Wynn Slots Will Wynn Slots overprice the Buffet and kill the game?

I think that what you mean to say is that there's no consistency... not no logic.

It's plenty logical to make lower free play denominations cheaper than higher free play denominations, because it's more likely that $25 free play will run out in a hurry and get a compulsive gambler to go into their own money to keep playing... whereas with $50 free play, it will run out only half as quickly, and there's double the opportunity for a player to hit it big and walk away, inherently reducing the possibility of the player going into their own money.

Similarly, it's plenty logical to make a BOGO buffet cheaper than a completely free buffet, because not only are you getting some cashflow in the process (i.e. getting $25 for two buffet entries is better than getting $0 for one buffet entry), you're also generating a double upsell opportunity (i.e. for drinks/drink packages), and you're getting two bodies into the casino.

So yes, in theory, $50 free play "should" cost 2x as much as $25 free play, and a single free buffet "should" cost 2x as much as a BOGO buffet. But the economics of each item in each of these pairs is completely different from the casino's perspective.

 

There seem to still be too significant illogical assumptions that people are making in this argument.

The first is the assumption that users (even long term free ones of the app) are a financial benefit to Wynn that they would like to keep actively playing. And as discussed above it is not really true. If you have the app they want you to either graduate to a paying user of it, or to a customer of the property. They don't just want you earning free stuff indefinitely. And that is relevant because when people make arguments saying "they will lose a bunch of users", that is at best not a disincentive for them and at worst makes doing it more appealing. Ideally they'd love if freerollers gave up on the app but did not swear off the brand. Or if they started redeeming rewards that drove other spending making up for the cost of the reward.

The second is the assumption that LP in myvegas or gems in Wynn are a currency and will flow in any way in line or in exchange for the retail price of the items offered. But it is not a currency, and the prices will have much less to do with the listed retail price and much more to do with three things

a) The cost (and opportunity cost) to Wynn of giving the reward. Thus for example, higher prices or blackouts of room reward nights when it is expected to be busier. If the hotel is going to sell out there is a big opportunity cost to the reward. On a sleepy weeknight the reward costs the hotel the price of cleaning it.

b) The likelihood of the reward driving other spending. You can see many examples of this in myvegas. A buffet reward may cost half the LP for a paying hotel guest as for someone who can just hit and run. You can get free room rate at the lowest properties for very little, but only 1-2 nights (making it more likely you will spend) and for those places the resort fee that you are paying is often more than the rate.

c) The level to which the player in question provides in app revenue and thus mitigates costs. Thus why some rewards only get offered to higher levels or people who have spend X, or in Wynn's case why the high levels get room rate discounts.


When you put all this together for buffet rewards, the issue with them is they are easy for people to use without doing other resort spending, there are foor and labour costs associated with the reward, and they are going to offer them at the lowest tier they offer any rewards, to people with no other use for their gems. If someone gives up and leaves gem stranded, good for Wynn. If they pay up for L2 to get the better deal on rooms, good for Wynn. And if they pay the inefficient buffet price, good for Wynn.

There are still a number of ways that they could do this and you can again look to MyVegas to see how it could go. You could get different prices for weekday/weekend, or for earlier meals. You could get a better price for paying hotel guests. You could get restrictions on how many rewards can be redeemed. But the fewer conditions the reward will have, the more likely people will be surprised and at first angry at the price.


But that is where we return to the main point. Gems are not currency, and do not have associated cost (unless you are calculating your labor cost and if playing the game is work for you, its probably been bad return all along). Get what they can, find the best value for you, and don't get hung up on how that value compares to what was available before. If gems and LP were a currency, they would be one with massive inflation risks.

 

Exactly.

 

You can't say they have a very specific value when you can only redeem them for one thing.

 

If buffets end up being priced between 800-1000, I hope you come back and admit you were wrong.

 

I like the 800-1,000 range. Seems reasonable and even thinking it will bring new players to the game. I mean, it's not easy, but accruing 1,000 gems in this game is quite doable. I think potential new players would be scared away if it was much more.

 

Correct, actually it's even above the stated value of the gems which we all agreed on earlier. 800-1,000 gems is pricing the buffet at $80-$100 which is more expensive than it actually is. So makes sense to me for both Wynn and the players.

 

Am I really reading a three page argument over the imaginary price using an imaginary currency of a buffet that cannot even yet be claimed?!

