Status matching is one of the most effortless ways to extract maximum benefits from the airlines and hotels along your travels.

One particular status matching opportunity has existed for a while now, and it’s probably one of the juiciest low-hanging fruit around. I’ve mentioned it before in one of my emails, as well as featuring it in our Reader Success Story from Daniel, so it’s about time that we take a proper in-depth look at the Caesars Rewards status match and how you can use it to gain thousands of dollars’ worth of benefit. 

The idea here is to take advantage of a series of status-matching opportunities to eventually attain rewards that far outstrip those of the original status levels. The end goal? Caesars Rewards Diamond status.

Step 1: Marriott Gold to Wyndham Diamond

To get there, all that’s required is to begin with a standard mid-tier status level within one of the major hotel loyalty programs – the most accessible for Canadians being Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite.

You can earn Marriott Gold by staying 25 nights at Marriott hotels; however, by far the easiest way to do so is to simply sign up for either the American Express Platinum Card or the American Express Business Platinum Card. 

These cards both come with instant Marriott Gold Elite status as a complimentary benefit, and you may enrol your Marriott Bonvoy card to receive a status bump to Gold Elite as soon as you’re a cardholder.

(With the personal Platinum, you can also enrol in Hilton Gold status, which achieves the same purpose as well.)

Marriott or Hilton Gold will be instantly matched by Wyndham Rewards to their top-tier Wyndham Diamond status. Indeed, you may visit this page on the Wyndham Rewards website to view all the details of their publicly advertised status match program. 

Simply by opening a Wyndham Rewards account, you may then request your status match by submitting a screenshot of your Marriott Gold Elite (or Hilton Gold) account, which will then be granted within 3–5 business days. 

Once your Diamond starts is granted, it’ll be valid for 90 days, unless you stay 14 nights with Wyndham hotels to extend it for a year – so you should definitely take action on the next step within that 90-day window.

Step 2: Wyndham Diamond to Caesars Diamond

And why should we care about Wyndham Rewards, a hotel chain whose brands, ranging from Super 8 to Days Inn, don’t exactly inspire a great deal of excitement? 

You guessed it. By some twist of fate, Wyndham Rewards and Caesars Rewards have teamed up to offer a reciprocal status match program, meaning that Wyndham Rewards Diamond status also gets you Ceasars Rewards Diamond status. Once you’ve created a Ceasars Rewards account, simply visit this page to match your Diamond status from Wyndham to Caesars.

(Note that while I had received an email from Wyndham notifying me that I had earned Diamond, I had never received any such email from Caesars, so you’ll want to log in to your Caesars Rewards account periodically to check up on your status.) 

It’s the sheer asymmetry between the two programs that proves to be the most rewarding, because while Wyndham Diamond might get you some complimentary bottled water the next time you roll up into that roadside Travelodge, Caesars Diamond will propel you towards complimentary dinners, Las Vegas shows, and even a four-night stay in the Bahamas.

What Does Caesars Diamond Get You?

Let’s take a look at those benefits of Diamond status in detail:

• Priority lines for check-in, shows, on-property restaurants, casino games, etc.

• Complimentary valet parking

• Two free tickets to a Vegas show per month

• $100 Celebration Dinner at participating Caesars-owned restaurants

• No resort fees on most Caesars hotel stays

• Complimentary four-night stay at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas

You’ll notice that most of the benefits are concentrated in Las Vegas, where the Caesars Entertainment group operates a large number of hotels and casinos, chief among which is the iconic Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

For anyone planning a trip to Las Vegas, taking advantage of the Caesars Rewards status match can really take your trip to the next level with very little effort on your part, as reader Daniel recently reported in his Success Story. 

Even better, if you and your spouse were to both take advantage of the status match originating from your respective Amex Platinum cards, then you could double-up on the $100 Celebration Dinner and Las Vegas show tickets, extracting even more value.

Note that there are a few benefits listed on the Caesars Diamond page that are specified as for “earned Diamond members” only, such as the VIP Laurel Lounge access at Caesars hotels and the complimentary two-night stay at Caesars Bluewaters Dubai.

This language means that members who obtained Diamond via a Wyndham status match (and therefore didn’t “earn” their status in the traditional sense) unfortunately aren’t eligible for these benefits. 

While a majority of Diamond benefits are realized in Las Vegas, and many of the other benefits (such as priority check-in and complimentary valet parking) can be used at other Caesars locations around the world too, clearly the most valuable benefit is the four-night stay at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Let’s take a closer look at maximizing this benefit in particular.

