USA Today Snippet on Caesars Windsor

A 'brief' write-up in the USA Today on the opening of Caesars Windsor...

Ontario's Caesars Windsor casino opens after $439 million fix-up

I personally enjoyed the photograph on the Roman Soldiers and Cleopatra running down the streets of Downtown Windsor. Chalk that one up to something you don't see everyday.

Harrah's Total Rewards @ Caesars Windsor

This is another in the series of reviews of the various 'Amenity Programs' that are sponsored by the Michigan Area Casinos…

Overview
Caesars Windsor is a participating casino in the Harrah’s Total Rewards Program. The Harrah’s Total Rewards Program is by one of the two amenity programs in the area that links patron play at other casinos (The other being the MGM Mirage Players Club at MGM Grand Detroit). The Harrah’s Total Rewards Program links patron play at the following casinos:

Arizona
Harrah's Phoenix Ak-Chin Casino

California
Harrah's Rincon Casino

Illinois
Harrah's Joliet Casino
Harrah's Metropolis Casino

Indiana
Horseshoe Southern Indiana
Horseshoe Casino Hammond

Iowa
Harrah's Council Bluffs Casino
Horseshoe Council Bluffs Louisiana Casinos
Harrah's Louisiana Downs
Harrah's New Orleans Casino
Horseshoe Casino Bossier City

Mississippi
Grand Biloxi
Harrah's Tunica
Horseshoe Casino Tunica
Sheraton Casino & Hotel (Tunica)

Missouri
Harrah's North Kansas City Casino
Harrah's St. Louis Casino

Nevada
Bally's Las Vegas
Bill's Casino Lake Tahoe
Caesars Palace (Las Vegas)
Flamingo Las Vegas
Harrah's Lake Tahoe Casino
Harrah's Las Vegas Casino
Harrah's Laughlin Casino
Harrah's Reno Casino
Harveys Lake Tahoe Casino
Imperial Palace
O'Sheas Casino Las Vegas
Paris Las Vegas
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino

New Jersey
Bally's Atlantic City
Caesars Atlantic City
Harrah's Resort Atlantic City
Showboat Casino
North Carolina Casinos
Harrah's Cherokee Casino

Ontario
Caesars Windsor

Pennsylvania
Harrah's Chester

South America
Conrad Punta del Este

Earning Points
When playing at Caesars Windsor, you earn 1 Base Reward Credit for every $5 played on slot machines and for every $10 Canadian played on video poker. Earned credits that are played while on the respective machine also earn Base Reward Credits. At various times, Bonus Reward Credits can also be earned based on available promotions and level of play. Reward Credits earned while playing table games are based on length of play, average bet and type of game. A breakdown of the Rewards Credits earned at Table Games was not able to be ascertained at the time of publishing. Due to the exchange rate changes between the US and Canadian Dollar, exact Reward Credit redemption rates at Caesars Windsor may vary. The Total Rewards program also has the Total Rewards Platinum Plus Visa amenity credit card that earns patrons 1 point for every $1 (USD) charged to the card.

Benefits & Status Levels
Four tiers of players exist within the Total Rewards Program. All players are given ‘Gold’ status upon registration within the Total Rewards Program. If you earn 4,000 Base points in one calendar year, you earn ‘Platinum’ status. If you were to earn 11,000 Base points you are granted ‘Diamond’ status. If you earn 100,000 Base points in a Calendar year, you are granted ‘Seven Stars’ status. A breakdown of the tier benefits is below:

Gold
· 10% Skyline Gift Shop Discount (Excludes Tobacco Products and Sundries)
· Comps Based on Your Rated Play
· Cash-back Based on Your Rated Play
· Cash Offers in the Mail Based on Rated Play
· Invitations to Special Events Based on Your Rated Play

Platinum
· 15% Skyline Gift Shop Discount (Excludes Tobacco Products and Sundries)
· Comps Based on Your Rated Play
· Cash-back Based on Your Rated Play
· Cash Offers in the Mail Based on Rated Play
· Invitations to Special Events Based on Your Rated Play
· Exclusive Tier Renewal Gift Based on Your Rated Play
· Exclusive Birthday Offer
· Special Values on Select Brand Name Gifts (Using Reward Credits)
· Invitation to Choice of Winterfest or Summerfest Slot Tournaments (Platinum Member Events in Las Vegas, 2 Nights, Based on Availability)

