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2022 Mlife/MGM Rewards Program Changes

Discussion in 'Comps' started by smooth899, Dec 31, 2021.

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  1. AK Eric

    AK Eric Low-Roller

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    The weird part for me is that I get the emails from the resorts, just nothing from the MLife itself.
     
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  2. ATLMM

    ATLMM High-Roller

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    As for those wondering if the resort credit will be waived for existing reservations, the terms and conditions pretty much state that any eligible tier level during the dates of the stay is what will dictate the benefit. Their T&C explicitly state that even leveling up during a stay will make the guest eligible to have resort fees waived for that stay. They will need to contact the front desk for verification of tier status and to obtain the waiver if the charges weren't automatically removed.

    The only technical rules are that the reservation must be booked direct (i.e. not through a 3rd party), and are not applicable for convention/trade show/group block bookings if the applicable member is not paying for the room (i.e. no benefit if [in hotel speak] the room charge is being routed to a master account). MyVegas comp room resort fees are uncertain as I could see that going either way (depends on how strict they make things as they are kind of like 3rd party reservations that you still are booking direct).

    Totally Agree, I'll take freeplay over resort credit any day.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2022
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  3. Cdizzy

    Cdizzy Tourist

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    Yeah I get confirmation emails, but nothing as far as promotions. No sales, concert announcements, events, and definitely not the free ticket offers. They’ve been trying to opt me in and out for 2 years ‍♀️. But they can’t figure it out even switched email. They got 2 emails thru in September then nothing, at this point I’d take smoke signals .
     
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  4. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    My thought is regions will mostly be equal, or close to equal, in TC earning unlike before. But that Vegas will be decently devalued from where it currently is. The 2X TC offer is to soften that blow. But we'll just have to see next month though.
     
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  5. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    They kind of keep leaning on the word standardization, like it will be the same everywhere. But I don't think they've mentioned anything about changes at the regionals.

    For example. Tunica I think is 8 TCs for $1 spend and 2 per base point gaming.

    So maybe they have to adjust some up and some down.

    Don't know what the TCs for gaming in Vegas is going to be yet. If they set it to 2 per base point, that would be a disaster. If they set it to 6 in Vegas, what do they do at Tunica?

    But that assumes they're going to tie it to base points, whereas they may end up with a third formula just for TCs.

    The TC formula is actually the critical variable to the whole tier benefits revamp.
     
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  6. stinnymn

    stinnymn Low-Roller

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    QUESTIONS PLEASE:
    I'm a Gold card member > Regarding the new *waived resort fee benefit*

    Does this cover MyVegas room rewards which now require daily resort fee payment on the comped room?

    To receive waived resort fees > do I need to book ONLY thru MGM Resorts and not any third party hotel booking sites?

    On my "Offers" does this mean now that ALL properties where I get comped nights will now have resort fees waived?
    {Previously my comped nights at lower end hotels do not involve resort fees, while higher-end properties required payment of resort fees)
    DOES THIS NEW WAIVED RESORT FEE BENEFIT ONLY APPLY TO PAID NIGHTS???
     
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  7. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    I'll take a crack with the exception of the MyVegas question which I have no idea about.

    To receive waived resort fees > do I need to book ONLY thru MGM Resorts and not any third party hotel booking sites?
    Yes, it specifically says that.

    I guess the MyVegas question kind of plays into this. If you have to book MyVegas through MGM, and you're entitled to a resort fee waiver because of tier, is there any reason you shouldn't get it waived on a MyVegas night, comped or paid?

    On my "Offers" does this mean now that ALL properties where I get comped nights will now have resort fees waived?
    {Previously my comped nights at lower end hotels do not involve resort fees, while higher-end properties required payment of resort fees)
    DOES THIS NEW WAIVED RESORT FEE BENEFIT ONLY APPLY TO PAID NIGHTS???

