Mistakes and fixes
Hotel, resort and casino marketing calls after a trip: nine mistakes and fixes
Most of the mistakes below are mine, and most of them happened in the first two weeks after a trip, when my phone suddenly learned a lot about my life. Hotels, resorts and casinos call and text after a Las Vegas visit for a dull reason, and the trouble starts when we answer them as if the reason were sinister or, worse, as if every message were harmless.
How they got the number
You gave it to them. A room booking asks for a phone number, and so does a rewards card sign-up, a show ticket, a restaurant reservation or a free-play offer at a slot-machine kiosk. Some of that information goes into marketing systems, and some of those systems send offers for months or years. Nobody has to hack anything. It's a mailing list that happens to ring. That doesn't make the calls welcome, and it doesn't make every caller who mentions a Las Vegas property genuine, but it does tell you where to start.
None of this requires distrust of a whole industry. Hotels and casinos are in the business of bringing people back, and most of the messages are what they look like: an offer, a reminder, an invitation to book. The mistakes below come from either of two extremes. One is trusting a message because it names a place you've been. The other is treating every message as a threat and then reacting in ways that make the problem worse.
Nine mistakes and what to do instead
- Treating a hotel's name in the message as proof it's the hotel
A caller who mentions the property you stayed at has shown that they know something. They haven't shown that they are the hotel. Information from old breaches and listings can be sold and combined, so a scammer can build a message around a trip you really took.
Do instead: compare the message with your booking confirmation and use only the contact details printed there.
- Replying STOP to a text that looks like a scam
STOP is the right answer to a business you recognize, and the wrong one to a stranger with a strange link. A reply tells the sender your number is live.
Do instead: delete the text, and forward it to 7726 (it spells SPAM) if you want your carrier to know. Save STOP for senders you can place.
- Reading "how did they get my number?" as a sign you were hacked
The answer is almost always the boring one from the section above. Suspicion is a fine instinct, but pointed at the wrong target it wastes your evening.
Do instead: assume marketing first, then judge the message by what it asks you to do.
- Reading out a card number or a code to "hold" a room
Marketing wants a booking. A scam wants a payment, a code or a click. Real marketing invites you to book through the resort's own website or app. A scam asks for a deposit in gift cards, a code that was just texted to you, or a decision within the hour, because marketing can wait and fraud can't.
Do instead: hang up and call the front desk using the number on the official site. Marketing texts usually come from a short code or a business number and offer a way to stop, while scam texts often come from personal-looking numbers with a strange link.
- Deciding a "casino host" is automatically fake, or automatically real
People who play under a rewards card do sometimes get a call or text from a named host offering a room or a meal. That contact is tied to your account, and the host can mention things only the property would know, such as your tier. If you never held a card there, a "host" calling out of the blue is more likely a marketing script or something worse.
Do instead: say "I'll call the property," then dial the front desk from the official website. A real host understands.
- Never touching the opt-out settings
Real marketing has real exits. Reply STOP once to a business text and delete the thread. On a call, say plainly "please remove me from your list" and note the date. Many rewards programs have communication preferences in your account, and many resort companies publish a privacy contact for deletion requests.
Do instead: work through the steps in the guide to loyalty program opt-outs and keep a copy of anything you send.
- Expecting the Do Not Call Registry to cover a casino you visited
The registry has existed since 2003, and you can sign up at donotcall.gov or by phone at 1-888-382-1222. It trims honest sales calls. It doesn't stop scammers, and a business you have recently dealt with may still contact you.
Do instead: register, then add direct opt-outs with each company that matters.
- Skipping the card statement after the trip
A stolen card number is a bigger problem than a pushy room offer, and the statement is where you would see it first.
Do instead: read the statement a few days after you get home. If something looks wrong, call the number on the back of the card.
- Assuming a 702 or 725 caller must be the resort, or can't be
Strip resorts use Las Vegas numbers, so it's often true, and it is no rule. A call center in another state can show a local-looking code, and a real resort employee can call from a cell phone with any area code. The number checker shows what a code covers and won't tell you who owns the line, and I would distrust anything that claims to.
Do instead: judge the ask and not the code. The 702 and 725 guide shows four sample calls, and the timeshare guide covers the more aggressive cousin of these pitches.
The settings I'd flip today
Two filters cut down the noise from every kind of caller. On iPhone, choose Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers, and on Android with the Google Phone app open Phone, tap the three dots, then Settings, then Caller ID & spam. Neither one is a verdict on any company, so check your voicemail now and then. If you want to report something worse than marketing, ReportFraud.ftc.gov is the place, and the FCC's consumer pages cover unwanted texts and calls.
A small observation from my own phone: the calls arrive in waves, usually a few weeks after a trip and again around holidays and big events. That fits marketing calendars better than random chance. It's a guess from experience and not a measurement, so take it as color. This is general information, not legal advice.