Should I have been comped???

My wife and I just returned from a Sat/Sunday trip to Caesars in Windsor, Ont. Since I had not played yet in 2013 (I live on the East Coast of Canada and no CET properties easily accessible so I only get to go twice a year or so), my Tier and RC balances were zero. My tier from last year was Platinum, from a 3 days Vegas trip in 2012.

Over Friday and Saturday I accumulated 9265 Tier Score (which included a 5k bonus for getting 2500 pts in a day), so really got 4265 in 2 days.

My play mostly consisted of:
- Video Poker ($1 machine betting MAX=$5 hand) and $5 machine betting $5 or $10 a hand) Pick-em poker
- About 2 hours of LIR playing $20 hand average
- About 5 hours or so of other 9-20 line video slots, betting on average $2-$5 spin.

I played a lot, won a few times (2 straight flushes, and two 4 of a kinds, which totaled about $3200) $1000 per SF, and $600 per 4OAK.

Including my winnings, I'm getting (based on my Tier score), I went through about 40k in coin in.

All said and done, I was down about $3k of my own real money at the end of the trip (for two days).

We had a few nice meals (totaling around $300) and I charged them to my room, with hopes of getting them comped on the back end.

Monday morning I went into the Host offices at the back of the casino and asked a host if he would do anything for me based on my play. He asked me for my TR card, and once he saw it was platinum he said that I n the futre this room is for Diamond or 7* members. but of a ****** thing to say, cause at this point he had no idea of my play. But in any case, he typed in my number, looked at a few things, and asked me how long I am staying for, I told him we leave later today and he handed me back my card and said there is nothing WE CAN DO HERE for you at this time, try swiping your card at the TR machine on the back wall to see what you may have available.

I was actually a bit shocked that he never even compd me the meal charges on my room, it was only $300.

Anyway, based on my play, do you guys think this is the norm?

Thanks!

 

First, your report doesn't say if your room was comped or not? If your room was comped thats a huge chunk of any comps you would have earned this trip - people think things like comped rooms up front are based on your past play as far as being already "earned" but they aren't: they are based on how you played in the past, but your past play is only used as a gauge as to what the casino can expect from you and what comps you would earn this trip.

After that, your coin in was probably more like $26-29K - you arrived at the $40K number by taking your TCs earned and multiplying that by 10, which is from video poker earning 1 TC per $10 wagered, your worst earner of TCs.


But that aside, it doesn't matter too much: in Las Vegas you might have been comped the $300 in food charges... but thats Las Vegas.

Outside of Las Vegas most of the casinos have little to no competition against which they have to fight for your gambling dollars so most of them are very stingy as far as what, if any, comps they give out... on top of which when it comes to luring in gamblers in Las Vegas the comps have to be good and far reaching to get people to come all the way to Las Vegas, shelling out for either gas or airfare, whereas with a casino like this the majority of their customer base is people who take a shorter drive from a nearby major city or live in the area and can walk or take a bus to the casino so the hosting staff is more used to dealing with the needs of those customers, the people who might come to the casino 3-10 times a month, rather than the gambling destination tourist like yourself.

 

Yes it was...

I doubt that as my wife was also offered a free room and she is only a gold player, earning only around 3-400TC per trip

I agree its not 40k, but since the vast majority of my TC were earned at $10/1, i'd say closer to 35k.

So you think that was simply a host call, or just not at that casino?

What about the comment the host made about the room is normally for Diamond or 7* players (I will be certainly be a Diamond player after a 3 day Vegas trip in early Dec for sure)?

 

40k coin-in for VP is nothing. VP earns terrible comps because the hold is extremely low, assuming it's not full pay and there is no hold. let's say the hold is 1%, that's $400 in theo and $160 in total comps. nothing.

also, the non-Vegas casinos are tighter and tighter with comps. 40% is normal in Vegas, but at other places it's much less. I know at the Beau it's around 30%. it's ridiculous, but these places have limited competition, so they can do whatever they want.

so only getting your room comped and having to use RCs for the rest would be normal.

 

Well that "nothing", translated into about a $3000 loss to me
For 95% of my Video Poker playing I was playing pick-em, not sure where that stacks up against FP, but I know most $100 bills disappeared pretty quickly, and I would have been down at oleast double if it wasn't for the 2 straight flushes that I got!

So you think that I would get nothing in Vegas as well?

 

variance is a bitch. but to the casino, that's very little theo, which is what they base comps on. and a 3k loss isn't enough to get anything comp-wise based on actual loss. so basically you get nothing.

on that theo? definitely.

 

I think that 40K at VP over two nights would probably get you a free room at a mid-tier strip property in Vegas (plus whatever express comps/rewards credits you earn). I doubt it would get you much else.

CET isn’t exactly known for the best VP pay tables. So let’s double shifter’s theo number and put it at $800. So, you’re going to get somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 in comps. There isn’t going to be much left over once two nights in the hotel are “paid for”.

 

In my experience CET tends to display some lack of tact with these type of things. At MGM anyone can walk into the hosts office, if they can't help you they'll tell you. But they won't blow you off just by looking at the color of your card. CET wants to push as much of the comp business to self-comping or things the TR desk can do. Which is fine, it's their decision, but its sometimes handled poorly.

