Brad and I just got back from a wonderful holiday family reunion in New Orleans.
We had 3 rooms at the Harrah’s Hotel, one a suite that served as “holiday headquarters.” We decorated it with garlands, and nativity scenes, and artificial snow, and a small Christmas tree almost hidden by wrapped presents stacked high around it. But it was a huge suite so there was always room for Wii games. (I used to be a good bowler at the alleys but my Wii bowling skills need a lot more sharpening!)
Since Brad and I both have 7 Star tier status, it was possible for us to provide luxurious “champagne” living for 13 people and costing us only “peanuts” – and occasionally some Reward Credits. We had a total of 13 room nights, only 2 requiring the use of our points.
As usual, tips were the main expense that cost real money.
Since we were on my annual 7 Star trip (we’ll take Brad’s in a month or two), they put $500 worth of Reward Credits in my account. That (plus some mailed food coupons) covered many meals and room service, which we used more often than usual since you have to be 21 to enter the casino where the buffet and many other food outlets are located. The teenagers didn’t mind, however, since they think room service is pretty special. We used both our annual $500 “Celebration Dinners” for two big meals, one at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and the other (when there were little kids and we wanted to be more casual) at Gordon Biersch Brewery. (Both of these restaurants plus Grand Isle are in or near the hotel so were good choices where we could take kids.)
Other 7 Star perks included free valet parking at the hotel. This was a big freebie since the rate was $25 a day and our group had two vehicles. We also got free tickets for 5 people who were brave enough to take the nighttime walking Haunted History Tour around the French Quarter. Brad and I skipped that since we had done it many years ago. (Carriage rides are an alternate comped option, but we had done that with the family last year.) Free movies was a popular perk plus there was free Internet.
As usual, we were able to maximize casino benefits by taking advantage of some mail offers that coincided with our visit. I picked up a 7-day cruise and Brad collected $400. Plus we had some extra free play from the quarterly coupon books we each get. And, of course, we had no travel expense since the airfare for two people is included in your annual trip package.
It goes without saying that the most important “perk” for us was being with family – but it never hurts to have lots of comps!
I’m going to New Orleans this month and made reservations at Harrah’s. I have Platinum status and always get comped at the Las Vegas Harrah’s properties. But when I booked my room in New Orleans, I received a rate that was very little less than the standard. When I called to inquire, they said that I hadn’t ever been in New Orleans and my “comp” status wouldn’t pertain. Did you find this to be true? or did you get your perks because you visit there? Thanks!
Aloha JEAN,
You are magnificient! I noted your response to vpmail – yahoogroups – about not hearing about SKIP!! and then “clicked” on your SIG FILES (for this BLOG).
TWO (2) simple points: (1 comment & 1 REQUEST!)
a) Isn’t it wonderful how we are surrounded by LIBERALS who have (the best intentions AND NO MONEY) the desire TO TELL ALL OF US – how we should SPEND / GIVE AWAY OUR MONEY? [Help! ALL the ‘disadvantaged’, & ‘share your wealth’?]
B.S.!!!!! – the GOVERNMENT does enough STEALING to DOLE OUT TAX MONEY for EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN… so OBAMA can SAVE and GET RE-ELECTED!!!
b) PLEASE reconsider the TYPE FACE COLORS on your BLOG! I’m TYPING IN WHITE FACE on DARK GREEN – ONLY TO READ “light green” (NOT YELLOW!!! – that IS very eeasy to READ) on DARK GREEN! Please HOW ABOUT A REVERSE –
VERY LIGHT GREEN BACKGROUND and DARK GREEN or BLACK TYPE FACE????
Either way – I absolutely have to THANK YOU!!! (again) for writing your BOOKS (and websites & BLOG) that EXPLAINED – the wonderful game – Video Poker for me! ;-)))
i believe there is plenty of $5 full pay job in vegas. a poster had mentioned the best game is 99.2%
I’m a small player. I play quarters but usuall play a long time when I go to a gambling venue. I used to receive coupons from Harrah’s Kansas City. I often received a free room offer, a couple $25 cash coupons, and a couple scratch offs that would yield from $20 to $500 each. I took advantage of the coupons several times, timing my stay so I could use both $25 dollar coupons and both scratch offs on each trip. I gave them considerable video poker play each time and usually dropped a couple hundred at craps too. One time, we were passing through and I stopped to collect the free $25 but it took so long to collect that time that I didn’t have time to play at all. I’ve never received anything from them again. That doesn’t sound very patient to me.
If this blog entry was to be all about “family at the holidays”, you sure missed the boat. One can easily have a tremendous visit with family that does not include anything casino related. This came across as nothing less than self-aggrandizement about perks that 99% of your readership will never attain. It was simply a rehashing of your lifestyle that happened to take place at this time of year.
To answer some specific questions:
Not sure whether we will make 7* again this year. Depends on the plays we can find at properties out of town since Harrah’s doesn’t offer much to Vegas locals.
About the food at Ruth’s Chris in New Orleans. We are not gourmet folks so we aren’t very critical; both food and service Christmas Day was excellent – in our opinion. A foodie might find faults?
As to the question about Harrah’s “demoting” you. Once you attain one level, you keep that level the whole year even if you never play again. I never heard of anyone ever being “demoted.” However, your mail offers vary according to your actual play and you might see them decrease if you never play. However, experience of many of us has been that they are patient for a long time and keep sending offers – and sometimes if you quit playing for awhile, your offers will get much better!
Since your playing base is Vegas, and not a single solitary game better than 99.2% is available at any Harrah’s property there, AND since Harrah’s ratcheted the requirements skyward for achieving and maintaining 7-Star status, I wonder what your negative EV was to earn all those freebies. I roughly calculate that the loss on $400K coin-in (optimal) would have been equal to the amount of goodies you got, so hopefully you didn’t have to dump in any more than that this year.
I used to play Harrah’s -EV garbage ($1 3-line JOB) for enough coin-in to get room, etc. offers, which more than made up for the theoretical loss (it might have helped that since I have NEVER hit a royal at ANY Harrah’s property, my actual loss was much greater). But now that the VP has gone from lousy to horrible, and the offers are tightening up, I will probably let my status drop from “Diamond” to “Wood” or “Tin” or whatever the classification is for scumbags who retain their money and blow it on rent and food.
I understand that you have to keep pumping in the bucks to maintain 7 Stars, and that even a single month of insufficient bloodshed, er, activity gets you demoted to Diamond. Is this still the case?
Good for you! Part of the joy of earning comps is being able to share them with family when possible. We do the same as you and have many memories to always treasure.
I guess you do not play quarters anymore. I wish you mush happynees and health in 2010.
I enjoyed reading your comments on the trip, since I frequent Harrah’s New Orleans a few times each year (in addition to Vegas and Lake Tahoe). A couple of questions, if you don’t mind:
1. Did you play (gamble) much while you were there? If so, what did you play (schedules/denominations)?
2. My experiences at the Ruth’s Chris attached to Harrah’s Hotel have not been very good, especially the service. Did you have an experience there that was up to snuff compared with other Ruth’s around the country?
Thanks a bunch, and I hope you both have good health in 2010!
I’m amazed that both you and Brad are able to earn 7* status. With the downgrade of nearly all playable VP in every Harrahs, do you think you will be able to maintain that status in the near future?