Offer un-Offered

Not necessarily at check in. It's the check out that matters. I had very similar thing happened to me. I double verified at check in it was Comped. Then at check out they charged me and I was in hurry to the airport.
After many emails and phone calls, and weeks late, got the refund to my credit card.

 

So.... a little bit of info.
A) revealing I'm a bit OCD,
B) some "comp intelligence "

I noticed that at the end of my confirmation, it said I'll be contacted by Tower Suites Concierge within 72 hours of making reservation. That didn't happen, but there's a phone number. I called

I confirmed my offer, explained the history. Stated "I'm sure it will be fine in the long run, I just don't want to deal with it at check-in" Concierge assured me I wouldn't.

Then she went on to apologize and stated "the reason you're seeing that info... even though you shouldn't... that's the rate the marketing department is paying the hotel for your stay."

So, a topic occasionally discussed here on VMB, I know the inside rate being charged to MLife, gives me an idea of targets for my play, the this trip, etc. I doubt it's a static number, but I have the rate for my room type on each of those three dates. And a very rough idea for future trips.

A goof that reveals info they're probably not supposed to reveal.

 

Well, boom, let's have it...

 

Studio panoramic
Wed night $135
Thus night $140
Fri night $220
+ tax
+resort fee

I have no idea what rack rate is

 

Ah shoot, that's a hard room to find retail rates for. I checked the next few weeks for the same days of the week and came up empty, so I went out to August:


I'm pretty sure those August rates are higher than they are for next week.

Looking at rates right now, a base room is
$119 - $119 - $239 for Mar 31 - Apr 2, and
$169 - $159 - $239 for Aug 25 - 28

You can maybe explain next Friday night not being cheaper than August for a base room because it's so close at hand.

So it's hard to really try to determine full retail rate for your dates.

I dunno, if you shave $40 a night off the August rates, then they'd be
around $205 - $205 - $300
and casino rates of
$135 - $145 - $220
would fall around the 33% discount I'd expect. But I want them to.

Thanks for posting the info.

 

For consideration. I'm going Final Four weekend, Easter weekend, studios relatively small supply, and occupancy still limited. I'd guess rack rate when I'm booked is pretty high

 

All true.

Of all the times their system would glitch that exact way and give up the secret, why'd it have to involve a Studio Pano?

 

Of all the times

Who wants to place a bet that the Tower Suites check-in, lounge, concierge, etc all resume services within 15 days of my checkout from my first ever Tower Suites stay?

 

Interesting, the last time I stayed the casino rate for a corner suite was 25% of the rack rate. (rack of $400, casino rate of $100).

Maybe I was getting below the casino rate though, but I'd be surprised if that was the case.

I did notice, however, that demand will push it from a fixed discount past a threshold to a lower discount level. Given the increase in demand a 33% discount would be about right if they were using that method of calculation instead. So in that case your calculations would seem to fall in line with what I have seen before.

 

Yeah it's squishy, you don't really know whether the casino gets a fixed % discount, or a fixed $ amount price, or a fixed $ amount discount.

I just remember from getting quoted or booked casino rate a few times that it was usually 30% - 40% of the full retail. And when you plug that level of discount into calcs when you get an offer after a stay, it seems to be about right given all the other conventional wisdom about comp rates.

 

Can anyone explain casino rate and rack rate?

 

Rack rate is the hotels standard rate to the general public with absolutely zero discounts applied.

Casino rate is a discount rate that the hotel business unit of a given resort will charge the casino business unit of that resort for a comped guest stay.

 

People use rack rate usually to refer to the full retail price the hotel is charging to the general public for a given night. I think it has a different meaning within the industry.

The hotel and the casino are separate operating entities. The hotel gives the casino a discount on the room rate (casino rate). The hotel gets a room filled at an acceptable price to them and the casino gives it to a gambler who is likely to lose multiples of what the casino paid for the room.

 

Rack rate is the full cost of a hotel room without any discounts. This is a term used in both casino and non-casino hotels.

Casino rate is a deeply discounted rate that casinos use for various purposes, typically it is how much the hotel department charges the marking department for the room (the hotel has to charge it's self for accounting purposes).
Other times, the casino will let the casino guest pay that rate instead as an incentive to gamble because it's the deepest discount available.

It's basically the value of the comp that you are "charged" from your comp bucket. The higher the casino rate, the less room for backend food comps.

 

The terms we have been using are the "common" use of the terms...

If we want to get into a technical level of terminology, a rack rate is actually rarely used. That's the maximum price for a room ever, that rarely anyone ever pays.
Best Available rate (BAR) is another term that really is what we are referring to, that's the best non-discounted, publicly available and unrestricted rate, to which discounts are typically based from.

Computers have changed a lot of the way that rate management operates, but the concept behind both terms (Rack vs BAR) are similar: A rate that is the base used for other rates, hence why the terms can be used interchangeably in general discussion.

I used to work at a hotel and the rate setting and rate schedules are a lot more complex than one would ever think because then you have to factor in contract rates, group rates, house rates (which are casino rates basically), average daily rates, etc.

 

I would request a New confirmation showing COMP be sent to you.
Rather do that, than deal with Front desk at check in.

 

That's so interesting, and very informative! Thanks for the information! The error in the system makes me wonder if it occurred due to the maintenance MLife did to their system earlier this week (or was it last week?).

 

To close out this issue.. with respect to my offer itself, arrival was seamless. Free room, freeplay, resort credit etc. all correct.

 

I had the same at Mandalay Bay. I called and they assured me that I would be only charged resort fees even though online it was showing full price.
At the end they held the original offer and just charged the resort fees

 

I wouldnt count on it. I've already booked one for much later in the year. Unless maybe they find a way to reopen after you leave and re-close before I arrive