Gaming Loyalty Programs - Grazie members - Where will you take your gaming now that V/P cut comps?

They confirmed today (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/15798141-post20.html) that they aren't doing any sorts of comps anymore. Nice of them to finally announce that. Perhaps another property will try to lure people in with offers for Grazie members.

I'm interested in hearing from folks that plan to move their play to other casinos. NOBODY should play for comps, but if the casinos are offering to give you money back, you should try to find the best offer, right? :)


For strip casinos:
What's the best program for slot/VP players?

What's the best program for table game players?

Has anyone had a luck on a status match from Grazie Gold/Plat to an equivalent tier in any other program?

Actually I'm likely going to play more at Wynn and will also take a look at Cosmo. This stems from not only the fewer promos at V but also they have swapped out a lot of the machines I was playing that were considered more loose than usual.

Grazie isn't much of a loyalty program anymore. Loyalty is a two-way street. Why bother using a Grazie card?

Could this be one of those hints to the rest of the industry, you know, the way the airlines raise fares in lockstep? Wynn, MGM and CET are now supposed to follow suit and stop all comps?

Could this be one of those hints to the rest of the industry, you know, the way the airlines raise fares in lockstep?I certainly hope not!

V/P botched this. If one of the other companies follows, I don't think they'd make the mistake of cutting everything all at once.

It was mentioned in another thread I think that MGM just rolled out a new program, so it's pretty unlikely that they'd follow right now.

So mbstone - where do you plan to take your gaming?

I haven't decided yet. Thursday is our 10th wedding anniversary. I need to book a romantic getaway. Now, keep in mind, our last anniversary was at the V. Most of our anniversaries have been at the V. We got engaged at the V. Lots of V casino dealers know that we got engaged at the V.

If I were to select the V, I would have to pay the V $179-plus-resort-fee per night for the same room that we have never paid for before, ever; in a hotel that is 59.7% empty; in a town where there are numerous other hotels that are offering me comp rooms for my entire stay (such as every CET casino except Caesars Palace) and which will be more than happy to extend food and beverage comps as warranted by my play.

Thinking of Rio or Paris (PH also a possibility).

As on of my friends put it the other day Sheldon really runs a "Hotel-Casino" NOT a "Casino-Hotel."

I jumped on the V/P bandwagon basically around the time that Palazzo opened. Of course, with the all those new rooms coming online, and the economy tanking (and the biggest factor - convention business down substantially); they had to fill rooms. And, fill rooms is what they did. ;)

I don't really see this as a 'change' as much as V/P reverting to their previous (pre-height of the recession) 'tighter' system with regard to free rooms offers.

I agree, they 'pushed-it' pretty far; since we know there were a LOT of folks who didn't deserve the perks (i.e. multiple free rooms offers etc.); but seems like they decided to cut almost everyone (but the largest players).

As long as conventions are filling the rooms; I don't expect much of a change.

But, I also don't see any other (casino) loyalty program following suit. It's all basically based on the "V/P" convention philosophy, IMHO.

Thinking of Rio or Paris (PH also a possibility).

Definitely Paris; perhaps a Red Room Suite. ;) (or Planet Ho) NOT RIO. RIO is fine if you just need a place to crash, but it's pretty second (third) tier at this point with regard to room quality (a bit better in some of the semi-renovated Ipanema Tower rooms).

mLife and CET . . . I've found that even Station Casinos are a bit tight on their comps, plus their nicest resorts (Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch) are a bit removed from the rest of the action (NTTAWWT ;))

For our group's trip in March we are headed across the street to the Mirage.

Got an nice offer for the days we're staying there, two days comped and the third (a Friday) at a discount.

Will still probably patronize the V's poker room while we're in town though.

I will probably do most gaming at Ceasars family of casinos. I had up to this point been very loyal to V/P but if loyalty now becomes a one way street, I am outta there. Going to Vegas this weekend, maybe I will check out Cosmo gaming, at least it is a Marriott hotel (points for me).

I am going to check out the mlife program and Caesars. As others have said, loyalty is a 2 way street and while I love the rooms at the Palazzo there are other beautiful places to stay in Vegas.

