Las Vegas Sun NewsStation Casinos trying to win back gamblers, revamps Boarding Pass program
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The Red Rock Casino Resort is shown in the western Las Vegas Valley.
Wednesday
14 September 2011
2 a.m.
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- The public can call 495-3888 with questions from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Visit mystation.com for more information.
Station Casinos was once a Wall Street darling, enjoying increasing profits by nailing a business plan that relied on local, repeat customers. And then Station’s fortunes collapsed, hit hard as the recession especially pummeled Las Vegas and locals thought twice about how to spend their discretionary money.
Gamblers further griped that Station’s video poker machines were disbursing lower payouts — evidence of corporate cost-cutting.
Station has been trying to get back in good graces with its customers after having emerged this year from Chapter 11, with car giveaways, revamped restaurants and more employees. The newest tactic: a revamped Boarding Pass loyalty program with bigger perks.
The program is expected to cost the company more money in the form of more and better freebies and comes when many local casinos are staying the course with cost-cutting efforts. Although gambling revenue appears to have stabilized after a precipitous fall the last 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 of 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 in 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 in the recession, 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.”
Marketing efforts have helped grow the company’s revenue and operating income in recent months, executives say. Through March, Station’s promotional expenses rose 9 percent, an increase of $1.6 million, compared with the same period a year ago.
Station has improved its ability to court customers after reducing corporate debt by $4 billion in the bankruptcy process to about $2.2 billion as of June 30.
About two years ago and around the time Station sought bankruptcy protection, executives began an effort to improve the loyalty program, which is Station’s chief marketing tool and one that competes with many others around town. In focus groups last year, customers said they wanted more for their money, Kelley said.
Several months ago, Station executives rolled out freebies and discounts for any and all potential customers, not just local gamblers — from 2-for-1 dinners to free hotel stays. The company lowered prices for casino buffets to at or below cost and restored favorable payouts on video poker machines. Station has hired more than 1,000 employees this year, including at least 500 full-time workers, in an effort to improve customer service.
Also this year, Station took back ownership of casino cafes from chain restaurants and introduced a series of company-owned Italian restaurants with oversized portions and reasonable prices. Casinos commonly outsource restaurants to reduce expenses and risks, although such moves can also remove the casino’s control over quality and service.
Customers preferred the company-owned cafes, and like to know what to expect when returning to the casino for a meal, Station spokeswoman Lori Nelson said.
A major ad campaign called “We Love Locals” kicked off in February, becoming a regular feature on local TV stations and billboards around town.
In another expensive promotion, Station gave away 220 cars in February to gamblers — a return to the old-fashioned marketing tactics for which Station Casinos founder Frank Fertitta Jr. was known.
Station expects to spend even more money advertising its revamped loyalty card, Kelley said. Like the company’s “I Love Locals” ads, Boarding Pass commercials and print ads will feature rank-and-file Station employees. About 3,500 of Station’s 13,000-plus workforce auditioned, “American Idol” style, to appear in the spots, with audition participants winning cash and cars as prizes.
“It’s been great for morale,” Nelson said. “Everyone feels very emotionally invested in wanting to make this a success.”
By helping improve an image tarnished in bankruptcy, the company’s marketing efforts are aimed at employees as much as customers, said Roger Gros, publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine.
“The market is really soft now and with the negative outlook the company has had last few years, I think they’re trying to turn that around,” Gros said. “Employees want to see that kind of commitment.”
Station executives aren’t expecting a profit windfall after spending a “truckload” on marketing efforts, Kelley said.
“We’re bullish on the long term growth of the city and the recovery, but it’s a slow process,” he said. “Where you used to get incremental growth of 7 to 8 percent we’re going to be happy for 1, 2 or 3 percent (gaming) growth over the next few years.”
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Well, well, well, how does it feel to have the shoe on the other foot.. you bit the hand that was feeding you and now u want them to forget how you did people wrong.
Well Haa to you.. I will never EVER set foot into your casinos . you screwed the locals , and they showed their displeasure by beating feet out of your smelly casinos !
BOYCOTT Stations casinos and make them realize what they had until greed took over !
Greed is bad
B-O-Y-C-O-T-T STATIONS CASINOS !
The Fertitas had the right idea. The last time I was at a Station Casino a woman commented, "Good luck, you have to spend 300 dollars to win sixty. I haven't been back in quite awhile because it sure seemed that way. Staffing seemed non existent.
I hope the strategy works.
It's one thing to take my money over time. It's another to take it every time!
