MGM Resorts Sticks It to Players With Loyalty Club Changes

From Vital Vegas

https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/mgm-resorts-sticks-it-to-players-with-loyalty-club-changes/?fbclid=IwAR2Vgq-dZ-WIXbgCi1MfuaFJADcOuBUQMaKS6Zjmh_TRifU4rkWN01jBBU0

WOW!!!!!  This is a kick in the nuts for sure!!  This is especially true for us because our gambling budget is not large, so we earn by going to their hotels, shows, and restaurants more so than by gambling. 

How long before CZR does the same thing?

Tommy

Tommy, not long at all. It's asshole see, asshole do in Vegas. I would expect the other casino megacoporations to pause a bit and see if the new MGM "fuck your loyalty" program costs them anything. Probably, it won't. Vegas is and has for months been flooded by clueless nimrods for whom price discrimination is an alien concept. The Vegas megatoilets have found, doubtless to their surprise, that they can charge these bozos anything, offer the shittiest service in the history of Vegas, and destroy their players' clubs with absolute impunity.

Juxtaposed with the present horrible value offered have been the most profitable six months in Vegas history. Maybe I would screw people over, too, if I had the whip hand like the Vegas casinos do now. But I sure as hell don't have to participate in the sucker pool.

There are a few places left in Vegas--a very, very few--that still offer good value to the customer. I have no doubt that they'll fade away as well. At that point, I'll say adieu to Vegas for good. Let someone else chow down on the $28 sandwiches, play $25 minimum 6:5 blackjack, and pay $299 for a room (plus tax, plus resort fee, plus tax on the resort fee, plus "pay for our shiny new football stadium" tax, plus tourist tax, plus because-we-can tax, plus screw-you-you-probably won't-even-notice-this tax, plus tax tax).

Kevin, I totally agree.  It's sad right now, and one can only hope for some type of reversal. 

I don't play at MGM, but already have accepted that they will totally destroy the Cosmo perks I have had as a Gold level player.  The only optimism I have is that the new Palms and the new Rio will return that area to the "Triangle of Fun" status although there is no hope for the Gold Coast so it will be more like a two-legged stool that is better than most.

I fully support one's right to consider price and value when choosing a vacation property.  I've been organizing an annual Vegas trip for fifteen buddies the past 38 years, and I've largely moved this trip to downtown properties the past two decades.  Three months ago we stayed at Golden Gate,

While I'm disappointed in the MGM business model, I don't understand the anger and hatred that it generates.

Where are you staying next year?

"Sticks it to players?" Really?

I know breaking up is hard to do, but if a business' offers no longer appeal to you, it simply means that you are no longer part of their target demographic.

I wish that was the case. The actuality is that they're marketing to the same demographics, but have calculated that alienating half of those people and charging the remaining half double (or more) is the way to go. It's as if the local hamburger stand decides to jack up the price of a Super Jumbo Burger from $6 to $12 and watches warily to see how many customers still buy it. If they still sell at least half as many, it's a winning strategy!

I guess what really irritates me is how they act as if they're doing us all some kind of favor. The local casinos in particular are running lots of fluffy ads telling us how much they love us. Yeah, like orcas love seals.

The ultimate outcome, of course, is that the numbnuts who are currently flooding the casinos, frantically waving their money, will go broke/get disgusted/give up. Then, I'm sure the casinos assume, they can cut prices, offer relative bargains, and all of us disaffected types will come rushing back, with absolutely no negative repercussions or loss of goodwill from their post-pandemic gougefest. Probably true...

But what have we learned? We've learned that casino "customer loyalty" programs are absolutely goddamn worthless except for whatever immediate, short-term benefits they provide. How many of us (suckers, in retrospect) have pounded away at the tables or slots for months, multiple visits, and achieved Plutonium or Orgasm or Glittery Diamond status, only to find out that it's suddenly not worth a jar of warm spit? Don't sit down and calculate that it cost you $28,367 to achieve Plutonium, or you might throw up.

What we have to acknowledge is that the "loyalty" isn't reciprocated. We've assumed--and they've been happy to let us assume--that whatever status we achieve will be, if not permanent, at least ongoing, as long as we continue playing regularly. But here's another announcement: surprise! It now takes 8,000,000,000 Sneer Credits to qualify for 10% off your room charges, and don't talk to us about waiving the resort fee, peasants!

Screw 'em.

Doesn't bother me at all as you can get great comps for MGM properties at MyVegas.