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Thread: Total Rewards Diamond/Seven Stars changes for 2018 -- goodbye free room benefit , goodbye Diamond Aspirations, goodbye 1.25:1 RC freeplay conversion

  1. #1
    UPDATE 12/19/2017:

    There are several degradations to the Total Rewards Diamond and Seven Stars program for 2018.

    They are listed below:


    Diamond

    - No more Aspirations #1 at 40,000 tier credits, meaning you lose your 4-night stay at any Caesars property with $100 folio credit

    - No more Aspirations #2 at 80,000 tier credits, meaning you lose your $750 airfare credit and 4-night stay at any Caesars property

    - No more Aspirations #2 two-night suite stay at any Caesars property

    - Redemption of RCs to freeplay changes from 1.75:1 to 2:1 ratio.

    - Access to Diamond Lounges now requires 25,000 tier credits. If you have 15,000-24,999 tiers, you will need to pay 1000 RCs (worth $10) to get in.

    Basically, low Diamonds (15,000 tiers) get treated the exact same now as high Diamonds (80,000+ tiers), aside from the Diamond Lounge thing.



    Seven Stars

    - No more complimentary room benefit!! This a huge degradation, as this was by far the best benefit of the Seven Stars program. Up until 2018, you were able to get a 4-night stay complimentary at any Caesars property, with no blackout dates. You could also do this as many times as you wanted, as long as 48 hours were between reservations. Now this is completely gone.

    - Redemption of RCs to freeplay changes from 1.25:1 to 2:1 ratio.

    - Two of the four Signature Events are now only available to players with 500,000 or more tier credits. Seven Stars members with fewer than 500,000 tier credits can only go to Atlantic City or Las Vegas for their Signature Event. (These are kinda lame anyway, but it's yet another degradation.)



    _______________________

    Below is the discussion leading up to the full discovery of the above, which was fully revealed on December 19th.
    Check out my poker forum, and weekly internet radio show at http://pokerfraudalert.com

  2. #2
    Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Well, this ain't good.

    Hosts are apparently warning players that the Diamond Aspirations 2 Trip -- where players receive $750 in airfare and 4 complimentary nights at a Total Rewards property of their choice -- will be going away next year.

    This year, Nevada properties were offering $750 in RCs in lieu of this trip if you didn't take it by November, provided you showed up at a Nevada Caesars property and paid your own way to get there.

    Additionally, Total Rewards is apparently also going to eliminate the discounted freeplay redemption for RCs. Currently, Seven Stars can exchange 125 RCs for $1 in freeplay, while Diamond could exchange 175 RCs for $1 in freeplay. Platinum and Gold members had to spend 200 RCs to get $1 in freeplay -- basically a 2-to-1 ratio.

    Well, apparently beginning February 1, everyone will have to pay 200 RCs to get $1 in freeplay, regardless of tier status.

    These are not yet confirmed by Total Rewards, but that's what hosts are telling people.

    Later in December, I might be able to get to look at a copy of the advance instructions given to TR employees, and might be able to confirm this.

    These aren't huge losses to me personally. I like to hoard my RCs for food expenditures, and this year will be the first time I redeem the Aspiations 2 trip -- and only because I can exchange it for $750 in RCs.

    I am a bit sad the Aspirations 2 trip is going away, because that will mean the $750 in RCs thing won't be offered to me again.
    This is disappointing but not surprising. I have taken the trip every year since it has been offered—usually to NOLA—and I consider the $750 airfare comp to be much more valuable than the equivalent in RCs.

    With the constant tightening of the games, the continual degradation of the Total Rewards benefits, and the need to jump through a million hoops to get what you deserve from CET—this may well be my last year actively playing there.

  3. #3
    Get what you deserve? Do we really deserve anything?

    Yes I am disappointed when offers are removed or downgraded, but it's (usually) in the fine print that they can do it.

    I'm also getting tired of Caesars. I won't play craps there anymore because their table conditions suck.

    I'd rather play craps at Sam's Town, Red Rock and Bellagio.

    Caesars is its own Brutus.

  4. #4
    Hi Dan:

    Thanks for the heads up. It confirmed my desire to convert my 128K in reward credits into free play this weekend when I am in Tahoe. I certainly won't wait until 2018.

