Ask the Slot Expert: Marketing to locals versus non-locals

Question: Thanks for answering my question about the lack of Red Rock promotions.

Just to clarify, we were all there with comped rooms (three) and some free play, but my comment was aimed at the lack of any promotions (double points, etc.) while we were in residence. Prior to the pandemic, there were offers every day of our visits. We always made sure to go to the kiosk every morning prior to our gambling to sign up for the double points or whatever. Since the reopening, the kiosks had no offers or promotions for hotel residents. And, since Red Rock has discontinued the airport shuttle, which means an $80 cab ride for air travelers, we have decided to seek other casino options.

Speaking of the disappearance of the buffet, I wonder how many Red Rock buffet employees were left unemployed by what I consider to be a short-sighted action by management in closing such a popular venue.

Thanks for your informative and interesting columns.

Answer: Thanks for the kind words.

Your current letter is a good introduction to something I didn't include in my reply last week. There's a huge difference between locals and non-locals marketing programs. I know I'm stating the obvious, but room and food comps aren't as important to the local player as to the non-local player.

Both programs have the same objective: get players in the casino. Only the carrots are different. As my sixth grade math teacher used to say, "They're exactly the same, only different."

I know someone who took advantage of a promotion that came with a free room night. It was a package deal. You had to take the room to get the other benefits of the promotion. She and her husband checked in to the room, but slept at their home nearby. They wanted the comfort of their own bed.

Thanks for the clarification on the kinds of offers you were no longer getting. When I was a non-local, the comped room was the most important offer. If you're getting less free play and fewer multiple points days and dining credits -- well, welcome to the club.

Oh, I have to walk that back a bit. I just received a new mailer from one of my regular casinos. It upped my free play and -- wait for it -- gave me a dining credit again. Yippee!

On my way in to Suncoast this morning, I heard two old friends catching up and lamenting about how they're getting less free play now. One guy said he was getting better offers from a casino he hadn't been to in a while. That didn't surprise me. There's a saying in marketing that it's easier to turn a prior customer into a current customer than some rando off the street into a current customer.

I went to Red Rock the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving. I was surprised at how empty the parking garage was. I guess I should really say that I was surprised that the garage wasn't more full. The garage was just as full as on a regular Sunday morning, not as full as I expected it to be on the Sunday at the end of a long weekend. I wasn't there very early, but early enough that I usually see many people loading up their cars for the ride home. Maybe people decided to get an early start, or maybe they didn't come at all.

A few weeks ago I wrote about bonus free play offers that I received from Red Rock. I thought I was special until I ran into one of my Red Rock friends and he said he and a ton of other people received the same offer. The only difference was the amount of free play people were given.

My friend said that there was only one reason that a casino would send out an offer like this one. It's not getting the traffic it wants, so it's trying to generate more traffic.

He predicted that slot clubs went too far in austerity measures and are going to have to be a bit more generous. His reasoning is that the core players have come back. Now casinos have to lure the occasional players back too. It's like candidates' being able to count on the base and having to appeal to Independents too.

I'm not so sure that will happen. Casinos have cut back and are reporting record profits. If they get more generous and stimulate more play, will the additional win offset the additional benefits? Will profit increase?

A few years ago I saw an ad for a casino management seminar called Die, Points Die. It sure sounds like casinos would like to eliminate points completely.

The situation is not so dire. The sub-title of the seminar is Refine and Reinvigorate Your Casino's Loyalty Program. The seminar's agenda shows that the seminar is not about eliminating points from a loyalty program. Rather, it's about how to measure your program against your competitors' programs and how to ensure that you're getting the desired results from your program.

On to the buffet. Red Rock's buffet was one of the best of the off-strip buffets.

I have many fond memories of the buffet. Like the time I spilled a bowl of split pea soup at the salad bar. And the time I was trying to cut an Italian sausage with my fork and the sausage went flying off the plate into my shirt, landing in my lap, leaving a trail of marinara down the front of my shirt.

In an earnings call about two years ago, one of the suits at Stations said that they lose money on the buffets. They're gonzo. For good.

As for the buffet workers.... There have been a number of items on the local news about how difficult it is to get food service workers. I know that my regular Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks occasionally turn off online ordering when they are short-staffed.

Nevada voters just voted to increase the minimum wage in the state to $12 per hour for all workers in July 2024. The news rolled out the usual suspects of doomsayers who said that this wage may cause some small eateries to close. A UNLV professor countered with the fact that the demand for food service workers is so high that most places are already paying well over $12 an hour today. He said that the effect on the food service industry will be minimal.

Red Rock, moreover, is opening new restaurants in some of the space that used to be the buffet and is opening new restaurants in other areas of the casino. The former buffet workers may be able to return to work in one of these new eateries.

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