NUMBER SUPERVISOR CANNOT MAKE IT AVAILABLE, you need to contact your host. The host has additional power to force it through.

IF THE HOST CANNOT MAKE IT AVAILABLE, you are probably screwed, but if you have enough of a good play history, you may be able to talk your host into giving you some sort of concession comps for it.