    Regards, FAB

  5. #5
    Fab I'm afraid you're in for a shock. There are limits on the amount of RCs that can be converted every 24 hours. It's going to take you a long, long time... well at least a full weekend. I think the limit is $500 a day.

  6. #6
    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson View Post
    Fab I'm afraid you're in for a shock. There are limits on the amount of RCs that can be converted every 24 hours. It's going to take you a long, long time... well at least a full weekend. I think the limit is $500 a day.
    Hi Alan:

    Thanks for the heads up but I think 128,000 in Reward credit can be converted into $1024 in free play. So a Friday and a Saturday conversion, plus a meal should clear out those credits-- unless I missed a decimal point.

    FAB

  7. #7
    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson View Post
    Get what you deserve? Do we really deserve anything?

    Yes I am disappointed when offers are removed or downgraded, but it's (usually) in the fine print that they can do it.

    I'm also getting tired of Caesars. I won't play craps there anymore because their table conditions suck.

    I'd rather play craps at Sam's Town, Red Rock and Bellagio.

    Caesars is its own Brutus.
    We actually do deserve something.

    Caesars CAN change its terms at any time. There's no doubt about that.

    But should they?

    I think it's kinda crappy to encourage people to earn RCs and hoard them, and then degrade what can be done with them.

    It's also odd because, as far as I know, Caesars is the only company which has a different redemption for their points at freeplay versus spending on property.

    Even right now, a Seven Stars gets 0.8 cents per RC when buying freeplay, and 1 cent per RC spending it on property. Soon it will be 0.5 versus 1, which is a huge difference.

    Other programs I've seen will allow you to convert points at the same rate when buying freeplay, and last I checked, Stations even lets you turn it in for cash!
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  8. #8
    Another rumor, though this one seems less certain:

    There may be a change in Total Rewards in 2018, making the earning period 6 months instead of a year.

    Presumably this will also change the period you have that status, so the days of having a status for 25 months after earning it would be over.

    If this is really true, I'm guessing you will have it for the following full 6 month period, plus one more month, and that's it.

    So if you earn it on March 5, you will have it until Jan 31. And if you earn it on September 8, you will have it until July 31. And if you earn it on June 29 (bad decision), you'll still only have it until Jan 31.

    These are just guesses on my part.

    Station Casions have a rolling 6-month program. You get your status for 6 months after you earn it, and then it resets. Hopefully Total Rewards doesn't go to that format, but I think they are too disorganized to pull such a thing off. (Their program is far more complex than Station's, so a rolling period would wreak havoc with Total Rewards).

    But that would really suck if the 2-year thing is dead. If so, that might be the end of my putting out the time, effort, and expense of earning 7 Stars.
    Check out my poker forum, and weekly internet radio show at http://pokerfraudalert.com

  9. #9
    Dan, does this (above) mean that 7 Stars would have to requalify every six months? And if true, is the required tier points for six months half of what the annual total is now?

  10. #10
    I'm in a lot of programs at various levels, and the ones that I am familiar with off the top of my head that give trips as part of the benefits for a higher tier still only give one a year even though to have that tier you need to qualify twice (Once Jan-Jun and again Jun-Dec). It's kept track of somewhere on the host level, at least at the one that I asked about (as the only trips I usually use are my CET ones).
    All the twice a year ones I can think of are hard stop - you have to keep qualifying every six months or come Jul 1st or Jan 1st you are demoted. There's no extra month. The Jan 31st expiration for CET - i.e. an additional month - is in my experience unique to them.

    As far as Seven Stars is concerned, I think this would be a bad move. Yes, there are people like Dan who make a concerted effort to earn it every two years to guarantee their free hotel rooms and then don't do much other play (or play that counts, like in Dan's situation with the WSOP). But I'm sure there are many people like me who do a couple of trips over the course of a year, play hard enough while they're there to re-earn Seven Stars each year, for whom it is worth it for the front of the line pass everywhere and the annual free airfare. Moving it to every 6 month qualification means that the the base of Seven Stars holders becomes more Vegas regulars or locals, who are going to come anyway (like people like Alan who can or could drive from CA regularly easily), or ploppies at the locals. All of whom are probably going to keep coming and playing anyway, and who are more regular drains on the perks provided to Seven Stars than the couple times a year people.

