LVH/Resorts (same company) rolled out their new "program" in mid-
July. I wrote a detailed post about it soon after that, but in light
of a recent change, I decided to write a new post.
Here are the three "legs" to the new program:
1) Tier Credits: Three cards, Classic, Elite, and Ultra.
Published Info: Classic is the basic card everyone starts with,
Elite requires 1500 points every six months, Ultra requires 8000
points every six months. NOTHING has been published that reveals
what kind of play constitutes a point.
Unpublished Info: As of last weekend, I have earned 8255 tier
credits since the inception of the new program in July. This
required just under $600,00CI to accomplish. Tier credits based on
CI were different for every trip, although I played the same three
machines every trip. The range varied from a low of $63.69CI per
tier credit to a high of $162.16CI per tier credit. The average
overall was just over $70CI per tier credit. It is my understanding
that my Ultra status is good until 7/1/07. To maintain Ultra beyond
that time, I will need to earn another 8000 tier credits from 1/1/07-
6/30/07 (which will then carry me through to 1/1/08).
2) R Points: These are the equivalent of HET's Reward Credits.
Whereas HET has some secret system whereby you can never be sure what
you will earn in a given session, LVH/Resorts publishes this info.
R Points earned can be used at face value for self-comping, or at
half value for cashback.
Published: When the new program was initially rolled out in July,
published info stated that one R point was earned for every $8CI on
vp and that 100 points was worth $1.
This meant that when used for self-comps, the value was .12%; when
used as cashback, the value was .06% (the percentages were not
published - I am just including that info).
Semi-Published: Whereas a big deal was made of the new program when
it was rolled out and I received a brochure by mail detailing the
info I am sharing here, changes were made to the R Points leg of the
program approx. two weeks ago that were NOT announced via a mailing.
When playing last weekend, I noticed that my R Points were not
accumulating at the same rate ($8CI per pt) and did some
investigating to find out why. It turns out that this leg of the
program was changed days earlier. The Players Club area had a sign
taped to the desk that revealed this information - but, unless you
were to go to the desk and read the sign, you would not know this.
The revised system awards 2.5 points for every $40CI on vp, which
means the benefits were cut in half. Self-comp value is now .06%,
cashback value is .03%. It was awful before, totally pathetic now.
Unpublished (to my knowledge): When you have Ultra status, it is
unnecessary to use R Points for comps as everything I have ever asked
for has been given to me as a discretionary comp. I have several
friends who are Elite and have had no problem getting all of their
meals as discretionary comps as well. There is no guarantee
concerning this - it is merely my experience.
3) Destiny Dollars: Dollars earned that can be used at any property
(other than your home property) for comps.
Published: Little, other than the description I just gave.
Unpublished: Destiny Dollars may/may not be earned while playing at
a property other than your home property. While I have played at a
property other than my home property, my account was messed up in the
conversion and I was never able to come to a solid conclusion on this
(I will verify on future trips). The way these dollars accumulate is
a big secret, just like it is with Tier Credits. The range at which
I have earned $1DD (Destiny Dollar) goes from a low of $1185CI to a
high of $2651CI. My home casino is currently running a special
whereby DD's are earned at 6x the "normal" rate. As my DD account
has over $1000 in it now, I suspect (but am only guessing) that when
I do visit another property (non-home casino), that I may be required
to use up my DD's on comps before I am issued any discretionary comps.
Rooms have always been comped for me and my "home" casino sends me BB
that ranges from $70 to $250 per day (I get about 25 BB coupons per
month, each good for 1 or 2 specific days). On a "good" month, I am
able to get there to redeem about six of these a month.
FWIW, my "home" casino is Resorts EC. Even the basic rooms are
wonderful (marble floors, separate shower and large/deep bath tub,
separate toilet room), cell phones are useless (no service whatsoever
in the area), and there is no Internet access either. I feel
somewhat cutoff from civilization every time I go there.
Hope this has been helpful, YMMV.
Correna Correna