Earning Miles While in Vegas
 

I will be going to Vegas next month with my family. I am wondering if there is any way I can earn big chunk of miles while I am there. I spent some time searching in the forums for casino, vegas etc. What I found out that Vegas casinos do not accept CC for chips however some people had success in casions at the cruise ships. Just want to see if there is any loophole for vegas?
If we stay in a hotel which has a casino inside it, can we get the chips and have them charged to our room? I believe I can later pay the room using the freq flyer miles earning CC. Any feedback or hints will be very helpful to me in planning this trip.
Cheers!

No. You need cash or credit-signing privileges (the ability to sign for a "marker," it has nothing to do with credit cards), to get chips at the tables.

(And if one could charge chips at the casino..then cash the chips in for cash and pay the credit card bill, wouldn't that basically be the ultimate FF mile transaction; virtually unlimited, free credit-card miles ??)

The economic cycle would never stop then. And Las Vegas would be in full recovery mode...Utopia.:D

I end up in Vegas two or three times a year and pretty much NEVER get miles there. It's amazing.

No hotels that I stay at are part of programs, I drive there, and not even restaurants participate. You have to go to actually go - not for the miles.

You could make a point to eat at Idine restaurants while you are there - that would get you some miles. Other than that, I've been going to Vegas for almost 20 years and still haven't figured out a great mileage loophole. Except to just charge everything to my room, but then usually my comps or rewards credits end up covering the majority of my charges, so that doesn't help either.

I also have been going to Vegas for many, many years. I concur that there simply are no great mileage earning opportunites there.

Instead, put your time, effort and energy into trying to win money while you're there, and that will MORE THAN compensate for any potential lost miles !!

The more time, effort and energy that you put into winning in Las Vegas, the more money you will lose.

You could stay at the Westin (almost on the strip) and earn SPG points, which you can convert to miles. Other than that, you can try and play with dollar coins.

I made 18.000 Bmi (Star Alliance) miles this summer, and also got Gold on Hilton, by changing hotel from Hilton Las Vegas to Hilton Grand Vacations Suites - Las Vegas (Convention Center) back and forth every night. Its very close between them (they even share the same parking garage).

Whoa...how many nights doing that?

Apparently, the biggest hotel in LAS?

From memory, the monorail is nearby.

One way to get miles for Vegas hotels that have no chain affiliation for miles is to use an airline travel agency site such as AAVacations.

While AAVacations may give a tiny amount of miles [usually], and if you can find the same rate by booking through them versus finding a better rate by booking directly with the casino hotel, it's one way to get some miles for a Vegas trip.

Has anyone seen any hotels that actually accept dollar coins for machines in vegas? Probably wouldnt be a great idea to do this on a large scale though since in every point inside a casino you are being watched by a million cameras.

Too bad Vegas doesn't offer slot machines that pay vouchers redeemable for frequent flyer miles, instead of slot machines that pay cash vouchers.

If Casinos can offer Sex In The City themed slot machines, why not Up In The Air themed [and frequent flyer mileage offering] slot machines? :D

so true....

16... I spent the summer abusing the Hilton Q2 Promo, where you got one fee night worldwide for every four stays. The 18.000 miles and the Hilton Goldcard was just a bonus for me.

I dont even think its the fifth biggest, like MGM Grand, Caesars et al are way much bigger.

Yes, "inside" Hilton Las vegas.

There's also a Hilton Vacations property on the site of the Flamingo, and one somewhere else on the Strip.

The easiest way to earn FF miles is renting cars in Vegas, IMO. I've earned two Rapid Reward redemptions mostly on car rentals using 3x/4x Alamo bonuses... which I've redeemed for flying to Vegas (WN is a pretty decent way to get to Vegas; a lot of WN cities have Vegas nonstops, even places like LBB).

What miles are earned in Vegas stay in Vegas.

Get some coins from the US Mint and then play them in the slots. You will actually be "circulating" them too.

With Hilton's Triple Mile promotion with Virgin Atlantic, I was earning 3000 miles per 1 night stay at the LV Hilton. Not bad for a $42.95/night rate. (Plus, as a diamond, I got free breakfast buffet as well for two people.) I alternated stays with the Doubletree, which was $73/night.

I think this promo ends on July 31, but now it's 2000 Virgin miles per stay for their Double Miles promotion, or 2000 bmi miles per night.

I don't think there are any machines in Vegas that still use coins (all slips now). But even if they did, they probably use the silver dollars coins. The dollar coin forum has a bunch info about people trying to redeem coins in Vegas with not too much success.

That would be correct. There are only a handful of casinos that I know of that still take coins of any denomination, much less the gold dollar coins. You can however exchange small amounts of dollar coins at casino cages for paper money.

right there. they don't build those enormous buildings on people actually winning money. but hey try your luck

a couple of opportunities
 

One can convert Harrahs points to Hawaiian Airlines points, but it is at a low rate that I never considered. But you might do it if you are not returning to Vegas and the points would otherwise expire from inactivity (Harrahs points expire after one year of inactivity)

One can also get SPG points from the Westin slot card at a really good rate: 1 cent cashback gets one SPG point. However, it is more difficult to get points cheaply on the card since they lowered the points earning rate by 75% on their Shufflemaster blackjack machine. They have 25 cent progressive video poker that becomes positive expectancy on occasion; check the meters. I believe that the points accumulate on most machines at a 0.5% rate.