Not sure what it says about you guys but the fact I’m reading it and loving it probably says even more about me!!

 

Umm, why exactly I can't say that? There is only one reward to be redeemed for now but they have a very specific value within that reward. In my MyVegas the prices have no consistency whatsoever. Rooms have a fixed price and while a lot of days are blacked out, there's still a major difference within them. 50k room reward (on top of my head, can't open the game as I'm waiting for a welcome back bonus) can be redeemed for a $50 or $150 night, the value changes. The early days I remember seeing a list where someone calculated the $ per LP for every reward and there were massive differences and they are there still today with different rewards.

But like I said, the buffet could deviate from the current gem values, that remains to be seen but it could very easily follow the exact same pattern. The only point I was trying to make is that this game shouldn't be compared to MyVegas rewards as they operate completely differently, at least for now.

 

I've never played the app, so I'm not really sure what drew me to this thread.

I think it's my fascination that Wynn even has an app that gives you free nights.

But this whole thread reminds me of my favorite saying about Las Vegas:

"There's a lot of free things in Vegas. But you can't afford any of them."

 

Oh, I don't know, I stayed two nights at the Wynn on a weekend in August—great time, great property, all for free—and have three more nights during Breeders Cup in November. I'm a low rolling horse and sports bettor so probably not the demographic they're after, but, nevertheless, I stay for free. Now working toward a buffet and another stay next year and it will probably only cost me the $30-$60 I've spent on piggy banks and the $99.99 I'll have to cough up when I want to move up to level 2 to get that room next year. So, I'm guessing that for approximately $150-$200 I will get seven or eight free nights—maybe a buffet or two—at one of the premier resorts on the strip. Sounds quite affordable to me.

 

I would expect by next year it will cost more than $99.99 to get that room. Devaluations are coming fast and furious now.

 

I'm sure you're right, but I have become addicted to this game and I think I have a reasonable strategy to continue to get free rooms—hoping for six nights a year. I haven't perused the calendar lately, but my guess is that average nightly numbers for 2020 will be about 5k. Yes? Too high or seem reasonable? As of today, five nights already booked, I have spent $30—six piggies. Even if I now have to spend $100-$300 just next year for those six nights, I think that's an incredible bargain. What do you think Juan? What's your experience?

 

There are several questions one has to ask themselves in order to determine whether spending $100-$300 makes sense. 1) Was that person planning on going to Vegas to begin with? 2) If there wasn't a Wynn game, which hotel would they choose and how much would they spend? If the answer to question 1 is NO, then I'm not sure spending any money at all makes sense. If you were planning to go to Disney and suddenly changed plans to Vegas just because of the Wynn game free hotel possibility, and now you have to spend money, you should probably just go back to your original plan. If the answer to question 1 is YES, then question 2 becomes the critical question and I think this is where Wynn may get a lot of people in the long-run.

In my case, yes I was planning to go to Vegas next year (I'm not a huge Vegas person like a lot of people here but I do enjoy going from time to time. But I also like the area because it's easy to reach some of the nearby national parks like Death Valley (which I've been wanting to visit). Would I stay at the Wynn if not for this game? Probably not. I'd most likely opt for the Palazzo (roughly the same price as the Wynn I guess). Nevertheless, the game is already changing my behavior and I'm aware of that.

The big difference for me is I would NOT stay for 4 nights in Vegas. I would most likely do 2 nights, maybe 3 at the absolute MOST. So, in my case, the equation isn't whether I'd spend $100-$300 for 4 nights at the Wynn, it's would I do it for 2-3 nights and that becomes a dicier proposition.

I had a feeling that the VIP program was going to be a devaluation so I speculatively booked a 4 night reservation for next year. So, fortunately, I won't be paying anything except a couple piggy banks I broke several months ago. But, given I don't go to Vegas that often, once I'm able to redeem for the buffet, I'm most likely deleting the app. Just doesn't make sense for someone like me given the time, and now monetary, investment required.

 

Hey man, stop seeing this game as a parttime job where you are gonna value your time investment towards your return. As said a million times before, you will never have a return of time investment in these apps. So stop playing if this is what you’re after. But a lot of people just like playing the app or just use it to kill time, and see it as a huge bonus to het something in return .
You have around 40 posts now of which are 38 to complain about the devaluation of the Wynn app... get a life or file a lawsuit against Wynn

 

And I think it's time to close this down.

Thanks for playing...