Sorry, Liz, but Stations did not rely on repeat local business. Stations relied on a plan, with the aquiesence of compliant & perhaps corrupt Nevada regulators at the Gaming Board & Commission, to monopolize the local casino business. The so-called "regulators," charged with looking out for the interest of the public, abdicated their responsibility in order to win favor and perhaps future employment with a greedy Stations management. It did not work all that well as Stations bankruptcy shows because, despite the mindset of Stations and the perhaps corrupt government drones charged with overseeing the company, they underestimated the intelligence of locals. Many of us saw through the charade and, with our money and our feet, voted not to patronize the greedy monolith. All locals should be grateful to Anthony Marnell III & Michael Gaughan for having the good sense and decency to treat us like human beings and not as numbingly meaningless figures on the "botton line." As a charter member in Stations & Fiesta's "loyalty" card programs, I have no love for Stations and their greedy attempt to manipulate the local casino scene. They earned what they deserved: a rebuke by Clark County locals!
Listen up all of you suits that run Station Casinos! If you really want to bring back a huge hunk of all the players that not only your casinos have lost, but also the entire state of Nevada lost to. It's a very simple solution and also a great chance to corner the market on all of us tens of thousands or possibly hundreds of thousands of us lost souls that have been denied our right to play the only game we enjoyed playing or even coming to Vegas for. That game was all those great IGT Keno machines. You thought that you could just replace our machines with those good for nothing multi game, Game King & Game Maker machines that don't pay back diddley CRAP and you thought that we were going to just accept it. Well you guessed WRONG!! We hate those machines and we want our IGT Keno machines back! All those hundreds of thousands of great machines have not just vanished off the face of the planet. They are still around and all that needs to be done is for someone to go and find them! Spread at least 100 or 200 of them in each of the Station Casinos, set the payback to 92% or at the very least 86%. After doing that all that needs left to do is to start advertising and spreading the word around to all of us starving Keno Machine players stating that WE HAVE WHAT YOU WANT!! Trust me when I tell you this will work! My wife and I would almost live in Vegas, missing all kinds of work just to come to Vegas and play our Keno machines every chance we could.
Station Casinos business plan consists solely of ripping off their customers. That's why the casinos are ghost towns.
Comment removed by moderator. Name Calling
We never even come to Vegas anymore, but we really want to. All of those so called new penny slots and other slots with the whistles and horns and colorful animations just don't get it for us hard core Keno machine players. My wife & I are in the gold business with lots of extra cash to play with, but we refuse to part with any of it until someone gets some smarts and brings back those wonderful IGT Keno machines & sets them at a very good payback percentage. GOT THAT?
Well, anyone who views Station as "greedy" will be missing out on more return on their gambling (and non-gambling) dollars. When was the last time you saw the market leader make such a dramatic improvement in what they offer when they did not have to. Pretty bold move, I'd say.
In the movie "The Invention Of Lying", the premise is that no one knows how to lie. There is a big sign hanging in a casino which says "The House Always Wins". When the main character goes to buys chips, the cashier smiles and asks,"How much would you like to lose with us today?"
Unfortunately, this is the vibe that local gamblers get when they walk into a Station Casino. In the last couple years, it seems they have done all they could to drive away players,. I wish them luck trying to get back their customer base, but most people I know avoid Station and go elsewhere.
Stations exemplifies the classic "A day late and a dollar short" adage. Locals got onto their game of greed early on and walked away in droves. Even their "We love locals" campaign failed to bring out the staunch players who went elsewhere. They abandoned their most important asset -- their customer base -- and now are trying to win them back. Sorry, but I think the local market has too good a memory and has found more lucrative playing fields. Stations drove me to Boyd and I seriously doubt they can do anything now to bring me back. Interestingly, the article states "[Stations] restored favorable payouts on video poker machines." So, Stations DOES admit they lowered paybacks during the days of their bankruptcy proceedings. Sorry, Stations; you lost me. Forever. I don't like the way you treat us locals. You may love us, but you treat us like crap.
Stations may have made some mistakes. No one really knows. They did what they thought they had to do to survive. No one posting here has or can run a casino.
Bottom line is they are trying to do right by people now and with most posters/haters here it still seems to hold true that no good deed will go unpunished.
Good luck to them with their new program. They employee a lot of great people and have been here much longer then most of the haters. They will be here long after the haters also.
The proof is in the pudding and anyone who has visited Red Rock Casino knows that. The once friendly Rampart Casino did exactly what got Station Casinos in trouble with thier customers and now the Rampart Casino along with it's sister properties are dying on the vine with terrible locations,horrible payouts,rude management and heavy debt. The only thing that may save the Rampart Casino location is the owner of the property will not renew the lease and will run the casino themselves by spring, a break for everyone involved. The Rampart Casino was slipping during the last few years,but a new casino manager who ran the casino as if where his personal prison by treating customers and employees like inmates fianlly did them in. A funny thing happened the jack ass casino manager, the little leprechaun, is gone,much to late and now the casino is gone.
Recent visits to Red Rock has demonstrated they are serious about customer service. Good luck to them.
