Station Casinos announced today a revamped Boarding Pass loyalty program for
gamblers that is part of a bigger effort to draw customers with bigger perks
after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year.
The program is expected to cost the company more money by giving gamblers
more and better freebies and comes at a time when many local casinos are
staying the course with cost-cutting efforts. While gambling revenue appears
to have stabilized after a precipitous fall the past couple of years,
business remains depressed, with many local casinos noticeably empty during
the day and picking up at night and on weekends.
"You have to invest in the future," Station Casinos Chief Operating Officer
Kevin Kelley said. "It's a very competitive environment out there and guests
are focused on value every single day. We don't want to give them any
excuses to go elsewhere."
The new Boarding Pass program will give gamblers on most casino games three
points for every dollar spent instead of one point, allowing them to rack up
points faster for free meals and other offerings across the company's 18
casinos. Station also will give gamblers $1 for every 1,000 points — money
customers can take home, with no obligation to spend it in the casino. And
the company is lowering the gambling threshold to qualify for upper tiers
within the loyalty program — a separate perk with additional rewards for
bigger gamblers.
Industry experts call it a bold move to win back the business of customers
who may have been tempted by better deals elsewhere.
"They looked at the economic landscape, with a lot of casinos reining in
what they're offering, and decided that now is the best time to strike,"
said Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter. "They're
doing things that I've always said companies should do in a downturn."
After a painful restructuring process, Station needs to win over customers
who have been disillusioned by efforts to reduce and cheapen offerings,
Curtis said.
"This is an amazing investment. They're putting their money where their
mouth is ... they're also competing in a tough economy and they need their
bedrock customer."
On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 8:32 PM, vpFREE Administrator
<vpfreeadmin@cox.net>wrote:
> **
>
>
> "vpFREE Administrator" wrote:
>
> > > VegasInc: Station Casinos revamps Boarding Pass perks to entice
> gamblers
>
> > >
> http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/sep/13/station-casinos-revamps-boarding-pass-perks-entice/
>
> The above link no longer works and I don't see this article
> elsewhere on their website. Maybe it was on vegasinc.com
> sooner than it should have been.
>
> vpFREE Administrator
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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