If you’re concerned about Total Rewards going away completely, in light of recent moves and the experts' interpretation thereof (see Today's News 10/17/14), don’t be.
"I don’t think anything would change," says Fitch Ratings analyst Alex Bumazhny, who’s normally bearish on Caesars Entertainment. "Total Rewards is licensed in perpetuity," its ownership shared between several Caesars Entertainment subsidiaries. Admittedly, it is part of the weakest one, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., which owns Caesars Palace on the Strip and by far the likeliest entity to go bankrupty. But it also is part of the healthier Caesars Entertainment Resort Properties (Harrah’s Las Vegas, Paris-Las Vegas, The Rio, Flamingo Las Vegas) and Caesars Growth Partners (Bally’s, Cromwell, The Quad/LINQ).
"Ownership of the casinos may change but likely they’ll stay within Total Rewards as Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. goes through with its reorganization," Bumazhny opines.
Buzahmy’s sanguine view is shared by Raving Consulting marketing veteran Dennis Conrad, who writes, "my take would be that a bankruptcy would be a non-issue for casino players. Now if there were a risk of closure of Caesars casinos, that would be a different story. But Caesars can’t afford to screw around with the goodwill of their core asset, their casino players."
Just to be sure, we ran your query by Caesars Entertainment spokesman Gary Thompson, who wrote, "We do not anticipate our guests will experience any changes in our Total Rewards program or any reduction of earned Total Rewards."
We hope that eases your fears. Our Today’s News feed is always a good place to go to monitor changes in point systems and comps here in Vegas, should you feel the need, plus we definitely recommend checking out the constantly updated Players Club Bonus Point feature in our "Gambling Guide," Lastly, be sure to tune in to Jean Scott's "Frugal Vegas" blog in our Advantage Gambling section -- Jean helps update the former and regularly posts about players club news in the latter.
In fact, knowing that Jean Scott and her husband are regular CET players, we asked "The Queen of Comps" how she feels personally about the latest speculation and its implications for players, and if she plans to take any precautionary measures. She responded:
"We will redeem all our Total Rewards credits pretty much as we earn them – not letting them build up. We will continue to play there as long as we are able to find and take advantage of positive plays. I don’t waste much time trying to predict future possible changes – just deal with them as they come. If/when the time comes when we can no longer find positive plays at any property, we simply quit playing there. Our time is always better spent scouting for new opportunities as opposed to crying about old ones that are no longer available or worrying about things that may or may not happen."