How to Book Your Four “Free” Nights in the Bahamas

Once you’ve been granted Caesars Diamond status, you’ll need to call 1-800-752-9711 to book your four free nights at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Be sure to mention you’re booking a complimentary package as a Diamond member.

Note that not all dates may be available for the complimentary four-night stay, so a bit of flexibility might be required in planning the trip. 

The Atlantis Paradise Island is a massive resort complex, and the specific room in which you’ll be booked will depend on whether you’re travelling on an off-peak date (January, February, May, June, September, October) or a peak date (March, April, July, August, November, December).

On off-peak dates, you’ll be put up the Royal Tower, which is a much nicer and newer part of the resort than the Beach Tower, where you’d be booked into during peak dates (and by all accounts sounds rather old and decrepit).

Either way, you’ll also be granted access to Aquaventure, the Atlantis’s 141-acre pool and waterpark complex, as well as a $100 Free Slot Play, which is Caesars’s sneaky attempt to get you to blow money on the slot machines. Be careful with that one! 😉

Alas, many data points indicate that even though Caesars Diamond status includes a resort fee waiver as one of its benefits, that waiver does not apply on the complimentary four-night stays here at Atlantis Bahamas. You’ll still pay the resort fees of US$55.94 per night, plus an additional US$10 gratuity for a total of US$66.95 per night.

For four nights, you’re therefore looking at US$270 in resort fees, so even though the benefit is advertised as four “free” nights in the Bahamas, do be aware that there’s a rather exorbitant resort fee to be paid as well (and of course, you’ll probably have to shell out for meals, activities, etc. while you’re on the property).

One final thing to note is that even though the Caesars website indicates that the four-night Atlantis stay must take place by January 31, 2020, the reality is that this promotion has been extended year after year in the past, so in all likelihood it’ll continue beyond January into the rest of 2020 as well.

Atlantis Bahamas is a rather unique property in that it maintains a marketing relationship with Caesars Entertainment while technically being a part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection.

Therefore, Marriott elite members may also expect some level of special treatment here at Atlantis, although the resort is indeed exempt from offering elite members free breakfast, and also doesn’t have an Executive Lounge.

So if you’re visiting Atlantis as a Marriott Platinum Elite member or above, you can probably expect a late checkout subject to availability and a few snacks or beverages as a welcome amenity, but not much more than that. 

Matching Onwards to Hard Rock Hotels, M Life, and Hyatt

The story doesn’t end there. With a bit of extra legwork, you may even leverage your Caesars Diamond status into a variety of other status levels in even more programs.

First off, Caesars Diamond can also be matched onwards to a variety of other casino and gaming chains, such as Hard Rock Hotels’s top-tier Rock Royalty status, which comes with two complimentary nights, two tickets to a comedy show, and a one-time entry for two into the Fresh Harvest Buffet or Legends Lounge at a Hard Rock Hotel. 

Just like that – two comped nights at a Hard Rock in the bag. If you’re the type who likes to embark on spontaneous poker weekends, it doesn’t get much better than this!

The status-matching pathway to Hyatt, meanwhile, goes through yet another gaming-oriented hotel chain: M Life, the loyalty program for frequent participating at MGM Resorts.

While Caesars Diamond can be matched to M Life Gold, the caveat here is that this particular “step” in the pathway must be done in-person at an MGM Resorts property.

Many data points suggest that it can be done at The Borgata in Atlantic City, but a few data points also indicate that it can also be done at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as well. If you’re in Vegas taking advantage of your Caesars Diamond benefits, it certainly doesn’t hurt to drop by the MGM Grand to see if you can match your way to M Life Gold.

If you do manage to match your way to M Life Gold, you can then request an onwards match to Hyatt Explorist, as indicated on this page on the Hyatt website. A list of Hyatt Explorist benefits can be found here; it’s definitely more closely aligned with Marriott’s Gold Elite rather than Platinum Elite (i.e., it doesn’t grant breakfast or lounge access), but it still gives you a nice leg up for the next time you stay at a Hyatt hotel.

Conclusion

From a single American Express Platinum Card or Business Platinum Card, one can earn Marriott Gold, then Wyndham Diamond, then Caesars Diamond (four free nights, check!), then Hard Rock’s Rock Royalty (two free nights, check!), then potentially M Life Gold and Hyatt Explorist as well. For those of you who successfully take advantage of all these benefits, the $499 net annual fees on these cards clearly pay themselves off multiple times over.

This status-matching sequence is probably best suited to those who are likely to travel to Las Vegas or the Bahamas often (which may be why I haven’t given it too much attention thus far), but whether you’re considering a single weekend of debauchery in Sin City or a relaxing family getaway in the Bahamas, there is incredible value to be extracted here with minimal effort required.