Diamond
· 20% Skyline Gift Shop Discount (Excludes Tobacco Products and Sundries)
· Comps Based on Your Rated Play
· Cash-back Based on Your Rated Play
· Cash Offers in the Mail Based on Rated Play
· Invitations to Special Events Based on Your Rated Play
· Exclusive Tier Renewal Gift Based on Your Rated Play
· Exclusive Birthday Offer
· Special Values on Select Brand Name Gifts (Using Reward Credits)
· Invitation to Choice of Winterfest or Summerfest Slot Tournaments (Diamond Member Events in Las Vegas, 3 Nights, Subject to Availability)
· Express Hotel Check-in
· Priority Restaurant Seating
· Priority Cage Service
· Priority Slot Service
· Priority Service at Total Rewards Center
· Diamond Member Preferred Parking Area (Subject to Availability)

Seven Star
· 20% Skyline Gift Shop Discounts (Excludes Tobacco Products and Sundries)
· Comps Based on Your Rated Play
· Cash-back Based on Your Rated Play
· Cash Offers in the Mail Based on Rated Play
· Invitations to Special Events Based on Your Rated Play
· Exclusive Tier Renewal Gift Based on Your Rated Play
· Exclusive Birthday Offer
· Special Values on Select Brand Name Gifts (Using Reward Credits)
· Invitation to Choice of Winterfest or Summerfest Slot Tournaments (Diamond Member Events in Las Vegas, 3 Nights, Subject to Availability)
· Express Hotel Check-in
· Priority Restaurant Seating
· Priority Cage Service
· Priority Slot Service
· Priority Service at Total Rewards Center
· Diamond Member Preferred Parking Area (Subject to Availability)
· Priority Turn-Down Service with Hotel Stay

Point Redemption
The Total Rewards program has multiple types of redemption opportunities. While traditional casino comps (hotel rooms, meals & entertainment) can be redeemed, the exact breakdown of the traditional comp opportunities was not available at the time of publishing. However 100 points can be redeemed for $1 cash back or $2 in comps. In addition to traditional comps, the Total Rewards program has a merchandise catalog where members may redeem their points for a wide variety of merchandise. Furthermore to the standard merchandise catalog, Total Rewards has a Premium Catalog that has a wide variety of luxurious redemption opportunities. The Total Rewards program also offers targeted promotions and point redemption opportunities for cash, hotel, restaurant, and food.

MGM MIRAGE Players Club @ MGM Grand Detroit

This is the first of hopefully many reviews of the various 'Amenity Programs' that are sponsored by the Michigan Area Casinos…

Overview
The MGM MIRAGE Players Club is by one of the two amenity programs in the area that links patron play earned at other casinos (The other being Harrah's Total Rewards at Caesars Windsor). In addition to MGM Grand Detroit the MGM MIRAGE Players Club links patron play at the following casinos:

Las Vegas
Bellagio
Excalibur
Luxor
MGM Grand
Mandalay Bay
The Mirage
Monte Carlo
New York-New York
TI

Mississippi
Beau Rivage
Gold Strike

Earning Points
A fully qualified breakout of the earnings schedule has not been published, but the following a recap of the information obtained from a variety of sources. When playing at the MGM Grand $2 slot and $6 video poker play earns 1 Players Club point. Additionally, Players Club points can be earned at table games. Awarded points are based on length of play, average bet and type of game. An accurate estimate of the Players Club points earned at table games was not able to be ascertained at the time of publishing.

Benefits & Status Levels
No publicly listed tiers or status levels exist within the MGM Mirage Players Club.

Point Redemption
Unlike the other MGM Mirage locations, the only published point redemption opportunities for exclusive MGM Grand Detroit players are traditional casino comps (hotel rooms, entertainment, meals). The most recently known published information shows that 100 points can be redeemed for $1 cash back. For traditional non-cash comps the rate is approximately 50 points for $1 in comps. In addition to the exclusion from the MGM Mirage Holiday Gift Shoppe, some players have also noted that since the new MGM Grand Detroit permanent location has been opened, lower end players are being shut out of any high end non-cash comps (e.g Bourbon Steak & Saltwater). While this comment has been circulated, it cannot be substantiated at this time.

