If you know anything about the workings of Total Rewards, you probably know that turning in a players card when playing in the poker room is disastrous for your ADT (and thus future offers) if you show no other gaming activity on that particular day.
I recently spent a few months in NOLA for work and I played in the room at Harrah’s probably 3x/week on average.
Prior to spending that extended period there, I had a good ADT/MDV and was getting some nice offers. I obviously wanted this to continue, so I would make it a point to not turn in my card at a live poker table unless I also happened to be staying in the hotel, redeeming FP or a dining offer, playing machines, or some other situation where I was going to be “charged” ADT for that day anyway.
FWIW, the poker comps there are laughable. ($.17/hr in RC’s, and 34 TC’s/hr)
At any rate, all of a sudden in January my offers fell off a cliff. I expected some decline because I was redeeming prior offers and not playing as much as I had previously on those days, but we’re talking low 4 figures/month in FP down to $15 x 2.
I called my host, and she told me that there were “several days where I only played poker” showing on my play history and that’s what killed my offers.
I NEVER ONCE turned in my card at a poker table on a day in which I wouldn’t have been “tripped” for something else anyway.
I went to one of the floormen, who at first claimed ignorance, but upon being pressed further admitted that they will log in known players who don’t present cards “as a courtesy, because players often forget their TR cards.”
I immediately called bullshit, and asked him if there was some sort of direction from casino management to do this. The guy said he didn’t know, and seemed truly bewildered as to why I was making such a huge issue out of it.
I do believe that he legit didn’t understand the negative effect that said policy has on players who also play machines. I think the directive came from high above (without any explanation as to the reasoning behind it) and that the rank-and-file floor staff truly believe they’re helping the players out.
Nonetheless, this is an absolute BS policy, and it’s just another small way for Caesars to dilute the value of TR, which seems to be their primary mission these days.
There’s also a very good chance that this policy extends to other Caesars rooms, so if getting value out of TR means anything to you at all, beware.