Was in town for a slot tournament at Caesars Palace and stayed at Planet Hollywood. First off the tournament was run fantastic and the staff at Caesars did a great job. Even though I placed 1247 out of 1600 players. This bad luck continued every bet I made for weekend.

This is the first time I stayed at Planet Hollywood and I found the rooms very pleasant. The staff at the Diamond check-in was extremely helpful and provided top notch service. We ate at the buffet and sandwich shop and was happy with the service and the recognition of me as a Diamond player. Food was great in both locations. Part of Planet Hollywood has bought into the customer service aspect of Harrah’s properties and the recognition of “higher” carded players.

The casino floor does not appear to care much about players. Each time I play at Harrah’s properties they recognize Diamond or Seven Star players and make an effort to welcome you by name when you use your card. At Planet Hollywood while playing the tables it almost appeared to be an inconvenience for the dealer or supervisor to handle your playing card. Part of the issue may be the volume of music on the casino floor in the evening. The volume is so loud you cannot talk at the tables or hear the person next to you. This keeps the players and personnel from interacting during play.

We saw two shows this trip, Cheap Trick doing the music of Sargent Pepper at Paris and Zumanity at NYNY. Cheap Trick was great and the use of the orchestra for Beatles music for extremely enjoyable. I had not seen Zumanity since its preview performance many years ago and again enjoyed the show.
We took advantage of the $39.99, 24 hour buffet pass at Harrah’s properties. We ate dinner at Paris, Breakfast at Planet Hollywood, Lunch at Harrah’s and finished the 24 hours with dinner at Planet Hollywood. Four meals for $40- Now that’s a Vegas deal.

I was happy to see how busy the casinos were. Each night the foot traffic was high and the tables appeared to be busy. We even took a walk over to the “new” Tropicana and found the work they are doing is making a big difference in the property. Very inviting and much brighter. Walked thru City Center again and found the casino and mall quiet and fairly empty. I cannot believe this property will make it in its current state.

Luck was so bad I jumped off the Stratosphere. See post about Las Vegas Sky Jump under attractions.

Ed, as a "carded player" do you feel you got a better room then average at PH?
I hope my luck is never that bad, that I want to take that JUMP! LOL
Thanks for the report!

The room was the standard room. Based on your rating you can book a better room during the reservation process. I took the standard room this trip.

ED, I think I know a lot about Las Vegas, the hotel/casinos, and the surrounding territory, but I know nothing about the various player's club cards.

But I never leave home without them and never play any casino game without using one .....

And as a result of using them I receive more 'offers' in the mail than I can physically take advantage of in any given month ..... free money, free food, free junk, free stuff!

For instance here's just one of many ........ right now I am participating in a month long, daily, free, $200,000, slot tournament at the Palms with a circus side show theme.

The prize 'money' is in the form of free play and the tournament is divided into four weekly mini-tournaments with 120 overall winners at the conclusion.

This is the first time I've been invited to participate in any sort of slot tourny and I was quite surprised how well it has been set-up.

The side-show theme is well decorated and the five minute every hour, staged "freak show" somewhat reminds me of the phony side show events I saw as a kid when the circus came to town.

The slot tourney itself is notable in that all the record keeping devices are computerized and instantanious.

In addition .... you are eligible to participate in a daily drawing held every three hours for additional prizes consisting of $250, $100, and $50 of free slot play.

I am enjoying this daily event thoroughly because the young, carny uniformed staff are doing such a great job making us all feel like we are each a part of this big circus family ....

But, I am definitely not a big casino gambler.

BUT I am a consistent casino gambler .... and I often wonder how the Palms and other LV casinos make decisions regarding whom to invite to participate in or to receive all this free stuff?

I am also invited to the free, three times weekly, $11.3 million slot machine "pull" and the occasional $1.2 million Wheel of Fortune 'push the button'.

And the above is only the major free stuff ....... I also get two-fers and match play bucks, etc.

My Palms player's card is the 2nd level. It's either purple or red, but the high-rollers get great looking black cards ... "Member of Fame" or some similar name.

Now that all of the above has been stated .... My question is ....

What kind of 'casino bankroll' do you have to put at risk to get the better "perks" (better cards) and what are those perks? How many card 'levels' do the major casinos have? How do you advance from the beginning level to the highest level?

And is there any web page on the net that explains this in detail casino by casino.

An elderly and frequent slot machine, grey haired, lady said that I get all this 'free stuff' because I am a frequent casino guest who plays slot machines with a few bucks frequently and it has nothing to do with how much money I insert in those machines at all.

Any help/info is appreciated.

Will,

I can only address Harrah's program.

Harrah's has four card levels, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Seven Star.

Gold = Anyone
Platinum = 4000 tier score earned each year
Diamond = 11,000 tier score earned each year
Seven Star = 100,000 tier score earned each year

To earn a tier point on slot machines you have to play $5 for each point. On video poker $10. While playing the tables you earn point based on average bet and length of play.

The tier score gets you invited to various events and offers free hotels, shows, etc.. Your frequency of play and the amount played each time also increases your value to the casino and your offers. I had a host tell me one time that your ratings is determined by your average betting during the month. So, if you spend a lot 1 trip and a little 3 trips your rating could be low because of the average.

Harrah's also rewards you with Reward Credits and these can be used like cash in the casino's for meals, shows, giftshop, hotel, etc.. Reward credits are worth .01 each and you use your payers card like a credit card.

Like any program just play at the same casinos as much as possible to earn your level and rewards. Using Harrah's or MGM cards is nice becasue they own so many different casino's.

Thanks for the trip report Ed.

I've been at Planet Hollywood several times in the last few months and I always notice the buffet line being huge at night. I'm sure you used your card for a line pass. Would you think the buffet deal would have been as good of a deal if you would have had to stand in line with the regular folks?

Being able to jump the line does help. If you had to wait in line you would need to watch your timing to ensure you get in before the 24 hour clock expires.