Here's some advice for Stations. Keep your giveaways and loosen your slots. My wife and I prefer to play Keno and went to Red Rock. After 200 dollars and 0ne 7 out of ten we decided that they are to tight. The machines have an ugly blue screen with yellow frames. Alls it did was give me a headache.
@Homer: agreed with the Rampart comments. We frequented that place for months on the weekend and only had one night that actually won a few bucks. It gets old losing and then having to listen to the ultra amatuer music groups that they employ.
Gues its back to Sun Coast. Horrible atmosphere but at the end of the night I'm not broke.
How nice of Station Casinos to loosen the slot payouts after years of stealing money from it's customers. Give them a second chance? I don't think so.
I have to agree with the comments that stations treat the local like dirt. I only lived there for 3 years, and after the first year I stopped going completely. I NEVER won there, at any Station, EVER!
Why go somewhere when you know you don't stand a chance? Not only did they shut off their machines, but bingo was just as bad.
No thanks, when I come to visit, I still don't go to station, and I never will. Cannery, Sams, Gold Coast will have my business thank you
If you want a high payback game, DO NOT PLAY KENO!!!!! Especially video keno, those machines just eat money. Or if you must play do it 5 cents a spin. If you want a higher return game play video poker or learn how to beat the sports book.
I play video poker and craps as well as a little bit of blackjack and Hold' Em at Red Rock all the time. There are times when I win big on the Double Double Bonus video poker. This year alone, I have hit 4 of a Kind Aces with Kicker for $500 twice, $400 4 of Kind Aces with Queen kicker, numerous $200 4 of a Kind 3s and 4s and five jackpots of $640 playing $1 denomination on the machine. But there are times when I lose a lot there too. I am slightly ahead with my winnings there and I stick with one kind of game.That's how you really win at any casino. I will try the Megabucks once in a blue moon and I never win. The penny slots and the tv show or movie themed slots are the worst odds. I stay away from them. So I can say I am kind of successful with my paybacks there.
I will give all the readers a hint at what else helps me win there at Red Rock:
-Don't always insert your players card when you play. If you put in $40-$100 or more, put your players card in. If its just $20, don't bother until you win some hands and you are up to $60.
-When you cash out a big win, the computer tracks that. So, the next couple of times you are playing, don't insert the players card.
-What I have discovered with video poker is this: When I put in $20 even to activate free slot play, the payback is nothing 9 out of 10 times. When I put in at least $40 or more, I always hit a 4 of a kind at the very least.
-Always stick with video poker. Best payouts. If you can afford it, play $1 denominations.
-Play craps, I always seem to win, especially after losing on video poker.
This is what has worked for me. It may work for all of you too!
All smoke and mirrors. Yes, Stations hired 1000 employees, AFTER laying off 2000 during the bankruptcy. Yes, they will give you 3 points for every dollar but, only on reel slots, NOT on video poker. Yes, they will give you cash back but Boyd Group has been doing that all along. Stations is merely duplicating what other casinos have been doing all along and taking credit for their ingenious marketing strategy.The huge cost of marketing has come directly out of the pockets of employees. Kevin Kelly renigged on his promise of raises and return of company funded 401K contributions. Station Casino employees have not received raises in almost 5 years. They may talk the talk, but they don't walk the walk. All scam and no thank you Ma'am.
jaquekeno- read the article, it states $1=3 points on video poker so you are wrong. You are also wrong on Boyd, only their top tier get that value.
The payouts on the slots at Santa Fe and Aliante are a disgrace. An investment of 30-40-50 coins sees the majority of payouts at between 5-20 coins.....a 'win' that is in fact a loss. Payouts of 2 coins for 3 of a kind or 100 for 5 of a kind are just pure rip-off. Bonus spins of 8 to 15 free spins regularly result in minimal pays, if you are lucky enough to get a bonus. You may win if you play a penny at a time, however more and more machines are becoming minimum 50 coins a play. It used to be fun playing the slots at Santa Fe but it is becoming a very expensive pastime these days. Loosen the slots or you won't have too many people to give the rewards to.
Stations doesn't do enough promotions for it's poker rooms. They emphasize the Mega Bad Beat and some freerolls at the expense of jackpot hands, hourly high hands, flop bonuses, etc. Other poker rooms in town seem to get it but not the Stations. It's too bad considering the proximal locations of many Stations properties. Wake up Stations and start putting in progressive Jackpots, aces cracked, anything.
STATION CASINOS BINGO
Worst Bingo program in Las Vegas....compare Double Action, Double/Triple Pay, Coveralls and number of games per session....
Their monthly coupons, a joke, so many restrictions their own
staff can't figure it out ! Boulder's Free Game - Free means Free -
except here, you have to spend $60 to use a machine. They really
appreciate you playing to earn the Extra Free Packs, customer loyalty my backside....can only be used in electronics, but you must spend a minimum of $60 to play electronics. Smoke & Mirrors ? Compare the programs for Arizona Charlie's East and Sam's Town
to any Stations property and you'll know why most locals are gone
for good. Station Casinos, eh, think I'll just rent a movie !
