Total Rewards rant

Gomar

Dormant account
Joined
Apr 18, 2012
Location
New York
Review of Total Rewards:
Price for a bus ticket from NYC to AC is now $36 both ways. Not bad, considering you get a $25 slot bonus.
The slot bonus only works with the TR card. You CANNOT cash out the bonus. huh? In the past, I got
$20slot/$10 buffet credit, I cashed out, and ate for free. With TR you have to keep playing until you lose the
credit! Glad you dont carry buckets of quarters anymore.

1 credit = $10 video poker. Thus, you get 2.5 credits on the bonus. So, since you cant run away with the
money, just play $1 slots max bet [1credit = $5] and move on. Play slots to get atleast 1 credit. Otherwise,
it's a waste to use the card if you only play $1 on 0.05¢ machines.
BTW, to get to the next level [from gold to platinum] you have to drop a total of $20,000 into slots! Also, to get a
lousy $18 lunch buffet comped, you need 600 credits. Thus, 600x$5 = $3000. Still interested in this baloney?
No wonder not many people are, and the stats prove it.
Distribution of Members By Tier:
Tier %
Gold 88.6%
Platinum 6.5%
Diamond 4.7%
7-Star 0.1%
CY 2005

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People who come by bus to AC have 6 hours, considering bathroom, smoking, site seeing, eating, that
leaves 3 hours to play. Most play 1¢, 5¢ machines, and wont drop more than $20 in the casino per visit. Even
if you spend $100/month on slots, you'll need to play for 30 months to get a buffet comped. Besides, you have
to add 1 credit every 6 months or you lose them all. Bogus aint it?!

Only these casinos use TR:
Vegas: Flamingo, Imperial Palace, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Rio
A.C. & Vegas: Bally's, Caesar's, Harrah's
A.C.: Showboat, WWWest

So, if you go to other casinos, you get a different card. BTW, Bally's has the best system as you could order
drinks and check balance on the slot's TR console.

Overall, I dislike TR with a passion. It's worthwhile for big gamblers to achieve highest 2 tiers, but for
average tourists, grandpa/ma, college kids chillin' in Vegas, etc. it's just not worthit. Thus, if you really do go to
Vegas or AC atleast once every 6 months, and you spend $500 per trip, you will get some benefit out of TR;
some measely comps, otherwise, dont even bother with it.
Fact is, NY Lottery's 'numbers' game has better odds and bigger payouts than video poker or any casino slot
machines.
 
I feel the opposite, we hit Vegas 4 or 5 times a year, I have not paid for a room in 3 yrs and we generally stay 5 nights (always get upgrades at Caesars and PH), loads of food, casino credits and shows. M Life I cannot even get anything close with them.
 
I feel the opposite, we hit Vegas 4 or 5 times a year, I have not paid for a room in 3 yrs and we generally stay 5 nights (always get upgrades at Caesars and PH), loads of food, casino credits and shows. M Life I cannot even get anything close with them.

Would you care to elaborate, provide details and specifics. How much do you gamble? slots or table games? what wagers? What's your TR credit? Are you whale?

If you gamble $1000/day I wouldnt be surprised you get free rooms and other comps. I was referring to low wagers, say $50/day.
 
Would you care to elaborate, provide details and specifics. How much do you gamble? slots or table games? what wagers? What's your TR credit? Are you whale?

If you gamble $1000/day I wouldnt be surprised you get free rooms and other comps. I was referring to low wagers, say $50/day.

Definitely not a whale, I usually keep a gambling budget somwehere between $400-$800 a day when I am there. I play slots predominantly. I have been a member for quite some time, things used to be different and a lot easier, when I played cards I used to spend sometimes up to 10k/day, got free flights and suites, maybe they remember those days, not sure.

I was a diamond but have lost that status and now am platinum. I just looked at my win loss statement on my TR page, my total loss on the statement for 2011 is ($1335), however it does not state my playthrough which I think is probably around 30k.

I will find out if I lose my Platinum, I do not live anywhere close to a Caesar's casino, closest one in Canada is in Windsor, about 3000 miles away, my next Vegas tripped is booked for Sept 30th for 5 days, they comp'd all 5 days in a new Go Room at the Flamingo, I also had a choice at PH for a resort room and Paris, I like PH but we never win there?? My wife likes the pool at Flamingo and the new room reno is quite nice, Paris has the worst beds in Vegas and the rooms look old and tired. TR sends me emails saying my status will expire in June and I will also lose my 1967 RC balance if I dont put 1 RC point n my account, I will probably call them and grovel to see if I can keep it. I still get a crap load of offers, currently there is 22 on my TR page.

I wasn't refuting your claims or being argumentative, they have just plain been good to me.
 
Last edited:
Interesting thread.

Gomar....general questions....

How much do you expect to get if you're only going to spend $20 of your own cash?

