M - The Disappearing Buffet Coupon

My mailers from M have remained consistent until now, and they've always included 2 free buffet coupons, one for the first half of the month, and the other for the second half. The December mailer gives one free buffet coupon from December 1-13, and one "$25 one time dining credit" coupon from December 14-29 (a weekend buffet costs $39.99). The free nights and free slot play remain the same for me as before. I'm wondering how little Penn Gaming will eventually offer players?

Paul got the exact same offer!!!
There is a change in the wind.

This casino is on the edge of nowhere - a good 20 minute drive from the strip. Without any decent offers there is little reason to go out there

I saw this change too. It looks bad, but I do hold out some hope. If they simply were going to end the free buffet coupons in the mailers for good, it would seem odd to do that in the middle of a mailer, having a buffet comp coupon for the 1st to 13th but not the latter part of the month. Why not just switch to the $25 coupon for both parts of the month if they wanted to make this change? Maybe the $25 coupon is an attempt to drum up business at the restaurants which are slow around the holidays. I guess once the January mailers come out we will know for sure if this is a permanent change to the offers.

The ironic thing is that my friend who suddenly had no buffet offers in November (I posted about this a few weeks ago in another thread), after years of having them, went back to receiving a buffet coupon for Dec 1- 13 .

I received my monthly mailer for December - and noticed 2 changes. Free play amount went up - which was strange since I only played a very small amount in my last visit in October. The other change which has already been mentioned is the removal of one coupon for the buffet, replaced by a $50 one time dining credit. Personally I thought this was kind of a nice change! I have had the buffet many times over the years and honestly have tired of it - I don't view this as a lowering of benefits or perks. It seems more likely a way to drive some business into some of their other dining establishments.

Just my 2 cents...

Are you locals? I'm out of state and the offers just keep getting worse. It seems to me that the emails we get are tailored to locals. We get way better from Hollywood Joliet.

I'm an out-of-towner (Atlanta) and received the same offers others have mentioned...free play went up to $50 twice a month sted of $35 and food is free buffet through the 13th, then the $25 food voucher the rest of the month.
I don't think it's really lowering the value of the offer - aside from Friday Seafood night, isn't the dinner buffet around $25, anyway? -- but rather a way to get people to the other restaurants in the casino. Interesting that Hash House isn't included in the food voucher offer, so that's why I think they really want people to eat at the less popular venues.

melissaru, Hash House is not owned by the M, while they do own the other restaurants, so it would be more costly for them to allow you to use the coupon there. That is likely the reason for the restriction on Hash House.

Thanks, that's what I figured. Same deal at Borgata with their comp dollars...it's one-to-one for the places they own, but 2-1 for Fatburger, Tony Luke's etc. Understandable...though I do love my Hash House!

The point about their location is exactly right. The offers used to make it worthwhile to make the trip but, given the tighter slots, Cantor take-over of the sports books, the revolving door of casino hosts and lack of incentives, there really is no reason to go beyond SouthPoint.

The buffet ceased being a reason to visit long ago as it was living on its reputation for months and now the wod is out that the quality has fallen to the level of average. And for that, they raised the prices.