STATIONS CASINOS
Although their loyalty card and some advertising and promotion mailings still sometimes use the name “Boarding Pass,” marketing seems to be favoring the term “My Rewards” in many instances. I wonder if they eventually want to permanently get rid of the railroad image? Too old-fashioned? I guess “My Rewards” sounds more modern – and perhaps more lucrative? The problem with sounding more valuable makes a lot of players feel betrayed and not very rewarded when benefits are being cut right and left! :(
Major change in their Wednesday senior program, “My Generation.” Today, March 1, was the only Wednesday in March that offered the usual multiple points for seniors. I had wondered if they might be changing their senior program when there were no multiple points offered for the new Palms senior program when that casino was added to their company.
A note that might be a moot issue now or at least soon: An out-of-towner found out that he had to go to the players club desk to activate/receive his senior benefits. They weren’t automatically available as for locals.
TUSCANY
The 20% senior discount moves to the Gift Shop for the whole month of March.
PALMS
The on-going earn-a-free-movie promotion, by earning 300 base points, continues but has moved to Thursdays. Earning period on Thursdays is from 12:01 a.m.-9:59 p.m. but you have to redeem offer at the kiosk and then pick up the movie ticket at the Rewards Center between 8 a.m.-10 p.m. that same day. As usual the tickets can then be used at a future time, but are not valid for 3D films, Sony, IMAX, or special engagements.
The Palms is supposed to be plugged into the good check-cashing program available at the other Station casinos. Soon, they say – but that pathetic little wheel with pathetic little prizes is still all that is offered. 🙁
BOYD PROPERTIES (The Orleans, Gold Coast, Suncoast, and Sam’s Town, and sometimes their downtown properties.)
The Young at Heart senior promotion on Wednesdays at the non-downtown properties has undergone a major change; the benefits are mostly now limited to players with local addresses. Out-of-towners can participate in the drawing but have none of the other perks. Here is the link to the new rules, effective March 1. Talk about reading the fine print – this is a big page of it. Read it carefully as details differ in the various properties. Notice the new mystery multiplier limits, depending on whether you play slots or VP. And if you haven’t read the “advantage play” warning earlier, check that out too.
The link for the 3 downtown properties (Main Street Station, California and Fremont) hasn’t been changed. Notice that participants at the California and Main Street Station must also be local residents with an 890 or 891 zip code address, same as the new rules above.
Personal note here: I understand casinos do not plan to be non-profit organizations. So I might not enjoy some of their cutting of benefits, but I understand their right to make business decisions to help their bottom lines. I will just have to adjust or look for another playground. However, I just do not understand a casino’s reasons for excluding a big chunk of their player base, like out-of-towners in the above situation, from a promotion. Obviously the YAH promo is a money-maker for the casino – it has been running for years. So why wouldn’t they want to attract/keep more players coming to their casino for this promo so they would have more profits? I wish someone could explain the reasoning of casino marketing here. What am I missing?
One final comment: How many YAH’s actually took advantage of ALL the food perks in one day? I found that one b/l buffet lasted me well past dinner hour; The extra $15 comp was a bonus, and I often found myself (like many others) in line at the SportsBook deli taking items ‘to go’. The dinner buffet lines usually longer on YAH WEd, due to the promo- so ST at least got that many players to earn ‘100 pts’; I’m sure > 80% of those who played contributed to ST bottom line. Weird thought: Is it possible some ‘locals’ complained about these long lines, thus ST mktg decided to try these new rules (excluding Out-of-towners)? And in the bigger picture (acquisition of Cannery/ALiante and merger financing, re-investments to align card reader/slot systems, etc, etc), are they ‘watching’ the bottom line , nervous due to prior investments not working out (i.e. – demolishion of the famous Stardust – I miss the place, one of the last old Vegas). Guess we’ll see how these changes unfold.
