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Caesars Rewards demoted me from Diamond status to Gold. Then they went for the hard sell — and encouraged me to vote for them as one of the best loyalty programs around.
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Caesars Status Match Downgrade
One of the great rotating status match wheels involved Wyndham Rewards and Caesars Rewards (formerly Total Rewards).
Wyndham would match many competitors’ elite statuses to Wyndham Diamond. I matched my IHG Platinum status (a perk of the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card) to Wyndham Diamond. My father-in-law matched his Hilton Gold status from The Platinum Card® from American Express (a perk of that card, enrollment required; he’s an authorized user on my account) to Wyndham Diamond.
Then, we matched our Wyndham Diamond statuses to Caesars Diamond. The whole process took about five minutes.
Caesars Diamond status was excellent. I received complimentary rooms, waived resort fees, free show tickets, free rides on the High Roller, an annual “Celebration Dinner” worth $100, and more. (I didn’t take advantage of the free stay at Atlantis in the Bahamas, simply because of time and work commitments.)
René loved his Caesars Diamond status because it entitled him to significant discounts on NCL cruises.
Once my Wyndham Diamond status expired, I’d simply match my Caesars Diamond back to Wyndham. Then match my Wyndham Diamond to Caesars Diamond when the Caesars status expired.
But some people’s Wyndham-to-Caesars matches didn’t trigger in February. Rene’s didn’t. Mine did after a while. I was Diamond — until yesterday.
It turns out that Caesars no longer awards higher status received through tier matches awarded from other matches. In other words, if you want Caesars Diamond, you have to earn it through Caesars. Or earn Wyndham Diamond directly through Wyndham — not through a status match (which isn’t even an option right now).
But don’t throw yourself out of The Hangover Suite’s windows quite yet.
The Wyndham Earner Business Credit Card ($95 annual fee) gives cardholders Wyndham Diamond status. TPG’s Katie Genter reports status earned through that card will work toward a Caesars Diamond match. Waived resort fees and the Celebration Dinner for Caesars Diamond members easily earn back the $95 Wyndham card annual fee. So, that’s certainly a worthwhile option for Caesars enthusiasts.
I believe there’s also an option to get Caesars Diamond status through the Founders Card.
But, Hey, Vote for Caesars!
This sort of chutzpah made me laugh.
Notice at the bottom of the we-downgraded-you-because-we-suddenly-decided-you-didn’t-earn-your-status” email the “Vote for Caesars Rewards” banner. The annual Freddie Awards take place next month — and Caesars wants my vote.
You know, after they took something away from me.
I also love the “We apologize” tone — like it’s “their bad.” If Caesars is that sorry about it, they’d just say, “Hey, this is the last year of ‘free’ status from your matching chain. Enjoy it while you can. Then earn status next year or beat it.”
So, sorry, Caesar. I’m giving you a thumbs down on this one. You’re not getting any of my Freddies votes.
“Stop Complaining! You Didn’t Earn Your Status!”
I know some readers are racing to the Comments section so they can go scorched earth on me for complaining that my Diamond status was downgraded to Gold. (That assumes the foam from their mouths doesn’t drip and short out their keyboards. And their blood pressure doesn’t render them unconscious.)
I simply took advantage of an available offer. That’s all.
But then Caesars executed some puzzling PR and demoted a bunch of Diamonds to fool’s Gold after the fact. (I say “fool’s Gold” because Gold is pretty worthless, based on what I’ve heard)
Here’s what is interesting, though: before my Caesars Diamond match, I rarely spent time or money at Caesars properties or attractions.
I brought some of my food, beverage, and gambling business to Caessars properties after I became Diamond. Truthfully, I figured I owed them something for my Diamond status — and I was happy to give them some of my business. Even when staying at MGM hotels, I wandered to Caesars properties. I bought drinks at the bars and lounges (when they weren’t comped by my gambling) and paid for meals at the restaurants. I looked forward to branching out from my little MGM Rewards cocoon and experiencing more of the Caesars life.
Sorry, Caesar: I’ll wave to you from Bellagio the next time I’m in Vegas.
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It was nice while it lasted but it’s a bummer that it ended. While being a Caesars Diamond I preferred staying at Caesars properties due to the waived resort fees. Good room rates meant I didn’t need to pay much money. While good room rates at MGM properties were more than offset by those resort fees.
Now things have changed. With MGM resort fees are waived when taking advantage of the partnership with Hyatt. And Caesars? Hefty resort fees are added.
The Wyndham credit card is no option for me, it is not available in Germany.
