A Trip Report

I probably rightly could have titled this “Using My Own Advice.” Sometimes people question whether the casino information I write about is actually usable in real-life situations. So I decided to report on a recent trip Brad and I took to Harrah’s Cherokee and how we put into practice a lot of the frugal hints and recommendations I have written about for years. (I will put those in red!)

First, some background about this trip. Granddaughter Kaitlynn was graduating from college and she liked the idea of celebrating with a family “adventure” rather than a party. Brad and I had taken her parents to the Harrah’s casino in Cherokee a few years before and she had heard us rave about this beautiful Smoky Mountain resort. So this outdoor adventure gal was thrilled when we decided to make this place headquarters for our family and some of Kaitlynn’s friends to celebrate her graduation. It would be the perfect place to use one of our Harrah’s Seven Stars tier annual trips.

Sometimes using casino comps doesn’t always mean completely free; sometimes they may mean a discount. We have enough money that we could have paid for this whole vacation trip, but we knew we had many comps to reduce our out-of-pocket expenses.

It pays to ASK, especially when you aren’t sure where your level of play fits in with the casino’s comp requirements. When I made the reservation with our host, I said I needed four rooms but didn’t know about whether we qualified for getting the other two comped.  (Inquire nicely with a non-demanding attitude!) I knew Brad and I could get one comped room in each of our names since that is an automatic benefit and we both achieved Seven Star status. I didn’t really expect two more comped rooms, but assuming maybe we would get discounted rates for the other two since we had both played much higher than the minimum Seven Star requirement in 2015. I was happily surprised when we are given all 4 rooms comped.  We had not asked for any extra comps all year long so that fact probably entered into the host’s decision to give out extra comps for this trip. (Don’t bug a host too frequently for little favors and you may built up good will that will allow you to get a few big benefits when it is really important.)

Check vpFREE2 when you aren’t familiar with a casino property if you want to find the best VP games. We had found a good game for us to play when we were at Cherokee several years ago, but were afraid that with game downgrading sweeping casinos across the country it would be long gone. However, vpFREE2 still listed it and I double-checked on the vpFREE forum. Hurrah – the game was still there!

Read all signs in a casino to check for promotions. This advice provided some extra and unexpected fun for Kaitlynn and the two friends she had brought with her to celebrate who had said, “We are too poor to gamble.” Casino signs were promoting a good new-member sign-up offer, $50 free play. These just-turned-21 adventurers took a break from hiking explorations in the mountains to look for excitement in a much different environment.  This was not the time to give video poker lessons. But I was amazed how smart they played slots with their free $50.  They hadn’t read my advice about slot machines: If you are going to play slot machines, stick with the lowest denomination you can find, play all the lines on multi-line machines but just one coin per line; and play slow to stretch out your entertainment time.  They instinctively looked for penny machines and those with the fewest pay lines. And since this casino’s free play amount didn’t have to be used at one time, they would cash out every time they earned just a few cents – we WON – and move to find another machine that looked interesting. They played one at a time, with the other two watching and rejoicing with them over any “win,” even just a few cents.  I think they must have played dozens and dozens of different machines and it took a couple of hours for all three to play through their $50 free play. And smart girls that they were, they then stopped. Two had ended up with $50 they could now keep and one had turned her $50 into $60. Were they going to play a penny more? No, they would go back to their hotel room where they could pig out on free movies and dream how they could spend their “huge” gambling profit!

Family should be a top priority in life– much more important than gambling.  But it doesn’t hurt that casino comps can add much to enjoyment time with your family.