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Goodbye Mandalay Bay

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by parallax, Dec 28, 2015.

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  1. parallax

    parallax High-Roller

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    For the last several trips Mandalay Bay has been our home base. Prior to that, our primary hotels were Bellagio and Mirage. We do not chase comps but over the years we have gambled enough to have hosts at each property. In the years past, we have received comp rooms, free play and resort credits. However, this appears to be drying up, even though my average bet and time I spend gambling has increased. Our friends at Mandalay Bay seem to not want us there anymore. During our June visit, we had our room comped; we received nothing else. We decided to head out in March (not the weekend of March madness starts). I reached out (email) to my host and he was only willing to offer two nights free. The other night rates averaged around $200 per nigh when the resort fee was added. I was not a happy camper, but before I responded I decided to do a little investigating.

    I logged onto Mlife and looked at my various offers. I had an offer for a couple free nights at Bellagio or Aria but nothing else. The only Mandalay Bay offer on Mlife was for rooms at $19. I checked the dates and found that I would be entitled for a suite at $19 per day plus the resort fee. This offer was better than what the host was giving me I then called Casino Marketing and they offered the same package but instead of $19 per night it was $38 per night. They could not explain the difference. Finally, I checked the rates on the Mandalay website and the casino rate was higher than what I could get on the website.

    After collecting all this data, I emailed my host and said I was bothered by what I found and if he could explain what is going on. He has not responded. I do not know if this is tied to the PGP but my sense is that this may be the case. There is too much disparity in the pricing. In the last two years, I have gone from a comped suite with FP and a sizable resort credit to receiving 2 free nights.

    It is my sense that we fall into a gray area. We gamble enough to receive a host but when comps are being pulled back we are the first ones to suffer the effects. The funny thing is that every time there is a downturn in the economy, Mlife pulls out all the stops to retain our business. They know from over the years that we will always gamble at their casinos, eat at their nice restaurants, and use their spa services even when the economy is sluggish.

    We have good offers from the Cosmo, TI, Venetian and SLS. I think it is time to explore what else is out there. I will deactivate my LOC at MB.
     
  2. sindustry

    sindustry VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    What kind of theo are you generating per trip? I have the opposite experience...my play is the same at all mlife properties, but My MB host treats me way better than the other Hosts at MGM, Aria, or Mirage. Then again, I lose 5 figures every time I stay at MB...lol.
     
  3. parallax

    parallax High-Roller

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    Definitely not as high u. I play BJ and typically play at the DD $50/$100 tables with some high limit mixed in. I bet above the minimums and play about 5/6 hours per day. I have had success the last couple trips and taken them for about 10k maybe that is why they are ungrateful.
     
  4. touche22

    touche22 Low-Roller

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    Ontario, Canada
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    I was thinking about a stay at Mandalay after tiring of Aria. A host has been emailing me but will only offer Corp offer which pales to what I get from Aria so it's hard to leave 1600$ worth of comps on the table to switch to a property that I thought was a tier below Bellagio/Aria.
     
  5. parallax

    parallax High-Roller

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    We like the fact that MB is somewhat away from all the action. Plus, we love the restaurants and the gambling has always treated me nicely. We made the move after our host from the Bellagio moved to Aria. We stayed at the Aria but the trip did not go well (not due to the host). We decided to try MB after that trip and things were going well for the last few years until now.
     
  6. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

    Joined:
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    Funny, I had a similar surprising experience at MB recently that I have been trying to figure out.

    A couple friends and I decided to start planning our march madness trip. One of them suggested MB. That sounded good to me, especially since I had such a big win there a few months ago. So I emailed my host and asked him if he could set up the usual suite. He responded the next day saying the suite was no problem, but before I even asked he indicated that he could not promise me any upfront food and beverage comps and that he would only comp that on the back end if my play warranted it. I was a bit surprised by this because I have always been treated as RFB at MB and always received all the food and beverage comps I needed without asking (probably, in part, because my hosts all know I am not a big eater or drinker, so I rarely spend more than a hundred bucks a day on food and drinks).

    That response made me wonder if MB was cracking down or MGM in general. So I emailed my host at MGM inquiring about March Madness and he immediately offered up a skysuite and asked if $350 a day would be enough to cover my other expenses. So I took him up on that offer, told my friends to plan on MGM, and told my MB host thanks but no thanks.

    This is a complaint I had in the past about MGM resorts (I always used to get better Bellagio offers than Aria for the same level of play, until I got a better Aria host). I know the company tiers MGM and MB together, but it is accepted that MGM is the better property. And I get a much better upfront offer from MGM than MB? I thought for sure the offers would at least be comparable. I did lose overall at MGM last year and came out ahead at MB in 2015. That's the only difference I can think of. Oh well. I like my MGM host much better anyway. So I think I will add MB to my list of places I'm not planning to stay at again.
     
    The plans have changed
    Post-Shopping Recovery Period
  7. parallax

    parallax High-Roller

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    That is very surprising. Maybe they are truly focusing on the convention side of things.
     
  8. Samstown man

    Samstown man MIA

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    An email response to my request for rooms at MB

    I can do a casino rate and base comping the room on your play. Like most places I will comp 40% of your theoretical or 10% of actual if there is a bad loss. Whichever is greater. If your play is as I suspect then it will not be an issue. Just let me know if you would like to set this up.

    Rick

    I told Rick, Yeah I can do better lmao.
     
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