I hope Jim C’s post (March 7 635pm) is correct – that they are ‘reconsidering’ the perks for Out-of-towners. Rule 24 is especially strong though and curious. If they are ‘losing’ $$ due to promos offered and vp type of games offered, it would make more sense just to not honor perks (like multiplied pts, dwg entries, etc) on specific games (like they have done on the FPDW machines). If Jean or someone else in the know can elaborate on how the marketing/management has come up with these rules and why, I’d like to know. This is disappointing to me, as an infrequent visitor who only recently became ‘YAH’. I’m glad to have participated while it lasts. I never thought I’d see this type of limiting of player participation for promotions, which probably had enticed me to play more than I normally would have at Boyd Properties. I am currently re-evaluating if/where I will even continue this recreational hobby anymore. ALSO – Does anyone have experience (as a Sapphire member – 25k pts/year) of receiving fewer and fewer marketing offers, once they have WON any promotional invite? I am experiencing this now; In fact, I no longer have received their ‘Cash Grab’ (invite only) events – which used to include 3 free nights (usually Su-Wed or Mon-Th off event week nights) with a small dessert social and prize (min $25 and small gift – sometimes previous promotional items from former months)….. While I did win the last free Tournament invite (one of 6 top $2500 winners), I have checked my w/l for past 5 yrs (no royals), and that only helped to lessen the losses accumulated on play. I think the other shoe has fallen off my feet, if they hadn’t already (past few yrs). First Stationizing of things, then Harrahizing, and Resort fees, Parking fees. LV is starting to Not be the bargain town it used to be. If anyone wants a throwback, though, there are still places to find – for example cheap eats/deals at the Riverside Deli/snack bars – while not great selection of ‘fullpay’ games, the prices are reasonable even without ‘playing’ for pts. Any bkfst/meal special under $7 is affordable to most. Check it out sometime. Reminds me of the deals like the Nickel Bar/Snack bars at the Old Westward Ho, Riviera, and even the former Golden Gate deli…..ah the ‘glory’ days…..Martin
Thanks for the great news Jim C!
I generally visit Las Vegas three times a year, and I enjoyed staying at Sam’s Town and Gold Coast. I am a Sapphire and have gambled consistently at those places to have received free comp rooms every month. Now, unexpectedly, my room comp offers have been reduced significantly or eliminated, and I am very upset! Boyd Gaming is trying to punish out-of-towners, and, in the process, is only punishing themselves. Point multipliers are reserved for locals only, and they want to eliminate non-locals from the Young at Heart Promotion. I am coming to vegas in July and October, and I will be staying at other casinos.
Confirming Jim C’s post: the zip code restrictions have been removed from the YAH promotion at Orleans, Gold Coast, Suncoast, and Sam’s Town.
I just clicked on the link to the rules which brought up a new version of the pdf– this version refers to the YAH promotion (at the four named properties) with an effective date of **March 8, 2017** and there are no zip code restrictions.
Thanks, Boyd, for listening to your customers. This was truly just in time for me– I have a trip coming up in a few weeks and I was in the process of making plans to take my play elsewhere. I’m glad I don’t feel a need to do that now.
Good news on the YAH policy reversal. Now we need to get Boyd to reverse all of their locals only point multiplier offerings which discriminate against non-local address players.
I also received an email from the Gold Coast about reversing the YAH locals only policy change. However I guess that excluding out of town guests from point multipliers on other days will continue! All promotions should be based on play and not zip codes!
I used to receive (as an out-of-towner) three comped rooms per month at Sam’s Town and some free play, and I would stay there for the three trips I would take to Las Vegas each year. The offers have been severely reduced (now only 2 nights for a 2 month period), and so on my next trip in July, I will be staying at other casinos. They always made a profit off of me. I really believe these decisions to punish the out-of-towners will only end up punishing Boyd Gaming. Terrible decisions, and they are alienating so many of their customers who have been loyal to them for so many years.
Just notified by B-Connected personnel at Gold Coast that Boyd has been inundated in complaints and has reversed the decision concerning YAH events. It will be open to Everyone 50+ regardless of location or zip-code starting immediately. We have won this one, now we need to work on the monthly multipliers.
