I am back from a quick overnight trip for the Great Gift Wrap Up. The first Great Gift Wrap Up Session is being held at The Flamingo and I was there today at about noon. There were no surprises -- meaning that what you see on the website is pretty much what you will find at the shopping event for Total Rewards players at the Caesars/Harrah's properties.
The event is well organized and there were no delays at the "check out."
You might not know this, but Caesars actually requires vendors to send their top managers to take part in the GGWU events so that Total Reward members are getting complete and accurate information about the various products. I spent a few minutes talking with a top manager who was manning the Nikon camera display. And at the sports memorabilia display was the main wholesaler of Mounted Memories sports memorabilia. In years past, the top regional managers of many big brands were at the event.
Unfortunately, over the years the event has gotten smaller with fewer participants. This year there was a noticeable drop in the number of jewelry and electronics and computer vendors. Too bad. There was less sports and exercise equipment. But there were more gift cards available.
When you entered the event, GGWU staffers would remind you that all merchandise would be shipped, but if you wanted something that you could leave with right then, you could exchange your points for free play. We did overhear some Total Rewards members taking some free play for their points.
In my case, I barely had enough points to get everything I wanted. Originally I had planned just to get Shell Gas Cards and a couple of other gift cards for restaurants and Starbucks, but I used some of my points to pick up some gifts for relatives -- including a Ben Roethlisberger Autographed Football in a very attractive display case from Mounted Memories.
The ball has a very bold signature, it is authentic, and the display case really wowed me as it a very fine display case. I have display cases at home for autographed footballs and baseballs and the Mounted Memories display case is far and above what you normally see in sports collectibles stores. One of my relatives is getting that as a gift soon -- so I won't say any more than that here. I did note that some of these items do sell at relatively lower prices on eBay -- but using gift points is always cheaper than using dollars to buy an item.
There were a lot of household items on display including cooking equipment, major appliances, furniture, fans, small appliances and even food items.
In a couple of weeks the next GGWU is at Caesars Palace. I used up all my points, so I will miss that one.
In all, I was in Vegas for less than 12 hours for this event at the Flamingo. We checked in at 1-AM at Caesars, and checked out at about 1-PM and hit the road. Not much time to gamble -- but there was enough time to hit one royal flush.
I didn't originally intend to play. but at the last minute my son said he wanted to go for the ride (thankfully, he drove) and we played a little VP to pass the time. I only had a few hundred dollars in that 8/5 Bonus machine (yes a negative pay table) when I started to get quads -- 9s twice, 10s once, 3s twice, 2s twice and then around 5:30am... bingo. Yes, I quit when I was ahead.
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