When I’m not Point Me’s go-to casino hotel expert, my day job is an elementary school teacher. And it’s been a grueling couple of months. I couldn’t wait for a much needed poker getaway and status match trip to Atlantic City, at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Three hotel statuses were on the way: M life status, World of Hyatt, and Rock Royalty.
My Casino Hotel Status Match Journey To Date…
Status matching to Wyndham is where it all started…
In the last several months, I’ve written about the backdoor status match that enabled anyone with hotel status to match to Diamond status at Wyndham Rewards. This in turn matched to Total Rewards Diamond, a program later renamed to Caesars Rewards Diamond.
Read: How To Status Match From Marriott To Wyndham & Total Rewards (Caesars Rewards)
Read: What Are The Benefits of Caesars Rewards Diamond?
Read: How To Get Comp Rooms At Casinos: Free Nights In Dubai, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City
Last weekend, I was able to leverage my newly minted Caesars Rewards Diamond status even further. My Caesars Rewards Diamond, and subsequent matching, allowed a friend and I to enjoy an almost free weekend in Atlantic City.
If you’re keeping track at home:
- Marriott Rewards (Bonvoy) → Wyndham Rewards
- Wyndham Rewards → Caesars Rewards
- Caesars Rewards → M Life, World of Hyatt, and Rock Royalty (See Below!)
1. MGM’s M Life Status Match From Caesars Rewards
The only way acquire MGM’s M life Gold (without playing a crazy amount of slots or table games) is to use a status match promotion offered by the Borgata.
But first, some background. I’ve claimed before that I’m far from perfect in this hobby. The purpose of this trip was to rectify a mistake that I made a few years ago when Hyatt switched to the World of Hyatt program. That year, I forgot to match my Hyatt Diamond status to M life Gold!
That meant that when my status lapsed I was stuck with the status given to me through my Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card, Discoverist. For someone with a family, I lost those ever important Club Access awards. Therefore, when I saw an opportunity to gain Hyatt Explorist status and Club Access awards, I jumped on it. The first part to doing that was acquiring M life Gold.
M life Gold is MGM’s mid-level status but gives some top tier benefits that will save time and money at MGM properties.
Now back to this Borgata M life match. Per an earlier conversation I had with a Hyatt executive, I learned that this match must be completed before February 28th or no Club Access awards would be earned. Therefore, I set aside a weekend in February to make the journey. I booked an American Airlines roundtrip flight direct from Memphis to Philadelphia using 15,000 British Airways Avios that I acquired via the Chase British Airways Signature Visa card and $11.20 in taxes.
Status Matching To M Life At Borgata Atlantic City
Part of the benefits of this status match is a complimentary room good on any night. As I was going to be in the area for two nights, I needed to figure out what to do for another night. The problem for me was that I wanted to be as close to Borgata as possible since they have the largest poker room in Atlantic City.
I tend to play until early into the morning which makes it tough switching hotels. I also wasn’t thrilled about paying a $300 cash rate either. Therefore, I explained the situation to an M life Rewards representative at Borgata. The representative, aghast that I was even considering going to another hotel, spoke to her manager and offered me a second complimentary night. Score!
The only caveat was that I was on the hook for the resort fees of $22.23/night. Comped resort fees is one area where Caesar’s loyalty program has an edge over MGM. With Caesar’s, diamond members do not pay resort fees on paid or comped nights.
Arrival To Borgata Atlantic City
Upon arrival to the hotel, I went to the M life desk. There, I showed them my Caesars Rewards Diamond card and received got my M life Gold card. In addition to the two free nights, I also gained:
- $100 match play offer
- $25 in Express Comps
Unfortunately, my friend who is Caesars Rewards Platinum, could not match to Pearl status through this method. We were able to skirt that by matching his Hyatt Discoverist, a benefit of the Chase World of Hyatt credit card, to gain him M life Pearl status. However, the only real benefit at that level is free parking.
2. World of Hyatt Status Match From MGM’s M Life
From here, the next status match was as simple as it can be. MGM Resorts and Hyatt have a partnership. In order to do a Hyatt status match, I logged onto the Hyatt status matching site. From there I clicked on the opt in button.
Next I just had to input all of my Hyatt login information.
After successfully logging in the site directed me to log into my M life account.
Finally, after logging in a message appeared saying my account would be updated within 24 hours. It took only about 12 hours for my inbox and boom! I got the Hyatt status match and a welcome email giving me Hyatt Explorist status.
