Casino Hosts... Do You Get Value From Yours?

I'm shocked that a 7* has to pay resort fees....wow.

 

Yes, It all depends on the size of the player.

 

i'm paying the resort fees on the 2nd room, not the first. I usually stay at Paris and I get both resort fees comped there.

 

Sorry to hear that. You really need to ask for some things like limos or show tickets.

My Vegas host sounds like yours but does give me things that don’t cost money like hard to get restaurant reservations and late checkout.

You do realize that RCs reflect about 5% of your theo so you are leaving 5 times the $ in comps by keeping an RC balance?. CET loves players like that.

I learned to clean out my RCs before CET clears out my RC account on checkout and so had some seriously sumptuous meals free using discretionary comps

 

And the program. I'm not even Gold with MLife - but my rooms are booked without resort fees. It doesn't matter whether I booked through my host or online.

 

Your host is in the service industry. I will agree things are always changing in the world of Caesars and mlife. However, you will never know what possibilities are with your host if you don't ask. Many hosts are like a mediocre waiter/waitress. They will gladly let you do everything yourself and consequently have to do nothing for you. A good host should be contacting you soon after you arrive, and ensuring your needs are met, and what can he/she do to make your stay more enjoyable. If you find that your host is doing nothing for you then it is quite alright to ask to switch hosts. No need to burn bridges, you might identify with an older or younger host, or be more comfortable with a male or female host. It is quite acceptable to do so. A good host will make your stay much more enjoyable.

 

About 5 years and prior yes, but since then no and my play has significantly increased.

 

She could be implying you to book it normally and "pay" and she could comp it on the backend.

 

I only have a host at MLife, and he has been great. I dont ask for much because I feel some combination of overcomped and or pressured to play more when I ask for things, but when I have asked for things not available to do myself, he's done exactly what I asked or better every time so far. He's also offered several things at this point I did not ask for, like show tickets and dinners and things, but I've always declined so far.

 

I don’t really think so. I was assigned a host at encore Boston without asking.

My coin in this year is around 222,000 (Jesus Christ I didn’t need to know that) but my overall loss is around 20,000. Thats a shit ton of money to any normal person including me and I get two free nights a month (must be used at one time) and $125 FP per week, usable only on Monday and Tuesday,

I emailed saying….listen….I’m fine if you want to limit me to two days a week but Monday and Tuesday just aren’t working for me. Response as “too bad so sad, maybe promotions will change the days someday in the future”.

 

I had a 100X multiplier about 3-4 years ago and I still have 340,000 reward credits. I eat pretty much at CET restaurants except like whee we n we go to Peppermill go for breakfast, I don’t feel like I’m missing s as my comps except that they now only give me $500 FP in Vegas vs $750 that I used to get. I think everyone is getting less.

 

So this has happened. They kept running me through hosts at PHO who were generally able to do more for me than I could book. Then my last guy was let go and I became a free agent. I connected with a buddies host. He was great and took care of my buddy and had began to take care of me. But now he was let go or is AWOL which was a darn shame cuz he was great. So I was cold called by a couple CET/ELD hosts and advised I was a free agent and they were looking to get me. I am by no means a big fish but I am consistent Diamond Elite the last 5 years or so.

Anyways I emailed one of these hosts after my last guy went AWOL and I asked for a little extra FP and RC. Told they cannot add that to an offer that is already booked. While that may be the case now with ELD, I know for a FACT that is not an impossibility. I let this new host know that my last few hosts added FP/RC no issues. That did not move the needle. But the host did advise I should access them for my next trip. Why the FUCK would I do that when I can book an offer on my own and you have literally told me you can do nothing beyond the offers I am booking for myself. Basically the host wants my losses and theo credit for nothing. EFF THAT. I would rather let @BeeeJay use my bathroom after he does his morning walk to Wynn.

As of this writing, the best host I have had recent dealings with was at the dusty old Circus Circus on my last trip to Reno. She did go over and above what she had to. The problem is I think I recall her saying for Vegas bookings, I had to use a host from Vegas?

So can a host do something for you? It depends, it depends and it depends.

 

WARNING! Long post ahead.

I'll give a TLDR--- No, I don't find value in them at my level and honestly when I must deal with them or try working with a new one (that has solicited me), I end up majorly ANNOYED. I am not a High Roller, but generally at LEAST a $1K ADT, so I personally believe they really only help you once at the $2,500+ ADT level.

