In between all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, December is often the best time to find some great deals in the points and miles industry. By playing your cards right, you can triple dip an annual credit, start earning a companion pass for two years, or upgrade and retain Diamond status with Caesars Rewards for a whole extra year!
Stay at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with no resort fees thanks to Diamond status. Photo Credit: Caesars Entertainment
The Caesars Rewards Diamond upgrade deal has been around for almost all of 2019. However, December is THE month to utilize this offer. For once, procrastinators and gamblers win!
The Diamond Tier Match Upgrade Details
In February of this year, Caesars published a Diamond Tier Match Offer. The terms of the deal are as follows:
- Present your valid, eligible VIP loyalty card from select competitors to any Caesars Rewards Center between February 1 – December 31, 2019, and we will upgrade you to Diamond status through January 31, 2020.
- To be eligible for this Offer, participants must be a verified Caesars Rewards member with either a Gold or Platinum Tier status and be opted in to receive marketing emails at a valid email address on record with Caesars.
- Not available to anyone who upgraded in 2018.
- See the full Terms and Conditions
The biggest hurdle to upgrading is you must hold status at another casino property! If you don’t, don’t worry as this article outlines how you can acquire benefits through a different method or you can refer to the article below.
Beyond that, Caesars just requires that you be a Gold or Platinum Level already. Since Gold is the base tier in the program, all that is required is creating an account online or at a Caesars Rewards desk.
The Advantage to Waiting Until December
Normally, Diamond Status requires earning 15,000 Tier Credits in a year. I broke down in a previous article that the average player will lose around $7,500 while earning Caesars Diamond. When you put it that way it makes sense why Caesars is happy to give away a $100 dinner and some other perks.
Enjoy a $100 credit as a Diamond member good towards a dinner at Old Homestead, Caesar’s Palace Premier Steakhouse. Photo Credit: Caesars Entertainment
Exploring the Terms and Conditions of the upgrade offer shows that for each month early you take the upgrade, you requires a larger showing of loyalty on your part to retain status past the initial upgrade time frame of January 2020.
Specifically, each month you upgrade early requires earning an additional 1,250 Tier Credits. Therefore, if you upgrade in December, retaining status for a whole year is only 1,250 Tier Credits! This is compared to November which required 2,500 Tier Credits, October which required 3,750 Tier Credits, and so forth.
As the status benefit is retained for the same duration, this is why it makes sense to upgrade in this month.
If You Are Upgrade Eligible, Here’s What To Do
If you already have an eligible casino status, the next hardest hurdle is earning the required 1,250 Tier Credits by the end of December. The fastest way to acquire those credits are going to be through spending, referrals, and gambling. While there are other options, I’m only listing the fastest one as time is of the essence.
Spending
As Caesars is running a 5x Tier Credits on hotel spend that means that anyone spending $250 on hotels, including resort fees) prior to the end of December would net the required 1,250 Tier Credits. I verified with Caesars on Twitter that the 5x would apply, and work for the purpose of this promotion. In addition, any spending done at qualified shops and restaurants would also earn Tier Credits at a rate of 1x.
Spend the night at the Rio an All Suite Hotel and earn Diamond Status at the same time. Photo Credit: Caesars Entertainment
Referrals
Those that don’t have a Caesars Rewards account have a bonus method. Sign up for an account using a referral link which nets you 500 Tier Credits. Everyone, including new signups, are eligible to refer a friend (or maybe a spouse) that would give you another 500 Tier Credits. The caveat is the referee needs to visit a Caesars Rewards Center and present a photo ID to finalize the signup process. Meaning, this method only works if the referee lives close to a Caesars property.
Gambling
Although I usually wouldn’t advocate gambling for status, this is one time that it could make sense depending on your goals. The good news is by earning 1,000 Tier Credits in a day, Caesars gives a 1,000 Tier Credit bonus, which again I verified with Caesars Twitter, would work toward this promotion. If one were to play 1,000 Tier Credits through in a single day and use the best payout machines (video poker), the expected losses should be around $300 at a 97% Rate of Return.
Of the three choices above, I personally think the hotel spend option is the best.
Don’t Have A Casino Status That Matches?