I will probably do most gaming at Ceasars family of casinos. I had up to this point been very loyal to V/P but if loyalty now becomes a one way street, I am outta there. Going to Vegas this weekend, maybe I will check out Cosmo gaming, at least it is a Marriott hotel (points for me).

+1
I played quite a lot at Cosmo for two days last month, let's see if that result in any good offers

So mbstone - where do you plan to take your gaming?
For my and DonnaFrmVa's 10th we stayed at the Paris. It is but a few steps from the Cosmopolitan. We had a great time.

+1
I played quite a lot at Cosmo for two days last month, let's see if that result in any good offers

Cosmo offers have been excellent, as should be expected since they're new and trying to steal as much business as they can from competitors - especially disaffected V/P and mlife players. It's a great time to take advantage of them.

So to report back from my weekend at the Palazzo. Without getting too much into how the machines seemed to be pretty open, perhaps the sight at the Gold Lounge explains what's happening to the V/P. The lounge was totally empty! I asked the attendant working there what was going on and he was not happy. He indicated that ever since they cut the comps, customers were ticked off and not gambling there anymore. Needless to say I was happy to hear that. Perhaps it will make the casino re-think their policy change. The hotel itself seemed to be full with convention goers, but the gambling floor was a different story ;)

That's pretty mind boggling of them to cut comps, and ESPECIALLY to announce it in the newspaper like they did. It would be one thing to just announce your new earnings, and to cut back on comp "spending", but another thing to make a public announcement to people that have spent countless hours gambling and winning or losing $1,000's of dollars in their casinos and telling them "We don't care that you play here anymore. We only care about the convention goers paying for the hotel rooms".

I'm not surprised, and actually am happy that the gold lounge is closed.
I generally only frequented the Venetian for their poker room, as it still remains one of the largest, and best run rooms in Vegas (or the world for that matter). However, table play will now be a waste. I was thinking next time I hit Vegas (June), that I would try and rack up some comps at the V w/some heavy table play, but now I know I won't.

That's pretty mind boggling of them to cut comps, and ESPECIALLY to announce it in the newspaper like they did. It would be one thing to just announce your new earnings, and to cut back on comp "spending", but another thing to make a public announcement to people that have spent countless hours gambling and winning or losing $1,000's of dollars in their casinos and telling them "We don't care that you play here anymore. We only care about the convention goers paying for the hotel rooms".

I'd prefer them to announce it rather than casinos be coy about massive comp reductions like the MGM family and mlife. At least that way the cutbacks are expected, rather than having a long period of constantly fighting/arguing with hosts and having to force them to admit quietly that they were pressured by executives to slash comps.

The latest offer I got from these guys was for 5,000 bonus status points.

:rolleyes: Yeah, like that means anything. :rolleyes:

The rest of the offers this year have been pretty bad. They're starting to get better (more discounts & FP), but they're sticking with room rates at "From $129".

Well maybe their strategy is causing some hurt after all. Received email a couple of days ago for 2-3 comp nights plus slot credits and dining credits. First decent offer in quite a while.

We were one of the V/P customers that were clearly overcomped, so it wasn't surprising to us when they stopped sending offers. On our last trip there 18 months ago, we had ten comped nights back to back, plus slot credits. That was fun while it lasted.
Since then, our host at Venetian moved over to Mandalay and took the client list along. We haven't taken them up on any offers because we really like the M resort, out in Henderson. It's been good to us.
We received a comped offer from Wynn, though hadn't gambled there previously, so don't know how that happened.

Well maybe their strategy is causing some hurt after all. Received email a couple of days ago for 2-3 comp nights plus slot credits and dining credits. First decent offer in quite a while.

We've noticed the rate on our Venetian offers going down - - I think the last offer was $129/night plus show tickets and slot credit. But definitely no comped nights.
That's okay with us. We didn't set foot in Venetian two months ago and didn't miss it at all.

Based on the conference call, it sounds like V/P is pleased with offering lower comps in exchange for more paying customers. If anyone sees anything different, I would like to see it.

On my last trip to Vegas I switched some of my play over to Venetian due to MGM Mirage not appreciating my blackjack skills. I had really played much at Venetian before, the MGM games were always better. This was just before the comp decision so I wasn't expecting to get anything from them.

