I'm a big-time follower of loyalty products and loyalty marketing. I think rewards programs are a great way to keep customers coming back, or from straying too far. I love my Starwood Amex, and almost always stay at Starwood properties. When they won't take Amex, my Chase Freedom VISA Sig gets all of my spending. Both cards have very valuable earn/burn ratios, and great customer service when it is necessary, though that is rare. Of course, there are other types of rewards programs out there, of which the one I'm most familiar with is for Casinos. I'm a member of almost all of the programs, and was very interested today to see what the industry considers the best. According to some article in AdAge (referenced here by Colloquy, something I actually read), Harrah's Total Rewards program is the best in the casino business. That's great for Harrah's, and it should be great for me since I'm a member. The problem is, the other parts of Harrah's customer relationship model is completely F'd. Here's a quick summary of my experience when we were comped at the Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City, in the Spring of 2009 (note, about the bottom of the economy). I'm going to go with bullet points, so maybe it's easier to read:
- So, when we get there and check in, they tell us that we were not booked at Caesar's after all, instead we were at Bally's, a couple doors down. No biggie, it is close.
- Bally's... is a shithole
- As we walk from Caesar's to Harrah's to Bally's (all the same company), we attempt to play table games with a mixed set of Harrah's chips. They tell us they can only accept from the casino we are at. At one point, I have to get a manager because we had taken a cab from another Harrah's joint and didn't want to pay $60 and an hour of our time to turn my $500 into playable chips. Eventually I said something to the effect of "I'm not walking away until you cash these chips, I'm going to go play these and lose them again, just make it happen"... The guy eventually collapsed. My guess is that this is a breakage strategy (don't cash chips, people leave with chips, we pocket the money).... This is basically the ultimate "screw you customers" of customer service.
- My wife was winning and getting real excited about it at the Roulette table. They decided she must have been intoxicated (though she wasn't) and told her that she was cut off from free drinks because they "practice responsible gambling"... Of course, they didn't cut her off from actual gambling. Ridiculous.
- On the day of check out, we asked for an extra hour. They told us every half hour we stayed past check out would cost us $50. Again, remember, they had comped us! Why give us 3 free nights and then treat us in such a manner that we wouldn't go back if they paid us!!
It was so bad we were thinking about complaining to every one and their mothers. But then we decided why bother? It was so bad we didn't want anything free from them. No more comped rooms or shitty buffets, so what's the point? I think maybe I'll still crash there for free every now and then, but my ass will be at a chair in the Borgota when it comes to gambling.
So, good job Harrah's Total Rewards - It must be nice to have such a rewarding program. Too bad everything else about your loyalty model sucks ass. These are easy things to fix. Start to care about your customers, all of them. Make it a place worth staying. Don't treat us like scum. Break your breakage models. If you are loyal to me, I'll be loyal to you.
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