  11. #11
    I wouldn't mind requalifying every six months if the tier requirements were halved. Getting 75,000 tier points every six months requires the same play as 150,000 points over a year.

    I'm more concerned with tier point inflation.

  12. #12
    Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Another rumor, though this one seems less certain:

    There may be a change in Total Rewards in 2018, making the earning period 6 months instead of a year.
    When do you think they would announce a major change like this? We are 2 weeks away from 2018.

  13. #13
    Once again, I had to delete several trolling messages. Please do not troll threads like this or I will have to ban your account.

    Anyway, responding to the two messages above:

    Originally Posted by coach belly
    When do you think they would announce a major change like this? We are 2 weeks away from 2018.
    With Total Rewards, you never know. In recent years, we typically start the earning period (Jan 1) BEFORE learning of our benefits, which is ridiculous.

    Also, this change is not confirmed. It's just a rumor going around.


    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson
    I wouldn't mind requalifying every six months if the tier requirements were halved. Getting 75,000 tier points every six months requires the same play as 150,000 points over a year.

    I'm more concerned with tier point inflation.
    If this does occur, I'm guessing they are not going to halve anything.

    They will probably rationalize that you can still get close to a full year's worth of benefits simply by earning the tiers early in the earning period (for example, if you earn them on Feb 3, your status is good until the following January 31.)

    If they do make this change, I am assuming it's happening to combat those who earn their status in January, and then can sit with that status for another 2 years without further play.

    But again, this has not been confirmed, and only rumored.
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  14. #14
    Well Dan was right about the Total Rewards dilution for free play conversion. I just got this email from CET, supposedly sent to Seven Stars. It is only supposed to be a summary but I see no Aspirations and no guaranteed hotel rooms for Seven Stars:
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  15. #15
    BTW, at this time the 2018 on line benefits hyperlink does not operate. Footnote 2 states that the $1 for every 200 Reward Credits is effective starting Feb 1, 2018.

    FAB

  16. #16
    Good catch, FAB.

    The degradation of the hotel room benefit (if true) would be horrible, and worse than everything else combined,

    That's really what primarily separates Seven Stars from other top-tier rewards programs at other casinos around the country. You get unlimited free hotel stays of up to 4 nights, separated by a minimum of 2 nights, without blackout periods.

    If that goes away, Seven Stars will be worth fairly little.

    However, upon thinking about it, it makes sense that they are killing that benefit. Perhaps they finally realize that the "value" Seven Stars players get comped rooms without their play justifying it, while typical Seven Stars would get the comped nights anyway.

    This would really suck.

    The fact that "No resort fees" is listed (in place of free rooms) is very ominous, as it seems like they're saying you get out of resort fees, but the room will still cost $.
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  17. #17
    Here is a 2018 benefit summary:

    https://www.caesars.com/total-reward...156f70941d06c7

    Notice it says "Free or Discounted Hotel Stay" for ALL tiers, Gold through Seven Stars. So that doesn't mean much.

    If you check out the corresponding 2017 chart, it very clearly says "Complimentary Room": https://www.caesars.com/total-rewards/benefits-overview

    Uh oh!
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  18. #18
    Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Here is a 2018 benefit summary:
    Is this a bait and switch scenario?

    If a player earned status in 2017, with the expectation that the listed 2017 benefits would carry through his status period, does this new summary mean that certain benefits will be stripped in 2018?

    For instance, if a player were to play enough during any given trip in 2017 to earn 7*, in expectation of guaranteed comped rooms in 2018, does this mean that benefit will not be available in 2018?

  19. #19
    Yes, it's a bait and switch for sure (at least with the major items), but there's nothing we can do.

    They could yank the entire program away and we would have no recourse, since these are considered "promotional".
    Check out my poker forum, and weekly internet radio show at http://pokerfraudalert.com

  20. #20
    Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Yes, it's a bait and switch for sure (at least with the major items), but there's nothing we can do.

    They could yank the entire program away and we would have no recourse, since these are considered "promotional".
    That's brutal. But as you pointed out earlier typical 7* players get all comped rooms anyway.

    I understand that as a "value" 7* player you've been gaming the system, but when you check your TR rate calendar are the rooms comped for all properties & dates ?

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