Those that don’t have any casino status at the eligible properties are not out of luck. Instead, the best thing to do would be to acquire Wyndham Diamond status via their status match offer. Through this path, there is no Tier Credit requirement due to the partnership that Wyndham holds with Caesars. There are numerous credit cards that would give automatic Diamond via a status match from a partner. Two direct paths are:
Complementary Hilton Gold from a card below -> Wyndham Diamond -> Caesars Rewards Diamond
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card
- The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
- Platinum Card from American Express
Complementary Hilton Diamond -> Wyndham Diamond -> Caesars Reward Diamond
- Hilton Aspire Card
Complementary IHG Platinum -> Wyndham Diamond -> Caesars Reward Diamond
Once you’ve boarded the train, its easy to take the full ride like I did earlier this year by turning my Caesars Rewards Diamond status into Mlife Gold, Hyatt Explorist, and Hard Rock Casino Rock Royalty.
Diamond Status at Wyndham is the only status that includes free suite upgrades. Photo Credit: Wyndham Hotels and Resorts
The Upshot
By upgrading to Caesars Diamond now vs. any other time of the year, you can retain the status through January 2021 for a small cost. No doubt this is a busy time of the year for everyone, which is why this Diamond Tier Match offer is perfect for busy travelers who want to get back to the holidays.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
21 comments
if the current status is diamond, when can he/she match to disamond again to be good til 2/1/21? thx
After Jan. 1st you’d need to match to Wyndham and then after February 1st rematch back to Caesars.
my Wyndham Diamond expires 01/01/20, Caesars diamond expires 01/31/20.
to confirm, after 01/01 we match from Caesars to Wyndham, then after 01/31 we match from Wyndham to Caesars, correct? thx
You got it!
thx!
( as of now, the Wyndham match page does not show Caesars in the dropdown list, must be because I had matched from it this yr).
Hi bill,
Do you mean spending usd 250 on hotels spends in Dec gets u Caesar diamond and thus free perks like 2 nights in Caesars palace dubai and also Atlantis bahamas?
Hey Fahad,
Correct. This month an upgraded Diamond would only have to spend $250 in hotels to retain status through Jan. 2021. This would give almost all the perks of Diamond, like the free Atlantis stay, celebration dinner, free show tickets, and no resort fees.
The Dubai free nights requires earning Diamond status via 15,000 Tier Credits and would therefore not be eligible under this upgrade offer.
Is there a way to get the status match without being at the casino?
If you status match via a credit card or if you hold a hotel status vs. upgrade then no visit to the casino is required.
Dan, If I already have 5,000 Ceasars Tier Credits and I use Wyndam Diamond to upgrade to Caesars Diamond now on 12/15, will I get Ceasars Diamond thru 1/21?
I meant to address that to Bill
I would wait until the new year rolls over and then match. Then you should then be good till 1/21.
Thanks Bill. Has Ceasars announced the Wyndham Diamond match to Caesars Diamond will still be good in 2020.
And, thanks for all the great information. I am so glad I found this site.
Cris,
At this point there is no indication that their partnership is ending, even with the buyout of CET by El Dorado so there’s no reason to think that this will go away. Similar to the MGM and Hyatt partnership. Thanks for reading!
How long does ceasor diamond last? I am in the process of receiving the ihg platinum to get the match.
The safest route would be to wait until January to match as it will last until Jan. 31, 2021.
So I just matched my Hilton to Wyndham and got approved. So should I now match to Caesar rewards or wait until next year. I’m confused if I match this month I get to keep it till next year December.
I just checked officially with a Caesars Rep. They said if you match now status is only good till Jan. 2020. They will not guarantee that the match offer will continue into January 2020. Personally, if I’m in your shoes, I’m gambling and waiting till January. I don’t see the Caesars partnership with Wyndham going away in the next few weeks and Caesars also has a history of matching status offers. The only curveball in this is maybe due to the acquisition things are changing.
Thanks for figuring this out! This is really a no-brainer for anyone staying at a casino hotel this holiday.
Am I understanding this right? – If I’m a new member, I only need to earn 750 credits by spending $150 for hotel rooms.
Also, once I pick up the card and get my bonus 500 credits, does my new Diamond membership card get printed instantaneously?
Remember if your a new member this way you need to match from a current casino. Other than that the math looks good to me. You can always verify with Caesars ahead of time to be 100% sure. Most casinos have kiosks which will print off your card so you don’t even have to mess with going to a person.
I’m waiting till Jan to match from Wyndham. – Of all the options, this seems to be the best one if you have some status at another hotel chain.
Now, if I match on Jan 2, will that give Caesars status till 2021?