I talked to a very friendly host at my dominant property (Rio) yesterday. I was told that it is our very own Mr Kent Houston who decides about the 7* invitations. He can be reached at 702-777-7820. I left him a voice message, but I do not expect a reply from him until well after the 27th.
I went to the TR desk today and talked to the supervisor who referred me to another host. The nice man said that in his opinion, reaching 150,000 TPs is the main criterion to be approved for 7* and that in his experience, he has not seen anyone being denied it. I stressed that I had not played much this year and that my 35K TPs come mostly from hospitality spend and promotions. The host said that even if you get denied 7*, you may still have a way to appeal it. He then went back towards the VIP area, while I stayed at the TR desk and asked about our 5X promotion for LV locals (but capped at 25K). On the way back to the casino floor, I overheard the same host and the same TR supervisor saying "That is not going to work, but I could not tell him this".
This basically confirms what Dan was saying about people with little play this year not being able to reach 7* via the Ak-Chin promotion. I wish they were more frank about it.
On the other hand, the Orleans is having a very nice promotion, they are giving you between 10-50$ in free play each day, just for slecting a cute penguin when you swipe your card at one of their kiosks. And they are also giving away a breakfast buffet if you earn 1 TC that day, a lunch buffet if you earn 2TCs, and a dinner buffet if you earn 3TCs. Won 10$ in free play and turned that into 5$ in cash and a really nice dinner.
I feel so sorry about the Rio, it was branded as the locals' casino for so many years, and now the shuttles are gone and they only have the dinner buffet during the week. It is no longer attracting the crowds.