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MLife Question: How to Fully Utilize Primary Comp (other than Express Comp)?

Discussion in 'Comps' started by shiny, Oct 10, 2012.

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  1. shiny

    shiny Low-Roller

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    First of all, I want to thank Bacclover for sharing very informative, helpful and updated information regarding MLife's Express Comp (5% of the theo) and Primary Comp (35% of the theo), effective 10/1/2012.

    https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?p=703563#post703563

    According to MLife's new calculation method, the amount of Primary Comp (PC) shall be 7 times of the Express Comp (EC) ---> 35% versus 5% (totaled 40% of the theo). We can see the EC amount from MLife website. However, we won't know about our PC amount. The host, casino marketing and player club folks have the data in their systems.

    Here are my 5 questions:

    1. How do you know that your host (or on-duty host) properly and adequately comp you with the Primary Comp? It's possible that he/she short comped you and you had no way of knowing it.

    2. When you play at other MLife casino(s), do you lose your earned Primary Comp? For instance, I stay at Aria and play at Bellagio and Mirage. Whether my primary comps earned at B and Mirage have gone waste?

    3. How do you monitor the Primary Comp at the end of each trip?

    4. Does the unused Primary Comp get accumulated or just disappear after the trip?

    5. How does the casino (and/or the host) handle the "unused" primary comp? Casino booked the amount as revenue? Host pocketed the amount for boosting his/her compensation/reward bonus, due to short comped the gambler?

    Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and advice.
     
  2. bacclover

    bacclover Tourist

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    I'll try to answer them to my best knowledge :

    1. You can only estimate how much your upfront comp'ed room is worth (e.g. $99 for lower-end properties, $149 for Mirage, $199 for Aria/Bellagio etc), and use the 35% x theo formula to gauge whether your host is properly comping or trying to cheap out.

    2. Primary comps are combined, but they probably value play at the home casino a bit higher.

    3. There's no way to monitor primary comps. Hosts only occasionally give out that info if you ask politely.

    4. They all disappear, but with large play history combined with consecutive trips of being under-comp'ed, a host might be more generous with their upfront offer for the next visit. Again, YMMV.

    5. Hosts probably pocket some of them as bonus. They're all evaluated on the theo you bring in minus the actual comps they give out. Having large actual losses will also boost the host's score. In their eyes, only Noirs can move the needle, so Plat level players pretty much get the standard formula-based comp.
     
  3. mike_m235

    mike_m235 Tourist

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    I'm not sure how you directly monitor it, but I know that one trip my host comped me extra stuff after the stay without me even asking -- he literally credited it to my credit card after I had checked out and was at home. So in that regard, I kind of trust that he's giving me what I deserve.

    Second, if you are on a host offer consistently, you'll see your next offer go up if you outplayed your previous offer. At least I have. And if that's the case -- where you see your offer go up, but you didn't get any extra comps off your bill the previous trip, I'd be suspicious.

    Third, I think you just want to have a relationship with your host where you can call him and ask stuff like this.
     
  4. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    the only way to monitor it is to get an idea of what you're spending and keep track of what your theo is based on your ECs earned. i know the comp value on the suites that i get so i know upfront how much i've been comped. then i calculate my theo (or ask my host for the numbers as that's more accurate since ECs may post late, etc). depending on how much i'm spending on F&B i keep a close eye on this throughout the trip or usually if i'm not spending too much, i don't really worry about it.

    on the last day if i know i've got quite a bit of unused primary comps, i talk to my host about airfare reimbursement. if i already know i've been overcomped or have used most of my primaries, i don't do that to him because i know his answer already. you don't get to keep any unused primary comps, so you want to spend them if you've got them.

    but you have to be careful these days if you have ECs that you've saved up. make sure your host doesn't take those to cover extra F&B instead of using primary comps. a lot of hosts are doing this these days with the new changes as that is purported to be the new policy. whether or not it's always done in practice is unknown at this time.
     
  5. shiny

    shiny Low-Roller

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    Bump this thread for more awareness and discussions. Thanks.
     
  6. nameBRAND

    nameBRAND Tourist

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    Weird, so my offers should be better than what I used to get. It seems to be almost the same / little less.
     
  7. shiny

    shiny Low-Roller

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    Agree! I haven't seen any better offers shown on MLife's website, emails or mailers from casino marketing. MLife is certainly reducing comps and cutting corners in every aspect.
     
  8. domeboy

    domeboy VIP Whale

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    So, if I have 3 nights comp at MGM (let's use 150/night) and 150 in free play, they want me to cover 600 in primary comps. If I divide that by 7, I should earn around 85 in express comps to equate to 600 in primary comps.

    That is pretty much where I stand with my play. I guess they should be marginally happy with me.
     
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