Are Room and Mailed Room Comps Different

I have a question about room comps. Is there a distinction between a general room comp and a room comp that comes as a monthly offer? I get mailed offers from Boyd that include free rooms, play, and food. But I can also go through my B Connected account and book comped rooms there that are not based on those mailed offers. Am I using up comps that might have gone toward a nice meal if I do that?

This is one of those questions that's difficult to answer, because it depends on that casino company's system and policies.

In addition, often "general" room comps come from the casino (i.e., with players club points), while monthly offers come from marketing. And the casino and marketing departments often don't play together nicely; in fact, at times, one doesn't know what the other is doing. Not only don't they coordinate, they might not even communicate. And it could be that if you asked each this question, you'd get two different answers.

Of course, a third department when it comes to comps is player development, or the host office. One way to find out about your comp situation might be to ask a host. Hosts straddle both the casino and marketing departments, so they can look at your account(s) and perhaps determine what you might be entitled to one way or the other.

Many casinos, Caesars Entertainment for one, make you use your players club points first before a host can give you "discretionary" comps. Wise players first drain their players club accounts by redeeming their points for cash or free play, whatever's offered. After that, they ask a host for comps.

Another way would be to accept a monthly offer from marketing and avail yourself of all the freebies, then hit up the casino (the players club and/or host) to see what more you can get. Whether you do or don't get a comp that would be automatic at any other time, you'll at least have more information for the next time you're weighing a marketing offer against your general comps.

Jean Scott recommends that you use your points for whatever you can get first, then see what marketing offers you receive in the mail second, and only then hit up the host as a last resort.

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O2bnVegas Aug-31-2021

Host disconnects

An mLife Host told me "I don't see those" referring to my emailed offers.  Huh?  So, I always describe the particulars of an offer when I forward one to him requesting a stay.

A Harrah's Host told me (years ago) that she could sometimes add a show or a meal to my visit.  Hosts have hundreds of "clients" though just a fraction of those will be coming in and 'using' certain offers.  She got us a few shows that way along the years.  She said "I have some extra offers I can use."  But...that was then.

Try this: Use the Marketing offer first, then check your account to see what happens...do comps or points remain or are they used when you booked the marketing offer?  

Know when your points expire and use them for the nice meal if you won't be returning before they expire.  After all, we never know...

Then ask a Host "Might there be a meal comp somewhere in my account? I hate to leave anything on the table when I depart."  

Good luck.

vegasnow Aug-31-2021

Marketing vs Casino Comps

One disconnect comes from the need to cover the entire value of your marketing offer with your play, including the value of show tickets and food comps even if you do not use the show tickets or food comps. I remember a stay at the Palms on a marketing offer that included a $40 dining credit for Nove Italiano for Sunday night.  We couldn’t make it Sunday night so I asked the host for a comp for Lucky Penny the morning of our departure and she told me she couldn’t give me one because I had already “received” a comp for Nove Italiano.  It didn’t matter that we had not used it and had not asked for any other comp despite playing all weekend. The value of the marketing comps seems inflated.

Roy Furukawa Aug-31-2021

Mlife

I get email offers from Mlife and have a host. I just forward the email and she will book the offer and at the end of my stay will comp me whatever my play can get me.

John Doyle Aug-31-2021

Hard vs. Soft Comps

Some comps are “soft”. With the rise of the original Cirque du Soleil show in a tent in the parking lot behind the Mirage, 25 or more years ago now, and the (eventual) demise of Hotel/Casino-owned shows, Show Tickets became “hard” in that the Casino had to reimburse the show operator for the full retail value of the tickets. In order to get show tickets, your play had to be much more significant than you might think. My favorite workaround for this was to ask my host for “reservations” rather than “tickets.” I still had to pay the normal retail CdS ticket price, but I got Casino Seats down front. (In other words, the host controlled access to the Casino Seats, but didn’t get any grief from his/her mgmt chain since I paid cost and the casino didn’t take an expense hit. If the seats would have gone unsold anyway, it was no hassle. This won’t work during high demand periods like New Year’s Eve, but often will at other times.)

JoyceAula49 Aug-31-2021

Boyd mailers

I get Boyd mailers all the time. I can book them from my B-Connected account. Any offers on B-Connected are the same as your mailers, you just need to do a few extra clicks.

Toad Aug-31-2021

Dumb question

As a very small time gambler can you save up comps for a bigger comp or is it a use or lose it kind of thing?

rokgpsman Sep-02-2021

@Toad

It might vary but the comps I've seen on mailers and on slot club accounts typically have an expiration date. Many of them are issued quarterly for you to use during that 90 day time period. But the more active a player is at the higher gambling levels the more likely he/she is to get accommodated on requests. That's where a host comes in, they can sometimes do things for you that the slot club folks can't.

Question of the Day - 31 August 2021

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