    If you are eligible for the tier benefit, it should apply to all nights, paid or comped under an offer, or discounted under an offer. It's unclear to me whether being Gold as of Jan 31 (ie. having earned the tier in 2021) is going to entitle you to this benefit or whether you have to earn Gold during 2022 in order to be entitled to to it. The award dinner and airfare credit perks specifically say you have to earn it during 2022, but the resort fee one doesn't.

    My guess is that even if you are not entitled to automatically waived resort fees because of tier status, offers will still waive them for comped nights depending on your play level and the property (ie. that will continue to work the same way it does now). We'll have to see what happens with that. They may make everybody lower than Gold pay resort fees for every night as a carrot to make tier. I kind of doubt it, but we'll see.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2022
  8. rourou

    rourou subterranean roller

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    Win for me, since I am such a low roller. And still no email; the last one I got from MLife Rewards was on Dec. 31st about the Garth Brooks tickets/VIP, etc.
     
  9. jpw711

    jpw711 Is that your cat?

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    If they set it up at 2 tier per basepoint, that would change Platinum from 60K coin in to 300K coin in, assuming $3/point. At 6, it would be 100K coin in. Of course, it's all speculation right now, since nobody has a clue how many $ coin in it will take to make a point. If they make tier point earning based on theo of the machine, it will be even more blurred.

    Why MGM didn't just drop all of the information at once, instead of piece meal is beyond me.

    Somebody else stated above that MGM was trying to steer people to two trips per month at the regionals. They have been doing that with freeplay for years in Tunica, always on a two week rotation. They used to have it set up that it always changed over on the 14/15th of the month, but then got wise and figured out that a lot of players, myself included, would just come every month on those dates, or on the first of the month. They started tweaking the dates to not line up with the weekends. For example, if it lined up with a Sunday/Monday, they would shift it to Tuesday/Wednesday. It's kind of silly, since you see the same higher tier members, that live in the area, there every time you go, no matter what day of the week it is. They don't care what day of the week it falls on, it only screws the working guy who lives 200/300 miles away.

    Several employees down there even refer to "there's noir/platinum and then there's TRUE noir/platinum", the true being those people who make tier with only Tunica/Biloxi play.

    I'm hoping tier earn rate is the same nationwide, no matter what it turns out to be, though I'm hoping they don't fuck us over to bad.
     
    No reason to go home yet.
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  10. ritzcarlton89

    ritzcarlton89 Low-Roller

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    I have to agree with above poster, although pure speculation on my part, it may cost an arm and a leg to get to platinum via gambol. As above post indicates, if it’s going to require 300k coin in or possibly more to achieve platinum, the supposed added benefits would be outweighed by the actual losses you would likely incur to achieve the higher tiers. I don’t believe mgm would be giving out additional valuable perks without having it paid for by losses, and requiring more coin in to progress in tiers more than guarantees this.

    Anecdotally, and there has never been any connection between how much you spend to earn tier vs how much gambol dollars was needed to earn tier, but if we were to use dollar spent to achieve tiers as a measure of how much it would cost, it was that in the past you needed to spend around $8k of resort spend at 25x to obtain platinum. Now it’s going to cost you $50k of resort spend at 4x to get platinum. If that is any idea or indication (again pure speculation) of what mgm expects customers to pay to achieve platinum, it may not be so different from how much mgm expects from gambol to earn the same tier. So, it is not unlikely that you would be required to do anywhere from $100k to $300k or more of coin in (gambol) to achieve platinum.
     
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  11. Philonous815

    Philonous815 Well-Known Member

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    A blogger has a post containing some insights from conversation with MGM rewards exec. The post also has a new brochure for MGM rewards containing new details, including valet parking for gold and free birthday sports bets.

    Maybe someone can screen capture the benefits chart and upload it.
     
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  12. JulianC

    JulianC Amateur

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    By far, that blog post is the best coverage yet of the program changes. It mentions what I have been pointing out all along -- easier tier progression at the regional properties, with more difficult (but not draconian) tier progression in Vegas. I'm still crunching speculative numbers about what that could look like and still be competitive.