Nobody wants to be told they are not a valued customer, but Boyd has determined many of you are not. Vote with your feet and go elsewhere.
And yet Begas keeps doing better and better each year. I know it’s not a popular opinion, but Boyd knows what there are doing here and will continue to do fine. Odds are there were people milking the promotion and they determined those customers just are not wirth
Hi Jean,
Just thought I’d let you know about my experience at South Point today. As a snowbird with a cage account, at the beginning of the month I must stop in for my mailer. After years of “A” mailer, last month was a “C” and this month they took away my club card. They immediately gave me my points in a check and told me that I’m welcome to play there but could not have a club card. Needless to say this was very disappointing as even though I’ve been on Stations “DNI” list for years they let me have a club card and enjoy my points earned. Very unusual in my opinion for Michael Gaughan.
I hope Jean you forward all these comments to Boyd’s. What a disappointment.
Many out of town players feed hundreds of dollars into Boyd casinos on promotional days while locals only play the minimal amount that they need to in order to qualify for the promotions. It would make more sense to raise the amount of points needed to qualify than to exclude players that play at a higher level while they are there! I would hope that out of town visitors would not let Boyd casinos get away with discriminating against them while rewarding locals that do not gamble anywhere near as much while they are there as out of towners do.
Add me to the list of keenly disappointed non-locals. For many years I’ve played heavily at Main Street Station and Orleans during my three trips per year from the east coast. When in town on a Wednesday I enjoyed the YAH promotion at Orleans but I also gave Boyd lots of play on other days of the week (i.e., I did not just exploit the YAH promotion). However, even though my play has continued at the same (or higher) levels, during the past 18 months my free room offers have diminished noticeably, which caused me to start wondering what might be going on at Boyd. Now this, which is the last straw!
This decision makes no sense. Why would Boyd want to turn away business just because someone is not local? It had to have been made by some short-sighted bean counters who put no value on customer loyalty (and probably aren’t very good at bean-counting either). Perhaps in a few months they will see the consequences of this (via reduced visitation and lower overall play from out-of-towners) and reverse this decision. I certainly hope so, but Boyd needs to recognize that unless they reverse this decision very soon they may not be successful at putting everything back to where it was before.
Like many others who have posted here, I will be moving my primary play to one or more other casinos which ascribe greater value to my business. (Based on what I’ve heard from others, The D looks like a worthy possibility for downtown. And Southpoint might be a good alternative to Orleans.)
Once I’m established elsewhere it’s entirely possible I won’t come back even if Boyd does reverse this decision. So Boyd, if you have any awareness of what your customers are saying, I do hope you will quickly reverse course. Don’t presume you’ll be able to get the genie back in the bottle at some arbitrary time in the future.
We called Boyd’s our “home” when in Vegas and were in the process of visiting all their casinos there. Haven’t decided where our new home is going to be yet, but it sure won’t be Boyd’s. I figured I always paid more than my fair share for anything received during Young At Heart day. Maybe someday they’ll want us back. Until then, don’t forget to play off your points. Or did they take those too?
I live in Virginia, and for the past ten years or so I’ve visited Vegas 3 or 4 times a year for stays ranging from 4 nights to two weeks. I’ve also noticed my offers becoming less than they used to be, even though I’ve actually been spending more money gambling. A few years ago I discovered Biloxi and the Gulf Coast. I’ve been going there once a year and now I seem to be getting better offers from there than I am from Vegas. Normally I would be going to Vegas about this time of year; instead, I’m leaving for Biloxi for a nine-day trip tomorrow. All the nights except one will be comp’d (at three different hotel/casinos) and I’ll be eating free more than half the time, plus I’ll have several hundred dollars in free play (I play mostly slots for fun, with some VP). That will mean that the trip will cost me less than a third of what it would have cost me to spend the same amount of time in Vegas. So, as much as I like Vegas, the Gulf Coast will be getting a much larger share of my business in the future.
