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Grazie Gifts and cutbacks

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NickyJ

Low-Roller
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Dec 16, 2012
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Trips to Las Vegas
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I just returned from the Grazie Gifts event. In the past, you could use other November offers (monthly, birthday) during Grazie Gifts week and still shop at the event. This year other offers were blacked out, and the Grazie Gifts offers had a reduced amount of freeplay. The Grazie Gifts Premier Night offered small bites, passed champagne and an open bar. But, this year there was no welcome gift for each shopper. There were more gifts cards to choose from, but many of the values increased. 57,000 points used to get you a $100 gift card, this year it took 60,750 for Lowe's and 62,600 for Best Buy.

In the past, $25 gift cards were available, this year the minimum was $50. The least expensive items were over 14,000 points. There were no inexpensive treats like moose munch, chocolate covered pretzels or espresso beans to use up remaining points, or other grab-and-go gifts like a money clip or coffee mugs. If you were a new Grazie member who earned a few thousand points, I guess you were out of luck. I have to think more points remained unused this year.

Although nothing like the comp debacle a few years ago, there's been a trend of changes, maybe driven by an improving Vegas economy or a shift in strategy by the new V/P President. The Gold Lounge was eliminated and repurposed, and food offerings were reduced at the Platinum/VIP lounges. This trip, the Platinum lounge was too crowded, with players who would have been spread out at the Gold Lounge too during last year's Grazie Gifts. In contrast, the new High Limit Slot Lounge was relatively empty and underutilized.

The old Zebra/Label Lounge at the Palazzo was also eliminated this year. The live music in the evenings made it a great, small place to take a break from the casino floor and play at a bartop machine. We'll see what The Dorsey will be like as a replacement for The Bourbon Room. The new Atrium shopping at the Palazzo is nice, but doesn't add much value to me as a slot player.

Over the past few years, Grazie has held special events that added variety and made each stay a little different. There were property-wide events like summer Carnevale and Winter in Venice. No more. There seemed to be more special casino events like 'Sweetstakes' with pull tabs and little boxes you could fill with candy from IT'SUGAR, or the Monopoly promo with game pieces. This year there was no Summer Grazie Gifts. The Grand Dragon Baccarat Tournament was moved from October to July, but not the best substitute for slot players as a summer event.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy staying and playing at V/P. The Venetian suites were updated last year, the Palazzo suites are currently being redone. Hotel and casino employees are consistently friendly, competent and customer oriented. I enjoy the V/P restaurants and casino floors. Offers and backend comps have been steady.

So far the V/P cutbacks aren't deal breakers, but do indicate a change in focus by management that's noticeable. In terms of money, the impact is likely small to individual players compared to the aggregate impact in savings to the casino, I'd imagine. Let's see what next year brings, drink tickets and parking fees seem to be in style! :)
 
I used my November offer for the first weekend of Grazie gifts. Well, I had originally booked it for the weekend before, but switched it to the beginning of Grazie Gifts due to a schedule change. My CRM didn't have a problem with that, AFAIK. I thought the setup was OK for the gifts, I really liked the handheld with the QR scanner, but I agree, I had just over 100,000 points this year (it's a slow year for me) and barely could scratch together a couple of gift cards. There wasn't a lot to choose from if you were in that 100k-300k range. If they have a problem with too many gold players taking advantage of the lounges and/or the food, I wish they would either just pull the trigger and make it harder to obtain gold or just do away with it all together since they keep pulling perks from the tier anyway. Make it like the Red Card where there's just one tier as far as most people realize, and if you earn better attention, you get it. I still love staying and playing at V/P, but at some point the nickel and diming will eventually make me look longingly towards Cosmo or World Resorts when it finally opens.
 
My Grazie gift point count was low this year.
Considering I played about the same? Seemed really LOW.

I was only able to get One item, and still had 7,000-9,000 points leftover.
But there was NO items under 14,000 points!
Not even a Pen or chocolates that you could buy with remaining points.

Didn't like it.

I was told Ven/Palz is NOT holding Grazie Gifts anymore, that an outside Vendor is.
Seemed to really affect GG. Not in a good way.

Doubt I will bother with it next year, unless I was in town anyway.
 
Sad to hear, wait until you see my report on HGS and GGWU

HGS - :thumbsdown:

GGWU - :p
 
For non Grazie persons of knowledge can you decipher for thos of us in the dark? One post said 100,000 points in a slow year. How much play (hypothetically) is that? Or $'s in = ?points ? Thanks.
 
Where's Chuck? He's great at answering these questions! Understanding Grazie is confusing, someone correct me if anything I say is wrong.

Grazie calculates status points on theo rather than coin-in.
Status points are earned at a different rate for slots vs. VP players, and based on your status tier - Grazie, Gold or Platinum.
1 status point equals 1 Grazie Gifts point.
Table players do not earn status points, but can receive Grazie Gifts points from casino marketing based on their play.
Status points can also be earned on suite charges. I'm not sure if suite charges earn Grazie Gifts points.
20,000 status points earns Gold, 175,000 status points earns Platinum.

I'm strictly a slot player, and for slots:
At Grazie level, $1 of theo earns 10 points.
At Gold level, $1 of theo earns 15 points.
At Platinum level, $1 of theo earns 20 points.

So, if someone at Gold level earns 100,000 Grazie Gifts points based strictly on slot play, that would be 100,000/15 or $6,667 theo.
If someone at Platinum level earns 100,000 Grazie Gifts points based strictly on slot play, that would be 100,000/20 or $5,000 theo.

To further complicate things, during Grazie Gifts, there is a double point earning period. So, for example, 10,000 status points earned during Grazie Gifts would give you 20,000 Grazie Gifts points, which would reduce the theo needed to earn those Grazie Gifts points.
 
Thanks. Upon first read my head is spinning. I will come back and break it down at a later reading. (Do they actually tell you all this when setting up an account / printing your card out?). Thanks again though.
 
Yes, it's in the brochure you get at sign up, and it's almost exactly like NickyJ listed. You get Grazie points only from table and (mainly) slot play. Your hotel charges count towards your tier score only, not Grazie points. You can combine points with another card, though. Say you and your significant other play on two different cards, you can combine those two cards at the event and "shop" with one bundle of points. I had two non-married friends do that this year, so it's not limited to spouses. And like the tier score, they reset at the end of the year.
 
CalifLovesVegas said:
My Grazie gift point count was low this year.
Considering I played about the same? Seemed really LOW.

I was only able to get One item, and still had 7,000-9,000 points leftover.
But there was NO items under 14,000 points!
Not even a Pen or chocolates that you could buy with remaining points.

Didn't like it.

I was told Ven/Palz is NOT holding Grazie Gifts anymore, that an outside Vendor is.
Seemed to really affect GG. Not in a good way.

Doubt I will bother with it next year, unless I was in town anyway.
Click to expand...

they always had and outside vendor put it together same with mgm and cet
 
Quick update. I received all my Grazie Gifts items before Christmas. At the event I was told they'd send an email with shipping information, but that didn't happen. I received multiple shipments, orders weren't combined, and items within the same order came separately too. Smaller denomination gift cards came via USPS, but larger ones came via FedEx and required a signature, which was inconvenient if you weren't expecting it and missed the delivery. I much prefer getting the gift cards at the event.

I, too, was told that there was a new, outside vendor putting on the event this year. After the event I received a satisfaction survey, which I don't recall getting in prior years. Likewise, I received an email giving me points for next year's Grazie Gifts event, which leads me to believe V/P received a lot negative feedback.
 
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