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last
update 9. August 2023
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How to count your Hard Rock
visits? |
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2022 was the start of a new loyalty
program called Unity. What this means for official counting and
tracking of visits remains to be seen.
The fact that there was no smooth transition from Rewards to
Unity is such a shame for Hard Rock International, because even more than a year after the sudden closure of Rewards, Unity
isn't working in many places, many locations aren't included and visits are not tracked properly.
Additionally four non-hardrock Florida Seminole Casinos count in
Unity as well as
a visit: Immokalee, Brighton, Coconut Creek and Hollywood Classic.
And what about all the new rock shops, will they count or not? There
is no answer and no coherent policy from HRI.
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Once upon a time it was all
clear and common sense: ONE Location, a Cafe or a Hotel, is ONE
visit.
But
then came Hard Rock Rewards, the official loyalty program since
about 2010, and totally screwed it up.
I explain you here all the errors in the way of counting by Hard
Rock Rewards ignoring logic, math and advice.
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Several older,
mostly closed
before 2001 locations, and two new locations aren't included in the system and therefore
don't count:
old Bali, old Houston
#1, old Hong Kong
#1, old Jakarta
#1, old Kowloon
#1, old Orlando, old Osaka #1, old Phoenix #1, old San Francisco,
Taichung, old Taipei #1
as well as London Casino and Manchester Casino.
THAT IS 13 OF THEIR OWN OLD LOCATIONS BEING IGNORED IN REWARDS!
Surprisingly,
the 11/2018 relocated and new Hollywood,FL cafe doesn't count as a new visit
neither.
By doing this the Hard Rock brand in a very ignorant way cheats
itself.
The HRC Punta Cana Blue Mall
cafe (08/17-03/20) visit credit doesn't exist anymore, since 05/21 its
name has been changed to
the new Punta Cana Downtown location (02/21-today).
This means 2 different locations, but only 1 visit credit for all
who've been to both locations.
This error has been corrected as of 01/2022.
It's two separate Rewards locations now.
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Some cafes count
twice, but it's the same location:
they only had a change of
ownership (Nassau, Cayman Island, Panama, Cancun)
or a name change
(Kanata to Corel Center)
or an system change of currency (Yangon, Margarita).
This
is such a stupid perversion of counting visits. It's exactly
the same place, no reason at all for a second swipe!
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1 location = 2 visits ?
At most hotels, but
not all, you get 2 visits credited: one for your stay and another
one for the rock shop,
while at others you get/got only one visit.
To top that, at the Punta Cana Hotel & Casino you've got (for about
two years around 2011)
even a 3rd visit for the Casino rock shop,
a few steps away from the
Hotel rock shop, selling almost the same range of identical
products.
Logic and
mathematics are totally left out !!! Well done ...
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Some rock shops/outlets
count/counted as well as a regular visit but others don't:
These shops count/counted:
Andorra city,
Athens Plaka,
Athens Port of Piraeus #2, Berlin Checkpoint Charlie, Budva, Kotor, Malaga city,
Mallorca city,
Riviera Maya golf rock
shop,
Sacramento city pop-up, Valencia city, as well as Dubrovnik and Vientiane
(supposed to become full cafes in the future),
airport shops at
AGP, BUD, HAM, IBZ, MUC, PMI #1 & #2, PRG, PUJ #1 & #2, EZE, AEP (old & new location count as the
same visit. WTF !),
Lyon airport
(became an official visit only AFTER it closed. WTF !).
These shops at first didn't count or were hidden visits
and now are official:
Rome Vatican rock shop, Venice Rialto rock shop,
Seville tourist office outlet, Valencia train station
These shops are hidden visits in the system:
Gran Canaria Blvd Oasis,
Penang retail, Shenzhen Hotel rock shop, Sun City rock shop 2, Tokyo
Roppongi retail
These shops don't/didn't count:
Athens port of Piraeus #1,
Bucharest Baneasa mall outlet, Dubai Bluewaters rock shop, Dubai Port Rachid outlet, Miami
Gardens stadium,
Paris Disneyland outlet,
Phnom Penh airport rock shop,
Phuket Central outlet,
Punta Cana
golf rock shop,
Reykjavik airport outlet,
Rio de Janeiro
Corcovado train station rock shop, Rio de Janeiro Rio Sul Mall
outlet,
St. Petersburg airport outlet,
St. Petersburg city outlet
All these shops offer mostly identical merchandise as in the cafe.
They can't be compared to a real location, a cafe or a hotel
and IMHO shouldn't be given a visit credit unless they go by a
different name and offer a range of different merchandise products.
Only Berlin Checkpoint Charlie, Budva, Cordoba, Hong Kong The Peak,
Kotor, Miami
Gardens stadium, Mykonos, Punta Cana golf rock shop,
Riviera Maya golf rock shop, Siem Reap airport rock
shop, Tokyo NRT airport rock shop
and Tokyo Asakusa rock shop qualify for this.
Anything else?
Yes, of all
the existing/former Hard Rock Live locations only Orlando counts as
a visit. Why? IT JUST
DOESN'T MAKE SENSE !!!
The Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens doesn't count neither. It's
the biggest HR branded event venue and a limited selection of
merchandise exists.
So that's why I include it in my personal count.
Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati, unlike other HR Casinos, doesn't count
as a visit neither. Nobody understands why.
Your online order got you the Hard
Rock Direct visit. LOL
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Hard Rock Hotel bad practice:
Some Hotels only give/gave
a visit credited if booking at a 'qualifying rate'.
Now that's
really annoying. When I'm there, I'm there, no matter how much I paid
for the room.
If 2 persons share a room,
only the name on file, the one who paid for it, gets the visit credit, the
other person doesn't get it,
even though staying at the hotel,
probably sharing the payment. Sometimes 'Customer Care' resolves
this problem.
Feeling confused after reading all this? Yes, who would not be
confused. Even long time collectors are.
Most of them gave up to count ONE location ONE visit and sillily followed the
inexistant logic of the Rewards program.
This means wrong numbers are common sense now. I actively keep both
ways of counting.
One problem is, that Hard Rock Int'l never showed the least
interest in making any correction or adaption. It just got
worse.
IMHO Rewards, besides from not offering any real rewards, was a farce, due to all
that's mentioned above.
But all this is
news from the past. It's over. Rewards doesn't exist anymore.
Unity, the new loyalty program, as of today, doesn't look promising
when it comes to:
- tracking your all time visits
- showing all past and present locations (properly named)
- any real rewards for members
Regardless of all that, I still love the hobby
of course!
I'm a traveller aiming at more
than just visiting a restaurant and buying a souvenir,
it's about meeting friends,
visiting new cities/countries and adding value to a destination.
This
is a great thing!
And I keep my collection of about 1000 shot glasses and 400
t-shirts. |
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