We get to Vegas from Michigan at least twice a year. For a while, the Boyd shuttles kept changing locations on The Strip. So we take “The Rio” one and just walk to GC. We love Boyd Buffets (incl. Main St.) and always make some money at their slots. Good drink service, too! I know you never mention The Slots, but I am no good at poker machines. We read your column, anyway.
You can let Boyd know how you feel about this Y.A.H. change by going to your online acct. and hitting “contact me” and under the “CONTACT BY E-MAIL” you’ll have the opportunity to vent. They state that they will respond to every comment. So far, I have received one of two. By reaching out to each of the Vegas Boyd’s that you frequent, we should be able to inundate them with our displeasure for their decision.
Update on my Stations offers: I just got my April Boulder Station room rate calendar. It shows NO comped nights available and room rates ranging from $29 on weekdays to $99 on weekends. Better than rack rate, and no resort fee, but meh compared to previous months, where I was offered 10+ free midweek nights and $49-69 on weekends.
This is, apparently, my reward for having attained Platinum status: no more comped rooms. Certainly makes me want to rush back there and play some more!!! Idiots.
We go to Vegas 3-4 times a year and always plan a weeks stay to make use of the YAH and other Boyd’s comps during the week. The comp room policy must have also changed since that has also decreased considerably in spite of my increase in play. Boyd casinos said it’s costing them to provide this to out of towners, however they should take into consideration the gambling profits that I’m sure more than offsets the cost. Hopefully they will realize the loss in clientele and open the program to outsiders soon.
Interesting news on the YAH promotion for the Boyd Casinos. We go to Vegas three to four times a year and always mid week to take advantage of the gift days and YAH, as well as the slot tourney at Gold Coast. Will be heading again in early April for Spring Break. Will be interesting to see what happens with the promotions. We enjoy the discount movies on Tuesday at the Orleans as well as the Buffet, so if YAH isn’t as good as it has been, we may be only over at the Orleans for a shorter time than normal. We have a timeshare, so we don’t always take advantage of the free rooms, but they are nice to get from time to time. Thanks for the info Jean and keeping us “out-of town low rollers” in the loop.
Very distressing as Boyd advertises 5 day, 4 night hotel accommodations at the Cal and three meals a day through June for $140 for two ($70). Yet, they are doing the Young At Heart promo only for LV residents for Hawaii residents. We still like to play there, but the YAH restrictions suck.
Thanks for showing all the entries…I was so disappointed when I learned Boyd no longer was friendly to Californians…Because of the multiplier days I have been Emerald for 2 years.. Have been going to Fremont for over 20 years where I still get to play video poker on old machines for cash..never had to deal with resort fees there. Emerald Players haven’t been charged resort fees at Orleans or Gold Coast…will stop going there when I slip due to lack of enough points…been so SAD about these changes…
Usually we go to Vegas twice per year and stay at Sam’s Town. This March we will be staying at Rio. We really like Sam’s Town so we will try to make it over there for one afternoon. But it is a fairly long drive from the strip. They may have lost all of our business.
I will not be staying or playing at Boyd Casinos. I will switch to South Point where I feel appreciated. I break even on video poker but spend a few hundred dollars per day on non VP items on my two to three days per month trips to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas is pushing the average gambler away,resorts fees, now parking fees,coming on the 14th for March madness,we usually spend our afternoons at the westgate betting games and gambling.if they charge the parking fee this will be my last trip to Vegas.pigs go to market hogs get slaughtered.
Another bad decision.These senior days are always on slow midweek days and if it attracts out of towners even better with all the resort fees they charge.I was at the Palms last week on Senior day and it certainly wasn’t a packed house. I played enough to qualify for a free lunch buffet didn’t have to wait in line either at the players club or buffet.
The point Boyd is missing is that because we enjoy the Boyd casinos in Las Vegas, we patronize the other Boyd casinos. We travel farther to Blue Chip and sometimes Tunica when we could go to 2 Hollywood casinos that are within 40 minutes of our house. We do this to maintain our Emerald status. But if they don’t want our money in LV, they won’t get it at home either. They will lose 2 loyal customers after 25 years of play. Since Penn Gaming has 2 properties in LV, we will give them our money instead. So sad.
