Aria comps report

I've been trolling these boards for a while looking for info on what types of comps to expect for a particular type of play, so I'm going to give some info on the comps I got on my trip that's finishing up today.

Background: I jumped from Mlife gold to platinum on this trip, but I'm definitely not a High Roller. I mostly play blackjack, but also a little bit of video poker and some craps.

I booked with my Mlife corporate offer online -- I tried phoning Mlife, since many people on this board say that their phone offers are much better than their online offers, but in my case, the online offer was much better. I stayed Thurs-Sun, and paid an average of $103/night, plus tax and resort fee.

I checked at the players club and asked what my play had been rated at, and they had me at 13:45 for the trip with an average bet of $54/hand (90% blackjack, 10% craps in my estimation), plus some video poker play. For what it's worth, I was playing two hands of blackjack at $50/hand (plus splits and doubles) for about 2-3 hours/day, so it looks like they counted that second hand as extra 'time' rather than a larger bet. A side note, the Aria is installing sensors in their tables to track the number of hands you play, not the amount of time. We'll have to see how that plays out.

This got me around $100 in Express Comps, which I used for breakfast buffets.

I asked at the Mlife desk if they could do anything else, and they said I should talk to a host. I went to the host's office and she offered to take care of one night's stay (room and tax, but not resort fee).

Moral of the story: Even though I'm not a high roller, it definitely doesn't hurt to ask for something. If I hadn't gone to the host, I wouldn't have gotten that one night comped off.

I'm going to try contacting a host before my next trip to see if they can offer anything up-front. And even though I've stayed at the Aria the last couple of trips and loved it, I might call around to other properties to see if anyone else (MGM, MB, etc) might value my play a little more. Thoughts on that, anyone?

 

What was your bankroll for the trip?

 

From my understanding, they don't care about how much money you bring with you, but rather how much you actually play.... which in my case was about 14 hours of $50/hand blackjack.

For what it's worth, I pulled out a $2000 marker when I showed up and just used that for the trip (had some big swings in the middle, but never lost it all). Ended up losing a couple hundred in the end.

 

So you agreed with the amount of time that they had recorded for you?

 

13 3/4 hrs at 60 hands an hour, with an average bet of $54 gives you an effective 'coin in' of $44,550 at blackjack.
With a house advantage of 1% your Theoretical loss was $445, the casino standard comp is 40% of Theo, which gives $178.
So you have certainly been treated fairly by Aria, and personally I think there is a lot to be said for trying to build up a relationship with a host at one hotel, especially if you enjoy staying there.

 

Yeah -- I'm definitely not complaining about my level of comps. I think it was pretty much right on what I got. It would have been nice if they had just offered the one comp night at the players desk or just include the full 40% in your express comps. But now I know that he who does not ask, does not get.

I'm wondering if I'll be seeing better corporate offers now that I'm platinum. From what I can tell, though, status has basically nothing to do with anything. When I got to gold I saw no real change in my corporate offers or casino rates.

 

I was Platinum on MLIFe based on $1 VP, but stopped playing the poor pay tables and after returning twice as a strictly BJ player (around $50 + average, 3-4+ hours/day) but my offers went from 3 Bellagio days comped and $100 FP to rooms from $99/night + express comps earned.

The introduction of sensors is interesting. I like to sit out a hand "to change things up" or leave for the bathroom when the shoe is bad. I wonder if they will carry that over to the Bellagio and MGM, the other two casinos with good green chip BJ tables (S17, some DD, surrender for shoes, DAS, RSA).

My MGM time is now limited to hit and run blackjack on rare occasions.

I stayed at Red Rock on a Groupon at the end of June. I was rated for 3 hours at $60 on Friday and was rated for 8 hours at $80 (blackjack) plus an hour or two quarter VP. I talked to a host on Sunday (they are not readily available - at least on weekend evenings). He said he might be able to credit my card back $100 (said it would have been easier if I booked through the hotel directly). They waived my resort fees ($60) and that was the extent of my credits.

I'm curious to see if I'll get any future Stations offers (last time I played and stayed there was Boulder Station playing $25 blackjack and getting generous but unclaimed offers). The only current offer is a $20/ night weekday Palace Station promotion which existed before my trip.

 

It sounds about right, if they were counting the two hands as double time, rather than a $100 bet.

I am wondering how they value splits and doubles, though. My first day I floated my bet between $50 and $100, too... but I'm not sure the pit boss was paying attention when I was doing that and didn't catch it. The second two days I went back to even $50/hand. So the $54/hand estimate seems a little conservative, unless they basically ignore splits and doubles when tracking average bet.

 

I asked about the sensors a few different times. Now the dealer swipes you in when you sit down and logs your buy in (not the pit boss anymore). Then you can see a tiny light shining through the felt and feel a little bump. That's the sensor.

