Having been a long time Cosmo Platinum player, I already feel like we got the short end when it came to the merger-loss of benefits, etc. and no real way I will ever be MGM Platinum. I have had the same host for years. Over the last year or so, he’s been seriously dropping the ball- telling me he’ll set up transportation, and doesn’t, etc..now recently he’s been virtually incommunicado. I emailed him over a week ago asking for a room for a weekend in March—and crickets…my last trip I even cancelled my room reservation I placed myself via the app when he told me he could do the reservation and get the credit. Any thoughts? Maybe it’s time to bail on MGM for good?
Rumor has it there's some shaking up going on. I had a host assigned last year, I never used him for anything, but he recently sent an email saying he moved from Luxor to Park and now he uses email addresses at both. They may be consolidating or whatever. I would just expect choppy waters for a while and I'd book myself until it appears the dust has setlled. I'm not sure I'd bail on MGM over it, they're still being very generous at least at my level. But if you can do better somewhere else, sure.
MGM has been on a slow decline for years. Aria used to be my go-to but the rooms having been aging badly over the past few years (excluding Sky Suites). Don't count on it getting better with time, corporate cost cutting will continue (I'd bet this is what turned your once good host into a bad one). If you hit Cosmo Plat I'm assuming you have decent play levels, I'd try another place. I moved to mostly Venetian after MGM screwed me during the hack, but now also played some at Wynn/RW/FB, and my offers are similar to what my MGM offers were but the rooms are WAY better, so it's a no brainer for me.
Not sure whether it makes sense to completely bail on MGM. But I would not get too caught up in existing comps. If you were playing enough at Cosmo to be hosted, you can likely take a single trip bankroll and go get a host somewhere else. Host attention can come after one heavy session, you don't need years of history.
Some players hit Platinum in 5 nights stayed and some it's 30 or MGM credit card spend so I take tier level with a grain of salt.
I dont think corporate cost cutting is the issue. MGM has been spending huge dollars renovating their hotels. Bellagio, NYNY, Aria (in progress), and I believe MGM Grand is getting ready to start. Have they done some wonky things - sure. Floor cocktails at Cosmo being a big one. The Cosmo transition has been somewhat of a mess and from what I understand the transportation turnover was a catastrophe (every reservation in the Cosmo system had to be manually entered into the MGM one). Its taking 5 to 10 days from the time a host generates a room reservation email for the reservation to actually be put in the system by a data entry person - they definitely need to work on this; personally I think its a major reason for people being downgraded due to overbookings. Add on top of that the double booking glitch and you have a recipe for some really pissed off people - albeit it is partially the consumers fault (not that most would ever admit that). Now I can honestly see how pre-merger Cosmo customers are feeling slighted, the loss of the transportation perk for a lot of them being a main one. The MGM model uses PCS as basically a junior host level - no real visibility to number of them. The point I am trying to make is if you look at the host roster Cosmo has 49 people, Bellagio has 20 people with 900 more hotel rooms than Cosmo, and Aria has 24 people with almost 1100 more rooms. Basically Cosmo has more people with a host "title" than Bellagio and Aria combined. I had posted a while back that my Cosmo host had tried to drop 300 people from their roster during the conversion. You put those numbers together and basically there is a huge number of people hosted at Cosmo that would never be hosted at Bellagio or Aria. People never like to have something taken away and sadly I think that the lower theo players at Cosmo will continue to see a diminished experience for a while to come, especially if MGM ever right sizes the Host staff to be more comparable to Bellagio and Aria. On the plus side - the offer increase that many saw with the Cosmo to MGM transition is probably a recognition of these pain points.
Its a lot more than just numbers and the transportation benefit. I only played Cosmo for about a year before the transition. While it was still fully Cosmo run, I was treated very well there for my smaller play there than at other places (including MGM). Offers were a tad lower, but my play was about half my normal there. They were giving me FV Wraparound suites for 5 nights with some decent FP and RC for my play. Now with my even bigger MGM play I can't even get a non FV Wraparound. Also prior to MGM, backend was a breeze. I just walked into a HoD office at Cosmo they glanced at the screen and acted like I was way undercomped and took everything off just like that. MGM denied me backend twice last year for having winning trips even though my theo was way over the needed for 30% to cover my room and charges. You don't tell a person who put in $6k theo that you won't comp off $90 in charges cause the person won money that trip. It was $90 freaking dollars. But with just $3k theo at Cosmo pre merger they backend comped me no issue. I think a lot of it has to do with the value of the room on backend. Cosmo it wasn't much, but MGM at their tier 1 properties A/V/B/C room nights are crazy rates for backend consumption.
No issue with my host. In fact, he's been more than generous on my recent requests, for stays later in the year.
Not to defend MGM, but it's not always greener on the other side. Wynn is one of my favorite properties and one policy I don't like as a MGM player is their policy to use any CompDollars first before they give any backend comp, similar to Caesars. So, you would've had a similar situation if you were at the Wynn with the $90 room charge, as they would've had you use your CompDollars first.
I don't think that's the issue. 6k of theo at 30% is $1800 in comp value. Once you subtract your room value, that's what's left for backend comped. For example, if the comp value of the room is say $400/night x 4 nights is $1600. Then there should be $200 left for room charges
I booked an offer that came with around $300 FP, but when I showed up they said they couldn't give it to me because of the hack. Then they sent that email apologizing and promising to make it up, followed by another email giving out $10 of free play lol. Now I just burn them for comps. Still getting free rooms somehow though so I'll keep milking them.
Apparently mine moved, the second to defect to Park, didn't bother emailing. I did randomly start receiving emails from a Luxor new host, though I often book myself and the rewards desk said I didn't have a host. Also get emails from a PCS. If MGM wants to save money they could do so by assigning only one single host in LV like CET does.