Ever do the free room/free food/free play...but not stay?

I got room/food/play mail offers from a few places - none of which I am actually going to stay at.   But I am going to "check in" so as to load up the freebies on my card.

El Cortez hooked me up with free room + $25 food credit

CircusCircus gave me a free room and $50 of free play

Tuscany gave me a free room and $25 slot play and $25 food.

My plan is to check in to the room....mess up the bed....and return the next day and mess up the bed again.    I'll probably end up taking a few naps at El Cortez and Tuscany since I play at those places anyway.   Circus Circus room will probably go untouched.      

I wish they didn't actually force you to take the room to get the other stuff.    But I'll walk the earth for free slotplay and a sandwich.

I've done that in the past, when I had one-time day-specific offers that overlapped. For example, a few years ago I had a three free nights + slot tourney entry at the Orleans and a three free nights + $50 + $25 food at the El Cortez. I never actually entered the room at the EC.

I don't think you even need to mess up the bed. The maids are very much used to people never making it up to their rooms for one reason or another (with me, it's always because some charming young lady drags me up to her room--but I digress). They won't report to anybody that the room appears not to have been slept in. They'll have a list of checkouts and if your room isn't on the list, they'll just mark your room as made up and proceed onward. After all, especially if they're paid by the room serviced, why would they report that they didn't have to do anything?

Agree with Kevin.  Why mess up the bed?  Unnecessary work for the housekeeper, who gets the "points" anyway, or whatever system they use for determining their assignment.   Take a nap, shower, or otherwise use the bathroom if so inclined.  But they don't care.  

EXCEPT:

I've done it a few times but only when 1) the properties were physically close, and 2) I actually wanted to play just a little at the place.  It probably will eventually show on your account that you ate/played on their dime but didn't give much.  I'm sure that is why my CZR offers tanked even though I gave them an hour or so play, versus three days of play when I stayed there.  Just sayin'.  Might not be a deal breaker for you.

Candy, I think everybody's CZR offers have tanked. Even Jean Scott, who has regularly given them tons of action over the years (and been well rewarded for it), has implied that her recent offers have gone downhill.

Your point is valid, though. Depending on the property and how closely they monitor such things, taking advantage of comps (such as a free room) but not giving the casino action could seriously damage your future offers. My experiences have been all over the map in that regard. Though I do, in fact, try to give the casino at least a modest amount of play if I'm staying in a comped room, I haven't seen much correlation between such action and future offers.

The casino groups that appear to be the most sophisticated in figuring out what your action is worth to them seem to be the ones that react the quickest to your stiffing them. That definitely includes CZR, whose player tracking system is the most thorough in the business. They have a constantly updated what's-she-worth amount pasted on your virtual forehead and if that amount drops because of your recent (in)action, you ain't getting that comped doughnut no more. They're very accurate that way. A small locals' casino, in contrast, might be much less thorough and continue to give you goodies.

10/4 Kevin.  All true.  Sadly.

A while back, NYNY checked us out of a free room when we didn't spend the night and didn't make it look lived in. Also, after the LV shooting, casinos are much less likely to not check in on a room. 

What we usually do is call housekeeping and tell them either we are travelling somewhere else that night or just tell them we don't need housekeeping service that night. 

I have not but once I received a 3 day stay at Mohegan Sun CT. And the wife got sick.  We needed to check out a day early and they charged me for checking out early (which was the equivalent of a one night fee for the room). I was ticked to say the least.  I should have just left and not checked out.