Yo-11 Minutes: Episode 18 "Rod Stewart's Good Hair"

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Mostly Vegas. No BS. Casino Experience +more
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Yo-11 Minutes: Episode 18 "Rod Stewart's Good Hair"
On this episode:
-Rod Stewart's final shows and good hair
-Planning your Comp Love for 2024

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to Yo 11 Minutes. Yo 11 Minutes mostly Vegas, no BS, casino Experience and more. Michael Traeger is a casino and travel loyalty expert who also helps people turn their travel dreams into reality. And now, michael Traeger, how's it going, michael?

Speaker 2: 0:21

It's going great. I mean things are, it's been good. I find travel can be very frustrating sometimes because people are annoying. I don't know if you find this, but humans can be very annoying. But other than that, it's fine. I think one of my biggest gripes is a lot of times people ask for assistance on things but they only give me half the story. Have you ever had that happen in your life where someone asks you for help on something but they don't tell you the whole story? And then you go to help them and then you find out pieces of the story as you're going along and it just drives you absolutely insane. But other than that, life is great.

Speaker 1: 0:54

Yes, I've experienced that. It's very, very, very frustrating. Absolutely All right. Well, we got some news for today, so let's get on with the news and views. Rod Stewart has announced the final shows of his 13 year residency at the Coliseum S Caesar's Palace. Rod Stewart the hits will conclude on his 200th show in the summer of 2024, with seven concerts scheduled for July 24 through August 7th of 2024. Since his debut in 2011, the rock icon has delivered an arena-sized concert in an intimate concert experience that's exclusive to Las Vegas audiences, with no seat more than 145 feet from the stage. Rod Stewart the hits features chart-topping hits spanning Stewart's over five decade career. The setlist includes songs like you Wear it Well, maggie May, do you Think I'm Sexy? The First Cut is the Deepest Tonight's the Night. Every Picture Tells a Story, infatuation and Forever Young. The final seven shows are scheduled for the 24th, 26th, 27th and 31st of July 2024, and the second, third and seventh of August 2024. That's going to do it for the news and now for the views. Michael, what are your thoughts?

Speaker 2: 2:13

My thoughts are wow. Final shows of a 13 year residency. Amazing On top of the fact that Rod Stewart is going to be 79 years old next year and on top of that he still has great fucking hair.

Speaker 1: 2:32

You really have a thing about great hair. With Wynn, it was great hair. With Rod Stewart, it was great hair. I think as long as there's someone in your life with great hair, you'll always be happy.

Speaker 2: 2:42

You know what it is. I'm just worried. I really hope that I can live as long as these guys and I hope I still have my hair, you and I both man, but 78 years old. I have a question for you, did you find when you were compiling for this news story? So this is his final shows of his 13 year residency, but does that mean he's done now or he's sort of like on hiatus, or is it sort of unsure?

Speaker 1: 3:12

Well, I remember 13 years ago he originally said that he didn't want to do a Vegas residency, because that's where stars go to die. But then he ended up doing a Vegas residency and I think maybe he's just I mean, he's going to be 79. Maybe he's just like I'm done with this, maybe he just wants to, maybe he'll tour, maybe he'll do intimate setting shows or maybe he'll just hang it up. I figure at some point he's got to record a Christmas album, because isn't that the usual thing, right? You're an artist, you're very popular and then, like you know, when your popularity fades, you know, 10 to 15 years after you first emerged, you start putting out Christmas out. I mean, it works for Sarah McLachlan and everybody else. So maybe there'll be a very raw, very raw to Christmas, or something like you know just you know what?

Speaker 2: 4:01

are you sure there isn't already? Or maybe there was deep Neil Diamond who did it? Not that Neil Diamond has much relationship to Rod Stewart. You know. You know who I always think of when I think of Rod Stewart. I always also think of Blondie, debbie, harry. Like that's the generation I think of. For some reason, if you say Rod Stewart to me, the next person I think of is Blondie. I don't know, I don't know why Is that weird? I mean, I just they just sort of relate to me, like in like genre or time period or whatever, and I love Debbie.

Speaker 1: 4:29

Harry, I think they both reached, like, their major popularity at around the same time. I was a kid, but I remember Blondie being somewhat controversial, like and then Madonna happened, and then Madonna was controversial, and then go on and go on. Where was Britney Spears? And then Lady Gaga? So she's like every 10 years there's always that someone Alanis Morris, how can I forget? Alanis Morris said oh my god. And so it seems like every 10 years is someone that pushes the envelope just a bit further than their predecessor.

Speaker 2: 5:07

Well, don't get me started on Madonna, because I was obsessed with her. I was a teenager then and Madonna was just like she was my everything.

Speaker 1: 5:17

I always thought that Madonna was a tease, and with that, it is time for the tease. Take it away, michael.

Speaker 2: 5:37

OK, yes. So the tease is are you ready for 2024? Are you planning your casino comp love for 2024? And I'm thinking that now is a great time to think about what you're going to be doing in 2024 with regard to casino loyalty and casino loyalty programs, because I know a lot of people who listen and watch the show love their casino loyalty. So my tips and tricks for 2024 try not to focus on more than two casino loyalty programs, because most humans cannot deal with more than two programs and don't have the bank roll for it. It's also great to consolidate your play in only one or two programs.

Speaker 2: 6:21

Look at your offers. Start looking at your offers. Start to think about when you wanna go next year. Start to think about the really busy periods. Pay special attention to times like March Madness, memorial Day and, if those comp rooms are available on the calendar and those offers are available, book out those dates now, because the amazing things about Casino Comp offers is that most of them, you can cancel 72 hours prior. So you should book now and ask questions later.

