Reading various casino forums can bring out a lot of very interesting info regarding hosts, comps and how casinos think of players. For those who have the time and energy to scour these forums, they can be a tremendous resource for understanding how to get the most out of these relationships.
One post I recently tripped across on Vegas Message Board, even though it was more than a year old, was written by a former Caesars host who had a number of thoughts that many players who regularly visit casinos should understand, and relate to things I’ve previously talked about here.
So 15,000 tier points to 149,999 is Diamond.. As you can imagine there are a LOT of different type of players between 15,000 points and the latter. So when a guest explains they are a diamond.. that actually doesn’t offer up much information as to the level of their play when they are asking for additional consideration.
Former Caesars host on Vegas Message Board
This is one thing that I encourage all players to consider. You should never chase a tier to try to get more comps, as your tier is generally not what gets you comps. There are specific economic reasons to sometimes achieve a tier, but it almost never has to do with things like more freeplay. Instead it might be bigger discounts or waived fees, which if used often enough can have a specific economic value.
But a more important example:
I have a single room remaining.
2 different players would like that last room on a Saturday.The first is a local who gambles $300 a week $150/visit twice a week risking $15,600/ year and is a Diamond.
The second is a national guest who comes 2 times a year gambling $2500/visit they are a Platinum ( lower tier ) gaining only $5k / year toward the casino.100% of the time the room will go to the second person. The first is going to likely put $150 into action whereas the second is going to put $2500 into action. Status is inconsequential.
The casino also sees the second as using less comp and resources of the casino on a yearly basis, the second player is just more profitable and requires less service that the prior even though the first is worth more over time. Discretion is almost always short sighted.
Former Caesars host on Vegas Message Board
Sometimes I have players asking how come they don’t get great comps despite spending tons of money at the casino. Visit frequency has an impact on offers.
If you go less often, you’re likely going to use less hard comps, comps that have a specific cost to the casino, simply because you’re not there as often. Rooms, food, and the like all have a cost to provide.
Free play has a theoretical cost, but most of the time players bet that through and keep going, unless they have a particularly good run. And those sorts of comps are always based on calculations like Average Daily Theoretical and as such visiting more often with smaller budgets will hurt your value in those calculations.
What could that do for you?
When you go into a casino assume you are going to be rated on your last rolling 3 trips. If you are a 10 trip per month person ( local to a casino ) could you get as much enjoyment out of 5 trips but set aside the money each trip you didn’t make to double up? If you can you would likely triple your base offers while maintaining the exact same gambling wallet.
Former Caesars host on Vegas Message Board
There’s a lot more great advice on the post, including why you shouldn’t go to a casino and simply grab a gift, why hosts like a certain amount of time played in a given day, and more. If you want to understand the logic hosts are required to follow by some casinos to determine who their best players are, this is a good read.