This cannot be true unless you have some kind of mental deficit. The more time, effort, and energy you put into winning, the more opportunities you will find to profit, be it from blackjack (card counter), the (admittedly increasingly rare) coupons or beatable machines, or from poker. Most people lose because most people DON'T make any effort. The techniques for making money in Vegas are not top secret information, they are widely published, so if you don't make use of them, you really have no one to blame but yourself. Most people feel it's too much effort to win...that's their choice.

Vegas is not a town to worry about earning miles. I go there to pick up cash.

I don't think time and energy are the differentiators, but effort definitely is. I never put in the effort because I consider gambling to be a form of entertainment. As long as I can get a few hours for not too much money, I've done my job. I don't think I'd enjoy it if I was actually trying to make money.

i agree with that....i always have a limit & if i lose that amount then i'm done for the day....

iDine (AA), compounded with their current 500-mile 'Restaurant Hopping Bonus'.
I agree with most posters here...not the best place to earn miles.

I saw the Sex in the City machines today after having read this and it just made me chuckle... instead of winning money you win bonus miles, comped upgrades and maybe even higher status. That would definitely be an interesting one...

it could become the venue for the next ft do....:D

For your hotel booking, you can get BD miles (which are actually very valuable) by booking through its website's hotel portal (which is actually Expedia in the background). You have to book a minimum of 3* hotel to earn any mileage starting at 500 per night, but goes up from there along with * level.

You got different priorities than most people though, and not everyone goes with the mindset that they have to win money in order to make their trip worthwhile.

I did a trial deposit of 100$ in gold coins at the mandalay bay yesterday and imho its simply not worth it. It didnt take too long but instead of giving cash like they did at the bank, they go to the back and put in the coin counter and give chips. Ive heard of reports where coin counters dont work so what would you do then...its simply to much work for only a couple miles. Hopefully others can find better ways of geting miles in vegas than i have

Hold the phones -- there may be a way!

I just came across something about SPG on Harrahs website, so I ran a Google search and came up with this:
(sorry - I'm too tech illiterate to figure out how to just post the link)


Harrah's teams with Starwood, Westin offers 5:1 Starpoints for player points

Harrah's has teamed up with Starwood to offer extra incentive to earn Total Reward points.

Total Rewards is Harrah's player's club program, and while gaming at a Harrah's property anywhere in the country, you'll receive points that you can exchange for merchandise or freeplay.

Now, you'll also be able to earn Total Rewards points when you purchase nights at a participating Starwood Preferred Guest hotel property. This includes competitor Westin in Las Vegas, down the street from Bally's on Flamingo.

Through the end of the year, every $1 spent on an SPG hotel will gain you 2 extra bonus reward credits. And you'll still get your regular 2 Starpoints for each $1 as well.

Note also that currently at Westin Las Vegas, if you visit the player's club to link your player's card to your Starwoods account, you'll receive 500 Starpoints for every 100 player points (1 point = $1 coin-in).

To sign up or to connect your Total Rewards accounts with SPG, visit https://www.spgpromos.com/totalrewards.

Sorry - I should have pointed out that most of that was covered in the Harrahs/SPG thread last month; what was new was the statement that you can link your "players card" at Westin players club booth and bang out 500 SPG points for every 100 points you earn.

One thing I'm still not clear on -- the article says 1 point per dollar played on the linked "player's card." Westin must have a different program than TR, because I believe that Total Rewards are calculated as 1 point per FIVE dollars played -- not won or lost; just cycled through the slot machine.

I'm in Las Vegas in a week and a half and now plan to go by the Westin to check on this. I figure it's worth dropping a few dollars in a slot machine there and seeing if I really get SPG points for it.

The Westin LV is offering:

$10 per point for Video poker
$5 per point for slot

so $1 per 1 SPG point for slot machines.

Its ok, but not a deal.

Maybe you should also check out Gaming Loyalty Programs Forum and see what others are interested in.

i guess something is better than nothing....

Please consider giving a course on this:

QUOTE=peachfront;14398450]This cannot be true unless you have some kind of mental deficit. The more time, effort, and energy you put into winning, the more opportunities you will find to profit, be it from blackjack (card counter), the (admittedly increasingly rare) coupons or beatable machines, or from poker. Most people lose because most people DON'T make any effort. The techniques for making money in Vegas are not top secret information, they are widely published, so if you don't make use of them, you really have no one to blame but yourself. Most people feel it's too much effort to win...that's their choice.

Vegas is not a town to worry about earning miles. I go there to pick up cash.[/QUOTE]

At 500 Starpoints for every 100 player points, I would see if I can cycle money through a video roulette machine. If you bet on both odd and even or red and black, your expected payout is 36/38. So your expected loss is $5.26 for every $100 you put in the machine. $5.26 is a good deal to pick up 500 SPG points. Of course, you may also lose less if you get lucky or lose more if unlucky, but play long enough and it should even out.

I'd be curious to know if someone actually does this.

You misread the thread
 

At current rates, $100 through a slot will give you 20 slot points, which can be redeemed for 100 SPG points. You are thinking along constructive lines, though. If you see them put in a video craps machine with much better odds, you might have something there.