I asked one dealer about it and she said the light senses when there is a card on top and logs a hand. I asked if the cards were tagged so they know when it's a card, and she swore no -- just that the light picks up when there's something on it. She also said it defaults to assuming you're betting the table minimum, but that the pit boss can override that in the computer.

At one blackjack session the dealer wasn't dealing the cards onto the sensor, so I asked him about it (as a hint that I wanted to make sure my play got tracked properly). He said that it didn't matter where you deal, as long as it was somewhere near the sensor it would still pick up your hand. But if the cards aren't RFID tagged, I'm not sure how a light sensor would know when there's a card 'somewhere near' it. I'm worried that a good chunk of my hands that day didn't get logged.

Also, when I spoke to the host, she said she had just learned about the sensors two days ago (though apparently they've been in for a month or two) and that she wasn't sure at all how they worked.

They had them in about half of the S17 tables at the Aria. None of the H17 tables had them from what I could tell. I think they're still sort of in testing phase. The first dealer I asked said that they were coming to all of the MHM properties, but that Bellagio will be last. Not sure how accurate that is, but that's what the dealer said.

I was thinking about checking out Mandalay on my next trip to see if the might value my play a little more than Aria, but I gather that they don't have many decent tables?

I like that Aria has $50 DD S17 tables during the day and lots of $25 or $50 S17 shoe games at basically any time of day.

I just wish Aria had more nonsmoking tables and more $10 craps (there was none on this last trip... not even on Thursday morning. I had to go to Bellagio for $10 craps). It seems you have to be a big bettor in order to get a table marked nonsmoking at Aria.

 

fyi - bankroll has no impact on comps. Dollars bet is the #1 factor.

Someone with a $100 bankroll could in theory get the same rating as someone with a $10,000 bankroll. Reality is that with a $100 bankroll, they may go bust at some point. Pretty much how the house wins. Along with the HA, they also do not run out of money.

 

I've always assumed that splits and doubles do not get put in the average bet calculation by the pit boss.
As these are a positive expectation for the player, I don't think they would comp on top of your starting bet.

 

Not true. If you lost a fairly large amount like over $10,000, you would definitely get good comps even with about 1 hour or less of play. Speaking from personal experience of course.


Yes, time of play and average bet plays much more important role then bankroll, but to say that bankroll (especially amount lost) has no impact is not accurate at all.

 

you get 10% of actual loss or 40% of theo in comps, whichever is greater. so unless you lose a ton in a very short time, you're going to get more comps from theo than actual loss.

 

With CET, its actually just 5% of being being cash back.

However, I was referring to the statement that says bankroll has no effect at all on comps as not being true. Clearly, avg bet and time play play much more so than actual bankroll, but bankroll does have some influence, especially when it's a certain amount.

 

Split and double will not be rated just as you will not be rated higher if you don't follow basic strategy.

 

Not sure how having $50,000 or $1,000 in my pocket (bankroll) makes a difference. The fact that you LOST a large bankroll may have some impact. But just having it means little.

The generally track how much you bet. They might (but not usually) will recognize your losses. For losses to count, you need to hit significant number, or so I understand. Not sure where that number is. $2k? $5k? $10k?

I was relating to "having" a bankroll like front money. There are people that think if they put up $5-$10k in front money, the casino will get excited. If they did, I would wire in $20k on my next trip.

 

I would see little value in thinking they would put any weight on splits/doubles. That would mean the pit critter would have to watch every hand. Not gonna happen. I would think it is just part of normal play and is already figured into the master calculation. Insurance would be similar. Or hitting vs not hitting on some hands. Just part of average bet vs number of hands per hour, and maybe adjust for certain rules.

 

You are guessing here. Many of the casinos, especially, CET will recognize a 10k loss, regardless of you long you play. You can get cash back for that.

GVR will recognize you with either $10,000 win/loss, and you get vip treatment, even if length of play is minimal.

My recent experience with a certain MGM brand prop also supported this.

Yeah, we all agree that average bet and length of play matter a lot. Trust me, bankroll, especially if losses over a certain amount matter regardless of length of play and time of play, matters. I experienced this with at least three different groups of casinos in Vegas when hit a really, really bad streak and start chasing and pressing, causing big losses in a very, very short amount of time.

THEY WILL LOOK AT YOUR LOSSES, not may.

 

From experience, they do look at your overall loses when applying comps at the end of the trip. While it's probably secondary to theo, it is weighted into the give backs.

 

You definitely will not receive better offers. I'm Platinum and my summer offers are only for two nights and special rate for the third. I log on to check what's in there, but whenever I am ready to book I email my host.