When I went a few months back it was the first time in ages I was staying at a CET casino in Vegas. But I play at them in AC and was a level 2 diamond at the time. I called up PH to speak to a host and they wouldn't put one on. They said I could only talk to a host when I was there. That was fucking weird, and I told the lady that. I was a pretty high level diamond in AC and it wasn't from a bunch of low ADT days but just a handful of bigger playing days. But they wouldn't let me even talk to a host...it just felt petty and tactless.

 

I remember the days when I went to Las Vegas in the early 90's, and if u played $10 BJ at certain strip properties you would have to be constantly ducking from the free buffet COMPS the pit boss was shelling out...

Still shocked that he said, "nothing I can do for you!" a gesture would have been $50 off or something, but anyway, I'll stop griping eventually!!!

One this I forgot to mention, is that earlier on Sunday, during my play, a hostess approached me and said "Good morning Mr *Smith*, how is everything, is there anything I can do for you? (not sure what that was all about)!

 

Yeah that's just something they do for higher tier guests. Same thing happened to me at PH during my first stay. I was just playing on a machine and a guy walked up to greet me and ask me if I needed anything. He had my name on a list. Weird thing was he was a security guard so I initially thought I was in trouble for something. But I guess it was just CET trimming their payroll and having people multitask.

 

GChrome, your expectations are, unfortunately, out of line with CET's comp approach nowadays. They push the point system pretty hard and presume that players will understand it and use it to comp themselves after a trip by cashing in their "reward credits" for meals and such. Based on your estimated coin-in, you should have earned a decent amount of rewards credits during your trip to Windsor, and the host should have informed you that those credits were available to use for the meals, if you wanted. Personally, I've been a high-Diamond or Seven Stars player for several years, but If have never received a post-stay comp from a CET host based on my play over a particular stay. Instead, I see extra teaser comps up-front for the next trip. And, of course, I've cashed in plenty of RCs.

Similarly, the CET marketing ploy is to make the Diamond and Seven Stars loyalty tiers seem exclusive. This means setting aside some areas of their casinos as "off-limits" to people who haven't yet earned the higher tier. This is what you experienced when you attempted to speak to a host. Could it have been handled more tactfully? Sure. But try cutting in line in front of a Diamond player at a CET cashier's cage without the card and you'll hear plenty of barking.

Does the CET system make sense from a typical player's perspective? Probably not. There have been plenty of threads on VMB debating the pros and cons for low- to mid-rollers. But the reality is that CET expects that you are the one doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of keeping track of your comps and offers.

 

#1 Primarily, CET is a back end comp joint, so once the marketing computer runs the numbers, you will see lots of nice offers in the future.

#2 Every jurisdiction is different based on their market competition and their local gaming regs. Some markets will get excited by your play, others will see VP and start subtracting comps. There are places where they are serious about only giving select players access to a host and others are more aggressive about letting their hosts go after business. The impression I have of Windsor is that they probably have a ton of Diamonds and really only focus on offering perks to higher tier ones.

#3 That guy was a jerk. He was wrong to blow you off. That being said, you probably should have gone to Total Rewards after that encounter if for no other reason to let them know how badly he treated you. Hopefully someone would have looked at the situation and given you a more realistic assessment. I would also suggest sending them a nastygram now to let them know what happened. It makes me not want to make a trip up there just hearing about it.

 

It's just the big casino corporate mentality at work

Lay-em off,cut-em back ,save a buck ,treat -em like s..t they'll keep coming back the suckers cant help themselves. So they gave you a room,big deal ,they give me rooms and my action is a joke compared to yours.
Maybe if all the players started cutting back on their gambling action they'll get the message.
Revel AC finally woke up,my buddy's slot bankroll is $200,he gets rooms,shows and boxing matches. I'd call them,tell them how much you play maybe they'd fly you down?
They should throw out all those computers and treat their customers like they should be treated .

 

Awesome, because I plan on taking my wife to Vegas as a surprise for her birthday in early December (A big draw is that Andrea Bocelli is at the MGM that weekend and she is a huge fan)

Where would I send such an email and would you even bother since I didn't even have his name? h

In hindsight, I think he was being more pretentious than anything, but he should judge cause I was holding "just" a platinum card!

I wouldn't let my experience sway you from going up there, it is really an awesome facility! Huge, great fitness center, restaurants and a massive casino!

 

No offense, but I don't understand why someone will put $40 grand into a slot machine and then complain they can't get a free $50 room.

 

well, I don't understand why people will go 20 minutes out of their way to a casino to redeem a $10 match play coupon. but that doesn't make either of those people wrong.

 

I'm surprised by the poor response from the host. Over the years I've had some dealings with the hosts there and they have always been very nice and accommodating. But mostly I've asked for an extended stay or show tickets, never for meals charged to my comped room. I always use my RCs for meals. But now that you are on their radar, you will start to get many mailings from Windsor. It seems I get something every week or so. I'm heading up there next Thursday for a few days of quarter VP and a Vince Gill concert. -- Lorna

 

Funny, I'd have the opposite reaction. I wouldn't understand not being pissed about that after puting $40k through a slot.

 

If you were playing the full-pay pick 'em (99.95%) that would help explain a lot. But I don't think you would have got that many points on those units. They require $80 per tier credit. But since your royal didn't pay $1199, I guess you weren't. If that unit paid $25 for three of a kind, then the game wouldn't have a great theo for comps even though it wasn't full-pay. If it paid $20, then they should have maybe thrown you another bone.

But as other posters have said, CET isn't that known for comping beyond their initial offers, especially outside of Vegas.