As is the case with rooms, a host will be able to offer you more in the way of free food than the casino will give you by default. Sure, the casino may allow you to use your comps to pay for any room or dining charges, but a host can comp an amount above and beyond this. Looking for the ideal Best Casino Host Gifts? Come check out our giant selection of T-Shirts, Mugs, Tote Bags, Stickers and More. CafePress brings your passions to life with the perfect item for every occasion. Free Returns 100% Satisfaction Guarantee Fast Shipping. He’ll slip you his business card and ask if you need a room or dinner or tickets to a show. It will all be comped. That seemingly generous person is a casino host. His job is to divvy out free.
Contents
- 3 Benefits of Having a Host
What is a Casino Host?
A casino host is a personal casino representative. Instead of calling reservations to book a room, or calling restaurants to book a reservation, your host will be able to take care of everything for you. If you are in a casino, there will usually be a designated host on duty that can help you at any hour, even if you don’t have one assigned to you.
Best Gift For Casino Host Rewards
Hosts are not usually on the casino floor like dealers or floor people. They will greet you and stop by if you are playing, but they do not have any other job beyond making sure their players are taken care of. At some casino properties, there will be different tiers of hosts, where higher value players are assigned to more experienced hosts.
Have a Host Assigned
If you only play low limit blackjack or slots a few times per year, the odds are that you won’t have a host assigned. If you ask for one, the casino may find a host for you, but it will largely defeat the purpose as they won’t have a lot to offer you. Look at it this way, the host if your own butler when you are planning a trip to, or are currently at a casino. If your play is valuable enough to the casino, they will assign you said butler. If you are an infrequent, low limit player, this is not an expense they are looking to spare.
Casinos handle their host programs differently depending on the property. Some will meet you face to face while you are playing. Others will give you a call or email to establish a line of contact. If you have put in a decent amount of gambling volume at a casino but still don’t have a host (or one that you know of), the next step is to reach out.
If you are at a casino, visiting the host office is your best play for obtaining a host. Sometimes you will already have on your account, but they simply didn’t contact you. Other times a host will need to be located for you. Most casinos have dozens of hosts (depending on their size), so one should be available for your immediate assistance. Once you finally have a casino host, the next step is understanding what benefits you will now be able to realize.
Benefits of Having a Host
The tricky part about having a host is that there is a lot of give and take. Do the hosts want to see you play a lot at their casino? Yes, of course. Do they want to see you lose? No, though some incorrectly believe this to be the case. The ultimate goal of any host is to ensure that you are kept happy during your visit.
Try to be reasonable about what you should expect as a player. If you are playing $100/spin high limit slots for hours on end, your host will likely offer you unlimited room charges, but if you are playing smaller games, they will draw the line at a lower limit.
Convenience
Convenience is what a host is all about. They will arrange a ride for you, book show tickets, book your rooms, arrange restaurant reservations, and cater to just about every need you have. Within reason, a host will do anything (non monetary) that improves your stay, even if you aren’t a high limit player. This measure of convenience is why players of almost any limit will benefit from having their own host
Casino Offers
If you have a host, they will generally be able to cater specific offers to your play. For example, they can make sure you are the first to know about a gift card and free play giveaway. Perhaps the casino you are playing at is going to be sold out for New Years. If you are a consistent player, your host will reach out to make sure you have a room available if you are looking for one. Offers come in the mail all the time, but a good host will make sure you are always able to book the ones that you want before they fill up.
Comped Rooms
Comped rooms are much, much easier to obtain if you have a host. Calling the reservations line will not usually net you a free room, especially without an explicit offer. A host, however, can bypass this and book a room on your behalf. Plus, this is less likely to impact your future offers than if you book via the marketing department. The host should be your friend, so always try to book a room with them first before you call the hotel itself.
Comped Meals
As is the case with rooms, a host will be able to offer you more in the way of free food than the casino will give you by default. Sure, the casino may allow you to use your comps to pay for any room or dining charges, but a host can comp an amount above and beyond this. Ask ahead and your host should be able to tell you how much comp money they can allocate for meals.
Extra Benefits
A quality host will get to know you personally. As a result, they will have the ability to give you some extra perks where they see fit. For example, you may receive a free play offer or a bottle of wine on your birthday. They may even surprise you with a gift on Christmas. These are the sort of added benefits that only a host can deliver.
Gamble enough in Las Vegas or other casino destinations and you’ll get a casino host. This person helps you with travel arrangements. She also offers perks like free rooms and meals.
If you have a host, take advantage of the situation. Use their services for whatever you need.
But a casino host won’t tell you everything.
1- Which Games Offer the Highest Comps
The core of a casino host’s job is to get you to gamble as much money as possible. As long as they can get you to put as much money as possible into play, the casino advantage will eventually take the correct amount of it.
Good casino hosts know which games have the highest house edge and highest hold percentage. They also know which ones have the lowest. This information is usually directly tied to the level of comps you can get.
