Should I Use My Mlife Card During Work Trip If I Am Not Gambling?

I am staying at the Mirage for two nights on an upcoming work trip (not using an offer, as my Company is paying for the room charge). I will not have time to gamble. However, I will be taking clients out to dinner at the Mirage, and I will have two nights of room charges as well. I am guessing the total bill for my stay will be $1,500 (hotel + restaurant/drink charges). Should I put down by Mlife card to get credit for these purchases? The obvious answer is "Yes", but I am more concerned with whether staying at the hotel for two nights and not gambling at all will affect my future offers (even though I am not using an offer on this trip).

If it matters, the usual offer I get from the Mirage is 3 free nights with $150 FP and $100 resort credit.

Thanks!

 

Logically, my response is "no" because it will look like you came into town and did no gambling and this will affect your image as a player. A part of me says "yes", however, because these are easy points and an easy track record of spending good money while actually doing so on someone else's dime.

If I were you, I'd ask your host, or the player's club to see what they say. I'm sure they'll encourage you to use your card so you'll build a stronger profile as someone who goes there and spends money. But at the same time, they'll also know what negative effect this might have on your image as a player.

 

I am torn in the exact same way. Hmmmm.

 

Really, you can't be the first person to want to do this. I'm sure that big players have to come to Vegas on business all the time and don't gamble at all. I just think that disclosing it up front will look a lot better. Suppose you were a real comp mooch... isn't giving them your players' card, showing up at a paid room, probably getting a free upgrade, and collecting points all while not gambling going to look a bit more like "this guy came along for a free ride", as opposed to "he actually had a good reason to not gamble but decided to give us his business specifically"?

This can look really great on you as an overall customer and not just a player if you play it right. But it can make you look like a mooch if you don't.

 

If you already have a decent theo and offers, then no.

If you need points to get to the next tier level, and would make use of the measely perks, then yes.

Sadly, I am guessing you are somewhere in between the two. Share your normal visits, tier level, normal express comps, offers, etc. and maybe folks can help a little.

If you show up in their system, it will get tracked. There is no upfront "disclosure". The computer is not your business buddy. He is cold and exacting based on the information he is fed.

 

Keep your card in your pocket and your MLife account off your reservation. You'll get 37,500 tier credits on $1,500 of hotel spend. If that ends up boosting you to a higher tier level than you'd otherwise reach by October, it'll be worth one-tenth of a cent extra in Express Comps and one-tenth of a cent extra in PointPlay for every $3 coin in on slots. You will absolutely damage your ADT and affect your offers, UNLESS you go a lot. A real lot.

The only way I would take the tier credits in that situation was if I knew for a fact that they could link the stay to me by name without me having associated my account number. I don't think that's the case.

 

Definitely does not matter if you are just staying and paying, if you were booked under an offer, you should not take it and not gamble, that would hurt you.

 

That's not true, if they know you're there, it counts in your ADT, paying or not.

 

My wife and I were going to Vegas about 2-3x per year, splitting our trips between the Mirage and the Aria (always staying at Mlife properties). This was enough to comfortably sustain our Gold status without sniffing Platinum. Our trip frequency has dropped down to about one trip every 9 months after having our first child, and it will be quite awhile before we go back to Vegas again because we are having baby #2 next month. Based on that, along with the information above, I think I am better off staying completely off the grid this trip. My fear is that if I show up on their radar this trip and don't gamble a penny, and then we don't use any offers for the next year, we may see our offers dry up or disappear.

Please let me know if I have missed the boat with my proposed course of action based on your responses. I really appreciate the feedback.

 

What about someone who isn't staying on property but is showing up and gambling. Does that make it better for a player?

 

It does not matter if you stay there or not. Well, it does, since they now know you are in Vegas.

If you are "active" in their system, they track your play. Your play then equates to what they think you are worth. It really is pretty simple stuff. All they want to do is to estimate what your value is to the casino. It might not be perfect, but it is the best thing they have.

If you are not staying there, they still just measure your play. They really could give a crap if you stay or not.

 

I figured if you just showed up and played they would be interested in getting you to stay there, this way they could hope you would stay at the resort to play.