First things first, Harrah's wants us to disclose that CasinoMan.net and several other important gaming and travel websites had writers invited to a “Live the Diamond Life” event. The writers were provided with flights, rooms, special events and “Total Rewards” credits by Harrah's PR department. Harrah's has not dictated how we report on the event or in any way placed any restrictions on what we publish (though we had to abide by rules about shooting inside the casino.

As for my own personal disclosure, I am a small time casino player, who prefers $5 table games and keeping my losses to just $100-200 per night at the casino. So, i've never been a considered a high roller or regular at the casino. I have been to Las Vegas about 25 times since 1985, when i stayed at the Riviera while working a booth at COMDEX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMDEX). I've never personally have been comp'ed for anything more than dinner in Las Vegas. So CasinoMan got an email a couple weeks ago asking him to send a representative to Las Vegas to experience Harrah's Total Rewards, Diamond Life. Total Rewards is the player perks program for all Harrah's casinos, worldwide. If you're not a frequent gambler you may not know that casinos, much like airlines or bank credit cards offer a rewards program where customers earn cash, discounts or gifts based on the amount of business (how much you spend) they bring to the vendor.

Harrah's has over 40 Million people registered in the Total Rewards program, where the amount you gamble determines your status. Most players are Gold level, with the top 1% or so of all players falling into 3 groups, Platinum, Diamond and Seven Stars. I've got friends who have been diamond and platinum players and have received lots of comps, so i've been in some large suites at Mandalay Bay, Bellagio and The Wynn.

The Seven Stars treatment seems to be reserved for players who bring $1,000,000+ to play at the casino. Well i've been to casinos in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Both Indian and Corporate casinos in Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut, plus casinos in Canada, the UK and Bahamas. There is nothing like Las Vegas! The prime properties are on the Las Vegas strip and most of the strip is owned by Harrah's with 8 resorts and MGM, with 11 properties. This trip I stayed at Harrah's Planet Hollywood Resort, formerly the Aladdin hotel, where I stayed in fall of 2003.

Monday

I'm all packed and ready to fly to Vegas, coach on Delta, unfortunately the Diamond Life begins in the baggage claim area at McCarran Airport. In my case Harrah's paid for my flight, making my visit fully “comp'ed”. The flight in the middle seat, at the back of Delta's 757 wasn't fun (carry a few extra pounds), but they had wi-fi service and with small touch screen on the seat back allows you play a trivia game, against other passengers to kill some time.

At the Airport, I saw a chauffeur holding a sign, “Expendables Bloggers” and he was there for me and another guest who would arrived in about 40 minutes. I was a bit disappointed that i had to wait, but was glad to have had a few minutes to talk with him and meet the other guest, Scott @itsmescotty who had been to similar events and gave me good sense of what I could expect.

Once at the Planet Hollywood, we entered the Diamond Check-in office and were given our keys within a couple of minutes and headed up the room. I'm happy to say it was clean, something i've found is less common at other large hotel chains.

Harrah's seems to have that well taken care of. I got unpacked, showered and headed down to the cocktail party that had already started. I reconnected with Scott and met a number of other people, including @dribbleglass, @douchlarue and about 8 other “reporters”, most with their significant others or a friend. It was there that i first met the our hosts, members of the Harrah's Total Rewards and PR team and a team from Ogilvypr.com.

Nearly everyone i met in the room was an important component of one of the friendliest group of people that i've met at a business event. The party itself was in a room inside the Diamond player lounge, open for members and guests until 9pm every night. The first thing i noticed were the shrimp were larger than my fingers, then there was the dessert table, which blew everyone away, especially the raspberry mini parfaits. After an hour of meeting each other, we headed across the lobby to Koi (www.koirestaurant.com) a very nice restaurant featuring “California Influenced” Japanese cuisine.

Several great sushi rolls and other raw tuna and some great beef and cooked cod. Everybody had at least 2 or three dishes they just loved. I loved them all. After dinner i spent a little time playing on the slot machines and went to bed.

Stay tuned for part 2.