Joseph, a 30-something New Yorker, recently went on a weekendtrip to Atlantic City, New
Jersey, where he hoped to stay at one ofhis favorite Harrah’s resorts and enjoy some gaming and
entertain-ment. Unfortunately for Joseph, he picked a weekend when allthe hotels were
booked solid. But after swiping his Harrah’s TotalRewards card to play the tables, the pit boss
came by and directed him to the front desk. He was told that a room had become avail-able, and
he could stay in it for a reduced rate of $100 a night.When he checked out two nights later,
Joseph was told that all the room charges were on the house.Was this sudden vacancy a case of
lady luck smiling down on anAtlantic City visitor? Or was it a case of a company that knows
what managing customer relationships truly means? If you ask any ofHarrah’s Total Rewards
program members, they will tell you without hesitation that it’s the latter. “They are very good at
upgrading or insome cases finding a room in a full hotel,” Joseph reported later.“And I always
liked the fact that no matter where I gambled, At-lantic City, Vegas, Kansas City, or New
Orleans, or which of their ho-tels I gambled in, I was always able to use my [Total Rewards
card].”Harrah’s customers like Joseph aren’t the only ones praising itscustomer-relationship
management (CRM) capabilities. In fact,Harrah’s program is considered by CRM experts to
set the goldstandard. With the Total Rewards program at the center of its busi-ness and
marketing strategies, Harrah’s Entertainment has theability to gather data, convert that data
into customer insights, anduse those insights to serve up a customer experience like no other.
