Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

January 6, 2012

The Cosmo Strikes Back (sort of)

Posted by daveschwartz

As I've said for months now--and proved, using geometric logic, quarterly reports, and benchmarks for the Strip--the Cosmopolitan has not done a great job of marketing their casino. Like the Paris balloon, it's an inside joke that's not even so inside anymore. With the appointment of Tom McCartney as property COO, some people (me included) have guessed that this would change. And, less than a week into his tenure, I've got some evidence that it is.


Back in September, I notched some play at the Cosmopolitan as part of a bigger project I was working on. I played a similar amount at a few other casinos, and have been receiving steady comp offers from them since. Caesars has comped me to a few meals, sent me show tickets, and invited me to slot tournaments. The company's still convinced I want to ride a bus down to Laughlin and stay there for a few days, too, so obviously their data mining and psychographics are impeccable. At the M Resort, I got an immediate introduction to a slot host and some very generous comp offers, including rode tickets (which unfortunately I didn't move fast enough to redeem).

Cosmopolitan...nothing that I can remember. There might have been a $5 freeplay offer back in November, but I didn't receive one email or direct mail piece from them offering me anything substantial in return for coming back.

Yesterday, the mailman brought something black and shiny: a bona-fide comp offer from the Cosmopolitan.

It's not much--$75 Identity play on slots or tables and one free night in a "residential-styled living space"--but I think this gives me the chance to finally play Cosmopolitan check-in roulette. And there's something even more significant in the mailer. As you open it, there's a blurry photo of a chandelier on the left, the comp offer and reminder about the Apple Gift Card Giveaway in the middle, and, on the right, a photo of something that looks familiar.
Cosmopolitan Casino

Could it be? Yes, it is. The Cosmopolitan has a casino, and they are advertising it to known casino players! You'll notice the distinct lack of excited-looking players in the shot, but it's a good start.

Categories: Cosmopolitan, Dr. Dave Schwartz
Tags: casino marketing, comps, cosmopolitan


Comments

Read archived comments (10 so far)
January 6, 2012 11:09 AM Posted by Dan Short

Interesting. In the summer we received a free offer from the Director of player development for two nights in a balconied north view room which we took advantage of in November.

At the end of our stay, we thanked her for the suite and mentioned that we would be back in February for the Super Bowl. She immediately offered three nights with a limo to pick us up.

We are not high rollers and have accumulated slightly less than 10,000 identity points in two minor visits and the two day stay, so I was assuming that this was an attempt to get players into the casino.

As the date approaches we received two confirmations of our stay, one for myself and one for my wife. I had been using her card but obtained a card of my own in order to take adavantage of the $100 loss offer. This card has about 300 points on it compared to my sife's which has over 9,000 points, so we were confused with the dual confrims. Also the limo seems to have disappeared.

We called to ask if one of the confirmations was redundant and were informed that they need to use the points on my card to allow the offer, and yes there was no record of the limo and they are looking into it. That was three days ago.

I beleive that there is a conflict between the casino and the hotel. The hotel appears to be relucatant to offer free rooms to players and the casino operations people are trying to change this. We shall see what Tom Mccartney does about this but we would like to know about the limo as we would rent a car for the weekend otherwise.

I can only say that they are trying but I am not sure if everyone is on the same page.

Dan

January 6, 2012 12:51 PM Posted by chuckmonster

There is no way Cosmo will put "people" in their casino promos as it would give actual face to who they think their clientele is. I'd expect to see goats, rabbits and kittys surrounded by hyper-stylized geek chic models in a faux-Hipgnosis array before we see the charming Mary from Canoga Park hi-fiving a random granny after getting triple sevens on the payline.

January 6, 2012 1:09 PM Posted by Chris Hall

I too just got my first offer from Cosmo, almost a year after I stayed 5 nites there. I played a fair amount of VP, but have never considered staying at the property again partially due to the lack of offers. So, I didn't get a shiny mail offer, but an email offer for "stay 3 nites and get a 4th nite free, plus a small amount of freeplay and $50 F and B". Eh...too little too late. The downtown offers for the same amount of play are too good to turn down, so I'll be sticking with those for my trips this year. Additionally, pulling the plug on the free wifi left a bad taste in my mouth for them. I am actually eager to see what Tom does because I do enjoy hanging out there, and would like to be able to play there also.

January 6, 2012 1:22 PM Posted by parchedearth

Sadly there were no available rooms (even midweek) for the entire month of February when I tried to book their latest comped night offer. I suspect comped nights at Cosmo will be like frequent flyer upgrades that are very difficult to book.

January 6, 2012 1:24 PM Posted by Tim

The photo shows the casino in its usual state. I salute their honesty.

January 6, 2012 1:53 PM Posted by Dan Short

O.K. now you have me intigued.

Firstly, the empty casino is interesting but it is also a very bad picutre of the set-up. The casino is not huge but it is certianly not as tiny as the picture suggests. And we did not see any animals there, although the beautiful people were certainly more prominent at the Wynn.

Secondly the offer is to international guests with a breakfast for two. As a proud Canadian, I am interested in the offer if it available to us. But more interesting is that the Wicked Spoon doesn't have a breakfast buffet, only brunch and dinner. Shouldn't this refer to brunch?

Dan

January 6, 2012 4:12 PM Posted by JohnD

Remember when Cosmo said they'd provide a host for hotel spend? I'm still waiting on mine and I eat there as much as their PR team does. And I pay.

January 7, 2012 11:06 AM Posted by William Pittock

That picture must have been taken when I was there in December when the casino network was down and any win or cash out had to be a hand pay. The casino was totally empty on a Saturday.

January 13, 2012 11:39 AM Posted by LovesLV

I only gambled at The Cosmopolitan twice, back in November, but they sent me two offers this week. The first: I get $500 in identity play every week in January (total of $2500 identity play for the month), plus a free night each week. The second: I get three free nights in a Terrace One Bedroom in February.

It took them a couple of months to start sending me offers, but it seems to have been worth the wait. I wonder how high the Identity Play goes because the representative at the Identity Desk said my offer was the most she'd ever seen.

January 16, 2012 3:43 PM Posted by Vegas Pundit

Amazed @ LovesLV's news of getting comped at the Cosmopolitan.

I played a lot there, and thought I'd at least get a couple of offers or something in the post or an email... Absolutely nothing. However I gave my UK licence at the table when signing up for Identity membership - and the pit boss (twice) had to clarify where my 'zip code' was... Perhaps he just put it into the system wrong. And maybe they did attempt to send me a shiny black envelope. Guess I'll never know.

Total Rewards still the most generous with comps. I haven't played at a Caesars property meaningfully, for a very long time, and am still getting full RFBs.