From: Pid Stu <pid0001@yahoo.com>
I was going to stay downtown but chickened out. 11 nights on the strip and
two on Boulder. It there a ballpark figure on how much I have to play to get
a free room each day, and is it worth it?? Most of you will probably say sure,
but I don't know....
Slot hosts will tell you, if you ask them directly. Average 4 or 5 replies
together, and you'll start to get an answer closer to the truth. [You can
assume that if you're a new acquaintance to the host, there will likely be a
larger "pad" built in to the figures to protect them .]
It also depends on _exactly_ when you'll be there. January is not-so-cheap as
December; mid-week [Sun-Thur] is cheaper than the weekend; if there's anything
happening in town that could fill the rooms without giving you a comp, your
offer won't be as good. If they tell you "four hours of play a day, at your
current average rate of play" that answer may not be as tangible as giving you
a cash-in figure. Their computers are good enough nowadays to track to the
dollar how much you lost in each session (if your player's card is correctly
inserted all the time.)
As your play increases, the rate of return (cashback and comps) increases
too -- if you like those $100 9-6 JoB machines, and are willing to feed so
many thou$and in during your stay, you can pretty much stay anywhere. And ask
for anything you want, besides. Except a visit to Lady Heather's Dominion --
because that is a complete fiction fabricated for the CBS show C.S.I. during
Sweeps Week, when they always use the old "Dominatrix Ex Machina" as a plot
device.
A specific example: So you can stay at the Las Vegas Hilton on the 3rd Monday
of the month of December with a published room rate of $29 or $39, or you can
stay on comped play (with a couple restaurant charges thrown in). If you're
playing $.25 Multistrike, the casino doesn't need you to play very long to get
their piece of you -- maybe a half hour, tops. The slot host might ask you, a
video poker player, for "a couple hours of play" figuring you'll look for the
best return from machines, but also (like 99% of their customers) play
suboptimally. If you play Multistrike for those 2 hours solid, and lose
$400-$800, it has been a very good bet for the casino... and the hotel room
would have likely been dark otherwise, so it's all pure profit for them.
Avg cost is 36/night out of my pocket and I can do what I want go where i
want, no obligation at all.
One tradeoff is that if the casinos are tracking your play, you might receive
future offers that make it worth your time -- like to a "tournament" where
there's a certain amout of cash to be given away to a population of maybe 400
customers.
So I wonder if it is better to risk I don't know how much to get a free
room which is averaging 36/night. I say no, and if in my roamings I
accumulate enough points to get something I can use it next time, and if I
want to take a drive and not play so what, no one cares.
Depends on your play -- who you are -- who you hang with -- and how long
you've been doing it. I know a few people who haven't stayed anywhere but
Caesar's over the last 20 years. You need front-3-rows center to tomorrow
night's 8pm "O"? -- No problem.
They might not all be in the category of "whales", but they're at least big
dolphins. [Eddie Fisher and Nancy S. didn't need to gamble themselves to get
everything taken care of by the house.] (One of these people, a table player
my wife knew, got three cashback checks in six months ... and each was at
least six-figures.)
Their computers have told them that they'll make money on us with this type
of
offer, and it's true: based on our net cash out on previous trips, in some
cases casinos have feasted on from 2x to 5x their "listed room rate" (which
is
another fiction).
The REAL secret, Pid -- may I call you Stu? -- is to assemble a great big
junket of friends and associates who all like to gamble, and just ride herd on
the party like a big ol' fuzzy sheepdog. Casinos like players a lot, but they
Really, Really Like the people who bring the players to them.