What level of play is expected by your host before a room is comped?

On my last trip trip to Vegas I stayed for two nights at Mirage. I had a great time and played blackjack in 2 to 3 hour sessions at about 150 a hand (100 a hand most hands but went up to 200-1000 a few times an hour) for 7-8 hours a day using their club card. I also put around $5000 through the slots each day (not losses, just replaying winnings). After playing blackjack for about an hour, the pit manager offered to call a host and I refused because I didn't understand what he was talking about. On the second day the pit manager again offered to call a host and after he explained what it was about, I agreed. A host came over and asked if he could do anything for me and I asked if he would take some off my room (I figured they would take off the cheaper Sunday night). He said he would look into it and came back 10 minutes later to say both nights would be comped. I had been tipping well and I think the pit manager recognized this and gave me a favorable rating and it was their second cheapest room.

After I got home I wrote the host a quick email thanking him for the generosity and he wrote me back asking me to let him know when I plan to return to Mirage and that he would take care of the room again.

I am going to Vegas again in October and staying at the Bellagio for 4 nights on a family trip. As it is a family trip and they will probably not be playing many table games (the minimums are too daunting to them because they see a $15 dollar minimum and think that each hand costs $15) so I will be playing less and placing smaller bets to try and stay closer to them. Obviously I am not trying to get anything at Bellagio comped.

I want to plan a return trip to the Mirage in January. I understand that it is perfectly reasonable to just ask him to take care of the room and he can refuse if he wants but my personality is not one to ask for things when I should know better. As I understand it, the hosts make their decisions and get paid based on my level of play. I also am not sure if I want to continue playing at such a high level. I know I would be absolutely comfortable playing at $50 a hand but I am not ruling out $100 a hand in the evenings. I do not think I am comfortable returning and betting $1000 hands again. Would $50 a hand for 8 hours at blackjack (70 hands per hour * $50 per hand * 8 hours per day * 0.5% estimated house edge per hand * .3 returned as comps = $42 comps per day) really qualify me for a comped stay? Even at double that, $100 a hand, it wouldn't even match the rate of a room.

At what level of play should I feel comfortable asking for comped rooms at the Mirage? Should I try to get the Mirage room before my trip to Bellagio in October or will getting a room comp be based solely on my history at Mirage and not be negatively influenced by my smaller play at Bellagio?

*edit* Cleaned up last paragraph. I think people could have read that as me asking if I should ask for room comps at Bellagio which I certainly have no plans of meeting the play for. I might play bigger at night when away from the family, but that will only be a few hours a day.

If you have a host do not be afraid to use it. Since things are still kind of tight in this town they may be a little more generous with comps for rooms and other low cost things to them. If you are tipping well and it is noted that could be helping too. When I supervise I have the power to write some discretionary comps, and the amount the player is tipping, as well as how they are treating the staff makes a big difference.

I would expect that you could get a few nights on your next trip comped. At the very least they would give you the first night free and rate your play at the end of your stay. You probably also have some quick comps from your points too that could be applied.

Yeah, you should be able to get it comped. You can use your "Express Comps" too.

Summary:
- rooms are comped at a casino (or marketing) rate, not the rack rate
- $50/hand for 8 hours looks very good
- don't worry about when to ask; just ask, rather than demanding
- be polite; and tip your dealer
- $5000 through slots is real money to a casino; that's worth more than your $50/h for 8 hrs.

Quote: kulin

Would $50 a hand for 8 hours at blackjack (70 hands per hour * $50 per hand * 8 hours per day * 0.5% estimated house edge per hand * .3 returned as comps = $42 comps per day) really qualify me for a comped stay? Even at double that, $100 a hand, it wouldn't even match the rate of a room.

You're not trying to match the rack rate of the room (what it says on the website if you haven't logged in), nor any special discounted offer rate. They're looking to cover the casino rate of the room, which is about half the rack rate. Also, if you play around with the numbers a little bit, your comps-per-day calculation can shuffle quite a bit, too. 70 hands or 80? Maybe you went up to $100 for an hour and the pit skewed your bet rating? Maybe hour 8 you were making mistakes left and right and you got marked as a poor player? Maybe it's 40% returned as comps?

Normally, it has to be $100/hand at blackjack to get noticed, but yeah, you're doing 8 hours a day, so looks very good to them.

Quote:

At what level of play should I feel comfortable asking for comped rooms at the Mirage? Should I try to get the Mirage room before my trip to Bellagio in October or will getting a room comp be based solely on my history at Mirage and not be negatively influenced by my smaller play at Bellagio?

well this is way after your trip but I still think it's useful to have a record here for when people search.

You should feel comfortable asking about comped rooms if you put $1 through a penny slot machine. In other words, at any time. The trick is, you don't say "hey I want a room," but rather "I'd like to get a room, can you get me a good rate?" If your play is close to justifying a room, a host will jump at it: they want you to stay and to come back. You might be thinking that the beancounters will say "bet more!" but you're not asking the beancounters; you're asking a host, whose job it is to find people like you and encourage you to remain loyal.

You should have no trouble getting your rooms comped in my opinion.. I had about $1,400 loss overall last year and got 4 nights comped at Bellagio, my play was quarters at best, but I did play 4-6 hours a day (for 4 days) and have taken full advantage of their other offers for Platinum (free cruise, freeplay, 4 nights at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, etc.).

MLife has been really great to me so far, and with your play which is 2-4x more than mine, they should really be willing to roll out the carpet.

I bet you'd be able to get your whole Bellagio trip comped since they'll look at how you played at Mirage. The only thing that would stop that from happening is if you're going during a big conference week.