Station to Station

Simplicity is the key to Staion Casinos' linked Boarding Pass player's club
By Jeffrey Compton

Some things seem so simple and popular, you wonder why everyone doesn’t do it! That summarizes my feelings about the Boarding Pass, Station Casinos’ super player’s reward system.

It’s simple! At all four major Station Casinos in Las Vegas—Boulder Station, Palace Station, Sunset Station or Texas Station—you earn one point for every dollar you play, no matter how you pay for your bet. Whether it’s coin, currency or credits, you get one point for every dollar you play. Machine selection and denomination doesn’t matter either—reels, video slots, video poker or video keno, you always earn one point for every dollar you play.

It’s simple! All the points you earn at Boulder Station, Palace Station, Sunset Station or Texas Station are accumulated into one central account. Whenever you want to know how many points you have, just insert your card into any card reader on any slot machine and within seconds, you will know your score (or go to www.myboardingpass.com on the Internet, and type in your account number).

It’s simple! When you want to have a meal in any of the restaurants at Boulder Station, Palace Station, Sunset Station or Texas Station, just go up to the Rewards Center (the slot club booth) or a kiosk, check your balance, read the redemption menu to see how many points are required to do whatever you want to do, and obtain your comp.

It’s popular! The Boarding Pass won “Best Slot Club” in the Las Vegas Review Journal’s 2000 Best of Las Vegas reader’s poll. It also took third place in Casino Player’s 2000 Best of Gaming survey—which is quite astonishing, considering the number of voters who are out-of-town tourists.

So why doesn’t every other multicasino company, other than Harrah’s, attempt the same thing? Because it’s a lot harder than it looks.

“Station Casinos wanted a one-card, all-casino system since the day we opened our second Las Vegas casino, Boulder Station,” says Brad Goldberg, Vice President of Interactive Business Development. “Even though we have four comparable properties all located in the same town, it still took two years of hard work before we debuted the system in April 1999—and it is still an ongoing process. To establish such a system you need a total commitment from top management, plus a high level of trust between each property’s general manager.”

Now I know why every other multicasino company doesn’t do it.

Creating four special casinos

The Station Casinos empire has grown from a single-story, 5,000 sq. ft. casino catering primarily to casino workers to a highly respected, publicly held company operating eight properties in Nevada and Missouri, including the Station Casino Kansas City and the Station Casino St. Charles (near St. Louis), as well as the smaller Barley’s Casino in the Green Valley suburb of Las Vegas and the, Wild West Casino on W. Tropicana Ave. near the I-15 interchange.

Palace Station (first “The Casino” and later “Bingo Palace”) opened in 1976 at the W. Sahara Ave. and I-15 interchange. It was arguably the first of the modern “locals casinos,” a phenomenon that would really explode as Las Vegas quadrupled in size throughout the 1990’s.

After several expansions, the property now has over 900 hotel rooms, five restaurants and a 76,500 sq. ft. casino. Boulder Station followed in 1994, with a 90,000 sq. ft casino, 300 rooms and six restaurants. In 1995 the company moved north, opening Texas Station, with a 91,000 sq. ft. casino, 200 rooms and five restaurants. Two years later, the marvelous Sunset Station opened in the Green Valley suburb, with a 105,500 sq. ft. casino, 448 rooms and six restaurants. And in June 2000, the company purchased the Santa Fe casino in northwest Las Vegas (see side story).

As almost any Vegas local will tell you, Station Casinos excels in food product and customer service. I have personally eaten hundreds of meals at the four Stations and have never had a bad experience. Reel and video slot players are also big fans, as each Station Casino maintains a cutting-edge inventory. Sunset Station is one of the first casinos in town to introduce new games. Last time I visited, several patrons were actively inserting their currency into the casino’s latest acquisition, “Money to Burn.”

Knowledgeable local video poker players are less excited about Station, as none of their casinos offer the number of advantage games found at nearby competitors. Sure, you’ll see plenty of video poker machines at Station Properties, but you won’t find pros like Bob Dancer, who only play games with the highest potential payback percentages.

Getting the most from your points

Though the Boarding Pass utilizes a whole variety of enticements to keep Station Casinos players coming back, the most common rewards are food comps obtained off the redemption menus. Breakfast at the Feast Buffet at Boulder or Sunset is 2,250 points. A dinner buffet at Texas or Palace Station is 4,800 points. A nice sit-down dinner at the Capri Italian Restaurant (Sunset Station) is 15,000 points. At Stations’ upper-end restaurants, meal comps are computed at a rate of 600 points per one Station Buck. (Note: A single-line, five-coin quarter player earns about 550-750 points per hour.)

If you need a place to crash after your meal, then you use your points to get a room. A weekday room at Palace Station is 20,000 points; a weekend room at Sunset runs 36,000 points.

Boulder, Sunset and Texas have on-site movie theaters (a total of 42 different screens), so players can also use their points to see the latest flick. Matinees are 3,000 points, evening showings 4,800 points, and if you need to dump the little ones, each of the three properties also has a Kidsquest, which naturally accepts Station Bucks.

Sunset Station’s redemption menu goes beyond food, room and movies. Members can redeem points for golf at one of four local courses, obtain a car wash, or purchase gift certificates good at several shops located in the nearby Galleria Mall.

While Stations’ point-for-comp redemption appears simple and straightforward, experienced Boarding Pass members pass along the following hints to make your points go even farther:

1) All four Stations run meal point discounts on certain days or during certain times of the day. Check at redemption menus as well as signs around the Reward Centers for the most information.