    For those of us with the MGM Rewards Mastercard, note that the brochure indicates that we will somehow get a choice between Slot Dollars and Rewards Points.
     
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  13. stinnymn

    stinnymn Low-Roller

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    Thanks very much for your reply > your points make good sense!
     
  14. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    Nice find. I see one boogeyman we thought was dead has risen from the grave:
    upload_2022-1-7_17-48-0.png
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    upload_2022-1-7_17-51-32.png

    1, Oh they figured out how to talk about it, Vaguely. Maybe he means he doesn't know what they're going to say later.

    2. It'll be at least translucent in Feb. :D

    Now that I think of the fact that nothing is points anymore, it's starting to increase the possibility in my head that there's gonna be a third formula for tier credits rather than them setting a ratio of TCs to Slot Dollars (formerly points), and not using a formula that mimics setting a ratio either

    But maybe something along the lines of, how much theo do we want from someone in order to reach Gold? And then just work backwards from that.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2022
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  15. JulianC

    JulianC Amateur

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    Agreed. Consider that table games and ETGs exist, too -- and those have been earning TCs all along. We have long estimated that $1 theo from table games earns 33.333333333 TC in Vegas. I estimate it to be 5.25 TC per $1 of table game theo in Springfield (derived from my own play) as of November 2021. I expect the TC earning rate to be the same across all types of games in the casino -- unless MGM wants to be like Venetian and put their foot down to devalue table game play relative to machine play (including and especially ETGs -- the wave of the present).

    That's how I plan to do my speculative analysis. Compare tiered programs, especially those that base tier on theo. Evaluate how the tiers would roughly map. Then, come up with an appropriate number of TCs per $1 of theo that makes sense and would be competitive with the rest of the market. MGM would be total idiots to make tier progression massively draconian. (I think that Circa/D/GG got it totally wrong in that direction, but I've already discussed that on other threads. Still, they're a great example of how to get it wrong.)

    Just a preview -- I'm thinking at least 10 TC per $1 of theo nationwide. If TC earning remains more favorable in Vegas, then no more than 20 TC per $1 of theo in Vegas. Preliminarily, I see those numbers improving TC earning at the regionals while making it tougher (but fair, relative to the competition and to the tier benefits) to earn tier from play in Vegas.
     
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  16. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    Consider this:

    At CET on a 5x TC promo day, with the daily bonus, you can get out of resort fees and get a $100 dinner for between $625 - $750 of theo. $12,500 coin-in on a $5 denom slot assuming theo somewhere between 5% - 6%.

    Take away the 5x and take away any daily bonuses and it would take $3,750 - $4,500 theo ($75,000 coin-in, with TC earning not based on theo).
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2022
  17. ritzcarlton89

    ritzcarlton89 Low-Roller

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    Based on all the listed benefits captured on the brochure, and comparing mgm to Wynn (although one could make the clear argument they are not comparable), just solely based on the benefits alone for platinum, I can see more similarities between MGM platinum and Wynn black. If this is so, then the expected coin in to achieve MGM platinum may be similar to Wynn Black, which is currently $350k coin in. If this holds, most people won’t reach mgm platinum so I wouldn’t be happy about the enhanced perks so quickly. (Although mgm is more opaque whereas Wynn it’s clear you get 1 tier per $5 coin in, and we still don’t know what is the catalyst/formula for earning mgm tier)

    In other words the perks of platinum is so unattainable for many, it is not worth mentioning. But this is pure speculation on my part
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2022
  18. SunshineSlayer

    SunshineSlayer High-Roller

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    Gotta say I’m actually excited about this now. No resort fees, “diamond dinners” etc., sounds good to me.
     
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  19. JulianC

    JulianC Amateur

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    What's the difference between a point and a tier credit? Anyone? Anyone???? (The only way that one earns 1 tier credit with Wynn Rewards from $5 of slot play is if the machine has a hold of 8.57 percent. It is reasonable to expect the average slot machine to have a hold of at least 10 percent. You must be thinking about how $5 of slot coin-in earns one base point, which is worth $0.01 when redeemed for free play.)