It is a sad day for us all. One of the best casino promotions is now forbidden to us. We dedicated all our play on the Young at Heart Wednesday promotion and looked forward to it as our trip highlight. Now we will need to look elsewhere to fill the void. It was great while it lasted.
Casinos used to have promotions to get you to come there. Now they take away those promotions so you no longer seem welcome there? It’s costing them 2 mil. a year to give you a meal here and there? Aren’t they also making money off your casino play? Somebody is because I’m not coming away a winner. Their 2 or 3 night free room offers also come with resort fees and only $10.00 in food. Not a great offer. We have a time share on the strip so don’t need housing but did appreciate FREE parking and discounted food with play. Guess we’ll have to take our business elsewhere, like Station.
Great article, bad news. When in Vegas 2 times a year, we always go to Boyd properties. No meal specials on Wed. for out-of-towners, then no visit to their properties, even if they do have FREE parking. So what’s the point of having their players club card if you are now excluded from promotions? I have had room offers in the past but never took advantage of any of them because we have a timeshare and don’t need the housing. Besides, they always charge resort fees for the rooms offered, and only include $10.00 food. Not much for a 2 night stay. Very disappointed at their decision. They’re alienating many of the public.
I am an un-local and my offers from Boyd and Stations have been confined to room comps. They are both for specific properties–Sam’s Town and Gold Coast, and Boulder Station, respectively. I get several free nights at each property, and so far, that hasn’t diminished–but lately, I have thrown a fair amount of coin-in at them. The effect has been to widen the scope of the comped rooms on the calendar that BS sends me–more comped as opposed to discounted rooms. ST sends me what they’ve always sent me (three free nights midweek, plus slot tournament-related free rooms), but the four monthly free GC rooms are a new addition. Unlike my other offers, I can use some of the latter on the weekend.
So at least so far, my recent increased play has resulted in a modest improvement in room offers. I would like to get more offers that could be used on weekends, but that ain’t gonna happen unless I achieve Plutonium and/or lose twenty grand or so. Another mildly encouraging note: I’ve been winning so far this year, and that hasn’t turned my offers into death threats or anything like that. We’ll see, I guess.
Why do we get lied to? Don’t we give them enough money on most trips?
I have been loyal to Boyd for the last 5 years. I have achieved Emerald status for the last 2 years. This year I will be going for Cubic Zirconia. There are other places to play. I can get better treatment at my local tribal casino.
I happened to be at a Coast property on March 1st. The free meals were available to me. My Mesquite zip code is 89027. It is in Clark County but 80 miles from Vegas.
George
“…..that we did get reduced or complimentary rooms” Not quite true – these last few months Boyd has been eliminating complimentary rooms for non-residents at a furious pace. Howls of outrage on various LV threads about this. I think one of Boyd’s recent executive hires is a mole planted by South Point; if so, he/she is fabulously successful at redirecting business to SP!
We go to Las Vegas twice a year. Have been getting 2 comped week-day nights at Gold Coast and The Orleans for years. Booked the Gold Coast for June but the last we heard from The Orleans ended Feb.28.
My wife and I are snow birds, Gold coast was every wed, She played $300.00 in I 200.00 in. 2, 3, times back for meals, They do not want us, will go to another.
We got into town on Monday and are staying at one of the Coast Casinos that we come to 2 or 3 times a year for several weeks at a time. We were shocks to find 0ut that we were not included in the Young at Hearts promotion with the exception of the drawing. Then we found out that we were excluded from the mystery multipliers. My husband talked to an executive and he stated that they figured it cost them two million dollars for promotions to out of town guests and that we did get reduced or complimentary rooms. Well, I guess the recession is over and now the casinos are looking to make extra profits at the expense of their guests. It’s disheartening as we love the property, people and games.
Thanks Jean, I was going to book a trip from Mpls and stay at Sam’s Town but now that they have no point multipliers I’m instead booking my room at South Point.