Greektown Casino-Hotel Recommits to Local Neighborhood Restaurants

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DETROIT, March 24, 2009 (PRNewswire) — Greektown Casino-Hotel officials announced today that the property will keep in place its commitment to the unique community partnership program that allows Greektown Casino customers to redeem their earned comps at surrounding neighborhood restaurants. Since the opening of the casino, customers who earn comps based on their play have been able to spend those comps at a variety of local restaurants in the Greektown neighborhood. This benefit is the only one of its kind in the Detroit casino market and has earned high praise from Greektown customers.

“Despite adding more than 500 restaurant seats at Greektown Casino-Hotel in the past 90 days, we believe that our relationship with this community is what separates us from our competitors,” said Randall A. Fine, Managing Director of The Fine Point Group, the consulting firm hired to manage Greektown Casino-Hotel, pending regulatory approvals. “Greektown is truly a neighborhood casino-hotel property and, despite the potential short-term gain we might get from copying our competitors’ strategy of requiring comps to be spent only at their restaurants, we wanted to show our commitment to the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and the Greektown neighborhood community. We are very pleased about this decision to keep intact this unconventional program.”

Greektown will continue to allow its customers to redeem their comps, dollar-for-dollar, on-property at the casino and at those participating neighborhood restaurants in the Greektown area. For example, this program allows a Greektown customer to get a $20 comp to Bistro 555 inside the new Greektown hotel tower, or a $20 comp to one of numerous independently-owned Greektown neighborhood restaurants.

Jim Pappas, President of the Greektown Merchant’s Association, said, “We fully realize that with the addition of the casino’s two new restaurants, Greektown could have easily chosen the same path as its competitors and excluded local companies. We are both surprised and grateful for their decision to keep millions of dollars flowing through our restaurants and what that will mean for our businesses, our employees and the city of Detroit. We are sure this was not an easy decision, yet it was the right decision.”

“While many other casino operators may not have made the same decision in our position, offering customers fifteen places to spend their comps – instead of fifteen dollar hamburgers – provides maximum value for our customers’ entertainment dollar,” Fine added. “It’s great for our patrons and it forces us to ensure our internal food and beverage offering will not only be a quality one, but also one priced to be competitive, which will only further benefit our clientele.”

The recommitted relationship will also incorporate new quality standards and coordinated marketing efforts for local restaurants participating in the comp program. Participants will share Greektown marketing materials with their customers and Greektown Casino will include offers exclusive to independent Greektown merchants in its 100,000+ piece monthly mail program.

Located at 555 E. Lafayette Avenue in Detroit’s Greektown Entertainment District, Greektown Casino-Hotel opened on Nov. 10, 2000. Readers of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press have voted Greektown Casino-Hotel Michigan’s and Detroit’s “Best Casino” numerous times. Greektown Casino-Hotel offers such amenities as their all-new International Buffet, the Eclipz Lounge and a VIP lounge for players. In addition to being named “Best Casino” by readers of The News and Free Press, Greektown Casino-Hotel also placed first in other categories in The News’ reader survey, including “Best Slots,” “Best Wait Staff Outfits,” “Best Craps Tables,” “Best Blackjack Tables,” “Best High Rollers Area,” “Best Casino Restaurant,” and “Best Casino Entertainment.” Greektown Casino-Hotel opened its new 400-room hotel tower February 2009. For reservations and group events, call 877-GCH-5554 or visit greektowncasino.com.

Media contact:
Riley Meredith/James Woodrow
Preferred Public Relations
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