Times Are a Changin'

[BillyJoe]

Well, I just concluded my last Vegas trip for 2013. The host manager @ Caesars LV let me know that, going forward, there would be no automatic airfare reimbursement, but they will evaluate it on a trip-by-trip basis. Also, even though I remain technically RFB, they will strip any Reward Credit points that I may have at checkout time before comping food and beverage.
 
I guess the market is getting tougher, but considering that I am a NOIR at MGM, and I achieved Tier III Seven Star with CET (>300k Tier Credits) this year, I think his timing was a little poor. I usually book a room at an MGM property when I am in Vegas anyway, mostly so I can play golf at Shadow Creek. I always get a suite with FULL RFB (no Express Dollars taken) when I am there.
 
I may have to re-think my Vegas gaming priorities next year. I think I hear Mirage, Bellagio and Aria calling...  

[DaBurglar]

i totally agree with that thinking billyjoe, stay at the Mirage next time, it was always one of my favorites.....and yes, Caesars is heading down a precarious path as they attempt to slash and burn costs as they try to sustain that crippling, ridiculous debt load they carry.    I was just a lowly Diamond player but they pretty much took away ALL my monthly offers and benefits and comps, and as a result I just shifted my play out of Caesars properties and put it into a variety of other places in AC, and will keep doing so going forward.   I will not be a Diamond next year but so what, they stopped giving me any comp I was interested in many months ago..... They never ever learn......you cannot cut your way to health in business, its like fiscal bullimia, binge & purge does not work in business.....the only solution to their problem(s) is growth, or at the very least, holding steady with a healthy influx of cash from existing customers who are excited about staying and playing at CET properties, and you dont get people excited by cutting off or making it difficult to get comps!!  I predict, in the next 12-18 months, Caesars will either sell off several MAJOR properties including a Vegas STrip Place, or they will file for "pre-bankruptcy" (whereby they essentially ask for a few months breathing space from creditors by presenting them with a payment plan that entails getting the banks to stop the interest for a few months in order to put the plan into effect....I forget the exact Terminology of this move but it is considered preferable to flatout Bankruptcy restructuring.)       Of course, I could still be right (and wrong) and Caesars will actually indeed file for Bankruptcy, after of course partitioning the company into several distinct entities, one of which is the actual holding corporation with the actual DEBT while the other(s) consist of the actual casinos.....Loveman's head will roll;  it will roll right out the door with a 80 million dollar severance deal or something ridiculous like that, as he " sacrifices" himself and falls on his sword to spare the company some further embarrassment and give it a fresh start in the minds of shareholder and creditors.