This was a lovely surprise.
About a month after Caesars Rewards announced the discontinuation of Diamond status earned through credit card matches, the hospitality giant’s loyalty program reversed course on Wednesday.
Caesars Reinstates Diamond Status
I held Caesars Rewards Diamond status for a few years thanks to its partnership with Wyndham Rewards.
Obtaining Wyndham Rewards Diamond status was super simple. How and why? Wyndham matched status from most elite hotel statuses — including those obtained through simply holding various credit cards.
For example, 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. When Wyndham Diamond status expired, we used our Caesars to match back. When Caesars Diamond expired, we used our Wyndham Diamond to again match to Caesars.
Brilliant, right?
But then Caesars lowered the boom in March. They declared Diamond status could no longer be achieved through such practices. It had to be earned by actually spending money with Caesars. One could also earn Wyndham Diamond status by staying at Wyndham properties.
I received an email on Wednesday afternoon stating: “Under our current program terms, Wyndham Rewards members who have earned their Member Level through a tier matching program, including the Caesars Rewards tier matching program, are not eligible for a match.”
Yes, I know.
Then came the surprise:
“After re-reviewing your original Tier match request and your account, we are postponing enforcement of the exclusion described above for your account until our next program year. We have upgraded your Tier Status to the level it was before the downgrade, and this Tier will remain in place until January 31, 2023. After that date, you can submit another request for a Tier match if you qualify. The terms and conditions of our program are subject to change at any time, so please review the program website next year to see if you still qualify for a match.”
I logged in to my Caesars Rewards account and, sure enough, I’m once again a Diamond member.
Why Did Caesars Reinstate Diamond Status?
I have a few theories as to why Caesars suddenly changed its mind.
First, Caesars implemented the change several weeks into the new status year. First, that’s just bad practice. More importantly, I wonder if someone got litigious and wanted to sue Caesars through a class action lawsuit or something. Perhaps someone was like, I joined these programs because they said I could get status but then they change their minds with no warning? Lawsuit! Now that Caesars announced Diamond-through-credit-card-status-matches no longer is valid, it’s set forth the rules going forward and everyone should be on the same page. Again: This is just me wondering. I have no idea if someone planned such a suit.
Secondly, perhaps Caesars wants to see a little good faith and evaluate its members. Like, who actually takes advantage of the benefits — and spends money at Caesars properties. For example, Diamond status makes it pretty easy to score a complimentary night or two at a Ceasars resort. But say you simply take advantage of the free room. But don’t gamble at any Caesars casinos. Or you don’t patronize Caesars bars, lounges, or restaurants. I started spending more money with Caesars once I became a Diamond member.
If you use the benefits and drop some cash with Caesars, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them reconsider your Diamond status — but in a favorable light.
What Do You Think?
Do you like the Caesars Diamond reinstatement? Why do you think Caesars reversed course? If you’re affected by the move, will this somehow change your Caesars plans? Please share your thoughts in the below Comments section!
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They never took my Diamond away (no Wyndham business card either). Maybe it was because I qualified for Wyndham Diamond based on stays in 2018, or maybe I was just lucky. In any case I am glad everybody is getting their status back. I have a four night stay planned late next month (paying with Caesar Reward credits transferred from Wyndham), and now I won’t have to worry about any status change between now and them.
Now to see if I have any luck with the Celebration Dinner, but I’m really not as concerned with that as I was with resort fees. Dining just isn’t as big of a part of my travel as many – maybe because I usually travel solo.
Good luck with the Celebration Dinner. Please let us know what happens (and where you went and what you ordered! 🙂 )
I had the same thing happen. I’m glad they reinstated it because I did stay, eat and gamble at Caesars properties almost exclusively because they gave me Diamond. With MGM now offering waived resort fees and similar benefits with an easy match from Hyatt or other gaming programs, I was about to move all of my spend to MGM. You may be right about the litigation too. I booked a stay while I had diamond and it showed the waived resort fees, then they took it away and I was charged resort fees during my stay a couple weeks later. Was already disputing them with a manager but no one responded to my email. May actually look into legal options if my credit card dispute doesn’t process since I can document the bait and switch.
Please keep us posted!
Interesting theories and you may be onto something. I’ve been matching back and forth past couple of years via the Wyndham partnership and never dropped down this year which I found strange as I haven’t set foot in a Caesar’s property since 2019. I did utilize a free weekend stay at Planet Hollywood and used the anniversary dinner credit. I gambled a bit on property but barely moved the tier credit needle so perhaps given the pandemic management decided to reassess again – but then again could be totally wrong.
Thanks for alerting us to the change, Chris! My upgrade request had been in limbo since mid-February. I even visited in March and a trip to the Caesars Rewards desk to plead my case lead nowhere. I just tried reapplying for status match and boom! I’ll be upgraded in 2 weeks…hopefully.
Let us know what happens!
It looks like the Wyndham status match is closed so you can’t even match into Caesars
@John – You match at Caesars inputting your Wyndham Diamond number. The match from Caesars to Wyndham has been suspended for quite some time now.
Right but Chris had said that Wyndham Diamond was pretty easy to get with status match. I was just making note that it was closed right now.
My match been up since February, I tried again today. so we will see. I have also visited paid for room and food also. I will stay posted. On with Wyndham now.
I came across your site and post after submitting my Wyndham Diamond match request with Caesars (a few minutes ago) for the 3rd time since late Feb. No luck. 3rd time’s a charm?
We’ll cross fingers and toes for you! Please let us know what happens!
No luck for me either… I’ve re-matched several times and still stuck at Platinum!
I’ve also been declined twice by Caesars or better said, no response and no upgrade to Caesars Diamond. I am Wyndham Diamond but only received the status due to my Ambassador Elite status with Marriott.
I did book 5 free nights back in 2021.. let’s see if I have to pay resort fees in a few weeks.
How are we going to earn Caesars Diamond for all of 2023?
I’m looking at maybe getting the Wyndham business credit card. Waiting to hear data points.