FLASH1296
Well-Known Member
The following is from Anthony Curtis' website:
The job of a casino host is to "develop players," meaning to cultivate relationships with customers in order to lock in their loyalty to the casino. The host, also known as the player-development representative and casino marketing executive, issues comps of varying worth (depending on his or her rung on the marketing ladder) -- as you say in your question, booking rooms and restaurant reservations. But comps go a lot further than that.
Hosts also issue tickets to casino production shows and headliners, as well as special events such as holiday and special-event parties, boxing and Ultimate Fighting and World Wrestling matches, NASCAR races, and the like. They arrange for limos to be dispatched to and from the airport and strip clubs, reserve tee times on the casino golf course, make appointments at the casino spa, issue invitations to casino gambling tournaments, and make introductions to casino bosses, restaurant and showroom maitre d’s, and other players.
The top marketing executives who host the highest of high rollers send the company business jet to pick up and drop off their players. They take them on excursions around the area and the globe. They hook up some players with call girls (this is illegal and risks the host’s job, but that doesn’t stop it from happening) and celebrities.
The sky’s the limit. Our book Whale Hunt in the Desert contains stories about a host sending the casino’s entire fleet of limos with a Malaysian whale’s entourage of 40 to In N Out for burgers and shakes; another host booking a week-long charter-yacht trip for a crap whale around the Greek Isles -- and accompanying him; a third inviting his top players to "beauty parties" with Playboy Playmates, Miss Universes, and porn stars; and a host arranging for a player’s garage band to perform at the Hard Rock’s Joint as the opening act for the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Hosts have varying authority to set up credit lines and establish minimum and maximum bets for players (credit managers attend to players whose bets exceed the host’s authority). They can also make gambling deals with players. For example, slot hosts can issue free machine play, while table-game hosts can hand out "show-up money." Many high rollers receive free play in the form of non-negotiable checks for their first bets; if the player bets $50,000 a hand, he receives two or three $50,000 checks to start the action. And they can offer discounts on losses -- for example, 5% on a loss of more than $250,000, 10% on a loss of more than $500,000, or 15% on a loss of $1 million or more.
As far as climbing the corporate ladder, in the old days, hosts came up via the pit. They started out as dealers, floormen, pit bosses, shift bosses, and casino managers. When it was time to leave the trenches, they went upstairs into the executive offices, where they finished their careers hobnobbing with the nabobs.
These days, however, hosts can and do start out in casino marketing. And they can work their way up the ladder, but that doesn’t happen automatically, due solely to seniority or popularity. A host’s job is one of the toughest to land in a casino. And it’s hard to hang onto, as well. The job description cited in the first paragraph tells the tale: Hosts are, perhaps, the most visible representatives of a casino property and it’s their task not only to earn the loyalty of players large and small, but also to walk a fine line between the players and the bosses; they have to hone their communication skills and business instincts to keep their players happy without giving away the company store. It's easy to provide comps, but they have to make sure their players are earning them. That's sometimes not so easy.
They also have to be lucky, with their players losing more than they win. They have to fight their own greed, to milk cash cows as long as possible, rather than giving in to the temptation to slaughter them on the spot for the meat on their bones. Hosts are also often morally compromised, secretly rooting for their players, some of whom become close friends, to lose lose lose. And they can get caught up in the high-roller lifestyle whether or not they can afford it, which can leave them deep in a financial hole.
The most successful hosts commit years and decades to building a list of clients and once they do, the only place left to go in the corporate hierarchy is into management as directors or VPs of casino marketing. They often move laterally as well, taking their "books" of big players to new casinos, which steal them away from their old casinos with higher salaries, better perks, and more discretionary authority.
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