More on Caesars Windsor

A couple of new articles this morning on the re-branding of Casino Windsor as Caesars Windsor...

Caesars Windsor beckons Americans

Acts Booked at the Colosseum

New Name, More Space

Caesars Windsor puts all its chips into $430M expansion

Detroit News: A tour of Caesars Windsor's hotel rooms, ballroom, theater

Map of Caesars Windsor




More news and headlines to come as the official re-opening occurs on June 19th. I'm definitely going to be keeping my eyes open for promotions and packages after the initial 'glow' for the re-branding wears off. My guess is that you'll start seeing decent values as we enter the Post-Labor Day to Pre-Thanksgiving season.

MGM Grand Detroit - Grand Destination Package

I received an email from the MGM Grand Detroit late last week about a new package that they are offering. It is called the 'Grand Destination Package' and seems to be a decent deal. The publicized rate is $349 and the package includes a $50 Gas Card as well as a $100 credit towards Restaurant, Shopping or Spa services.

MGM Grand Detroit Package Link

All in all the room price nets out to about $199 and if you were planning on utilizing the spa services or dining on-site you can definitely come out ahead on this. To me my favorite part of this package is that it is available for Friday and Saturday nights (that seems to be a rarity for the decent package deals that I've seen publicized.)

From what I've seen so far, this is the best hotel package that has been publicly promoted by any Detroit area casino. Mr. Casino Reviewer likes this deal and will hopefully be taking advantage of this in the near future.

Four Winds in New Buffalo

I'm a little late on posting the update to this, but the Detroit News had an interesting article on the newest Native American Casino in Michigan.

Here's the link to their article:

Detroit News Article

The most interesting point in the article is a discussion that the casino has been so successful that they are already talking expansion. I think that speaks volumes to the degree of planning to locate this casino in a under-saturated demographic and heavily traveled corridor of Michigan. Oh, yeah, just a couple of hours outside of Chicago...that never hurts. One thing that I've noticed during my travels to Lake Michigan over the past couple years is that the Chicago based tourism has expanded to St. Louis, Missouri and the surrounding suburban areas. I'm sure that that patron base has also found their way to Four Winds.

Due to the overwhelming success of the casino so far, it would be realistic for the hotel rates (currently around $299) to stay high and for player promotions to be minimal. It's not to say that deals won't exist, but expectations should be set that, in the short term, the true values for patrons will be few and far between.

I'm hoping to have a chance to post a personal review of the property when I visit Southwest Michigan in July. Stay tuned as summer progresses.

Caesars Windsor

June 19 will be a mark a symbolic shift in the Michigan / Ontario casino market. On this day, the first non-Native American Casino brand in the market (Casino Windsor) will officially be rebranded as Caesars Windsor. This transformation has been several months in the making (December 2006) and will stake new territory for the Caesars brand, with this being their first Canadian property and also their first entry into the Michigan Casino market.

Several new developments have been added to the Windsor the property. The most striking additions being the new 27 story Augustus tower with its 369 luxury rooms and the 5,000 seat Coliseum Theater. In addition, the property 100,000 of convention space, which will give it a very large presence in the Michigan and Ontario convention landscape. The new additions give the property 758 hotel rooms and suites along with almost 100,000 in gaming space.

So what does this mean for Michigan Casino patrons? More competition for your gaming dollar? Not really, as Casino Windsor has existed since the casino has existed since 1994 and there isn't a material change in gaming activity. Ever since the exchange rate went south, the advantages to playing in Windsor has significantly deteriorated. Back in the day, a US resident could gamble for 65 cents on the dollar and a hotel room on a Friday night could be had for less than $100 USD. Nowadays, you're lucky to get a weekend room for less that $300 USD in the summer time. The 35% discount that was enjoyed when the USD to CAD rate was in the $0.65 range is ancient history. One real competitive advantage that the property does offer is their 'Legends Sports Book'. From a gaming perspective, is it a 'great deal'... No way. But it does offer the only on site legal North American sports betting outside of Las Vegas. But what do all of these changes mean?

Overall, the property upgrades are welcome as the physical property was approaching 10 years in age. But at the present time, to the Michigan Casino patron, Caesars Windsor, does not present any material advantages to venture across the border.