Long answer:
First dealing with host was my third lifetime trip to Vegas in 2016 at Mandalay Bay. I reached out to her asking for an upgrade on a third-party-booked room. She gave me an upgrade and told me to visit with her at end of stay. I had a pretty big loss this trip (high 4 figure) so I reached out on last night of 4 thru the Mlife desk phoning her. She claimed there was nothing she could comp off, other than $100. I was confused as I had such a high loss(most at MB) and coin-in was over 60K. I emailed her a followup before heading into a show, and she responded saying the desk told her my averages wrong, comped my entire $1,100 food and spa bill, and invited me back in the future. I ended up using her 2x in the future, where she provided a limo and a nice slot tournament. This relationship ended on the seemingly best note of all, where one trip I asked for a limo and she politely explained that my play had dropped a bit and what level it would take to get the same things I've been getting. I appreciated that and told her I wouldn't waste her time.

Second, Mirage host. She reached out after a trip offering a pretty good offer better than the corp Mlife offer. I booked a couple slot tournaments and stays thru her. She took care of limo and was on top of flight changes and date changes I sent her. This was the only host I ever tipped, a couple bottles of wine and a gift card. I generally reached out the last night of a trip and she took care of excess room charges. What irked me was on a stay in I think 2019 she sent me an email on my last night of trip saying basically I'm not playing enough and should be putting in XXX number of points to earn the comp, and hoped that I was downstairs "putting in some play". At this time I had longevity with Mlife and half my trips were with Mirage so she should be able to see my history and long term value. There was no concern of, Is everything OK? Maybe something happened during the trip? Admittedly, I was not playing a lot this trip but should one trip tarnish a 10+ trip history? I sent her a 2 sentence reply saying how due to having my in-laws in town it was difficult to get in play, and that cocktail service SUCKED. Never heard from her again.

Third, The D/Circa/Club One hosts. OY. One reached out after February 2021 trip. I emailed her twice, never got a response. For an April trip I was trying to make Circa arrangements. I reached out to a host @AyDee had PM'd me there. No response. Gave up. After my July trip, a new one was assigned to me, and reached out. I emailed her back with a request and she responded 6 days later confirming my reservation(funny, I was just asking a question along the lines of "what can you offer" but whatever). Upon arrival in Sept, there was no sign of the confirmed limo. No phone call, either. I called VIP Services, was placed on a long hold. I called the host cell #, no answer, voicemail. At this point, I was annoyed, so we just took a cab to Wynn. I emailed her the following morning, expressing my disappointment and maybe some mistake. She replied saying they had my phone # off by one digit and they were at the airport, and tried to contact me. 1) My flights were on-time and there were tons of limo drivers but no one from Circa. 2) I had booked the Legend limo benefit in July by myself, and they got ahold of me no problem. So now I've written off Club one hosts.

Fourth, Wynn. This one is still in flux but am annoyed in general. We've been staying and playing on my wife's card this year, so she has been getting host advertisement emails and general slot tourneys since February. We have always booked by phone or online, but reached out with questions before and she was generally helpful and quick. This last trip, I noticed a room charge on our TV folio despite us booking online all comp nights. We fired off a quick email to her with the forwarded COMP confirmation email. She replied, your offer isn't valid weekends but will look into it. We literally forwarded you our Wynn email showing a Comp, so that was annoying. She called wife and ended up rectifying it. We had a $4900 theo this trip and did ask her to look at the excess charges, but never heard back. Just last week, we reached out asking what she could do for Nov 12-14. Normally we'd just wait for a marketing offer but that would mean waiting til Oct 30/31 when the newest set of offers is sent out. She replied she could comp the 2 nights and review play at end for anything else. We were left scratching our heads, No Freecredit? No F&B? Off a $4900 theo trip?? We declined that, and said we would wait for an offer or stay elsewhere. IMO I don't take the risk at a place we have established play on "reviewing play at the end". I do note it is a busy weekend, so will be interesting to see what the emailed offer is.

I now realize I shared too much, but maybe my experiences will help bring realistic expectations to someone using a host for the first time. There MAY be some good ones out there, but man, my experiences have left a lot to be desired. Again, I am not a huge player, but I am not a low roller either. Sessions of $100+ average craps, $5-$25 denom slots with sprinkles of $100 in there have been the norm ever since my first few Vegas trips. I never asked for much, nor expected it. It would be nice to have a single contact to make arrangements, and take care of looking at the bill so I can avoid a desk or host office visit.