3. Hard Rock Casino’s Rock Royalty Status Match From M Life
After acquiring the two major statuses that I came to Atlantic City for, I began wondering what other casinos I could match to my M life Gold status. Turns out there are a lot of other options! However, for this trip I decided to only match one more, Hard Rock Casino.
My M life Gold status gave me Hard Rock’s top tier status Rock Royalty. On this trip, we used the free buffet for two benefits and the $100 in free play. The casino gave me an additional $10 and refunded me another $10 for the parking they charged. Unfortunately, during my free play, we ran into an issue, and I only got about $35 of the $120 I had been awarded. In addition, I got two comped nights that can be used anytime in the next 90 days along with 2 passes to Howie Mandel’s Comedy Club.
Having top tier Hard Rock status enabled us to skip a very long buffet line so that we could catch our flight out on time.
Tip: Why You Should Wait Until Your Next Trip To Casino Status Match
I didn’t continue status matching for one reason: timeline stipulations. I would like to get back to Atlantic City for another poker weekend within the next few months. Therefore, having additional comped weekend nights would save me another large expense. When I return, I will then take advantage of other status matches for a potential third cheap trip.
Unfortunately for my friend, we found that his Pearl status was worth almost nothing at other casinos. All of the rooms he was offered via comps had to be used Sunday-Thursday nights and the free plays benefits were small: less than $25 or nonexistent.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, my almost 30 hours of poker playing did not give me the massive wins that I was hoping. However, due to the fact that my out of pocket expenses totaled just under $120 for my roundtrip flight, rental car, two weekend nights and food, I still consider it a great weekend. In the long run, this insane status matching promotion will be bearing fruit for a long time.
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28 comments
Well writing this article after the February expiration was certainly helpful
Tom,
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the trip till the end of the month myself so no way to write up a TR until I got back. However, this match to Hyatt and the deadline I’ve covered previously:
https://pointmetotheplane.boardingarea.com/2018/12/20/hyatts-milestone-rewards-changes-a-faq-of-everything-you-need-to-know/
The only thing you don’t get now is the Club Access awards. Everything else is still on the table so a ton of benefits to be had! Thanks for reading.
Thanks for posting. Great and informative post. 2 questions. 1) Do you know if any other Hard Rock hotels match Mlife Gold? Las Vegas? 2) For the 2 free nights could you have done those 2 nights instantly? How does it say you redeem those free nights? Any black out dates or restrictions? Thanks again for posting.
Mike, The Hard Rock hotels are franchised and don’t link to each other as easily as one would think. Upon signing up I asked about their membership program and was told that if I earn comps at their hotel that they aren’t always transferable to the other Hard Rock properties. Therefore, for that I would call ahead and ask. As far as their free nights, no blackout dates or restrictions for Rock Royalty (Caesars Diamond/Mlife Gold equivalent). However, their lower tier restricted dates Sun-Thurs. I’m able to login to my account online and book the free nights that way. If I was going to come into town and wanted to use them that night/next day I would call their loyalty desk and explain the situation, have them note it in the account, and you should be good. That’s basically what I did at the Borgata and had no issues getting them to comp my nights upon arrival.
Is it still possible to replicate this method for next year? I have Bonvoy Platinum, but I’d like to get Explorist status next year w/ club access. If I match to Wyndham and Caesars now will that status stick around through February of next year?
We have no idea how long this status match will be open. Could be a few more weeks or months. I would jump on it asap as its already been live for 6 months. If you do the match now you will retain Caesars Diamond through Jan. 31 of 2020. Also, note that as of Feb. 28 Hyatt ended giving Club Access with matches and those now are only given away by meeting their qualifying nights. However as a matched Explorist you will gain every other benefit.
[…] I plan on attempting my M Life Status match there for Hyatt status. Even after two years of FC membership, I am still on the fence if I should go for a third year because I don’t find myself at these resorts as much as when I was a D.I.N.K. H.E.N.R.Y, but I was able to milk it for these first two years! If you have time then play th estaus match game: […]
Were you already a MLife member when you matched your TR Diamond to MLife Gold? I see that the promo page says the offer is valid for new members only. I am wondering if they enforce that and if they do, it there are any workarounds for current members.
Yes. I was Mlife Pearl due to my Hyatt Discoverist status. I had zero problems matching. However, I did have a friend that called in and they told him on the phone they wouldn’t due it. He hasn’t actually made the trip to try though.
Hi- I am curious- were you able to use the free room at the Borgata on the same day that you status matched? And did you need a physical card from Caesars rewards or can you show them your card on the app? Thanks!
