Bad News on Diamond/Laurel Lounges ?

From an article I came across:

The company has not confirmed that the Laurel Lounges (formerly called the Diamond Lounge) will remain closed, but that seems very likely given a move that has just happened. A one-time Laurel Lounge location at Caesars Paris Las Vegas has been reopened, but not as a loyalty lounge for the company's most loyal members, but as Vanderpump à Paris, a restaurant/bar owned by Lisa Vanderpump, a restaurateur and reality television star.

source:

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/caesars-eliminates-loyalty-perk-laurel-lounge

Well I guess it figures. Just part of the on-going disregard for good customers at CAESARS properties.

The Laurel Lounges have gone the way of the dodo bird, the Titanic and 8 - track tapes in Las Vegas. The pathetic thing is that, Eldiablo, owned by the Carano Family Circus with ringmaster Tom Reeg have treated this like a nine year old, who got all Fails on the report card and is hiding it from the parents. The four $20 drink vouchers (most decent drinks at CET are $20+ now) do not make up for the lounges - unlimited drinks with guest. And the $10 food vouchers for Seven Stars is a joke.

Between this and the MGM thread, it seems casinos are taking a hard look at their bottom line. I suspect twenty-plus years of player club stats have shown flaws in the system.
The Trop in AC used to have a VIP lounge with free food and drinks. After several visits, I noticed a small group of people seemed to be there every day. This was twenty years so I'm not giving away and secrets but it turned out they were a group of teachers from AC high school. One of their friends was a big player and he used their cards when playing to the point where they all had the card status needed to enter the club. Just this small group must have taken the Trop for a few hundred dollars a week.
How many people manipulate these clubs to get far more rewards than they earn?
The pandemic gave many businesses an opportunity to reset. They'd be foolish to just go back to the old ways.

I think there was enough pent up demand and free money flowing around when they reopened that they didn’t have to compete with each other or provide any value to players at all. They’re under the assumption it can continue that way forever, or going for the soft collusion duopoly thing between MGM/CET for the strip and Stations/Boyd in the locals market.

We’ll see but I’m not sure it will work so well for some of them, there’s reasons a property like South Point that doesn’t follow the herd is packed no matter the day of the week while at the exact same time the M or Silverton not far away are ghost towns.

The new business model in duopolies, which virtually every major industry is now and the ftc just doesn’t care (and we all pretend these duopolies aren’t a contributing factor to inflation) is to knowingly not meet customers expectations and not care, figuring there’s enough customer apathy or getting used to a new normal it doesn’t matter and they can squeeze out any threat of competition from a business that cares.

Years ago... before the Diamond Lounges... Caesars Palace had a 7 Stars Lounge with a full time chef, TVs, computers, cocktail waitresses and servers and seating for about 20. You could order whatever you wanted.

They got rid of it and turned it into the current 7 Stars and Diamond check in.

It was removed because restaurants on the property complained that Seven Stars used the lounge for free dining instead of using the restaurants.

When the 7 Stars lounge was taken out the first phase of the Diamond Lounges came in. This was when they had full buffets. I mean full buffets.

Those full buffets were taken out quickly again because the restaurants complained.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Years ago... before the Diamond Lounges... Caesars Palace had a 7 Stars Lounge with a full time chef, TVs, computers, cocktail waitresses and servers and seating for about 20. You could order whatever you wanted.

They got rid of it and turned it into the current 7 Stars and Diamond check in.

It was removed because restaurants on the property complained that Seven Stars used the lounge for free dining instead of using the restaurants.

When the 7 Stars lounge was taken out the first phase of the Diamond Lounges came in. This was when they had full buffets. I mean full buffets.

Those full buffets were taken out quickly again because the restaurants complained.
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It looks like the the restaurants are the problems. How do we get rid of these said restaurants to bring back the Diamond Lounge and 7-star lounges? I kid.

All jokes aside. I know I am in the miniority, but I actually prefer the 4 drink coupons + $10 food voucher daily. When I visit Vegas, I have very limited time. Therefore, I don't like to park myself at diamond lounges for hours to get free drinks. I'd rather multitask and get free drinks while I gamble. The free drink coupons are helpful because I can get canned/bottled drinks that I can have later. Like a true cheapa$$, I once stocked over 20 bottled drinks from the vouchers and brought it home. Like I said, I know I'm in the minority.

That's the thing. No matter how much one hates some new nonsensical rule the casino puts in, there will be those who actually like it. That doesn't mean they are right and you were wrong. It just means different people have different needs.
I know one person who canceled his trip when he learned the DL was shut down, but here we see another side of the story.

Quote: SiegfriedRoy

All jokes aside. I know I am in the miniority, but I actually prefer the 4 drink coupons + $10 food voucher daily. When I visit Vegas, I have very limited time. Therefore, I don't like to park myself at diamond lounges for hours to get free drinks. I'd rather multitask and get free drinks while I gamble. The free drink coupons are helpful because I can get canned/bottled drinks that I can have later. Like a true cheapa$$, I once stocked over 20 bottled drinks from the vouchers and brought it home. Like I said, I know I'm in the minority.
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I'm guessing you go to the casinos yourself or with other single gamblers... so non gambling experiences have no value to you.

When I traveled alone I didnt go to Diamond Lounges either. But when you're with a gal... they loved being able to sit and cruise the buffet even when limited.

The only time I was Diamond was in 2016-2017. I'm guessing the buffets in Vegas were mostly gone by then. We went to DL at Paris, and it was 'meh.' There was no drink service to speak of -- we had to go to the bar to get drinks. The "buffet" consisted of chips & salsa and a veggie tray.

I'm guessing that with multipliers and bonuses and whatnot, CET made Diamond too attainable for the masses (as evidenced by my getting Diamond!) So, they had to reduce the quality of Diamond perks.

