A rude shock at the Hard Rock

My monthly mailer for May for the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas offered two free midweek room nights, with an upgrade to a suite if available. Near the end of the month I called my host there and asked for a room if one was available. Despite the hotel's hosting a gigantic meeting, he came through not with a room, but with a pool villa. Sweeter than a suite!

A couple of days after checking out, I went to the HRH to play video poker, I stuck my players' card in the machine and the reader said I had no points. I checked my records and confirmed that I should have been shown a substantial points balance. I went to the players' club expecting to be told there was some technical problem and my points would be restored.

Instead, I was told that when the Hard Rock revamped its players' club, it went to a system in which there are no longer comps -- everything must be paid for with points. I had taken advantage of room offers in the past and never was charged, and was not given notice of this alleged change when I made the room reservation, when I check in, or at any other time. I later reviewed the brochure describing the new players' club benefits and didn't see anything there indicating such a drastic change in policy. The only thing that might have been a hint something was amiss came when I tried to check out using the TV in the suite. Usually when you have a comped room the charges come up as $0.00, but what looked like a normal hotel bill with charges for each night, taxes, etc., came up instead. I have had mistaken charges show up in the past and they have always been removed with a call to the front desk. I did that at the HRH and the clerk confirmed that my room was comped and I owed nothing.

After my points disappeared, I called my host and told him everything that had happened. He said this was wrong, my points should not have been taken, and he would try to get them back. He also said, however, that he is advising his local players to use up their points at every visit. This indicates to me that other people also have experienced disappearing points.

In the past few years I have seen casino executives do some pretty stupid things, but this is probably the worst. It's hard to imagine anything more certain to piss off a casino's customers. I'm not an expert on the gaming regulations, but it is my understanding that Nevada authorities don't allow the confiscation of points a player has earned. Given the lack of any advance disclosure in this case, "confiscation" is a mild word to describe what happened.

I'll post again with further developments.