Question of the Day - 26 November 2024

Total Rewards used to give you 1 cent for every dollar you spent in restaurants and hotel stays on your card.  Since I rarely play there now I'm not sure if this is still the case now that it's Caesars Rewards.

Grandma could lose $5k a year at bingo, but if she hits a $1,250 win, she pays taxes on if IF she doesn't itemize her deductions.  Most Americans do not itemize their deductions.  Why in the world would Uncle Sam want to give up this golden goose?

If one participates in the Total Rewards Program, she or he can earn tier and reward points for spending towards hotels and restaurants under the Caesar program. For every dollar spent on a hotel room and/or dining experience, he or she will earn $1. Check out this under the benefits of the rewards program for Total Rewards.

In regards to the first question, if you have a host, check with them.  My wife has a pretty hefty food and beverage comp at the Westgate and you need to charge to the room in order to use it.  We went over a bit on it, and the host took care of it for us.  He even told my wife, "Charge the food and drinks to your room, even from the gift shop.  If you go over, let me know and I'll take care of it."  We were over about $30, so she called him.  He took care of it.  The next month her food and beverage comp went up another $50.  And then he gave me one as well.  Not as high ($200) as hers, but free money to use, so I'm good with it. 

no comps exactly but putting as much as possible on the room is not just convenient, it's an easy way to get a little credit when getting ready to check out, especially if there's a problem 

Charging to your room makes all of your spend visible to the institution.
You may not get comp points directly but you had better count on the fact that the hotel/casino/etc is going to mine that data. That might get you invited to a founders dinner or a wine tasting that comes with some comps. If you have a dispute with the hotel - you can always bring up - do you know how much I spend and the hotel can and will look that up. Heck A bagel and coffee now coats you $40. When Vegas goes through its next down turn (economic, 911, pandemic) you know they will be mining all the data to bring business back.

Friend attempted to get comp credit for big wedding at Wynn. Answer was No. if you could get comp credit for non gaming spending think of what some people would get based on night club spending. Tables bottle service. Just not going to happen 

A couple of friends in Washington have told me that there will be legislation removing some of the IRS funding for more agents, and some other rules.  One of the things that may be on it is raising the W2G threshold.  They did not say how much, but it would be discussed and there are congresspeople and senators that are interested in that also.  Same for the SALT deduction cap, or the elimination of that.  Also there will be discussions about the cash reporting thresholds (currently at $10K).  They did not say if it they want to increase or decrease the threshold.  All of these are bargaining points of legislation to extend the Trump tax plans which expire the end of 2025.  I know they want the legislation to be bipartisan, which may be impossible.

All Actions: H.R.3125 — 118th Congress (2023-2024)introduced. Referred to Ways and Means. No action. Will die at end of current session. 

Like Edso, I usually get enough up front comps (sometimes called Resort Credit) that the decision would be between using the comps or spending my own money and earning points.  Why leave comps on the table?

I charge the meal to my room but tip in cash rather than having tip charges on my cc.

One thing to be alert to is that some eateries inside a casino property are not owned by the casino company (CET, MGM, etc.) and you may not be able to use property-generated comps to cover the meal in those cases.  Maybe a Host can, but check first if it matters. That happened to us one time at Wynn, one of the places we ate did the room charge, but our up front comps did not cover that particular eatery.  We had received a letter that included this information, but we hadn't paid attention.

Candy

Gene, surely you didn't mean you get a dollar for every dollar you spend. Did you mean to type 1% instead??? That would be way more believable. 

Total Rewards has been Caesars Rewards for several years.

Always, always, always charge everything you can to your room.  A host cannot use discretionary comps to take cover it if you already paid out of pocket.  If the host won't (or can't) comp all of it, at least your spend in-house will be on the record.  The one exception is tips.  Those cannot be comped due to the possibility of nefarious dealings between the guest and tipped employee (such as tipping $100 on an $8 beer).

Every time the IRS limit question is asked, I remind everyone that the pari-mutuel industry got the IRS to change how taxable winnings are calculated, in 2017.  It resulted in  about 90% less W-2Gs being issued.  The casinos should hire the same lobbyists that the race htracks used.

If I buy my membership during June but renew in the following January will my membership still end during June of the following year?

Yes, under Caesars Rewards Program, for every $1 spent for dining at one of the restaurants which they own and for every $1 spent on lodging, it earns $1 , not 1%. One would need to have an established players card. Every $5 wagered on a regular slot machine equals 1 tier point and 1 reward point. However, you can goggle Caesars Rewards Program for verification.