M Life - Will using EC's trigger a "no play day"

Due to recent not so warm and fuzzy feeling about M Life, I’m giving serious thought to switching my Thanksgiving stay from Mirage to Bally's, where I can get a comp room in the Jubilee tower.

Me and my BF both each had our own “suite” offers from Bellagio in June – we agreed to share a Bellagio suite instead of each of us taking our own Salone suite. This ended up causing problems and we got charged an upgrade charge of $375 plus taxes. They fixed the problem and issued a credit. What we didn’t realize was that this had falsely elevated my BF’s tier credits – so we left thinking he had hit Gold (85,000). Well 6 weeks later they took 16,000 tier credits away from him. No communication on this whatsoever. No response to his e-mail very politely expressing his displeasure and asking why they took so many when $375 x 25 would only be 9,375 tier credits???

Yes, I know tier doesn’t mean much, but still. Due to an employee error on their part – he loses a tier for next year. He could have easily got the extra 6,000 tier credits – had we known.

Anyway, I’m actually looking forward to staying at Bally's and also not having that feeling of obligation to play because you are accepting so many up front comps (Around $1,500 at Mirage vs. a free room at Bally’s). And with cooler temps, I hope to be out and about more and finally make it down to the Wynn to get my red card .

So I do plan on heading over to Bellagio to eat a few times using my express comps, as well as spending some of my 220,000 myVegas points. Do either of these trigger a “no play” day if you don’t gamble. I don’t want to completely tank my M Life offers.

 

I am no expert, but any use of your card even if not gaming...I believe will show up as a no play day. I am not high enough to really care but the same thing will happen to me this trip. Staying at Bally's and using a myVegas comp to eat...I'm not really on mlifes radar so I am not concerned. I know it kills my ADT but I won't let their systems dictate where I play or where I stay.

 

I would assume it would.

It sounds like you're going to sacrifice your Thanksgiving over 6,000 Tier Credits. Any tower at Ballys won't compare to the Mirage and the casino won't either. Not to mention CET has a higher house advantage on slots and table games than does MGM.

On top of that, if he's having problems reaching gold already, he's really going to have trouble reaching gold for the next year if you're not playing at MLife while you're in town.

My advice is just enjoy your holiday and don't worry so much about tier credits and what tier he is. If you're getting comps already, why would you worry about what color the card is? The comps are associate with ADT and not the color of the card. On top of that, you're already enjoying platinum and traveling together, so he gets platinum benefits anyways.

 

So basically you are saying I'm cutting off my nose to spite my face

The BF isn't going with on this trip - he always has to work the holiday or over the weekend. And I'm not considering this ONLY because of my current miffed off state with M Life.

I guess I don't consider staying at Bally's a sacrifice . I like Bally's. And as I said - I know myself. If I stay at the Mirage, I will feel obligated to give them 95% of my play - to pay for the up front comps, and yes, I know no-one is holding a gun forcing me to do that. I just think by accepting those comps, it's the right thing to do. That's OK, but that's been my last 5 trips. I'd rather have a trip where I don't have to worry so much about it.

 

JosieCat - I started staying at CET properties on some trips so I can have a trip where I don't feel obligated to play at a certain level. This has been nice, in a way, but when I look at the spreadsheet I keep on my trips, I've lost more $$ at CET properties this year than I have at MGM properties.

Nevertheless, it is nice to have the option to bring a smaller bankroll and just not worry about those things. The only problem, as others have pointed out, is the accommodations at CET properties are nowhere near as nice as MGM ones. I've typically double booked myself at CET and Cosmo and stay at Cosmo and play at CET and somehow managed to make it to Diamond at CET. It's a nice perk to be able to visit the CET Diamond Lounges.

I can't answer your question about if using ECs will affect your MGM offers as "no play" days. If I'm not staying at a MGM property, I don't set foot in one.

Good luck on your next trip.

 

Thanks Kimsa. It sounds like you understand exactly what I'm talking about . I'm not looking to make a permanent switch, just want something different for this trip. As far as how nice the hotel is - I'm just not that fussy. Not that I don't appreciate a nice suite - but last year - a last minute change of plans had us staying at the Excalibur for 2 nights - and it was just fine. Giving up the free play is the hard part

As far as losing more - well my last 5 trips with M life have been KILLERS. So no worries there. CET can't be any worse than M Life has been to me.

 

Excalibur is a step up from Ballys, IMO.

The math doesn't lie. The higher house advantage will get you. So even if you come out a winner, you'll still leave with less than you would have had you been playing at MGM. And, so those free rooms will cost you more than the free rooms at MGM. And, they won't be as nice either.

I've had none gaming stays for free with MLife. Just sat in the sports book betting on sports and hardly played any slots or table games. They still give me free rooms.

Regardless of your choice... go, relax, and have fun. And, as always, good luck!

 

Hey, in October I'm going on another cruise. CET can't be worse then that

Thanks much!

 

i say Excalibur is a big step down from ballys even luxor pyramid rooms are a step down.

i like cet doesnt make you do the 4 hour 100 a hand or what ever to get a room like mgm does and cet gives much longer comp stays up front for low to mid rollers.

you can basicaly book as much as you want using there calander as long it says comp and your fine.


mgm does have nicer hotels for most part but ceasars rocks and its free with no gambling pressure


also try casino marketing where you had a problem and see if they will up you to gold i had a similar situation and they took care of it for me.

 

These words are like talking dirty to me :evillaugh I use a lot of spreadsheets. If you don't mind my asking, how do you have your spreadsheet organized?

 

I just don't get it. why would you worry about it at all? that's the whole reason that upfront comps are so much better. then you don't have to worry about it. you know exactly what you're getting regardless of where you decide to play or how much you play or whatever.

sure if you under play next trip you may get less. but whatever. stay where you want, play where you want, do what you want and let the comps fall where they may. feeling guilty about where you play or don't is silly. they're not feeling guilty when you lose your whole bankroll.

 

casinos dont only go by your last trip they average out your last few trips and drop the lowest one because they know people cant always play as much as they want. dont worry and just enjoy. ballys is good anyway the world doesnt revolve around mgm. cet is good because you can stay there and low play and your main comps like room wont change unless you low play over and over again.