Today I received an offer for 3 comped nights plus table credit. Now I'm considering moving over from my not quite complete comp at Encore I just booked for my next trip.

So this doesn't seem to be a total blackout or they are re-considering the decision?

---Lawnboy

On my last trip to Vegas I switched some of my play over to Venetian due to MGM Mirage not appreciating my blackjack skills. I had really played much at Venetian before, the MGM games were always better. This was just before the comp decision so I wasn't expecting to get anything from them.

Today I received an offer for 3 comped nights plus table credit. Now I'm considering moving over from my not quite complete comp at Encore I just booked for my next trip.

So this doesn't seem to be a total blackout or they are re-considering the decision?

---Lawnboy

I think they are re-evaluating or at least loosening up some. I recently received an offer from V similar to what I used to get on a weekly basis. I've moved on for now, but I'll probably come back into the fold later this year.

After scrapping promotional offers such as free rooms to entice gamblers, the owner of the Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas reported a 47 percent decline in casino revenue in the first quarter and a 6 percent drop in room revenue as occupancy slipped to 83.9 percent.

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/may/11/revenue-tanks-after/

They are doing so incredibly well in Singapore and Macau that Vegas doesn't matter nearly as much in the greater scheme things for them. I have gotten and seen a few offers that weren't bad, but they required making a decision nearly upon sight. That's hard to when kids require sitters, and other plans aren't entirely up to me.

We will see what happens after another quarter of this. They will calculate which method creates the highest earnings and chose it. Wynn seems to have cut down offers dramatically and I don't see the button on that website for registering for specials any longer either.

<deleted>

They are doing so incredibly well in Singapore and Macau that Vegas doesn't matter nearly as much in the greater scheme things for them.
.
Rather short sighted if they are ignoring Vegas. I'd expect what Venetian is looking for is top line shrinkage being more than offset by improvements in expenses.

We'll see in a year.

My last stay was in March, comped based on offer from last year. I played and earned over 6000 points as a Gold member in 2 days. I have not gotten any comped offers since then, lowest was the $129/$169 a night. That will not fly. I am going back to Vegas in 4 weeks and if I do not get any offers from P/V I will stay elsewhere. If I have to pay for a room (I can get a free one at the lower end Harrah's properties, but not a fan of them), I might as well stay somewhere I can earn points for my cash. Cosmo looks good but expensive. Might even go at Hyatt Place, I know what I am getting, $94 rate (AAA), and free breaky along with their current promo I would earn 5000 Gold Passport points for 2 nights. I might stop by at the P/V to collect the comps I have from before, but that would be the end of it. :D

Cosmo offers have been excellent, as should be expected since they're new and trying to steal as much business as they can from competitors - especially disaffected V/P and mlife players. It's a great time to take advantage of them.

It seems like Cosmo isn't sending out any offers whatsoever to most people
and even high rollers don't get anything better than 2-4-1 offers and some food etc. comped.
Besides, the casino is empty and the hotel is full:



The Cosmopolitan casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip lost $56.8 million during its first full quarter of operation as it
continued to spend heavily on promotions and marketing to build brand awareness.

For the first quarter ended March 31, the resort expensed some $22.5 million for complementary rooms, food, drinks and other services
... generated $105 million in first-quarter revenue — far less than its chief local rivals The Bellagio had $251.4 million in net revenue, while the Aria $225 million in revenue.
...it is focusing on increasing its slot machine play by building a database of customers and using a loyalty program.

Cosmopolitan loses $56.8 million in first quarter
http://www.newschannel34.com/business/story/Cosmopolitan-in-Vegas-loses-56-8-million-in-first/59HPFFW7qkeLnYpYSo_zfw.cspx

It seems like Cosmo isn't sending out any offers whatsoever to most people
and even high rollers don't get anything better than 2-4-1 offers and some food etc. comped.
Besides, the casino is empty and the hotel is full:

I've already gotten over 15 nights RFB this year in the terrace wraparound suite, and I've got another RFB stay already confirmed for next month. Many of these RFB stays were during peak times too, such as during the Super Bowl and March Madness, as I've previously reported on this forum.

