Staying in Las Vegas and noticing that they're cutting some VIP benefits. VIP lounge in Bellagio has eliminated some of the nicer food amenities and Mlife Noir Benefits being reduced starting this week. Example, as a Noir member (their top tier by invitation only) you could go to some of the Casino exhibits (such as Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Mandalay Shark Reef Aquariam, etc.) show your Noir card and get 2 free passes. So you could go to the Bellagrio Gallery one day and say the Aquariam later that day or on another day. Starting this week Noir members, only when checking into an Mlife property it seems, receive a letter allowing for only one selection for the entire stay. Also, no letter no entry. Saw another Noir member show his card at the Bellagio Gallery and was rudely told to go back to his room and get the letter before he would be given compted entry. Boy was he upset when they turned him away. Not sure what else has changed, will see during rest of stay.

I have gotten complimentary access to both the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef even as a Platinum... did this change recently?

Yes this change also applies to Platinum members. Just instituted this week.

Interesting. Even before mLife was rolled out, I never had problems getting comp passes to BGFA and I have to imagine most people who make Plat through gaming fall in the same category. I could see them cutting the benefit for Plats because they don't want people who got the status comped, matched through HGP, or even possibly earning the status just from spend, to have the benefit - but that doesn't make sense if they also cut it for Noir.

What's silly about it is anyone who is Noir surely can get BGFA comped, so it just seems like one of those forced annoyances of requiring host interaction for basic comps that mlife was supposed to eliminate.

If you are staying at an Mlife property, I would just charge the admission to my room, and then have the host figure it out. But I earn my status through play so these should be easy comps.

Wow. What a slap to the face for NOIR members and even Plats who earn status through play. Sure most of these players can get the charges comped off at the end of their stay by their host, but still a waste of discretionary comp.

Also waste of time and energy - not just for mlife elites but hosts as well. As I alluded to before, the whole point of including perks in tier status is to eliminate unnecessary interactions for comps. This kind of stupid thing is a lose-lose for everybody.

Interesting. Can anyone find where Mlife officially says (said) that Shark Reef/Mirage Secret Garden/Art Gallery were free for Platinum and above? Or was it just a word of mouth thing? I can't find the official policy on the website (and I don't think it has ever been there).

EDIT: Mlife confirms changes to the program: http://singleflyer.com/2015/10/15/ml...g-december-15/

Here's a direct link to the official mlife website detailing the 12/15/15 changes:

https://www.mlife.com/pages/dec_15_changes.html

Generally, it appears that mlife is trying to make things more opaque - removal of the BGFA/Shark Reef/etc. perk and replacing it with a 'unique experiences we'll tell you about at check-in', as well as removal of Express Comps for table games players.

Wow, no express comps for table game play?

I've been toying with the idea of jumping from TR Diamond over to MLife, but despite the inferiority of TR's properties in LV, I really dislike the opaqueness of the MLife program, and it sounds like that's only getting worse. I really have no incentive to go over to MLife and throw them a bunch of play just to see what I might get.

To be fair, as a BJ player I estimated my express comps at less than 1/10 of ADT so it wasn't a particularly useful benefit to begin with. It's more relevant as an example that mlife seems to want to be more opaque.

Also, even with mlife apparently becoming more opaque, surely it's better than TR regardless for table games players? The only thing less opaque about TR is that rewards credits are actually accessible to players without having to consult with a host. I'd rather earn better comps than have easier access to my comp balance.

This is terrible for higher ADT table players. I have had lots of good times on my express comps when staying and not staying at Mlife casinos - I earned the comps so I should be able to use them whenever I want. Plus who says that discretionary comps will increase as a result?

IMO Mlife is not necessarily better than TR and this change pushes me more towards TR. If I didn't care about fight tickets, I might switch over all together and shoot for Seven Stars instead of splitting my play. What makes you say Mlife is better?

As much as I hate mlife, the reality is that for table games players (and outside of room offers), mlife gives far better comps relative to ADT than TR does. TR's reward credit rate for blackjack is absolutely pathetic. It's also important to remember that comps are key; comp rate relative to ADT is the absolute most important thing. All these other things we're talking about are minor in comparison. These mlife changes are devaluations for sure, but it's still all window dressing compared to comp rate relative to ADT.

Low-to-mid table games players can do well at TR props because the room offers are very good even at that level, and being able to book those offers on the website with no human interaction is a bonus. Many of my $50-100/hand BJ friends play at PH, for example, and they all get comp room offers pretty easily.


I don't get this complaint. Express comps are only a small fraction of overall comps. Whatever goes into the express comps bucket, there is tons more going into the primary comps bucket - so whatever good times you had using express comps, you could have had awesome times using your primary comps. Are you saying that your host was reluctant to allow you to use primary comps when you weren't staying on property? If so, you need to find a new host.

You mean primary comps, not discretionary comps. Discretionary comps are something else entirely. Presumably what went into the express comps bucket will instead go into the primary comps bucket - but I agree, we don't know what will really happen when these changes roll out. I wouldn't put it past mlife to use this as a sneaky way to reduce comp rate relative to ADT, but we need to wait to see what happens.

At this point I actually usually use express comps when I am not staying at a MLIFE casino rather than when I am staying there. I have not really asked for anything when not staying there in years because in those instances I am not playing table games. Since I will no longer have express comps to get drinks in the clubs or eat when not playing the tables, my experience is definitely impacted by this - even if the comps go in a different bucket, it's not likely to be a bucket that can replace how I use the express comps most of the time. Hopefully you are wrong about them cutting across the board and the comps will still be available - but that will only be helpful when I am staying on property.

Still absolutely clueless as to why you insist on not using primary comps when you are not staying on-property. This is possibly up to 90% of your comps we're talking about, that are going into a bucket that you are for whatever reason refusing to use when you're not on-property. I would be much more concerned about why you are leaving so much of your comps on the table than that express comps are going away.

BTW, if you just want drinks at the bar in a nightclub, get your casino host to hook you up with drink tickets from a nightclub host he knows. Every host at every nightclub is going to have dozens of these every night. No reason ever to pay for drinks at a nightclub if you have any sort of connection to the host team.