Now, during that time, we visited several DL's outside of Vegas -- New Orleans, Joliet, Tunica, Cherokee, Biloxi -- and they were much more enjoyable with better service and with food options that could be considered a meal and not just snacks.

Quote: SiegfriedRoy

I know I am in the miniority, but I actually prefer the 4 drink coupons + $10 food voucher daily. When I visit Vegas, I have very limited time. Therefore, I don't like to park myself at diamond lounges for hours to get free drinks. I'd rather multitask and get free drinks while I gamble. The free drink coupons are helpful because I can get canned/bottled drinks that I can have later. Like a true cheapa$$, I once stocked over 20 bottled drinks from the vouchers and brought it home. Like I said, I know I'm in the minority.
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In Tahoe at Harvey's the Diamond/Laurel or whatever they called it at the time lounge was very nice (was called Platinum Club for a while too). The food was good, atmosphere great, view of the lake fantastic. The lounge that they had right off the high limit gaming area at Harrah's Tahoe also had good food but no view. I seem to recall that at least at the Harrah's lounge the food or at least the best food disappeared pretty quickly after it was laid out so I usually didn't bother going because I didn't want to stand around waiting.

In any case, a lounge like the one at Harvey's was worth visiting. Ones like at Harrah's Tahoe (or Caesars Vegas), not so much.

But the thing with the five slips for four drinks plus some food. When at Caesars Vegas sometimes I'll get the slips and pick up four Gatorades or Fiji waters, and a slice or two of pizza or a fruit cup and take them up to the suite, other times I'll already be upstairs and not want to come back down to deal with it. Or I might be carrying some things back from town that I bought and not want to carry anything else. Or might not be staying on property at all in which case, maybe, yes, might want to haul some bottled drinks away. Just depends. I've picked up slips and forgotten to use them too. In other words, the slips are convenient in some ways, inconvenient in others.

The lounges were also good for a break between gaming, and at times when you might not eat otherwise. But no matter what, something like the lounge at Harvey's will be missed.

I think the drink tickets for Diamond + and above went away this year. At least the kiosks never offered them to me last month.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Quote: SiegfriedRoy

All jokes aside. I know I am in the miniority, but I actually prefer the 4 drink coupons + $10 food voucher daily. When I visit Vegas, I have very limited time. Therefore, I don't like to park myself at diamond lounges for hours to get free drinks. I'd rather multitask and get free drinks while I gamble. The free drink coupons are helpful because I can get canned/bottled drinks that I can have later. Like a true cheapa$$, I once stocked over 20 bottled drinks from the vouchers and brought it home. Like I said, I know I'm in the minority.
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I'm guessing you go to the casinos yourself or with other single gamblers... so non gambling experiences have no value to you.

When I traveled alone I didnt go to Diamond Lounges either. But when you're with a gal... they loved being able to sit and cruise the buffet even when limited.
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Pretty good guess Alan. From 2016 to about 2021, most of my Vegas trips consisted of lone business trips. I’d be out all day, and I’d finally get back to the casino/hotel at night after dinner with clients. Most of the time the lounges were closed by then, and I really had no use for them. My wife used like the lounges when we used to come, but she also realized you can get the same drinks out at the slots, so she was indifferent. I think Harrah’s, Planet Hollywood, and Rio had the best food spread when the DL’s were open. The chicken wings were great. However, due to the hours and my schedule, the DL’s were useless for me. Now, I totally understand the allure of these lounges to the majority. And for the sake of not getting shafted, I do wish Caesars bring DL’s back at the expense of my happiness. Overall, I hate the fact that they’re getting cheap on the players.

They're still spitting out the five tickets daily for Seven Stars.

Interestingly, when I log on to CAESARS.com, it still says this:

"Enjoy complimentary Laurel Lounge access with your Diamond Plus status....."

I guess I'll find out on my next trip in late June.

Quote: JohnnyQ

Interestingly, when I log on to CAESARS.com, it still says this:

"Enjoy complimentary Laurel Lounge access with your Diamond Plus status....."

I guess I'll find out on my next trip in late June.
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Don't get your hopes up. There will be no DL or LL's open in Vegas.

;-(

It's like Caesars is TRYING to make my local casinos look much better, AND they don't require any airfare either.

Quote: SiegfriedRoy

Quote: JohnnyQ

Interestingly, when I log on to CAESARS.com, it still says this:

"Enjoy complimentary Laurel Lounge access with your Diamond Plus status....."

I guess I'll find out on my next trip in late June.
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Don't get your hopes up. There will be no DL or LL's open in Vegas.
link to original post

The way Tom Reeg and the Carano Family Circus has handled this is pathetic. Like a ten year old with all Fails on his Report Card and afraid to show his parents.

Quote: LoquaciousMoFW

I think the drink tickets for Diamond + and above went away this year. At least the kiosks never offered them to me last month.
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I was mistaken. The kiosks do print out the drink tickets for Diamond Plus and higher. Last trip I ranked up to Plus and no tickets. This visit at same hotel tickets available. Considering how stupidly tight Caesars has become on low-level comps (i.e. no JW Black comped at VP bars), I assumed (yeah, I know) that they had 86'd the tickets.

The Laurel Lounges have gone the way of the dodo bird, the Titanic and 8 - track tapes in Las Vegas. The pathetic thing is that, Eldiablo, owned by the Carano Family Circus with ringmaster Tom Reeg have treated this like a nine year old, who got all Fails on the report card and is hiding it from the parents.

The four $20 drink vouchers (most decent drinks at CET are $20+ now) do not make up for the lounges - unlimited drinks with guest. And the $10 food vouchers for Seven Stars is a joke.

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