One man’s loss is another man’s gain. As with any of the loyalty programs out there this means less Diamonds competing for MY freebies.
I don’t think any of the resort fees or parking fees will be given to you. So. I’m really not sure what freebies were being taken from you.
We’ll see what benefits are reneged on next (lounges, Celebration dinners, tier earning structure, etc.). Maybe they should just stop calling it Caesar Rewards and go under the Eldorado banner, Give it six months and see if the likely changes that come next aren’t as popular with you.
That $100 celebration dinner is worth much less with the steakhouse and Gordon Ramsay raising menu prices. Oh well, fun while it lasted. The real perk of the program was the free parking/free valet.
Ok, so if I have the Wyndham Earners Business Credit Card: (1) How do I Status Match over to Caesar’s Rewards Diamond Status? (2) If I add an Employee to my WEBCC, as an Authorized User, can they Status Match over to Caesar’s Rewards Diamond Status, too? Thank you. NO DOUBT, IMHO, the Caesar’s Rewards Status Match via my Wyndham/Amex Plat was my 100% absolutely favorite benefit.
You should be able to status match to Caesars the same you did from Wyndham as before. I don’t believe your employee can status match, unfortunately.
No, after two years of getting Caesar’s Diamond status matched from my Diamond Wyndham Business Earners Card, I have been busted back down to Gold status at Caesar’s. I did not even get a contact about it. There was just an explanation on the Caesar’s website screen where I requested another match this year. It said I had to have recently earned my Diamond status at Wyndham for them to match it.
I am wondering if I take my Wyndham Business Earner’s Card status back down to Platinum, whether Caesar’s will accept that as recently earning Wyndham Platinum status and match me up from my demotion to Gold?
You speak of the Caesar’s award trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas, which I took in two previous years as a Caesar’s Platinum perk. First you need to read any online review of Atlantis written in the last two years. It will discuss a sale of the property to a company that has not done any upkeep and the extraordinary decline of all common areas. It will describe severely underpaid employees who are not interested in pleasing the guests, not even if you tip them to win their favor. You definitely do NOT want to visit iconic Atlantis. I was floored recently to receive an offer at Caesar’s Gold level for a perks trip to Atlantis. Just say NO to any stay at Atlantis!
I really want to at least raise my Caesar’s status to Platinum again. Last week as a Gold member I was charged $18 for overnight parking as a registered guest on a free Wyndham points night at the Flamingo hotel in Vegas. Free parking is a great perk at Platinum and above with Caesar’s.
Was there a reverse update on this?
I got the Diamond match from Wyndham on 2/7 (applied 2/1). So far I am still Diamond. I do not have the Wyndham business card. I did have enough Wyndham stays in 2018 to get Diamond by stays, but no stays since then.
I’m not resting secure yet. Do you hear of downgrades still happening? Maybe earning Wyndham Diamond status is 2018 is enough (with subsequent extensions)?
That’s interesting. Yeah, maybe because you earned it in 2018 helps. Or you might be just very lucky (and therefore, hit those Vegas tables, Carl!
). Or the hammer may have yet to drop. But I’ll think positive vibes for you! Keep us posted, please!
Still Diamond, so I’m starting to feel safe, I have a trip to Vegas booked for early May (staying at The Linq). I guess once I’m there I’ll see whats up with the Celebration Dinner.
If they drop me in the mean time (especially with no notice) I’ll act totally surprised , and argue they should still waive the resort fees.
Please let us know what happens!!
We’re you able to use the celebration dinner?
Simply, entitlement. The tier/program match was a way to get you interested, not to provide a
lifetime of freebies. The clear expectation is that you would gamble to maintain.
Ironically, this rampant tier matching from outside Caesars
may have contributed to the demise of the diamond/laurel lounges in LV.
Too many mouths to feed.
Caesars Reward is still better than MGM Gold. Diamond members get the $100 celebration dinner even after status match with Wyndham. At MGM you have to earn the tier points to get a free dinner. Caesars just gave me 5000 tier points and extra 5000 reward credits for charging over $5000 on their VISA card this year. I use it to pay utilities, insurance etc.
They should bring back the free show tickets to fill up empty seats, especially badly selling ones like Bat out of Hell which just canceled a bunch of shows. I like the music from Meatloaf, but won’t pay $65 plus for the show.
FYI the only place in Vegas I know of that has a VIP lounge is the Palms. They match tier with Caesars, MGM, Resorts World and others.
Thanks for the tips and comment!