2014 Changes for Caesar's Seven Stars program leaked
Caesar's isn't exactly good at communicating Seven Stars benefits. In fact, they're so bad at doing so, even most of their employees don't understand the benefits.
(If you want a fun exercise, try asking your host or someone at Total Rewards if you earned one, two, or three trips by renewing your Seven Stars status in 2013. The correct answer is three, with one of them only being $750 in airfare and nothing else, but almost nobody knows that.)
But anyway, I digress...
2014 has been worse than ever, regarding the lack of communication.
The new year arrived, and nobody knew what benefits they were playing for. That is, they knew that Seven Stars could once again be renewed at 150,000 tier credits, and A FEW people were informed that you could now get 10,000 bonus tier credits for 5,000 tier credits earned in a single day, but nobody had any idea what the 2014 Seven Stars benefits actually were.
I have been searching for "leaked" pages on this for awhile, and until tonight, came up empty. Caesar's has been known to screw up and accidentally post things to their site before officially releasing information. That occurred with the 2014 WSOP schedule, in fact.
Anyway, by poking around the Total Rewards website, I found new information regarding 2014, which was laughably mixed together with obsolete 2013 information.
I pieced it together to learn that the following changes will occur this year:
Signature Events
These have been the source of a lot of complaints over the past few years. People felt that these events were both underwhelming and too "niche" to appeal to everyone. For example, I didn't like any of the 2013 Signature Events offered, so I just did the so-called "shopping event", where I was given a certain amount of money to use at the Forum Shops (in my case, $550) during a particular weekend.
Another complaint of the past was that some of these events occurred too early in the year, thus robbing new Seven Stars members the opportunity of taking part.
Here is a list of Signature Events for 2014. Remember, you can only choose one:
Cruise from New York to Bahamas/Florida for Two (June 7-14): This is actually a pretty good one if you like cruises. Unlike the Seven Stars cruise, where you are forced to pay "port fees and taxes" of $270 per person and get few extras, this one is completely covered. You cruise from NYC to Port Canaveral Florida, and then a few stops in the Bahamas before returning to NYC. They put you up in Atlantic City for one night (which you would get anyway), but also give you transportation to and from the NYC pier. You don't pay a penny. You also get 3 specialty dinners on board, a beverage package (I don't think alcohol is included, though), and your tips paid! The tips are normally $84 per person, unless you opt out of them. So instead of spending over $700 on port fees/taxes/tips for the Seven Stars "free" cruise, you really get this one for free. Cruise takes place on the Norwegian Gem. The downside is that you are forced to go on the June 7-14 dates (lousy time to be in Florida and the Bahamas, as it's very humid), and you get no choice in itinerary. Personally, I don't think this itinerary is very exciting, but there is great value here if you like cruises. I don't know what kind of cabin you get -- probably the bottom-rung inside one.
Lake Tahoe, August (exact date not given): You get a "weekend in Lake Tahoe" with various activities planned. Details were not given on exactly what activities you will be doing.
Las Vegas, October (exact date not given): You get a weekend in Las Vegas, again with various activities planned. Details were not given beyond this. Perhaps it might be similar to the 2012 Vegas event in October, where the highlight was a Seven Stars Don Henley concert.
New England & Canada Cruise (Sept 27-October 4): Same as the NYC-Bahamas cruise above, except this one leaves from NYC, and goes to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine (Bar Harbor) and Newport (Rhode Island). Again, you have no choice in dates. Too bad this isn't a bit later, as you won't see much of the fall foliage during this week, unless it's an unusually cold few weeks prior. The Canadian stops may be cold already at this time of year. It's better to visit Canada in the summer, for obvious reasons.
Western Caribbean Cruise (Nov 23-30 or Dec 7-14): Same as the cruises mentioned above, except you leave from New Orleans, and stop in Cozumel (Mexico), Belize, Roatan (island that's part of Honduras), and Costa Maya (Mexico). I took this exact cruise in December 2013, except it was on a different ship (Norwegian Jewel, this one is on the Norwegian Dawn). I thought this was a good itinerary. I wish I knew this was going to be one of the events in 2014, because I would have waited a year and gotten it cheaper. You get the same perks mentioned in the NYC-Bahamas cruise, but again I think you just get an inside stateroom. (You get a balcony on the Seven Stars cruise, which is a huge difference.)
So those are the signature events. Basically Tahoe, Vegas, or one of 3 cruises. Transportation is NOT provided to get to these events, so if you don't live close by, you are stuck coughing up the airfare for 2 people!
Signature Experiences
You used to get these once you earn more than 150,000 tier points for the year, and hit various "milestones" after this, such as 200k, 300k, 700k, 1.5m, 3.5m. Each milestone would earn you a choice of certain experiences, many of which didn't tend to appeal much to anyone.
They have completely revamped this for 2014.
First off, they realized that they were providing little incentive for people to continue playing once they hit 300k tier points, as 700k was the next level, and that was so far away from 300k.
Second, they realized that they were basically undercompensating their biggest players, as the 1.5m and 3.5m experiences weren't worth enough compared to the extra play you had to put in to get there. Basically, Seven Stars followed the law of diminishing returns once you hit the magical 150k tier mark, and they found a lot of people quit playing after hitting that.
The new version of Signature Experiences involves a catalog of 40 different experiences you can take at any time, each with an "Experience Credit" cost. You earn one Experience Credit for every 50k tiers you earn after 150,000 (meaning you get your first one at 200k, then the next at 250k, etc.) You then use these credits to "buy" whichever experiences you want. So let's say you earn 1 million tier credits in 2014. You will have earned 17 Experience Credits, meaning you could do 17 experiences worth one credit each (if such a thing exists), or a bigger experience worth 15 credits and another one worth two. So basically you're now more in control of which signature experiences you take and whether you want a big one or a number of small ones. Most importantly to Caesar's, there is no longer a natural stopping point at tier credit earning for the year. The list of these experiences will supposedly not be published until April 1st.
Seven Stars Cruise
No information has been leaked on this yet. It is not clear whether or not this benefit will continue, or if it will simply be replaced by the cruises offered by the Signature Events. I hope the benefit still exists, as I want to take a cruise to Alaska (even if I have to pay the pricey port fees/taxes/tips, like I did in 2013).
Annual Gift
This will again exist for 2014, but you cannot see the catalog until April 1st. I imagine that the gifts will again be underwhelming and not worth over $200.
Annual $500 Dinner
No information has been provided on this yet. I am guessing it will still exist.
Annual Trip with $500 Food Credit & $1200 Airfare
No information has been provided on ths yet. I am guessing that it will still exist. It is not clear whether you will get a second one of these for renewing your status in 2014. I still have my second one that expires on June 30, which I have not used yet. I might use it for an east coast trip when it warms up a bit.
Diamond Aspirations $750 Airfare Credit & $100 Dinner
These are Diamond benefits, but you earn them "on the way up" to renewing Seven Stars. It is not clear if these will repeat in 2014. I heard a rumor that the $100 Dinner will be removed, but I am not sure about this.
Free Rooms at Any Caesar's Property (Up to 4 Days), Given 48 Hours Notice
No information provided yet, but I presume this will remain for 2014.
