Advice on dealing with Hosts, please.

After a few sessions at Aliante Station's craps tables and a later 3 night stay there with Mrs.M(and a couple more sessions), I find that I have been assigned a host, Ms. Bornheimer, who wishes to help facilitate my next stay in Vegas. Evidently my status has changed from nonentity to something that shows up on their radar.
I've replyed by E-mail, letting her know I'll be driving through town in May, and possibly a 2-3 day visit in July. Any advice on dealing with hosts? I know comps are rated on buy-in, bet size, and playing time. I really enjoyed my last stay at Aliante, I'd love to get a couple of nights comped.

You can register your "MyCard" on the Station Casino website. It is a great way to keep track of any offers that you might be getting from the Aliante or other Station properties.

My guess is if they assigned you a host, they will probably be sending a couple of free nights your way shortly. Keep an eye out for this offer. Personally, I like to establish a relationship with a host directly, so instead of contacting the Aliante VIP office, write to Ms. Bornheimer directly a few weeks prior to your trip. If you have an offer sitting on your MyCard account, she will be happy to set that up, and you might be even able to push for an extra day or two if you are planning on a longer trip in May or July.

Once a host has set up your free room, technically you do not have to meet any specific amount of action to keep that room for your stay. However, if you want to keep the offers coming, you want to keep at least the same amount of play as you had in the past.

Make a point of meeting your host when you are at the Aliante. It is very important to have face to face time with Ms. Bornheimer. If there is ever a border line decision that she has to make regarding your account, if she remembers who you are and knows that you are nice guy, she will side with you.

I suggest giving your host a small gift when you meet with her. If your town/area has a special type of coffee, tea, wine, chocolate, etc. get some for her. Even if she doesn't drink coffee etc. she can give it to one of her coworkers. In any case, it is the thought that counts, so don't spend a lot of money here. I have found $20 or $25 gift goes a long way. More if you are a high roller and want suites, etc.

Basically, you want to show your host that you are a nice guy. Don't shout or yell if you don't get what you were hoping for. I have found that by staying quiet, friendly, smiling and calm, but firm, has earned me more comps and has established great long term relationships with hosts.

One thing that you should note, if I am not mistaken most Station casinos will rate the odds bet at the craps table. I am not 100% positive that this is the case at Aliante, but I know that this is true at Green Valley Ranch. If you do find out that this is true/not true, please post here. I would greatly appreciate it.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more host related questions.

Alliante Station is in deep trouble. There simply isn't the business out there.

If you write and say that your intention is to never deviate for four hours from $5 pass line and $20 "free odds" bet or $25 in blackjack play (they have one decent game).

In addition to the basic play you add come bets, place bets, hardways, and roulette and in addition your wife likes to play the slots a little. But you would like to reserve this decision based on how your luck is playing out.

I would think in this economy that should get you a room.

I have yet to discover the utility of a casino host.

I get offers for free rooms and the like via e-mail and mail, and have always been able to redeem these offers directly through the casino's website.

I once inquired with my host whether I could get additional discounted rooms for friends who were travelling to Vegas with me. He couldn't.

I once inquired with my host about getting a group of tickets for Celine Dion. He could get tickets for us, but he couldn't tell us where the tickets would be, and there would be no discount. We got tickets through the website so we'd have flexibility selecting our seats.

I asked a host once to make reservations for a group of us at Toby Keith's restaurant. Because the restaurant was not affiliated with the hotel/casino, she was unable to get us reservations.

A host did make a reservation for me once at Voodoo. But there was no comp involved, and my table was nothing special. I'm sure I could've easily made the same reservation myself.

A host is very useful, if you provide them enough action and are losing a lot. Because I am a gambler which means that I am a big overall lifetime loser, hosts are my best friend.

Here are a couple of additional things about hosts:

Hosts primarily are able to comp things within their own property, unless you are a mid roller/high roller. For casinos/hosts, comps on their own property are considered to be soft comps. For example, a room which is listed on the internet for $150 earns them no income if it is empty and is a minimal cost to them if they have to have house keeping make up the room when someone stays. While I am not sure what the exact cost to the hotel would be if they are giving you a free room, I would guess that it might be less then $50 to them to let you stay in that $150 rack rate room.