Their lacking client base as far as gamblers is all the more reason for them to offer RFB and even overcomp initially to try to gain our repeat business. I'm certainly not complaining. It's always good to take advantage of these properties early in their life cycle; it's a separate issue whether we choose in the future to offer them a theoretical well in excess of the room rate others are paying.

I've already gotten over 15 nights RFB this year in the terrace wraparound suite, and I've got another RFB stay already confirmed for next month. Many of these RFB stays were during peak times too, such as during the Super Bowl and March Madness, as I've previously reported on this forum.

Their lacking client base as far as gamblers is all the more reason for them to offer RFB and even overcomp initially to try to gain our repeat business. I'm certainly not complaining. It's always good to take advantage of these properties early in their life cycle; it's a separate issue whether we choose in the future to offer them a theoretical well in excess of the room rate others are paying.

they've made it clear to enough people that they only comp plats and
that they don't send out as many offers like they did when they first opened, since the rooms are beeing filled by paying customers.
But of course if your play is good enough you'll get offers.

Btw. V/P has started to send out offers again

Btw. V/P has started to send out offers again

i'm new to flyertalk, not so new to the gaming industry. just wanted to share what i just received.

i just got an e mail from venetian/palazzo for suite packages from $109/night. must book by 6/9 (thurs).

this is the cheapest rate i have seen in an e mail.

sad to hear they cut comps as v/p is my fav place to visit in vegas. :(

i'm new to flyertalk, not so new to the gaming industry. just wanted to share what i just received.

i just got an e mail from venetian/palazzo for suite packages from $109/night. must book by 6/9 (thurs).

this is the cheapest rate i have seen in an e mail.

sad to hear they cut comps as v/p is my fav place to visit in vegas. :(

I got the same offer, it is the cheapest rate I've seen since last spring when I was getting comp offers. After the comps stopped the offers started at like $179 a night and have been getting cheaper and cheaper, once they get back to free rooms I'll consider giving them my business again but this whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth.

i'm new to flyertalk, not so new to the gaming industry. just wanted to share what i just received.

i just got an e mail from venetian/palazzo for suite packages from $109/night. must book by 6/9 (thurs).

this is the cheapest rate i have seen in an e mail.

sad to hear they cut comps as v/p is my fav place to visit in vegas. :(

The offer is open to anyone, nothing special for gamblers. Maybe their rooms aren't as full as they claim to be? I called last week to see if I could get a comped room, going this weekend (staying at Hyatt Place 2 nights and Cosmo 1 night, using Marriott points). Was given $169 rate on weekend and $129 weekdays. After I told the rep I had no intention on paying for a room, and if I wanted to could get a free room at Harrah's next door anyways (which is true, just do not want to stay there) she suggested it was well worth it to stay with V/P and pay for the "720 sq ft suite". I laughed and told her that my gambling dollars will go where I am appreciated. She went on to say that I should visit them anyways and gamble there. I told her, no thanks.
I have some earned comps left on my card, will visit them this weekend, take the comp in form of gift card and never gamble there again...unless they comp the room on future stays.

Although the casino is not doing well at all, it seems like the Cosmopolitan has been able to fill the hotel with paying guests, this is interesting
682 more rooms are under construction and due to open by August
unless they'll be able to fill also those rooms with paying guest they might become more generous with comps, which in its turn might force Grazie to change strategy.

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/may/13/nv-earns-cosmopolitan-vegas/

I actually started getting offers again, 3 nights and $175 freeplay. I am not gold status but I go once a hear and get between 10,000-15,000 slot points and around $100 average for anywhere between 1 and 10 hours playing craps depending on how I do on the slots.

This last week was my third trip. I gambled about the same at the Venetian (except I had no table play), but I also made gold status with Mlife. I learned my lesson not to put all my eggs in that one comp basket. :D

I've started to receive comp offers again too.

2 nights, $50 in match play (once between now and 8/31)
3 nights, slot tourney (1st-5th place awarded in cash instead of slot credits)


It's not as good as offers I used to get, but at least something is happening again.

