Monday Morning Miles Talk is a regular series that has some smaller, more quirky ideas to kick off the work week. These are essentially random ideas that I wanted to share with you. Here are the 4 most recent topics.
- Reselling Kids Fire Tablets
- Using Swagbucks’ Referral program to increase your profits
- Reselling the Apple TV 4K
- Reselling Justin Timberlake tickets
If you would like to read even more articles in the series you can click HERE.
Harrah’s New Orleans Diamond Lounge Rules & Review
I was in New Orleans this past weekend for March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day. I stayed at the Harrah’s Hotel which is a part of the Total Rewards program. I reviewed the hotel a few months ago and it is one of the best hotels in the city. But what I wanted to talk about was the Diamond Lounge set up at the casino…it is truly unique within the Total Rewards lineup.
With all of the rule changes to the Total Rewards Diamond Lounge access this year the Harrah’s New Orleans may be the only location not devalued.
The Palm Room
The Diamond lounge at Harrah’s New Orleans is not labeled as such and it is not the easiest place to find. It is actually called the Palm Room and it is located in the back of the high limit tables area. It could easily be mistaken for a lounge where high limit gaming goes on.
I have been to the casino four different times and this was actually my first time stopping at the lounge since it never really stood out before. Plus there really isn’t a need to go to the lounge which is what makes it unique. But, before I get to that I will give you a quick rundown of the lounge’s offering.
The set up inside is on the smaller side and when I stopped in there on Sunday evening it was pretty full. The room has dark wood throughout and a small bar area with a few seats. Most of the seating is at regular tables though.
There was a small buffet with a decent selection of hot items, although I think they sometimes have a small menu to order off of. The buffet had chicken noodle soup, potato salad, pulled pork, baked beans, dinner rolls, and an assortment of cookies. It was a better spread than you see in the Las Vegas lounges most of the time.
When they are doing the small menu set up Diamond members are allowed two food items per party, per day. Seven Star members are allowed 4 food items per party per day. Diamond members can bring in one guest where Seven Stars can bring in three guests.
Drink Policy
The drink policy is what sets Harrah’s New Orleans apart from the other Total Rewards locations, and it is an improvement in my opinion. When you are at the lounge you are told that you are limited to 4 drinks per day as a Diamond member. Seven Stars members are limited to 8 drinks per day.
That sounds punitive since Las Vegas and Atlantic City give you unlimited drinks in the lounge everyday. What makes this policy unique is that you can get those 4 drinks at pretty much any bar in the casino. That includes the awesome steakhouse! You are limited to drinks $15 and under. That is up to $60 in value per day for Diamond card holders, $120 for Seven Star card holders.
While the lounge access across the Total Rewards portfolio has changed, where you need 25,000 tier credits to gain free lounge access, I am not sure if that applies with the 4 free drinks. I asked the lounge attendant and she wasn’t sure what would happen with the changes this month. I tweeted the casino and I am awaiting a response.
This does make the lounge obsolete in my opinion. I would rather get my drinks at one of the restaurants.
Conclusion
I found this policy to be an improvement over other Total Rewards locations. Allowing 4 drinks to be comped at pretty much any bar or restaurant in the casino is an amazing card holder perk. Especially for this trip where I had two buddies with me. I would have had to leave one behind if we went into the lounge for the drinks. This policy also allows you to avoid the lounge’s restrictive hours of operations. You can take advantage of the perk when it works for you.
We were able to max out the $60 while having dinner at the steakhouse. The Korean short ribs are highly recommended by the way ;). And it allowed us all to partake in the perk at the same time.
I rarely find myself having more than a drink or two in the Diamond Lounges in Las Vegas. Because of that I don’t think the limit is unreasonable at all.
One extra bonus perk for Seven Stars members at Harrah’s New Orleans is it sounds like they give you reward credits for the $500 retreat instead of a folio credit. This allows you to use the money on multiple trips. More info on that can be found here.
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Any update to the above? Does Harrah’s New Orleans still allow Diamond without the tier score to access the lounge and/or free drinks? Do I just walk up to any bar and give them my TR card and they should comp the drink or do I need to do something else?
I have not been back since the change so I am not sure.
I am a freelance casino host for Harrah’s/Caesar’s properties. It appears as of now you will need to have a tier score of 25,000 or more to use any Diamond Lounge in the system after March 31st. As we know, this can change. Due to high customer dissatisfaction and lack of notice on the gutting of the Total Rewards Program, they did offer low lever Diamond Members the opportunity to reach 25,000 status until March 31st if they accrued 6000 tier score in that time period. That would extend their Diamond Priveledges until the end of June. It is believed, although we are still awaiting verification, the drink vouchers will also require the 25,000 tier score moving forward. As far as the Seven Stars $500 celebration dinner vouchers (5 $100 vouchers), that policy has been in place all along. Primarily for those who reach Seven Star status at the end of the calendar year. It is more convenient than having to try to use $500 in a month or two.
Don’t other locations give you vouchers you need to use in one shot versus rewards credits though for the 7 stars perk? I thought that is what made this location unique…that you get them added to your balance instead and then can use them somewhere else or for free play etc.
Harrah’s New Orleans gives you $500 in RC in lieu of a folio credit when redeeming your 7Stars retreat. The celebration dinner is a separate thing, 5 – $100 vouchers to be used at your disposal.
Thanks for the clarification Jason. I will update the article to say retreat 🙂