Harrah’s Upgrades Total Rewards

What is acknowledged as the best customer-loyalty program in the industry may be getting better as Harrah’s Entertainment announced a new method to rate non-gaming activity for its Total Rewards program. While it has long been recognized that visitors to casino resorts, especially in Las Vegas, do much more than just gamble, there has been no effective way to track their other activities beyond simply noting where they spend their time. But now, a new technology will allow Harrah’s Entertainment not only to track the activities its customers indulge in outside the casino, but actually reward them.

With 18 percent of company revenue coming from non-gaming sources, the new Total Rewards program will help more fully evaluate the customer, says David Norton, Harrah’s chief marketing officer.

“We will know the customer’s profitability to a much greater extent,” he says. “For example, you could have two $50 average-bet gamblers. One would spend $1,000 on the hotel, spa, shopping etc., while the other would spend $100. In the past, we would have treated them both the same. Inherently we will now know the true value of the customer and reward them appropriately. Exactly how we execute our marketing plans will be refined and evolve as we go along.”

Even non-gambling customers will be eligible to be rewarded for their activity, says Norton.