2) Use the kiosks when obtaining comps to all four Station Feast buffets, the Pizza Palace (Boulder and Palace), or to buy movie tickets. Even though many find kiosks hard to use, you get a 10% point break. If the kiosks are not working properly, go to the Rewards Center and ask for the comp at the kiosk discount.

3) Though Station has put dollar limitations on most of their comps (based on their one dollar equals 600 points formula), you can still get an open comp to the Iron Horse Cafe (Boulder and Palace) and to the Sunset Cafe. Assuming that you are hungry enough for an open comp, you should use the kiosks to obtain them at a 10% point discount.

4) For all other meals, especially at the higher-end restaurants, you obtain your comp after your meal. When your check arrives excuse yourself from the table, go to the Rewards Center or kiosk and request the exact Station Bucks comp needed, based on the pretax total of your bill. If you try to guess how many Station Bucks are needed beforehand and underestimate the cost of your meal, you will have to make up the difference in cash or make a second trip to the booth. If you overestimate the bill, the unused Station Bucks are not refunded to your account but are gone for good. Note: This may not be necessary after the point-of-sale feature is introduced (see below).

Reaching out

Besides transferable points and easy-to-obtain quality comps, the other big plus of the Boarding Pass system is their direct mail program. “All four casinos are very active in sending out quality direct mail,” states Staci Columbo, Sunset Station’s Vice President of Marketing. “Every week, our active customers receive something good from Station Casinos. The offers may be cash, free meals, triple point coupons, point grant coupons (10,000 free points on your next visit), free car wash, free Kidsquest, movie tickets, concert tickets, VIP dinners, and so forth.” According to Columbo, each property is responsible for maintaining their own database and sending out mail, so customers who frequent more than one Station casino will get multiple offers. Offers are based on total coin-in, theoretical win, and frequency of visit.

“Besides local customer offers, we also design specific direct mail, containing free hotel rooms, meals and entertainment, for our out-of-town guests,” says Columbo. “We have packages for those who live in the states bordering Nevada as well as for our customers farther away who only get to visit us a couple of times a year.

“Stations has and will continue to refine a well-rounded approach to our direct mail offers in order to give our customers what they want,” states Columbo. “Every day we are closer to basing our offers on specific customer preferences.”

Now a tip from Compton: If you are trying to maximize your direct mail cash rewards, which can be as high as $50 per week, you should try to direct all your play to only one Station Casino instead of spreading it among all four. I would also recommend three weekly one- or two-hour visits over a single four-to-six hour visit.

Looking to the future

Station Casinos continues to be innovative, and not just with the Boarding Pass. A few years ago, Boulder Station created the Very Important Senior Society (VI$), offering extensive programs above and beyond the usual “cash your social security check with us” scheme, including discounted movies, afternoon dances, exercise classes and investment lectures. Earlier this year, the VI$ expanded to all four casinos. A complete schedule of events can be found in Station Casinos’ well-designed monthly newsletter.

Another area where the company has taken the lead is on the Internet. Besides a website (www.stationscasinos.com) offering information on all the properties, the company has created a user-specific site (www.myboardingpass.com). After you have completed the easy online signup and are given a password, you can check your point totals online and then check out the latest gaming, food, lodging and entertainment offers—some of which are offered only on the Web.

“Much like our direct mail campaign,” states Goldberg, “we are striving to increase the personalization of myboardingpass.com, so that each member will quickly find out exactly what he wants to know about his account and his favorite casino.”

According to Staci Columbo, Station Casinos is also on the verge of introducing a Platinum Boarding Pass for their best players. “Though still in the planning stages,” says Columbo, “I can tell you that our Platinum program will offer core across-the-four-casinos benefits, such as line passes and gift shop discounts plus specific benefits for each casino. We also plan to be very upfront about the number of points required, 90,000 in 90 days, to attain Platinum status.”

Boarding Pass will soon offer point-of-sale comp redemption. No more standing in line at the Rewards Center, just pick your restaurant, eat your meal and hand the card to the cashier who will debit off the correct number of points.

Talk about making simple even simpler.

Santa Fe Sold to Station Casinos On June 3, 2000, Station Casinos entered into an agreement to purchase the popular Santa Fe Hotel & Casino for $205 million. When completed, it will be the seventh Las Vegas-area property owned by Stations. “This is the next step in our ongoing effort to achieve market dominance,” says Glenn Christenson, Station’s chief financial officer. “There aren’t many suitable properties left for our competitors to acquire.” Located in northwest Las Vegas less than two miles from Texas Station, the Santa Fe, which opened in 1991, currently has a 77,800 sq. ft. casino, 200 hotel rooms, a 17,000 sq. ft. ice arena and 60-lane bowling center. Once the deal closes, the property will be renamed “Santa Fe Station.” Other changes, according to Station Casinos’ management, will include “new signage, uniforms and upgrading of the slot floor.” It is also expected that the current Desert Fortune Club will be scrapped and that the casino will become part of Stations’ Boarding Pass player reward system. Though many local Las Vegas players welcome this move based on Station’s reputation for quality facilities and service, there is considerable concern among the Santa Fe’s established video poker customer base. “The Santa Fe has consistently offered considerably looser games than Station Casinos,” says video poker pro Bob Dancer, “and knowledgeable players are concerned that many of these games will vanish under the new regime.” Station also plans to build two new casinos—one in North Las Vegas and one in Green Valley—within the next two years.