How do you get comp'd rooms?

twriter · **Posted:** Sun Jun 19, 2011 6:49 pm

Local Rock wrote:

Do the following, right now:

Pull out your Harrah's/Caesars 'Total Rewards' card;
Go online to Caesars.com;
Create a PIN & register your TR account online, if you have not already done so;
Once you are logged in with your account number, check two places, under both the "My Offers" page and also separately on the room rate calendar through the "Reservations" section of their site.

Even if you have never spent a nickel in any of their joints, you could be shocked (in a good way) to discover what they might do to entice you into their only slightly tacky dens of middle brow Wonderbread iniquity. Or not, in which case it will have taken up about ten minutes of your time. In this one department, and only this, that company is still decades ahead of the competition. Frankly I would probably never play in any of the CET rooms if not for their Total Rewards system that has got me very effectively roped into giving them about a third of my play so I can maintain the room rates (often fully comped) and other perks I get from their system. I'm not a pit or a slot player, just poker and some four-hooved type sporting events, and I discovered comps and offers waiting for me to reel me in after a few years of not putting a single point on that card.

I wish I could say that's gotten me comps, but to-date, it hasn't.

In recent trips this year, I've

The only thing I've ever found when logging on with my TR number is discounted rooms, typically about 1/3 off the rate everyone else gets. I've never seen comps. I've never gotten email offering comps. I have a bunch of points right now (756 "rewards credit balance,' 393 "tier score") but I don't know what those levels or numbers mean.

About the only thing I got was a couple of stays ago, when I checked out of the IP, they said I had about $13 worth of comps, so I put it toward my room bill. Woo!

Either I'm doing not enough or too much at their properties, because enticement ain't coming my way. Nope, not one little bit.

lucky13ubet · **Joined:** Sun May 22, 2011 8:04 pm **Posts:** 126

my free offer for RIO is for August, and its on my birthday so im taking it, and when i checked my TR points balance I had 0 because they just expired, which means it had been a full year since I stayed with there properties. The days prior to my RIO stay I have 2 free nights at Tropicana again, which i'll gladly take since I now know they are 100% free. Maybe if you only plan on going 2-3 times a year to stick with the same properties so the other properties will send you offers to come and gamble there. I never feel obligated to gamble where I am staying.

zippyboy · **Posted:** Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:46 am

twriter wrote:

The only thing I've ever found when logging on with my TR number is discounted rooms, typically about 1/3 off the rate everyone else gets. I've never seen comps. I've never gotten email offering comps. I have a bunch of points right now (756 "rewards credit balance,' 393 "tier score") but I don't know what those levels or numbers mean.

About the only thing I got was a couple of stays ago, when I checked out of the IP, they said I had about $13 worth of comps, so I put it toward my room bill. Woo!

756 CR means you have $7.56 in comp dollars. 303 tier credits means you're Gold. You need 4000 for Platinum, 11,000 for Diamond, 100,000 for 7 Stars.

twriter: I know you like to play Mirage, but there are benefits for CET, like you can use your comps at any CET property. That's something you cannot do with MGM. All comps earned at Mirage must be spent at Mirage. And I bet you've seen your comp dollars dwindle now that Mirage is swiping cards. You probably used to play 5-6 hours and ask for a comp, and get $10 ticket. Now it's enforced at a dollar per hour, right? Have you checked your score on Mlife website? What are their offers compared to CET? If you get high enough, does MGM offer a Diamond Lounge the way CET does? Can you get immediate seating on MGM shuttles?

Local Rock · **Posted:** Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:49 pm

twriter wrote:

Made sure I dropped a few bucks into penny slots at various properties.

Stop that. You have probably given yourself an ADT (Average Daily Theoretical) of about $0.03. Their computer now thinks you are a shopping cart lady who collects cans and bottles by the side of the road and lives on pigeons she catches in the park before retiring to her home in a discarded refrigerator crate under the freeway overpass.

Or keep doing more of that, and maybe you can swing a deal to get Loveman to pay you to stay out of CET properties. Don't use your card if you aren't really going to be playing for a while, like 2 hours or more. Otherwise, do not log in with it or have it swiped in a card reader at a CET casino, not even to check your balance. In their system that generates a "trip" which is used to compute your average per casino visit. You'd be better off never having used your TR card at all, because then you'd have potential to them.

If the ONLY thing you had on it was a couple of those degenerate overnight sessions of the IP mix game you'd be looking good to their computer. Don't do "a few bucks" for anything & don't do it scattered around "at various properties" on that card to artificially drive down your average to shopping cart lady territory.

packbacker · **Posted:** Sun Jun 26, 2011 3:46 pm

My two trips this year (Feb and June) I have stayed comped through the week...only paying (reduced rates) for Sat. nights. One trip was P-Ho and one was Harrahs. I play almost 2-4L exclusively (stupid hours but still 99% poker). The trade off for the higher rake is that they do track you (Im still only Gold) and reward with free to severely reduced rooms. I don't get this anywhere else for playing poker. Can then use my $1/hr comps for meals so the trip boils down to airfare, transportation, and gambling bankroll. HET/CET is the way to go IF you want to "earn" free rooms for the casual low rolling poker player.

lucky13ubet · **Joined:** Sun May 22, 2011 8:04 pm **Posts:** 126

packbacker wrote:

My two trips this year (Feb and June) I have stayed comped through the week...only paying (reduced rates) for Sat. nights. One trip was P-Ho and one was Harrahs. I play almost 2-4L exclusively (stupid hours but still 99% poker). The trade off for the higher rake is that they do track you (Im still only Gold) and reward with free to severely reduced rooms. I don't get this anywhere else for playing poker. Can then use my $1/hr comps for meals so the trip boils down to airfare, transportation, and gambling bankroll. HET/CET is the way to go IF you want to "earn" free rooms for the casual low rolling poker player.

