CET Allegedly Removes Meals From AC Laurel Lounges

Honestly, this was always my thought from the beginning. If the whole purpose of lounges is to get people on property to gamble, then why not make it conditional upon the same?

Never mind the fact that it limits lounge access to those who are actually gambling, it also allows players who haven't earned a high tier yet to enjoy the perks of gambling at a certain level as well, which might then encourage them to carry on with or increase their play.

 

I don’t get all the outrage over Diamond lounges closing. They food was always sub par in my opinion and the drinks were nothing to write home about. I’ve only been to the ones in Vegas. I much prefer the 4 free drinks to diamond lounge.

 

CET AC already requires 5 TCs to be earned that day to redeem most offers. Can easily impose the same to get voucher for Laurel Lounge access.

 

Some of us very much appreciate the outrageous level of food comps you have received from MGM!!

 

Since closing of the lounges in Vegas I only was in the Caesars AC lounge last Autumn. I thought it was pretty ok "cafeteria" food, a nice glass of wine...no complaints. Now...not that the lounges in and of itself would bring me back to AC, but that city is crumpling down enough anyways, taking such cheap (for corporate) perks away from gamblers might be the final nail in the coffin. Not that I plan to fly over there from Europe anytime soon again anyways, just add an additional 3h to the flight and land in good old Vegas

 

This seemed like it was over due after Vegas losing lounges so long ago.

 

Why does 50+ lead you to believe they're true gamblers? I'm guessing the folks "abusing" the lounges by earning status then just going there to eat without more play were over 50 and retired, as those still working can't make it to a casino quite that often.

 

The LL at Harrah's and Trop have been Fri/Sat/Sun for a while. CAC was 7 days a week before this change.
The 5x RCs promo from last year is gone now. Replaced with 2x for Diamonds, and 3x for Seven Stars.
Its 1500 RCs for Diamond to enter the lounge per person (you're allowed 1 guest). Diamond Plus has free entry.
Without a multiplier 1500 RCs isn't easy to obtain for someone that is just a Diamond. Bally's has the best setup where you can either pay 1000 RCs or earn 100 tier credits for a free entry that day for you and a guest...
I almost never have to wait in line at CAC for the 7 Stars lounge there. Usually there the LL line is longer than the 7 Stars but 7 Stars can skip line at the LL.
Harrah's is a totally different story. The 7 Stars line is longer than the LL and that LL had semi decent food too so lots of 7 Stars used to go there cause they didn't want to wait in line for the 7 Stars lounge.

Borgata's 'charge' of $12.50 in reward points isn't really a big deal for anyone who plays there. That amount of RP is fairly easy to earn ($150 theoish gambled) compared to 1500 RCs. I guess this is a good balance, its not free but really not that hard to earn. The major issue is that its Gold and Platinum and Noir (Noir gets skip line privs) and the line can be stupid long at times. If lots of LL level players move over to Borgata and get access to Amphora it will just get worse for lines there too. I don't think it can bear more people than it currently supports.

Different market. AC locals are used to having lounges and they killed the 'dining credit' offers years ago. So its kind of the only free meals available. Its probably more outrage over the drinks though. Lots of people would sit in the lounges drinking for hours(there is supposedly a 90 minute limit but its never enforced and you're allowed unlimited re-entries). Realize its the lower level lounge so lots of players that go there are are smaller budgets.

Actually Borgata has lost the most market share and is trending worse than the 3 CETs combined in the past year. Prior to this past year the CET properties combined never beat the Borgata, but they have a few months this past year.
CET is basically flat. Seems Trop is the one that's dragging them down the most too for market share. I'm guessing Trop's clientele are more likely to have migrated to Hard Rock than the others.

Borgata's dining options have all gone downhill lately. Even if its not been Borgata branded generic replaced the quality has gone down quite a bit. Also stupid things like N.O.W. charges an 18% service charge on takeout now that you have to pay in cash. Lots of reports of FP being cut recently. They didn't do anything for people who were impacted by the hack. We were told 'someone will reach out to you' when we couldn't claim our offers. To date no one has reached out to me and I'm hosted there. They owe me $330 in RP, and $1100 FP from my visits when their kiosks weren't working and they couldn't give you your offers.

Ocean is on my never play there again list. Their marketing team is horrible.

 

I definitely can't speak from firsthand experience as I've spent very little time in AC casinos and have never been in a lounge there. However I'd like to say two things in response to this which may add a bit of perspective...

1. Supporting the latter part of your post, I have consistently read anecdotes about retirees in "Locals Casino" markets (not just AC... also Laughlin, Ak-Chin, Council Bluffs, etc.) playing just enough to get status for lounge access and then going to the lounge the rest of the year to have dinner every night but with little/no additional play. Pre-COVID this was apparently very common within Caesars properties. I would definitely concur that this might be considered "abuse" of the privilege.

2. To the part about age groups and which segments tend to be "real gamblers"... I'm 31 years old and very few of my peers are into casino gambling. Even among those who are, they're going to a casino on occasion to blow $200 or $300 on roulette or blackjack or maybe slots just for fun... and the idea of players clubs and comps aren't even on their radar. I would estimate that under 5% of people in my social circle between the ages of 20 and 40 even HAVE a players card at any casino. I have definitely observed that most other patrons in the casinos I visit are at least 20 years older than me on average... to the point that any time I see someone who might be younger than me, it actually catches my eye as an irregularity. I don't have the exact statistics to back this up, but I've pretty solidly gotten the impression that "real gambling" tends to be more popular among boomers/Gen X-ers than the younger groups. And when I say "real gambling", I refer to bringing some serious money to have a shot at winning, taking time to learn strategies, optimizing your play to leverage the value of players clubs, and that sort of thing... not just bringing a little extra cash to a casino here and there to have a little fun.