Speaker 2: 6:53

I am going to make a caveat here. This is for, like the average player, like the normal level players, obviously people who play a lot and have really good relationships with their hosts, are always gonna be able to jam them in whenever they wanna go. But for other people you really you know to optimize. You need to take and pay attention because you might be able to grab those rooms for March Madness now at comp or at heavily reduced prices and if you don't think to look at your calendar until February, those rooms might be gone or much more expensive On that side. Also, book those extra rooms for your friends. So maybe you do concentrate on two loyalty programs. You know, book the extra Caesar's room for your friend if you're coming during March Madness and staying at Cosmo, just in case, because you don't know what friends might be coming, so you might as well grab them while they're there, as long as you can cancel them In the most cases you can. You're gonna wanna go into 2024 thinking about your status and thinking about multiplier and multiplier promotions. You're gonna wanna pay a lot of attention to that because those promotions can really be great on spearheading your status for the future years, especially programs like Caesar's Rewards. So pay a lot of attention to that.

Speaker 2: 8:05

Don't be suckered in to doing too many trips. I do this to myself all the time. So I'm guilty of it, but don't do too many trips. I mean, try to balance it somewhat. Believe me, it's better for your life. And also, while you're doing grabbing all these rooms and things, think about how you're gonna do your airfare. You know a great time to get award tickets is a few months before. Award availability tends to be pretty good, usually three to six months before, seven months before. So while you're grabbing those rooms from March Madness think, hey, can I finally use those fucking Delta points I can never use for anything and get an award ticket? Look at that stuff. Most of the time, award tickets are fully refundable and read-depositable. So that is something else to keep in mind. And even booking airline tickets not that risky today, because most airline tickets can be canceled and vouchered, which means you can use them as a future credit.

Speaker 2: 9:02

And the final tip is you need to keep track of this. You need to figure a way to keep track of this stuff. You need to put all these trips that you're going to book speculatively on your calendar. You need to set alerts to be looking at those trips. You need to make sure that you have your airfare covered for those trips or if your friends are coming, so you need to figure out a great organized way to do it. I use a combination of my calendar and Evernote, and that seems to work pretty well for me. So those are all my tips. How about you? How about you, mavestra? Does that sound good? Does that like sound like good advice for 2024? That?

Speaker 1: 9:36

does sound like good advice for 2024. I mean, I don't do the loyalty thing at all whatsoever, but if I did, I would definitely be following those steps for sure. You know me, I don't even use players' cards.

Speaker 2: 9:47

They're just tough. I know we're like the polar opposite of the world, but you know what You've got to do, what works for you and a lot of times and I haven't twisted your arm yet I think that a lot of times you can do. It's not about being perfect. It's not about doing everything to this optimal OCD level. It's about doing things a little better than you did the year before.

Speaker 1: 10:16

That I could actually digest. I like that. Do it better than I did last year, absolutely. Before we get going, do you have any closing remarks? What's on your mind?

Speaker 2: 10:26

It's still a great. I love it when I say you're not supposed to do that. That's like podcast video thing. You're never supposed to say that. But one of the great things I was going to say is there's still a lot of time to book trips for the end of the year.

Speaker 2: 10:40

Think about if you want to escape from your family and going to Vegas, especially if you want to escape from your family. I've said that three times already. Going to Vegas during Christmas is a great thing to do every once in a while. Going to Cinos during Christmas or Thanksgiving. So you might want to think about that. And the run up to New Year's Eve in Vegas usually has some very good room rates between, say, about the 20th and 21st of December up until around the 29th of December. It's a really reasonable time to get to Vegas. Also, a lot of comp rooms are usually available during that period. So it is a good time to escape and sometimes you could escape right after Christmas. But just that's something to keep in mind and it now would be a great time to look into that.

Speaker 1: 11:26

All right, check out Vegas for the holidays if you want to escape from your family, as Michael Mason Trigger just put it. So be sure, if you're trying to escape from your family, that's the place to go. I gotta tell you I love Vegas around the holidays. Usually December 2nd is when the MGM side of things starts to launch all their holiday stuff. The Blasio Conservatory is supposed to be done by the second, but make it the fourth. They usually run a little bit late, I've noticed, but the skating rink at the Cosmopolitan is open and they've got all sorts of things going on on the MGM side of things. I'll probably have a rundown of holiday things to do in a future episode.

Speaker 2: 12:13

All right, I love that. You know it's a great thing, like once you get through Thanksgiving and you realize how much you dislike being with your entire family in Thanksgiving. Then you run into Black Friday and then you could book your great Vegas trip.

Speaker 1: 12:25

And the prices are very low, especially starting around the second week of December, as usually when I see the prices plummet. So I might maybe I'll do like a weekend staycation at Bellagio or something to you like that. I don't know, we'll see.

Speaker 2: 12:41

That sounds good, but I have joke. But I think every once in a while it is good to mix it up, and Vegas is a really cool place to be at Christmas, like you said. So something to think about, I mean, especially if you you know you can reevaluate after.

Speaker 1: 12:55

Thanksgiving, absolutely. That's gonna do it for this episode. If you're listening to the audio podcast, just a reminder that you can see the video version on YouTube via our YouTube channel. Travelzorg Luxury travel booking Travelzorg Travel. Visit us at TravelzorgTravelcom to plan your next amazing vacation and please join the conversation on social media. You can easily find us. All social platforms are at Travelzorg. We'll see you next time.