A casino determines a player’s comp level by how much the player is expected to lose. This is determined by the expected house edge on the game being played multiplied by the total amount wagered.
Here’s an example:
A player bets $100 per hand on blackjack. He plays 500 hands. His total amount wagered is $50,000.
With an expected win rate of 2%, the casino expects to win $1,000 ($50,000 X 2%).
The more money the player is expected to lose, the better for the casino host.
2- Which Games Offer the Lowest House Edge
The casino host doesn’t want you playing the games with the lowest house edge. So they probably won’t tell you which ones have it.
It doesn’t matter which games have a low house edge if you don’t play them with the best possible strategy. But your host still wants you to lose as much as possible. They won’t steer you to better games.
3- They Don’t Have Your Best Interests in Mind
Your casino host doesn’t have your best interests in mind. Sure, they want you to have a good time, but only because people gamble more when they’re having fun.
Your casino host wants you to gamble as much as possible during your stay. Everything they do is directly related to this goal.
4- They Don’t Like You
Not every casino host dislikes every one of their customers. But the host isn’t your friend, and she doesn’t like you. Depending on your behavior, she might not dislike you, but don’t make the mistake of thinking she likes you – no matter how she acts.
The casino host’s job is to get you to gamble as much as possible.
Thinking your casino host is your friend? Try this little test:
Call your casino host – tell her you need to come to town on business but won’t have any time to gamble at all. Ask them what they can do for you or recommend for your stay.
If you drop thousands of dollars a year, you might still get a room. The casino doesn’t want to risk losing your future play. But even this has limits.
And if they do comp your stay in this situation, expect them to encourage you to gamble.
5- They Don’t Care About Your Stories or Your Family or Your Business
Casino hosts listen to your stories and look at the pictures of your kids or pets. But they don’t really care.
Their job is to make you think they care enough to get you to start gambling.
Best Gift For Casino Host Saturday Night Live
6- Nothing in the Casino is Free
The free drinks, meals, rooms, and flights aren’t really free. They’re paid for out of your expected losses. The casino tells you all of these things are free. They want you to be grateful that they’re taking care of you.
Take the blackjack player who’s expected to lose $1,000 per 500 hands played. He comes to the casino and plays 5,000 hands four times a year. His expected loss for every trip is $10,000. He will have a winning trip every now and then. But on average the casino will have their percentages figured correctly.
The casino knows the player is going to lose an average of $10,000 every time he comes. They also know they can afford to give him thousands in “free” things and still make lots of money.
How much does a round trip flight, hotel room for a week, five buffet comps, and four or five nice meals cost?
Nowhere close to $10,000.
7- Everything You Get is Directly Tied to How Much You Play
Your casino host might hint at this if you aren’t playing enough. But they don’t like to come straight out and say you have to play a certain amount up front.
If you want more comps you probably need to play more. You’ll see exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, what you get from your casino host is directly tied to how much you gamble.
8- If You Don’t Ask You Won’t Get
Many players don’t ask their casino hosts enough questions. Your host will probably take care of your meals and room if you play enough. But you really have no idea how much more you may be able to get. If you don’t ask you’ll never know what you might get.
Want to see the Grand Canyon or the Blue Man Group? Ask if your host can help.
What about a trip to the spa for your spouse?
You don’t even have to ask for monetary value things. Sometimes information can be valuable. Your host should either have a great deal of information or be able to access it.
9 – You Can Get a Better Deal at Other Casinos
Your casino host doesn’t want you to consider another casino. She doesn’t even want you to start thinking about talking to another host.
Are you a big player?
You should shop your play as much as possible. Get as much in return for your play as you can.
10- You Can Get an Upgrade for $20
$20 is an arbitrary amount. But often you can get a room upgrade for a small amount of extra money. Has your casino host arranged for a room?
Ask her how much you would have to pay to get an upgrade.
11- When You’re Just Short of a Big Upgrade or Perk
Unless you track your play (which you should do) and know how the casino determines the amount of your comps (almost impossible to find out), you won’t know where you are on the scale of players at the casino. The bigger the player, the more you can get, but there’s always a line separating one level of play from another.
If you’re just a few thousand short of the next level of player it would be nice to know so you could play a little more.
A smart casino host may let you know when you’re close, but most of them won’t. If they do tell you, make sure you know exactly how much more you need to play and what you will get in return. You don’t want to lose twice what it would cost you to buy the same perks.
12- When You’ve Had Too Much to Drink
Why do you think casinos offer free drinks to players?
The more you drink, the more you gamble.
Because your casino host wants you to play as much as possible, she’s more likely to order you another drink than tell you it’s time to stop.
13- Where to Find a New Casino Host
The casino host business is competitive. Hosts protect their clients fiercely. If you start thinking about finding another host, don’t tell your current host.
Conclusion
Playing enough to have a casino host and getting perks from the casino feels great. But you still need to make sure you’re watching out for your best interests.
The casino host wants you to play as much as possible. Everything she does is done with this ultimate goal in mind. Remember this. You should be able to take advantage of their services and have a good time along the way.