TO KEVIN KELLY, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, AND THE OWNERS OF STATION CASINOS INC.:
YOU'VE HAD SIX YEARS TO RIGHT YOUR WRONGS, IN REGARDS TO YOUR MISGUIDED IMPLOSION OF THE ORIGINAL SHOWBOAT HOTEL, CASINO & AMERICA'S LARGEST BOWLING COMPLEX.
ALL YOUR EXECUTIVES SEEM BLIND TO FACT THAT YOU HURT THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS AND ALL OF ITS NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENTS, EMPLOYEES & SMALL BUSINESSES. YET, TO THIS DAY, YOU HAVE NEVER MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO FIX THE MESS THAT YOU MADE.
YOU CAN'T HIDE THE FACT THAT STATION CASINOS, INC. (AKA CENTERLINE HOLDINGS) IS THE OWNER RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT 30-ACRE EYESORE & PUBLIC DISGRACE. IF YOU TRULY "LOVE LOCALS", YOU'LL PRESENT YOUR REDEVELOPMENT PLANS TODAY, WITH NO CONTINUING EXCUSES!
Blackjack247, Stations has no intentions f developing the Showboat site. The only reason they bought it was to block any other gaming company from developing a competing casino. That has been their game plan from day one. Buy up the competition and thwart new develpoments in order to tighten machines and pay employees below industry standard wages. In the article above, read how they admit to loosening up machines to offer better payoffs. Their game plan stuck in the craw of locals and now Stations is begging for their return.
I played there and had faith in thier commitment to their players, till I'd lost enough to quit playing there. They DO NOT care to make their properties competitive. They only want you to put your money in their machines for 3X points or dollars. Big effing deal. STATIONS PLEASE LISTEN. I know and you know you've stopped paying-do you really think that 3X pts will hide this FACT? I know it doesn't. My take on this? You wouldn't need to offer 3X pts if you actually paid fairly. People would come and play because they were getting a fair shake. This 'new promo' is just another masking of the fact you've quit paying fairly. You know it and so do we.
I went to their (OMG how stupid could GVR be) party to promote their new points program. They asked us to line up and tell them our other Stations' card numbers or give them all of our Fiestas and WildFire cards so they could all be consolidated into one, new card. I got an printed invite from every property in the mail with this party and promo rollout. NONE of them indicated we should bring our other Stations cards with us. AND THE GENUISES AT THE CARD CONVERSION BOOTH HAVE IDEA HOW TO FIND A PERSON'S ACCOUNTS AT THE OTHER STATIONS PROPERTIES. Stations, stop trying to be something you're incapable of being; competent, fair and honest. Your staff is incompetent, your games' hold is set to GREED and your 'new campaign' is nothing but hiding the fact YOUR CASINOS DON'T PAY. I'm sure you'll get some idiots to come in again, thinking you care about them...and they'll play till they realize you haven't changed A THING AND YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED YOUR PAYBACK PERCENTAGES. GET BACK TO US WHEN DO, OK? Till then, wise up. Did you notice NONE of these comments had a good thing to say about you? Wake up and realize you call us and ask us to come back, but we don't...even when you dangle free dinners, free rooms, etc. Give us fair play and quit this freakin' greed.
My wife and I quit going to Sunset Station because of tight machines. We went last night to see if anything had changed with this new promo. We had planned to try the Italian restaurant with a half-price coupon they mailed us. Our slot money didn't last until dinner. I beleive they have tightened the machines even more if that's possible. Sorry Stations, that was your last chance.
When I moved here a dozen years ago, my son was about 6. Someone told me there was an off-strip casino called Boulder Station that had daycare. My son and I were basically "raised" there. And of course we alternated with all the Stations with a KidsQuest. What separated Stations from the rest were the floor people. They all knew you. Always said hello. Now the only way you get to ask an employee a question is to wait on a long players club line. If I wanted to be invisible, I'd gamble on the strip. But the final straw was when I opted out of snail mail spam cluttering my mailbox - which is always 20% off a spa treatment that I'll never use. Knowing I gamble every day ( a lot), I waited on the incredibly long players club line to ask why I never get "Free Play". I was told if I don't receive the spa mailings, I also don't get the free play. Tore up my card and have never been back. Their loss. They need to go back to being "neighborly".
All I have to say is this revamp of the rewards system is a bunch of crap. I had $1000 worth of F&B (300,000+ points) and on Sept 16th it was only worth $600. Is that any way to treat loyal players. They devalued the points I had accrued prior to the change. It seems to me that they should have compensated for this loss. I will not play at Stations again. I will take my money to the M and MGM resorts. At those places I am appreciated and respected.