    MGM would be outright insane to require $30k of annual theo (the actual amount of required annual theo to achieve Wynn Rewards Black if one's play is entirely in Vegas; for those who only play in Boston at Encore Boston Harbor, it's $70k of annual theo for the Black tier -- and I do know of some people who have that tier just from play in Boston) for the MGM Rewards Platinum tier. Wynn Rewards Black has more $$$-valuable benefits than MGM Platinum. (Before everyone calls me out for how the Wynn tier match was executed, and how MGM Platinum matched to Wynn Black, remember that Wynn bungled the whole thing and was matching lowly Caesars Platinum to Wynn Platinum.) At Venetian, to get to the top tier just from casino play, one needs $10k annual theo from machines or $20k annual theo from tables (or some combination) -- and the tier benefits at the top might be a bit better than MGM Gold.

    When specialty slots were (more officially) a thing with MGM, one who only played specialty slots would have needed $200k of annual specialty slot coin-in to make/maintain Mlife Platinum from play alone. If a slot has a 10% hold, that would be $20k of annual theo; at 12% hold, $24k of annual theo; at 15% hold, $30k of annual theo. Someone who only plays non-specialty slots would have needed $60k of annual coin-in. Expressed in theo for 10/12/15 percent hold -- $6k / $7.2k / $9k.

    If these trends continue, it will be easier than before for specialty slot players to progress in tier. Even if it turns out to be as relatively bad as 10 TC per $1 of theo, that would still mean $20k of annual theo to make Platinum. The typical popular slots to which the average tourist slot player gravitates are expected to have a hold of at least 12 percent, so expect $20k of theo to mean approximately $166667 of annual coin-in. A good number of non-specialty slots have hold percentages as high as 12 percent, too. Thus, the specialty slot player would need a bit less coin-in than before (and, at worst, a tiny bit more if the hold percentage is below 10%) and the non-specialty slot player would need as much as triple the amount of coin-in compared to before.

    There's no way that it will remain (as we commonly believe it to currently be) 33.3333333 TC per $1 of theo for table players at MGM properties in Vegas. That rate will definitely be reduced. However, all signs still point to table players finally being able to get Rewards Points. Again -- give a little something, but take a little something away.

    If you are already playing a lot of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, you will probably barely notice any difference in tier progression from play. If you play nothing but older IGT steppers, you are in for a world of relative hurt. If you play a lot of video poker... MGM basically just told you to go pound desert sand.
     
  20. ritzcarlton89

    ritzcarlton89 Low-Roller

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    It’s all speculation on my part, but I have to disagree if you say Wynn black has more $$$ benefits than the planned mgm platinum benefits.

    mgm platinum - dining credit ($200 for platinum and $100 for reaching gold, so $300) and airfare reimbursement ($600)
    Wynn black birthday dinner, master classes, spa credit

    Everything else is a wash

    Why is Wynn Black more $$$ benefits?

    Based benefits alone, it seems mgm reward platinum benefits aligns more with Wynn Black. Why would mgm rewards give more for free than Wynn and require less Theo and coin in? I would be surprised if it was easy to earn mgm platinum they would be giving away the farm. Looking at spend requirements only, they are aiming pretty high for mgm platinum (see prior post). I may be a little jaded, but I can’t seem to think they are going to be giving away $600 airfare so easily, do you know how much Theo is required for that reimbursement?

    You didn’t think it was insane when they changed the spend required to make platinum from $8k to $50k? That as I said before may be some indication of what it may require to gambol your way to platinum.

    Pure speculation on my part but the Chairman club at Wynn aligns more with MGM Noir and platinum with Wynn black.

    I am Wynn Black and the staff at Wynn in terms of their execution of tier benefits are abysmal but that is a topic for another thread.
     
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