In Vegas over the 4th of July weekend, and we made it a point to stop by the V/P once per day to redeem our free $20 play offer, without spending one cent of our own money. We were staying at Wynn for four nights, so it was easy to walk over and get that free play, just because . . .

A few observations:
The Palazzo casino was absolutely packed with people every night we walked over there, the tables were amazingly busy.
The Palazzo swimming pool is leaking, and they are going to have to shut down the entire pool complex for a while . . . supposedly in August.

If you have a top tier card from another casino, take it over to the Cosmopolitan. We did, and they matched our status, and gave us a shiny new Platinum card. Too bad we didn't really like their casino, but the hotel is supposed to be nice.

Huge savings with this deal from V/P (unbelievable savings for this Labor Day weekend). Got it through email.

Palazzo -
http://www.palazzo.com/Las-Vegas-Packages/Las-Vegas-Suite-Packages/august-exclusive/?utm_source=EPNAUGG&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&sisearchengine=66&siproduct=newsletter&clearppc=1

Venetian-
http://www.venetian.com/Las-Vegas-Packages/Las-Vegas-Suite-Packages/august-exclusive/?utm_source=EVNAUGG&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&sisearchengine=66&siproduct=newsletter&clearppc=1

CreditRocks - Welcome to FT, and thank you for sharing. But that offer is far from unbelievable. It's the same offer that Grazie folks have been getting for months.

Oh haha my bad. I had several links and that one was by far the best for labor day weekend. I have much to learn since I love Vegas haha.

not a Grazie member, but i'm sure everyone in this post could help - plus avoid starting a new thread about similar topic.

My family has been a long-time customer of Boyd (from old stardust to Orleans). From reading this thread, i'm assuming if I wanted to start comps at another property it really isn't worth my time? i play only 15-25/hand, and my dad plays 25-50. we play about 8-12 hours/day for 3-5 days each trip. We're not expecting to stay at the 5-stars, but a strip option at one of their smaller sister properties would be nice at times.

If I wont be seeing any free rooms, I think it might be better to stay at Orleans, and hope our hosts moves us to Echelon when it opens in 3012:D

not a Grazie member, but i'm sure everyone in this post could help - plus avoid starting a new thread about similar topic.

My family has been a long-time customer of Boyd (from old stardust to Orleans). From reading this thread, i'm assuming if I wanted to start comps at another property it really isn't worth my time? i play only 15-25/hand, and my dad plays 25-50. we play about 8-12 hours/day for 3-5 days each trip. We're not expecting to stay at the 5-stars, but a strip option at one of their smaller sister properties would be nice at times.

If I wont be seeing any free rooms, I think it might be better to stay at Orleans, and hope our hosts moves us to Echelon when it opens in 3012:D


Play that amount and Caesar's Total Rewards will most likely have a room for you for up to 5 days at one of their lesser properties( Harrahs in particular),
sign up for Topguest first and then via their link to Total Rewards and you'll get 500 credits - see below.

Once you have given them a few $, log into your account but do not only look at My OFFERS, use the Reservations link at the top left and try to make a booking at the dates you have in mind and more offers will show up.





Existing Topguest members who are not currently Total Rewards members may sign up for the loyalty program via a link from the Topguest website and receive an additional 500 Total Rewards Bonus Reward Credits. These 500 credits are awarded after Topguest members verify their account information at any of the Caesars Entertainment Total Rewards Centers in Las Vegas. The 500 Total Rewards Bonus Reward Credits will be added to member's account in 5-7 business days after this verification..
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/las-vegas-resorts-integrate-with-topguest-to-reward-mobile-social-network-users-120360244.html

Topguest
http://www.topguest.com/programs

Thanks Hannibal Lecter!

I'll be staying @Harrahs for 5 nights in JANUARY. I'm assuming the place is as good as the Orleans. I mean just need a place to sleep/shower. As long as it's not IP! So should I play @Harrahs solely, or any of the Harrahs/Caesars Total Rewards properties combined would be ok?

Thought I would revive This thread by mentioning the winter deal for free nights on a weeknight that I recieved...plus some gaming chips and skating. I haven't stayed there in a while now.