Yo-11 Minutes: Episode 19 "WTF MGM Rewards? No Way This (offer) Is True"

Yo-Eleven Minutes
Mostly Vegas. No BS. Casino Experience +more
⬇️
Yo-11 Minutes: Episode 19 "WTF MGM Rewards? No Way This (offer) Is True"
On this episode:
-Colossal Pieces of Meat Were Branded: Peter Luger
-MGM Rewards Sends Out a Potentially Misleading Offer

Watch, Like and Sub on YouTube
The Yo-11 Minutes Playlist on YouTube

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

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: 0:22

It's great. It's been a rather chill week. It's the week prior to my favorite holiday, which is Thanksgiving, so I mean everything's good. I'm not so sure if it's chill in Vegas land or maybe it's F1 chill. Maybe it's not really such a chill week in Vegas, but otherwise I'm pretty chill.

Speaker 1: 0:42

I'm glad you're pretty chill. Speaking of chill and F1, they're talking about how it might be too cold for the tires and that they had to like work with a tire company to try to improve their tires. They spell it TYRE over there, so that could be interesting and interesting chill twist to.

Speaker 2: 1:02

F1. Yeah, I did hear that that a few people didn't realize that the weather isn't always warm in Las Vegas. Who knew it's the desert? Who knew, wow, it's so strange. And you know, we've got this like internet where you can Google what's the average temperature for Las Vegas in November and guess what it tells you. It's an amazing world that we have. Well, you know just minor details. It's all going to be fine, okay, it's all going to be good. It's going to be chill.

Speaker 1: 1:36

It's kind of like how EDC didn't realize how hot it gets in August and then they had to start scheduling for like May or stuff. So yeah, people don't understand.

Speaker 2: 1:45

You know what I like to say. It's like when very, very smart people make very, very dumb decisions.

Speaker 1: 1:52

That is perfect. That's a good way.

Speaker 2: 1:57

Oh my goodness. So what do we got in the news?

Speaker 1: 2:00

today, and now it is time for the news and views. Caesar's entertainment and Peter Luger executives joined together to celebrate the highly anticipated grand opening of Peter Luger Steakhouse Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace. To commemorate the opening, caesar's entertainment and Peter Luger leaders branded their logos on colossal pieces of meat, including the convergence of the two brands. Since opening in mid-October, peter Luger Steakhouse Las Vegas has welcomed more than 11,000 guests and served more than 10 tons of beef. To recreate the same flavor that Peter Luger patrons know and love, caesar's entertainment designed a state-of-the-art dry aging room below the restaurant, which is home to $1 million worth of beef. That's going to do it for the news, and now for the views, michael. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 2: 2:51

My thoughts are where's the beef?

Speaker 1: 2:56

I really had a hold back on cracking a joke during two colossal pieces of meat Really had two colossal pieces.

Speaker 2: 3:05

Anyway, I think it's really cool. I think it's a great institution. At first, you know, one of the interesting things is Peter Luger's in New York does not take credit cards. They're like pretty much so an all-cash restaurant. I was hearing rumors that they didn't in Las Vegas, but then I heard from people that they've been using credit cards and Caesar's rewards points. So that is not true and that makes perfect sense for Las Vegas, so that's pretty cool to know.

Speaker 2: 3:32

Also, it seems that everyone who's gone there loves it and a lot of influencers have been writing about it, sharing pictures which all look really great, no-transcript, I guess the thing is that. Does it make a difference that so many influencers like they've done a wonderful PR campaign with lots of influencers and bloggers and vloggers and other people visiting and sharing stuff probably complimentary visits some of them, or a lot of them should we care about that? Does that make a difference? Does that take away from it being amazing or does it? Is it just sort of a non issue? Do you like? Do you think about that when you see all of the stuff On social media?

Speaker 1: 4:15

I think that what happens is, I'll see someone review it. I won't really, and I'll. I'll watch a review or read it, mainly or the pictures or the video, and if the pictures in the video look appetizing I might try to place out. I don't necessarily believe every word that an influencer says, because if you're getting a comped meal, there's a part of you that feels like you kind of have to be nice, you kind of owe them something. I've talked to someone who you know does a certain type of channel and they've told me the same thing that you know, when it's a comped room or it's a comped meal or a comp this, you know, there's some more than expectation.

Speaker 1: 5:04

I'm not saying that all influencers Are lying or anything like that, so don't take that with you, but I know that, I know that there is a certain type of pressure there. So I don't usually listen to like, oh man, it's great, you gotta try it. I'd rather hear from someone who's not an influencer you know, say all this is great or it wasn't so good or whatever, rather than someone who is. I just, I just have a hard time believing influencers all the time. But if I see pictures of video and something looks delicious. How is? Yeah, I want to try it.

Speaker 2: 5:38

Well, and that's a great point that you make. I mean, people are sharing pictures, they're sharing videos and pretty much so you can tell from the pictures and videos like, wow, this, this looks like a pretty good dinner, you know, I mean, this looks like a great place to eat. So, and then also you have like the anti influencer people or like the grumpy people probably the same ones that are continually bitching about F1 who probably go and say, oh, that steak wasn't as good as the steak I had, you know, and golden steer or something else. So I sort of think you just have to. You know, I think what you said is exactly right. You know, look at the pictures, look at the videos, get to overview, we get a good feeling for it, and then go try it yourself and decide, because there's there's just so many opinions out there. But it's sort of interesting and it looks great and I think it's positive. So if I think it's positive, it's got to be positive.