 

“You can’t have nothing. But you don’t need to lose money, certainly nearly as much money as this industry has lost, feeding people... God forbid they stop at McDonald’s on the way home.”

When the CEO of the company says something like this, is it a surprise? Perhaps they need a new guy at the top? To do this without a public announcement seems very unfair to people that played enough to earn Diamond Plus and Diamond Elite.

 

I feel like this quote from Tom Reeg needs to be in a stickied post or other prominent place as a reminder of the “corporate casino” mentality. We often complain about the current state of things with casinos, but I feel like not enough is said about how deliberate it is as demonstrated by this quote.

 

This level of arrogance from an executive truly makes me wonder how he rose so high up in the casino industry. You're supposed to love the customer, not patronize them.

 

It's in the name. Remove Everything Enriching Gamblers. lol.

 

Reeg should put his money where his mouth is...

...start a personal "side hustle" as a McDonald's franchisee who only opens locations next to CET casinos.

 

what happened?

 

Uh-oh… watch him claim “this industry has lost way too much money feeding people” also…

“But, Mr. Reeg, isn’t that the entire point of a fast-food restaurant? To feed people?”

“I’m confused by your question…”

 

We no longer play much at CET in Vegas once they shut the lounges down. Visiting those lounges was part of our routine. Drink, enjoy some light food, then gamble. Gone. Over.

And that trip to A/C we were thinking about this spring... not so much. Might still go, but will not be staying at CET.

 

I worked at the Silver Legacy when I was in college, nothing the Caranos do surprises me.
They were cheapskates back then too & would take shortcuts wherever they could to make their bottom line.
It’s their business model & I expect they will continue to degrade the rewards program for players as long as they can.
I play at CET because it’s the closest local big casino to me, if there were other options, I’d go there.

 

IMO, this sentence perfectly describes the backbone of Caesars' business model... the fact that they basically have the locals market cornered across the United States.

I wish someone would do a study to determine how X% of Americans live within a two-hour drive of a Caesars casino. Truthfully, I'll bet that percentage is very large.

If that goes on to reel people into the Caesars ecosystem as the place where they gamble locally, and then in turn the chain it makes sense to stay with when you go to Vegas... they really don't have much incentive to attract or retain customers, since the local casinos do that job for them.

 

30+ years ago all the AC casinos pretty much had free buffet passes for players(based on play supposedly but pit bosses threw them around pretty easily. Also, people who came by bus often got a coupon for a free buffet with their fare). HET (predecessor to CET) introduced tier level VIP lounges I think late 90s. Back then Diamond was the VIP level and was treated as such. The Harrah's Diamond Lounge was amazing when it first opened. It was basically a full buffet with 5 or 6 areas with different types of food and better than most the paid buffets in AC. There were no TC multiplier events or daily bonuses back then. So it was $75,000/$150,000 coin in (Slots/VP) back then to reach Diamond. Multiplier days were only Reward Credit Multipliers and random up to 100x(though usually you'd get 3-5x). Full Pay VP was $10:1 point back then so RC multiplier days were commonly +EV. They then added daily bonuses which made it easier to get tier in a sense. The larger hurdles meant playing significant amounts to really benefit. Then TC multiplier events. At first there were only 2 a year, then 3, and now it seems like every other week. Add to that they haven't adjusted for inflation. Its just too easy to get unlimited free entry into the LL for them to sustain it.

Cost to earn based on my stats from the past few years(no data on Hard Rock)

CET LL Entry - Entry Cost - Tier Level Cost (note: using multipliers and some rough math for this)
Diamond - 1500 RCS ($7500/$15000 coin in Slots/VP[crappy pay tables]) - Rough min possible coin in to earn tier level: $7000
Diamond Plus and up - Free - Rough min possible coin in to earn tier level: $10500 (its cheaper to earn Diamond Plus than to earn the RCs for 2 entries at the Diamond Level...)

Ocean Avila Entry - Entry Cost - Tier Level Cost
Preferred - $15 Self Comps(~$250 Theo in play) - $1200 Theo Loss
Prime - $10 Self Comps(~$150 Theo in play) - $8000 Theo Loss

MGM Amphora Entry- Entry Cost - Tier Level Cost
Gold - $12.50 Reward Points(~$150 Theo in play) - $9375 Theo Loss (without Vegas Accelerator)

They need to either increase the barrier for entry into the LL, or reduce the benefit to compensate. I'd say February will be interesting to see if they change the 'benefits' or tier levels around.

This is and has been the El Dorado model in the past for most their locations. The thing is many of their locations have no nearby competition. Many CET locations have a lot of competition and AC in particular has quite a bit. AC is still the #2 gaming market in the US. But who will they actually lose over this change? Low profit margin players? I doubt that will impact them much.

Also, El D owned the Tropicana AC before the merger and they spent a lot of $ to bring that casino out of the bottom end. So they do realize they can't always go cheap.