Casinos aren't there to provide free recreation for citizens....they're in the business of making money. If you want them to comp an $18 buffet, and give you $25 chips with no restrictions, that's $43 they're offering you in return for your $20. It's financially unworkable, especially in a down economy. Remember, the $20 you spend is not all profit...a lot of it goes to paying other winners.

$50 of wagers would make the casino about $3....and you want $43 in return?

Sorry, but I think you're being very unrealistic about your financial worth to the casino, and hence what they "ought" to reward you.

Loyalty programs are always going to reward bigger spenders more, and so it should be.....they don't exist to provide micro-rollers with free food and gambling.
 
I Like TR

I think you might be misunderstanding the process. I think if I explain the program in online casino terms it may make more sense. The free slot play does NOT have to be lost. It effectively has a 1X playthrough wagering requirement. You play through the credit amount once,and then you may cash out. I have had several freeplay deals from Harrahs Entertainment( now Caeser's Entertainment) and Every one was cashable after I played it through once( as recently as a few months ago).

The tiers don't require you to lose $20,000 to get to Platinum, you just have wager that much. That should be obvious. It's just like the comp points you earn online. (e.g $10 wagered = 1 comp point, 100 comp points =$1), except they don't have direct cash back.

I got platinum status in one three day trip, and I primarily played penny slots between .40- 1.00 per spin.( a few nickel slots too) The benefits and free offers have been great, and have lasted for over 2 YEARS with minimal play.

I agree that there isn't much benefit to the tour bus player who goes to minimum bet the nickles or pennies for a few hours, but most people who make those trips don't expect them.

I just got an offer for three free nights at ANY Caesar's property for the slot tournament on June 15-17 ( that's a weekend by the way). It includes a free entry into the tournament with a top prize of $25,000, but it pays the top 400 entrants out of an estimated 1000. The top 100 get at least $500! 101 to 400 get at least $100.
A 1 in 10 shot at at least $500 plus a free room and whatever I currently have and earn on my comp points seems like a great deal to me! :)
 
You CANNOT cash out the bonus. huh? In the past, I got
$20slot/$10 buffet credit, I cashed out, and ate for free.


Casinos have made their freebie incentives into free slotplay due to the very scenario outlined by the OP. Free slotplay money is usually 1x playthrough required. Not outright free cash. Choose your slot wisely and get just a little lucky and you turn $20 into $40 and stick it in your pocket.
 
In our business we travel all over the country and have played (and signed up for every card) in all most all Harrah's/Caesar's properties. We don't spend a lot in each one but probably $100 per person when we stop. That really isn't a lot and it is spread out over months. If I log in online there are numerous free nights, $10 freeplay, free food offers at many different properties. I think they actually have one of the better programs...IMHO.
 
Definitely not a whale, ... I used to spend sometimes up to 10k/day,

To me that's a whale for sure! No wonder you get comps.

my playthrough which I think is probably around 30k.

For one year? How about total for all years?

my next Vegas tripped is booked for Sept 30th... my status will expire in June and I will also lose my 1967 RC balance if I dont put 1 RC point n my account.

Right. So basically you are forced to gamble more often, and not per your schedule. People do work. Being close to AC I could go there on weekends, but anyone living far from casinos, will lose their credits.
 
I started a thread a while ago about the differences between B&M comps and online comps. I really like the Total Rewards program. I take my mother to Atlantic City about 3 times a year. The first time I had been back to Atlantic City in approx. 11 years was last year sometime. I was playing the penny slots, and my husband was playing the tables for 5 dollars. He got comped with 3 buffet dinners and 3 breakfasts after spending about 75 dollars.

I get offers in the mail almost every week from Harrah's properties. I have 2 free nights every month, food coupons, free plays and free days at their spa, and it is for all their properties, in AC, LV, Tunica, and Biloxi. Now mind you I play penny slots only and do not spend more than 100 dollars on slots for the 3 days I am there. I spend my money shopping for my daughter and on adult beverages mostly. I even get offers in the mail for 99 dollar flights and 3 free nights to Harrahs in AC, which isn't to bad. I just don't ever take them because I can't go during the week because my daughter has school.


So for a loyalty program they are pretty good, well to me anyways.

LH
 
To me that's a whale for sure! No wonder you get comps.



For one year? How about total for all years?



Right. So basically you are forced to gamble more often, and not per your schedule. People do work. Being close to AC I could go there on weekends, but anyone living far from casinos, will lose their credits.

My 10k days are long gone, I amassed over 300k in losses in a year, this was long enough that ago that I would be truly shocked if it bared any weight today.

We go when we want, the comped rooms are there all the time, it just so happens that May, June and July are my busiest months and August is too bloody hot in Vegas. We live 5 minutes from the border, it is so cheap to fly to Vegas from Bellingham through Allegiant it is really no big deal going anytime of the year, flights all in for both of us return are generally in the $300 range, in Canada you are hard pressed to get a regional flight for one for $300.
 

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