We recently spent over a month at Sam's Town living in our motor home in their RV park. While in Las Vegas we played lots of video poker at Sam's Town and other Boyd properties downtown. Toward the end of the stay I had accrued enough points for Emerald status, or so I thought. But when I checked in with the boothlings they said I didn't have enough.
The machines displayed over 200,000 points which was more than required for Emerald.
Not so, so they said.
Then why is the machine showing 200,000 points?
Well, they said, looks like some of the points were earned at Tunica.
Yes, I was at Sam's Town Tunica when they switched over to B Connected.
I was then informed that points accrued at Tunica are at a different rate than at Las Vegas and I would have to be issued an Emerald card at my "home casino" which was listed as Sam's Town in Tunica.
I spent five days in Tunica and five weeks at ST, Las Vegas, so why is Tunica my "home casino"? No answer.
Besides, they said, the points for tier score must be earned in a three month period and it has been longer than three months since you were in Tunica.
Then why are the points still showing up on my account and displayed on a vp machine when I insert the card? No answer.
The B Connected card I was issued in Tunica worked just fine in machines in Las Vegas and the comp points were displayed correctly. But when I used the card to pay for meals, half the time it wouldn't work. I had to get a "local" card for it to work consistently.
So another casino company is trying to emulate Total Rewards but can't get it right. Different properties in different parts of the country accrue and redeem points at a different rate. How dumb is that? Tier status is different from casino to casino. How dumb is that? To add more confusion expired points for tier status are not deleted from the account.
What ever else we say about Harrah's -- and I am first in line to give them hell -- they do have Total Rewards running correctly and smoothly. A point earned in any Harrah's property is the same as any other point and is redeemable at any property.
I pointed out these flaws to a casino host but I'm sure nothing will come of it. For locals or visitors who don't go to other properties this will never be a problem. But for casino hoppers like us, it is an aggravation at best. So beware if you hit Boyd casinos in various parts of the country.
Oh yes, to add insult to injury I asked for a $100 voucher against my comp points. The boothling handed it over WITHOUT ASKING FOR MY ID. I was pretty unhappy about that event since a lost card could mean a cleaned out comp account. Again, beware.
Let me add we had a great time during our stay at Sam's Town. We would hop their shuttle bus and go to the Strip or downtown on a daily basis. We also had lots of Total Rewards points to burn off so we feasted like kings. We played enough that Sam's Town comped our stay in the RV park except the last four days (thus the $100 voucher).
We will probably do it again next winter.
Rick & Lucky Lucy back in cold Kansas