The same thing goes for food/drinks at their own resturants in the hotel. Your $200 steak dinner might really cost them only $50 or $75 in actual costs. That $100 bottle of wine that you would normally pay for is probably purchased whole sale at $25. The same thing goes for getting a "free" cabana at their pool, or for concerts, events, etc at their property. If they have an empty cabana on the weekday, they might as well make their high roller/mid roller happy by giving them one. You host has a much easier time giving you free stuff at their own property.

Hosts are also able to get better rates on resturants/shows/etc if they are in the same chain of resorts. For example, let's say you are a comped player at the Mandalay Bay. Because the Mandalay Bay is part of the MGM resort, a host would have an easier time getting you tickets to see KA at the MGM or O at the Bellagio. The same thing would go for the Station Casinos. If Red Rocks or Green Valley Ranch is having a special concert or fight night, it would be easier for you get in if you are a comped player at a Station Casino then if you were staying at Treasure Island.

When you ask for comps outside of your casino's property, they are considered to be hard comps. That means the casino has to pay actual retail value on your tickets/dinner/etc. A host might have an inside connection to get you VIP seats, nice table reservations, etc, but you have to be a high roller or at least a mid roller to be able to get them to comp them. If the tickets to see a show are $200 per person, your casino host has to fork over $200 per person to get you those seats.

When you think of a hard comp, consider your host to have about the same power as a good concierge. Their ability to get you good seats, VIP entrance tickets, etc. is based on how well connected they are with other hosts, night club staff, booking agents, resturant hosts and so forth. Having an older host who has been in the business longer in Vegas will probably mean better connections, but then again having a young aggressive host might lead you to the same thing. When you think of a soft comp, your host has power because they are directly connected to the right people.

Personally, I have had quite a bit of luck with hard comps, but then again I am a big over loser and a mid roller. For example, a few years ago, when I was staying at the Stratosphere, I had commented to my host that I had seen all of the show at the Stratosphere and wanted his suggestions as to what to do that evening before I start up another marathon gambling session. He quickly looked at my account, smiled warmly (that means, you are a big loser and I don't want you to move to another casino) and said, what do you want to see. He got me free tickets to the Beatles one night and to KA the other.

I hope that helps. The moral of the story is if you are a small to medium player, your best bet is to ask for free things on the property from your host. If you are a medium to big player, you can hint around for outside "hard" comps, and you might get it if you are betting high enough. If you are a high roller, you can definately get hard comps and will probably get fantastic seats to your favorite shows, fights, resturants, etc anywhere in Vegas.

Quote: gambler

I suggest giving your host a small gift when you meet with her. If your town/area has a special type of coffee, tea, wine, chocolate, etc. get some for her. Even if she doesn't drink coffee etc. she can give it to one of her coworkers. In any case, it is the thought that counts, so don't spend a lot of money here. I have found $20 or $25 gift goes a long way. More if you are a high roller and want suites, etc.

This is the only part of your post I differ with. Hosts do not expect to be tipped (yet), and are already compensated well according to how much their players play. There are exceptions, for example the host truly went beyond the call of duty to get you something, or you won a tournament he/she helped you get into. There is already enough of an over-tipping problem in Vegas. Let's not add to it by training hosts to expect tips.

The best thing to do is keep in touch with your host. If you make any plans or change them... let the host know. They probably won't be sending a limousine to the airport for you anyway, but always let them know of your plans. You have nothing to lose and good deal to gain, particularly when the casino is "hungry". Even if you have no contact other than a pre=arrival email and a brief chat just prior to departure, keep in touch with any host that you've had dealings with. Casinos and also Casino-hosts "invest" in people, so stay in touch with them.

I'm not a high roller by any means. I maintain a Diamond status with Harrahs which gives me many offers at their many properties and they assigned us a host on our first trip to Vegas (we already had Diamond status). Over the last 4 years we have traveled to Vegas about 3 times a year. We have found the host to be the most help to us in obtaining excellent seats at shows, even if it is not a Harrahs property. We let our host know which shows we want to see on which nights and we have always recieved the best seats in the house! The tickets are waiting for us when we arrive.