myVegas: NOT so rewarding these days

But you have a much better option now (read below).

myVegas (by MGM group) can be a fun way earn some free buffets and quasi-free rooms (resort fee aside); we talk about this extensively on our myVegas tricks page.  However, since last year, we think that their rewards have been decreasing in value and applicability (as we explain in our next paragraph), but you have a great alternative right now:

 Total Rewards (by Caesars Entertainment) are currently going ‘all out’ to comp almost every single person who walked close enough to their properties!  Jokes apart, if you gambled even minimally at any of their properties, you will most  likely have some offers on their Total Rewards online website (just log in with your players card number), which is very worth checking regularly these days: once you are on their main page and you have logged in, click on ‘book now’ on the very top of the page and then on ‘flexible dates’ (you can choose a full month or longer): you will see what free offers you have and for which resort in Las Vegas (or in other parts of the United States) they are.

We were delighted when we saw that we had many nights comped at very desirable resorts such as Caesars Palace & Paris!  This used to happen several years ago (once we stayed 3 weeks in total at various Caesars Entertainment resorts!) but, in the last 2 years, we found we used myVegas more than any other rewards program.

However, myVegas rewards are becoming incredibly frustrating: unless you log onto their site at specific times (namely around 7am in the morning Pacific time) to check which rewards are available, you will find most of worthwhile ones are sold out; then, some buffet entries are now only valid if you are staying at MGM Resorts and, to make matters worse, they have introduced a large number of blackout days, which is ever increasing.   Finally, the worst part of it all, is the difficulty with which you can now redeem hotel stays:  you can no longer easily check the availability calendar as you used to: you often have to purchase the room stay reward in order to check its availability (which is done in an ever increasingly complicated manner) and, to add insult to injury, you can only cancel up to 5 purchased rewards per month.  Moreover, hotel availability for those rewards is becoming more and more scarce.  After all this run-around you will probably find yourself trying to redeem a free buffet at Bellagio only to be told at MLife that ‘it’s not valid for today’ (despite no such mention on the rewards page); or, you may find yourself trying to book a hotel room only to be told that ‘they are not taking any bookings until X’ (or words to that effect).  The latest was the changes to the Freeplay rewards, as explained on the myVegas risks page.  So, we strongly recommend that you check your Total Rewards account clicking on ‘Book Now’, and then on ‘Flexible Dates’ and then by selecting the location (such as ‘Las Vegas’):  you may find yourselves that you have complimentary offers at great resorts such as Paris or (better still) Caesars Palace!  If you choose to take advantage of the comp offers by Caesar’s, you could use myVegas for whatever reward you can redeem and use (double check the fine print over and over) and absolutely stop purchasing any myVegas chips, especially if you have accumulated a lot of them already.  If you are like us, you will have so many loyalty points already that you won’t need to even bother to collect them for a long time!   If you are one of those ‘practical’ myVegas players who never purchased any chips, I would not even entertain the idea of purchasing them for even 5 dollars, not until myVegas stops making things more and more difficult for us all to book free rooms or purchase easily-redeemable free buffets.

Luckily, for now we have Total Rewards trying to get us to stay at their resorts.  A great opportunity to shun myVegas.  Carpe Diem.

myVegas Book a Room Strategy  myVegas Comps: Best Rewards