Wow, change brings about a lot of questions and discussions, some of it very heated!
I can’t answer all your questions but I will try to explain a little more to follow up the discussion on this subject in my last entry. Some details about the Stations new players club you can find if you go to their Web site. More details might appear if you log into to your personal account there. And there are brochures at the various slot club booths, but they might not tell you all you want to know. However, be careful if you ask questions at the booth. I had someone complain that they were given entirely wrong information from one employee. It always pays to check with more than one source when you want to be sure of casino facts!
The biggest misunderstanding seems to come because there are two different parts to the benefit program. The point system has all machine players (except on Optimum machines – see question about them below) getting 3 points for every dollar of coin-in and you can turn in these points – at the rate of 1000 points equals a dollar (.3%) – for cash, free play, or comps. Then there is the tier system, with slot players getting 3 status credits (not called “points”) per $1 coin-in while video poker players get only 1 status credit for each $1 coin-in.
Here are the status credit requirements that someone requested:
Gold level = 1,000 credits
Platinum level = 40,000 credits
President level = 100,000 credits
Chairman level = 300,000 credits
One of the biggest complaints I have heard, in person and on Internet forums, is about the major reduction of food comp benefits. It seems like many locals don’t want to do much cooking at home. I can identify with that. About three months after we moved to Vegas someone asked if we had a gas or electric stove in our new condo here. This was a little embarrassing because I didn’t know the answer to the question. However, I recovered quickly and gave an answer that seemed logical to me, “We do have a microwave to warm up leftovers that we bring home from casino restaurants.” 🙂
A disappointment to many players, both those that play at the lower levels and those at the higher ones, is the big reduction in discounts given on buffet meals when you use your points. Gold used to get a 25% discount; now they get none. All the other tiers have reduced discounts from the previous system: Platinum gets 25%. President and Chairman both receive a 50% discount, a fact that seems a little strange since Chairman requires 3 times the play, with no increased benefit here. Plus all of the discounts are limited to just four persons in one party.
Some people will applaud the new cashback and not worry about the comps; they may have plenty of food comps at other casinos in town – or they like to cook! However, if the reduction in comp benefits is important to you, I suggest that you might want to wait and see whether monthly mailers will include food coupons that may take up some of the slack here.
Here was a good question since the new club will have only one card for 18 casinos: “Had a ton of accumulated Fiesta points. Will they all transfer to the new card?”
Happily, I can report they will, but it will not happen automatically. You need to go to the players club to have this done manually. There is one related point here: All your old Station Points willautomatically be upgraded by 40% – every 600 points will be changed to 1000 points – so you don’t lose any value in your old points. I checked my account online and it already registered that new increased point number. If yours hasn’t increased, you need to go to a slot club booth and check on this.
What is an Optimum video poker machine and how does one know if they are playing on one? Is it identified somewhere on the machine?
Optimum VP at all Station casinos is marked with a sign above the bank of machines. Watch! It may not be on both sides of a bank. In fact it is usually only on one side. These machines contain pay schedules that have an EV (expected value, long term) of 100% or higher. You can go to vpFREE2 to help you find their locations and the specific games they include. Because of the higher return on these machines, they accumulate points slower, taking $4 to earn 3 points (.075%).
Later I will address other issues about this big change at the Stations. If you have further questions or observations or would like to share your experiences during this change, feel free to put them in the Comments.
This just looks like they are trying to groom their players into what they feel will create a long term customer. A low player is just not going to generate enough revenue so theyre not wanted. A high level player will go elsewhere once they realize they arent going to receive a good level of comps or even a drawing win. They want the one who will come back week after week and blow a hundred so that they dont think about how they lost. I really love the great offers I get elsewhere in Las Vegas.
I just think they should change their ads to WE LOVE LOCALS MONEY. Enough said.
The reason why there aren’t a lot of “kudos” is that the “upgrades” have been accompanied by downgrades of equal or greater magnitude. The greatest amount of suffering seems to have been inflicted on two groups: the low-limit/infrequent player who would just like the occasional buffet discount, and the medium-heavy player who is now finding out that his play doesn’t get him anywhere near the perks he used to get.
In general, when a casino trumpets the “improvements” to its slot club, that is generally code for, “We just made things a lot worse for you.” This change by Stations, when analyzed correctly, amounts to a wash when considered in context, such as the used-to-be-600-but-now-it’s-1000 pts/dollar rule. It should also be noted that M and South Point (Station’s main competitors for the hardcore locals’ market) had slot clubs that were three times as generous as Stations, so Stations’ ostensibly tripling the slot club rate, but at the same time introducing all the other downgrades that they did, leaves Stations still well behind other locals’ casinos.
Of course, for the advantage VP player, Stations is still the best choice, since a few +EV machines persist there for the time being (and the slot club bennies at the other casinos don’t make up for, say, the difference between FPDW and NSUD).
I had a *lot* of Stations points. I didn’t get any noticeable upgrade. I asked at the slot club and they said not everyone got an adjustment; the amount varied (could be a lot, could be only 40 points), and it was a corporate decision; and it maybe had something to do with how long you’ve had your card (~2 years in my case).
you stated above that ‘all your old points will be upgraded by 40%’. This needs to be clarified as I believe this is true only for points earned prior to when Station began cashback (not sure, but I think 2008). I started playing heavy again at Staion back in May of 2011, and accumulated a couple million points. NONE of these points received any adjustment, even after I wrote to the director of marketing. In our case, the comp value of our accumulated points fell by $1700 with no compensation, dispite the fact that over that time we lost approx $5000 and never once had asked for a comp.
I still have a question on status points, and that is what is the period and length to earn status points. I’m somewhat confused by my stations site which states:
You’ve earned 31,295 Total Status Credits this period (Jul – Jan. But then below says: ** Card Status reflect current month + past 2 months. So do you have 6 months to earn status points or is it 3 months. I visit every 4 months, so it makes a difference.
Doesn’t Station Casinos deserve kudos for upgrading its Players Club program? All I see so far is complaining and concerns.
Thanks for the last two explanations, Jean! It was hard to understand my husband’s detailed instructions. You have nailed it!