I get more offers and better deals from the MLife properties.

packbacker · **Posted:** Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:56 pm

lucky13ubet wrote:

I get more offers and better deals from the MLife properties.

From playing poker alone? I put in plenty of hours at mgm properties over the years and got squat. Interesting.

Local Rock · **Posted:** Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:53 pm

packbacker wrote:

lucky13ubet wrote:

I get more offers and better deals from the MLife properties.

From playing poker alone? I put in plenty of hours at mgm properties over the years and got squat. Interesting.

Yeah, I had pretty much the same question in mind: How? Was a casino host and some seriously degenerate pit play involved?

I'm guessing it prolly wasn't from playing poker at Mandalay Bay:

mr_railbird wrote:

thamster wrote:

Anyone with trouble with their comp tracking? They do it manually and it seems if you're not a regular, they 'file' (i.e. 'lose') your card in the back room somewhere. Despite playing there every time I'm in Vegas, they have no record of me each time.

Same thing has happened to me twice...<SNIP>...

lucky13ubet · **Joined:** Sun May 22, 2011 8:04 pm **Posts:** 126

Local Rock wrote:

packbacker wrote:

lucky13ubet wrote:

I get more offers and better deals from the MLife properties.

From playing poker alone? I put in plenty of hours at mgm properties over the years and got squat. Interesting.

Yeah, I had pretty much the same question in mind: How? Was a casino host and some seriously degenerate pit play involved?

I'm guessing it prolly wasn't from playing poker at Mandalay Bay:

mr_railbird wrote:

thamster wrote:

Anyone with trouble with their comp tracking? They do it manually and it seems if you're not a regular, they 'file' (i.e. 'lose') your card in the back room somewhere. Despite playing there every time I'm in Vegas, they have no record of me each time.

Same thing has happened to me twice...<SNIP>...

Luxor, Excalibur and MGM.

somedude · **Posted:** Mon Jul 04, 2011 5:52 pm

Unlike others, I've had no love at all from HET (now Caesars) properties and TotalRewards. I dropped several hundred at the tables and in the slots at Ballys and didn't get so much as a discounted room offer. I've played extensively in both AC and Vegas at Harrahs properties for poker too - and not even a discount on the room rate.

If you plan on visiting Vegas with any regularity, you may have better luck than me with TR. I'm pretty much an MGM property guy - I use the card for poker and they send emails with special poker room rates at MGM Grand. These are around $59/night weekdays and $79 - $129/weekends - nothing jaw dropping, but as a non-casino pure poker room promo, not bad.

If you're dragging a SO with you and want to impress - or want to just treat yourself, for higher end properties, then two of the best Poker Room rate deals in town are at Palazzo/Venetian and Aria. Provided you do 6 hours a day (if you have more than one person in the room, multiple peoples play can be counted to qualify) then both properties offer good rates. At Palazzo/Venetian it's typically $129/weekdays and $159/weekends. For weekends in particular, this can be half the going rate.

Aria offers $99 weekdays and $129 weekends for poker players. Again, during busy times/busy weekends, this can be up to half the going rate. Just call Poker Room - leave a message if you get VM with your dates - they've always been excellent at getting back and following up.

Finally, and particularly to get decent room offers for the "nicer" MGM properties, you can also consider dropping $100 in the slots at the MGM properties. I dropped $100 in the slots at both Mirage and Aria JUST to get the slot player room offers. I never play slots normally. But the $100 investment has gotten me $69/night at weekends at Mirage (over a holiday weekend when the going rate was $300+) and $79 at Aria. A great deal for a new 5-diamond resort on centre strip. I've also once had an entirely comped Monaco Suite at Monte Carlo on slot players promo rates - again after dropping $100 in their slots. All these deals are emailed to me or saved in my Mirage Players Club online. This is really only worth it though if you plan to go 3 or 4 times a year. I've dropped $200 so far this year in slots, but have stayed in LV 4 times and saved well over the $200 in room rate deals - but I like to stay at Mirage or Aria mostly and their regular rates are usually on the higher side at weekends.

One nice thing is that your 'qualification' at one property often carries over to all MGM Mirage properties. My current Summer slot promo rate is applicable at all properties (including the Bellagio) and starts at $29/night for Excalibur up to $139/night at The B. FWIW the newly remodeled rooms at Excalibur are actually pretty nice, way better than the old pyramid rooms at Luxor or most of the Harrahs' group properties rooms.

Final notes: Vegas is still hurting. In boom times dropping a $100 in slots wouldn't get you so much as a look. Now, even players with just a small amount of slot play racked up on their cards are getting discounted room offers. There's a lot of empty rooms to fill in Vegas, and getting something for them is better than nothing, and getting folks in to spend $ on gaming, shows, food, beverages etc. is clearly worth offering a $59/room rate. It won't be like this for ever for us low-rollers, but for now make the most of it!

How do you get comp'd rooms?

Who is online