These people are in the customer service business, so I do find dismissing longevity as disappointing and taking more than 2-3 business days to reply(or ignoring) as inconsiderate. If my play is too low for your help, that's fine, just say so! I also am in a customer-facing position, and always make it a point to get back to people within 48 hours and be honest and upfront with them. When I get bogged down or am on vacation, I will sent them a note saying I haven't forgotten about you if it is something that warrants more than a quick response. This should be common sense IMO.

I've read that $1K ADT (so 3 nights, 3k theo) and up may warrant a host. I think that number should be revised to $2,500+ ADT if you really do expect certain things out of a host that you cannot do yourself, outside of maybe some hard to get restaurant reservations and limo setup. My experience has made me take a more "comp yourself" approach towards trips, while taking advantage of marketing offers and strategic play. Otherwise, everything they can do you can do yourself, and have confidence in knowing that it's set up the way you want.

 

The common theme here is in most cases.. Hosts do very little for you and add a risk of getting things wrong.
Booking online with any of the major resorts takes minutes.. but booking thru a host to ensure all the details (dates, room, misc offers, etc) can take days or weeks of back and forth.. making sure you get the right confirmation e-mails to double check the host did not typo on the dates or something else.

If you need an early check in or check out or want to try for a slightly higher level room then you see available contact a host..
Other then that.. its just not worth the effort to use them to book the same things you can do yourself.

 

For those whose play doesn't warrant being RFB at the highest-class resorts, the trick is to book your marketing/promo offer through a host or challenge your host to meet or beat your current offer. If possible, you will want to have your offer covering your desired dates actually in hand in order to maximize value.

For my trip last November, I booked at three different properties and completed all bookings through a host. One was booked without an offer in hand, and I was successful in asking for my regular offer to be honored in advance. One was booked on my regular offer, but I was successful in requesting a slightly better room type in a more convenient location on the property. One was booked on an offer where I successfully turned discounted rooms into comped rooms (just pay resort fee) just by asking for my most recent play to be taken into consideration. Bonus points if you can correctly identify all three properties.

 

I have a host at The Orleans for over 15 years. In the past she has gotten me last minute rooms on Super Bowl weekend, free rooms for each of my 3 brothers when we went to Vegas for my 50th birthday including a huge deli platter. Comped concert events (Alice Cooper, Heart/Journey/Cheap Trick) and since my girlfriend was handicapped, she made all sort of arrangements for a mobile scooter without me having to ask

 

Someone had a calculator posted in an earlier thread (July maybe) and you could enter amount played time played and get a calculation of what you are due for such……I put in 5$ a play 500 hands an hour and 6-8 hours and a show and drinks came up I’m happy with my host and will never complain about our offers vs play.

 

Seems its all over the place. Over a decade ago, My host at Mandalay Bay took really good care of me. He asked me what I liked and I said I just want enough FP to cover the cost of my flight, and all my food comped(I'm not a huge spender for food), maybe a massage, and that the room really didn't matter since its just where I sleep. He always set me up with a limo, backend comped my food, and there would be a nice bottle of scotch in my room when I got there and after the first trip I didn't even have to ask for those extras, he just did it, and I didn't even play at the levels I do now.

Those days are long gone.

They switched to mLife program and my host eventually moved on. I eventually switched to CET and local hosts always went above an beyond, but Vegas treated me pretty crappy. I was easily over $2500 ADT back then and they would comp as many nights as I wanted, but never ever increased my FP or did anything special/extra for me, they didn't even say hi or text me during my stays(I was Far East marketing, so no directly assigned host back then). NOLA, Cherokee, SI, AC local hosts always gave me some extras, came an said hi almost every visit, did little things like send some drinks or fruit/cheese plates to room for my arrival. I've since lowered my play a bit. I'd estimate I'm ~$1500-2000 ADT now and just this past year or so my Vegas host has given me extra FP/Resort Credit for my stays(Well over double what my offers had in FP/RC), but could not up front comp more than 5 nights. So very inconsistent.

 

I am a CET diamond plus (not even elite) $1.50 spin/ $10 3 card poker player so I’ve never really had a host before. But I’ve been to Circa exactly twice. Both days were WAY higher ADT days then I ever usually have. Me, my sister and my 7 star mom all use my card both days just to see what they would offer. Yesterday in the mail they sent me a NYE offer that sounded great but I couldn’t make it work for NYE. Then total score today. A host emailed me asking if I wanted to come in March 3 free nights and suite tickets to the Blackhawks/Golden knights game. Plus rides to and from the airport. I’m sure I’ll never have a host again after that weekend (when my true play shows) but I know I’m going to enjoy it for 3 days!!! Lol

 

@JulianC First one Resorts World. #2 Wynncore #3?