New Stations Program: It Stinks

Got 3 offers from Red Rock yesterday. One for $100 FP + $50 food + 3 nights. One for $50 FP + 4 free buffets + 3 nights. One for $10 FP + 2 2for bufs + $29 a night. Makes you wonder whats going on, doesn't it?
My host says just ignore them, she will take care of me...and she has done a good job on the last 4 stays.
I've no problem with the new program, sure made making President easy (and making the wife Platinum).

We just got our December mailer yesterday Jan.4th.
The January mailer came in late December.
Either the post office is messing up or they
aren't mailing them in a timely manner.

We had a strange thing happen the other day. We got a telephone call from Stations "corporate" (not a host) inviting us to book a slot tournament for which we received an offer ("would you like one bed or two?"). We said no. (It was only a 10k tournament, what do they expect?)

The lady then proceeded to ask all sorts of questions about our play, our bankroll (declined to answer), frequency and length of trips, where else we stay, etc. It was an odd phone call - and I don't remember giving them permission to call us.

As for Sue, she may come on strong sometimes, and may not always have the right answer, but I welcome her input no matter what it is. Perhaps a disclaimer about being a Station employee, who is not officially speaking on behalf of her employer, would be appropriate, as is required on other boards.

Bill, I believe the $10 FP + 2 2for bufs + $29 a night is a holdover from Fiesta accounts. Maybe you played there occasionally? We get those too.

- bcc

I am on the bottom rung of the Stations ladder. OF COURSE I am not speaking on behalf of the company, and to even suggest such a thing is LUDICROUS. All I have done here is attempt to explain the marketing system/Boarding Pass program -- the same thing I do every day with guests at the rewards center. We were trained on the new system so that we can do just that. I do not need to publish a disclaimer because, as I said, I have no authority to speak "officially." I am just trying to be helpful to people on these forums, as I've done for many years.

There is a corporate telemarketing program that makes phone calls for various purposes. The ones I've run across mostly are calls to people who haven't played in a while. The telemarketers offer these people something to get them to come in. It might be some free play and/or a comped meal, and these people are generally happy to have this attention paid to them. In your case, they probably called you because you have a high level card, but do not use a host.

They did not need permission to call you. If you don't want calls, go to the rewards center and have them remove your phone number from your information and put a note in your account that you don't wish to be called.

I received a similar call a few days ago from someone at GVR in marketing. When asked about my opinions of the new Stations program, I related my recent experiences at RR, which I've detailed in this thread. To my surprise, they called me back today, saying that they had made a mistake in not giving me an additional number of points equal to two-thirds of my point balance before the program change, and that they have now done so.

I report this in the interest of being fair to Stations and its new program, although why this couldn't have been done at RR when I was there and inquired about it at the slot club is a mystery to me. It would have made me feel somewhat more positive about that trip. Still, I believe that Stations' new program is better for locals than it is for visitors. The loss of several things in mailed offers (resort fee benefits, decrease in free buffets, decline in free play) is not made up for in my mind by 3-points-per-$1. The refusal of my RR host to comp things that he had in the past is, to my way of thinking, another program decline. But the worst situation, as several others have pointed out, is that the change in Boarding Pass levels simply takes the perks of one level and moves it up to the next, so that Platinum is now equal to what Gold was before, and so on. For those wealthy enough to make President or Chairman status, the new program is probably just as good as the old one, and, at this level of play, I'm sure the hosts are most accommodating. But I doubt that these levels of play reflect the bulk of Stations' customers, and they don't and won't reflect mine.

I may visit GVR in the future, where I've been generally treated better than at RR, particularly as regards a host, but I'll never return to RR. As for the negative comments regarding M that have been mentioned in response to this thread, while I realize that, like most places, M has cut back slightly in some areas, their program (comps), facilities, and restaurants, at least for me at this moment, are superior to Stations. Your mileage may vary. My experience in going to Vegas for over 35 years is that, ultimately, you can't count on the generosity or loyalty of any casino over time.

There are some things that have been improved, but our problems with Stations remain:

1. They say they updated the program to be more like other locals' programs. Then they made the deadline for status 6 months (plus carryover). Boyd is 1 year. CET is one year. How is that comparable?

2. Stations don't mail out invitations in a timely manner. By the time we receive them, the trip has long since been booked at other properties. Something is seriously wrong in their marketing/mailing department.

- bcc

"I received a similar call a few days ago from someone at GVR in marketing"

Barry, or whatever your name is now -- as I said before, these are corporate telemarketers making these calls. The person who called you was NOT from GVR. They simply say they're from whichever casino is most appropriate for the person they're calling.

barrys is now chrest? How........why'd he do that? I didn't know we could change names mid stride....

I'm pretty sure you have the option of changing your user name when you renew your membership.

Very interesting. I also received a call at work from what I now know was a telemarketer. At first I thought I heard that she said she was from Sunset Station Marketing, but later told me I also have offers at GVR that I could use. So my guess at this point is that the telemarketer is a Stations telemarkter as I believe Sue wrote. Asked me questions about bankroll, preferred games, etc. Probably same line of questioning. What suprised me was that she even knew who my host at SS was, once it seemed like she "looked" it up. They must have access to information on players, probably more than one would think a telemarketer would have. I appreciated the call at first, but now hope that it doesn't become an all too frequent thing. In my 10+ years of being a Station customer from out-of-town, I've never had a call like that before. I was just at GVR in November, so its not like I haven't been staying and playing at Stations. Am wondering if business is down, or are they targeting certain players more. Am Platinum, get free RFB at GVR, SS, etc, but do not consider myself a high roller by any means.