Hey Kasey,
I got a free room the night of my arrival. However, I did call ahead of time and spoke to someone at the rewards desk. They were able to get me a tentative comp night ahead of time with the condition that I could prove my status upok arrival. It worked out really nice. They took a physical card, but I had a friend at the property over Memorial Day who status matched using the app without any problem as well.
Is this match offer only at the Borgata? Could I not simply head to MGM National Harbor and request a match from my Caesars Diamond to Mlife Gold?
Never hurts to ask! As far as I know Borgata is the only place offering the match. However, if you get a match at National Harbor let me know to have another data point.
After you get M Life Gold, you get comp stays (in website online) in almost all MGMs.
So far I have stayed
Borgata – 8 Nights
MGM springfiled -2 nights
MGM National Harbor – 3 nights
Going to stay in Las vegas:
Ballagio – 3 nights
Newyork Hotel – 4 nights
with ceasars diamond – 4 night free in Atlantis Bahamas
Awesome! Love a good success story.
[…] ended up in Philadelphia and have been trying to pull off this status match chain for quite some time now. I missed the February 2019 deadline to get Hyatt Explorist in order to get suite upgrades. However […]
I’m Diamond Caesars thru Jan 2020 (on pace for Platinum in 2020) and considering a short trip to AC for the Mlife status match. If I status match this fall, when would my Mlife Gold expire? Is there a timing benefit of waiting until January?
Status with Mlife expires on October 31 so your best bet is waiting till November 1st to do the status match. For Mlife there is no difference between matching status in November or January.
Bill, I have read several of your articles and you always provide really good information. Just wanted to say thank you I really appreciate everything I have learned from you.
Timothy,
Thanks for the kind words! I love writing and glad that there are readers out there that find it useful. I just wish I had more time to do it as I have a ton of ideas, but very limited time during the school year.
I’m Diamond Caesars, Bonvoy Plat, and looking to match MLIFE plat so I can match to Hyatt for a Hawaii trip in December. I am heading to Vegas in 2 days. Any thoughts on getting a casino to match? I can do this in 2 player mode as well. Thank you!!!
Hey,
You can match your mlife platinum to Hyatt discoverist online so do that at a minimum. However the benefits you gain are almost nil. Even several months after writing this I have not heard of anyone successfully getting a match anywhere else but Borgata. Sorry I can’t be of more assistance. If you have some time you can try a few of the casinos and ask, as maybe we will both be surprised. Would love an update either way if you do so!
Good luck. I made a trip to Vegas after the Labor Day holiday to utilize my recently acquired Diamond Caesars (Bonvoy Titanium–>Wyndham match). Flamingo wouldn’t even give me a true room upgrade, only a “view”. Their host said I didn’t have enough casino play (I never will as I only play NL hold’em poker). Other than the dedicated wait lines and not having to pay resort fees, Diamond wasn’t much of a status upgrade. Parking is free, but I flew. Can’t imagine the MLife desks caring much about someone’s Caesars status.
I really enjoy reading your articles Bill. Here is my question. I am Diamond Plus On Royal Caribbean which matches to Mlife Platinum. I am going to Vegas On January 1, 2020 and have two comped nights at the Bellagio and two at Paris. I have read that Caesar’s match program ends on December 31st is that correct . Is there any way I can get my Caesar’s match ahead of my visit.
Hi, what are the other programs (aside from Mlife, Hyatt and hard rock)that I can status match my Caesar Diamond status? Any advice is appreciated 🙂
Hi Bill.
Great post. Question regarding the status match to Mlife Gold from Casesars Diamond. Were you an exisiting Mlife member? I ask because on the Borgata page, the fine print says that Comp stay, freeplay and other items are only for new Mlife members.
https://www.theborgata.com/casino/m-life-rewards/m-life-rewards-gold-trade-up
Jim,
Yes I was a Pearl member previous to my trip out there due to my Discoverist status with WOH. My buddy who was with me was a Sapphire member previous to his match as well. Good luck!
So when you went to the Mlife Desk, did you show up and bring your Pearl card? Did they ask if you were previous member? I’ve already booked a trip for next month and plan on doing this exact same thing, but would absolutely hate to show up and they tell me that because you’re a previous member they, at a minimum, wouldn’t even be able to make me Gold. Sure the other freebies would be great, but I’m just wanting the gold.
Should I call the Mlife desk, tell them I’m Diamond at Caesars, I’m going next month and see if they can temp comp me a room like you did?