So I need some help understanding something, I believe there may be a loop hole in the Plaza players club and was wondering if its right and if anyone else is doing this. I believe that when you gamble at the plaza and earn points you get comped a room or at a restaurant or any other amenities but when I looked those comps did no affect my point balance and I was still able to redeem there free cash back for a full amount of points. Does anyone know if this is a loop hole or if other places do the same?
Our room comps have always come from email or snail mail offers. The points earned on your card are redeemed separately. With the card points, you can redeem for free play or gifts. As far as I know, accepting an offer of free room should not have an effect on card balance. It's been a couple years since we've stayed there though so hopefully someone has more recent knowledge to offer.
Many places are like that. My mlife card accumulates points plus Express comps. Points are basically used to exchange for FreePlay. El Cortez has an interesting secret. When you present your players card in the restaurant or the gift shop, they will ask if you want to use comps or points. Normally you would use comps in the coffee shop. But, you should use points in the gift shop. When you use points, you get a 25% discount on your purchase... but not if you pay with comps.
What would be the advantage of using your points? I would think having the meal comp'd or using whatever comp amount granted would be the better alternative.
If you had both $60 in comps, and $60 in points, in THE GIFT SHOP you should use your points, because you would be able to buy $80 worth of merchandise with your points, and only $60 worth with your comps. In the coffee shop, this doesn't apply so you would use your comps.
According to the Club Cortez website, you get a 25% discount at the coffee shop or steakhouse if you're playing with points, which goes up to 50% if you're in the second or third tier, and 75% for top tier players. Gift shop discounts don't begin until tier two and then it's only 10%. http://elcortezhotelcasino.com/clubcortez.php I wouldn't be surprised if your info about the gift shop is right, but I can definitely confirm you get the 50% discount at the coffee shop as a sapphire member, which is a better deal (and a huge deal if you're also using the 2-for-1 entree coupon from the monthly newsletter).