Speaker 1: 6:28

Yeah, also the thing is like, you know, it's a spud's vary per person. So I would say, go and try it yourself and you know, see if it's worth it. You know, because someone might be like, oh, I've had better, or oh, this is the worst I've had. But I mean, you really don't know unless you try. I've had some surprises on about places where people like, oh, this and that, and then I was like I went there and was like, yeah, we'll see, and I was like, oh, that's really not bad at all. I mean. So again, it varies per person. So you know, tastes is pretty much subjective in my opinion.

Speaker 2: 7:01

Exactly. It is very subjective. So when people try to say that and I also believe that a vast majority of these steak houses in Vegas are really pretty good maybe something has a little bit of an off night or something isn't exactly as great as it usually is, but rarely are you having a horrible meal from a food quality standard. Maybe the service was off, but you know it's. It's very rare, because they're using great meat and they know how to prepare it and they have got great kitchens. So I mean that's, I don't know, I'm mostly maybe I'm just too nice, or maybe I'm just too positive, or maybe I want to be positive when I go out for dinner, because nothing annoys me more than being annoyed at a dinner that you pay a lot of money for. So I want to have a good time, you know, and I want to enjoy it. So that's just that's. That's just me. You know, whether you're like it or not, I want to enjoy my meal, so I'm sticking with it.

Speaker 1: 7:53

Totally agree. And with that it is time for the cheese. Take it away, michael, sure. So.

Speaker 2: 8:12

WTF, mgm is pretty much so what I'm thinking of here Now, as everybody knows, you have until the end of the year to earn your tier points, and that's a very important concept. If you don't earn your tier points by the end of the year, they reset. So if you haven't reached the status level that you needed, you will not, you know, you'll drop down in status. Well, mgm sent out a reminder email that basically says book your best offer, make year, make next year even more rewarding, book and stay by December 31st 2023 to continue enjoying your benefits through January 31st 2025. What that sounds like is that, no matter what you are like of your gold status now, if you book an offer and stay by December 31st, you're cool, we're gonna keep your status the same.

Speaker 2: 9:09

But this is not, as far as I'm concerned, what they're trying to say. What they're really trying to say is book and stay by December 31st and earn enough tier to continue enjoying your benefits through January 31st. So really, it's a horribly misleading email that MGM has been sending out, because they're basically saying, hey, come back to MGM, and if you earn enough tier to keep your gold status, you keep your gold status. And that's like stating the obvious and is extremely misleading. So I was rather disappointed by this email and someone brought it to us our attention in the Travelzork Facebook group and then I looked and then I also received that email yesterday and I'm like, why are they doing this? But it definitely is, you know it's. It's really bad. What MGM is doing. This is very misleading.

Speaker 2: 10:02

But this reminds you if there is an offer that seems too good to be true, like this, you need to make sure that you're reading terms and conditions on the bottom of this offer that make it absolutely clear that all you need to do is come and stay by December 31st to retain your status, and there is nowhere on this email with an asterisk or anything that says that. So this is more like marketing buzz. So something to be aware of and a little bit of shame on MGM, especially considering all the stuff with the hack this year. It would have been nice if they did a promotion like that, like like this, where you could, you know, retain your status by just staying in December. Anyway, that's my two cents and, you know, just read things carefully, did you? Did you read it that way too, mervestro, or were you shocked by this when I showed it to you today.

Speaker 1: 10:52

Yeah, what? What's really concerning to me is the no asterisk. Like I'm looking at this level of faster with MGM rewards book your best offer, make next year even more rewarding. Book and stay by December 31st of this year, 2023, to continue enjoying your benefits through January 31st 2025. Did you see any terms and conditions, like did you dive into it any further? Did you? I mean, when you did you click view your offers and did they explain it on the second page? Like it just seems no amazing what's really bad, it's amazingly open-ended, and I mean they.

Speaker 1: 11:36

You know there could be issues because people are going to take that literally and when that happens, that's, that's that could be that could cause some reputation issues for MGM.

Speaker 2: 11:48

Yeah, because for me, like I need, let's say, 20,000 more tier points by December 31st to retain gold, chances are I'm not going to do a trip and do 20,000 tier points or 25,000 tier points. But if I just had to do a trip, just do a trip and just play anything, just be there in December, I might have considered doing that, because that would retain my gold all the way through January 31st 2025. But no, I click through and when you click through, it just brings you to your regular offers, which basically you book and like any other offer, and sure, you can earn tier points. But if I don't earn the 25,000 tier points by December 31st, I'm shit out of luck and I'm not going to be gold. So, yeah, this is this is pretty bad, and I believe I'm absolutely correct in the way that I'm reading this, though the way that you should read it is actually absolutely opposite. You know like it really sounds, like you just need to come and stay, and also the fact that they don't explain what that means you know, book and stay.

Speaker 2: 12:58

Like what is it? So that's why I made those that term on the top and I said it's really book and stay and earn enough tier. Yeah, sometimes this stuff just gets me crazy. Now I know why you don't love this casino loyalty stuff, because stuff like this just gets you absolutely insane.

Speaker 1: 13:20

No, it's just, it's just putting in the damn card and it going red and having to take it out. Put it back in red and take it out and blow it out like a fucking Nintendo cartridge. Put it in again. I'm just, I, just, I just want to play the damn slot machine or the video. Well, the video poker I'm more patient with because you know free drinks. Anyways, we are at the 13 minute mark. Do you have anything that's on your mind or any closing remarks?

Speaker 2: 13:43

Nothing else, but I hope this helps someone. I'd love to hear your opinions about this MGM offer. If you receive the email and looks like tomorrow we're probably going to do a history moment, but I have no idea what it is yet.

Speaker 1: 13:56

Alrighty, that's going to 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. Travel Zork luxury travel booking. Travel Zork travel. Visit us at Travel Zork travel dot com to plan your next amazing vacation and please join the conversation on social media. You can find us easily. All social platforms are at Travel Zork. We'll see you next time.