Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I am planning a trip to Las Vegas in the coming weeks and wanted to stay on the Las Vegas Strip at a Caesars Rewards property since I can use my Caesars Diamond Elite Status to get waived resort fees and easy access to the $100 Celebration Dinner voucher. I am also planning on doing a few status matches to other casino programs and following the excellent guide created by Nick at Frequent Miler.
I also did some research on Caesars Rewards redemption options and you can use Caesars Rewards Points to pay for your hotel booking (during the booking process) and also during the hotel check-out process. That lead me down the rabbit who to learn how the process worked and how long point transfers from Wyndham Rewards take to post to Caesars Rewards.
I picked a random date at a random Las Vergas hotel (Paris Las Vegas on Saturday, June 1). The cash price is $344.25 + $46.06 in tax = $390.31.
If I change the rate from USD to Reward Credits (these are Caesars Rewards Points), the price is 34,425 points, but there are no taxes. Therefore, Caesars Rewards Points are worth 1 cent per point (CPP) toward paid stays. However, if you pay entirely with points, you are not charged taxes, which saves you 13%-14% on the hotel stay. If you book the paid stay now, you can redeem points for the same 1 CPP when you check out from the hotel, but I believe you will still be charged taxes. Therefore, it is better to book your hotel stay entirely with points from the start.
So how do you get Caesars Rewards Points? You can transfer points from Wyndham Rewards to Caesars Rewards. I currently have 89K Wyndham Rewards Points (most are from a cancelled Vacasa stay) with no plans to use the points throughout the rest of the year, so I don’t mind getting 1 CPP toward a hotel stay in Las Vegas. To get started, sign into your Wyndham Rewards account and go to the More Ways to Redeem page and click Point Transfer Partners.
Then click the Caesars Rewards link.
You can transfer points in 2,500 point increments (worth $25 toward hotel stays), up to 60,000 points per calendar year. To complete the transfer, enter your name, Caesars Rewards number, select the number of points you want to transfer and click the Transfer Points button. Here is the direct link to this page.
My upcoming hotel stay is a little more than $600, so I decided to transfer 60,000 Wyndham Rewards Points. The points were deducted from my account right away, but the transfer to Caesars Rewards is not instant. I submitted the points transfer on Monday, April 29.
Here is the Wyndham Rewards confirmation email for the points transfer.
I checked my Caesars Rewards account (and app) several times over the next week and the 60,000 points finally posted to my account on Monday, May 6. The transfer took ~7 days to complete, but that is just a single data point. Unfortunately, there is no way to see recent transactions online or in the app. It is also important to note that the rewards points expire after 6 months of inactivity, so don’t transfer points speculatively to Caesars Rewards unless you have plans to use the points within the next 6 months.
I look forward to using my 60,000 Caesars Rewards Points for a hotel in Las Vegas in the coming weeks. If you have any questions about the transfer or booking process, please leave a comment below. Also, if you do the Wyndham Rewards point transfer to Caesars Rewards, please share how long the transfer took for you. Have a great day everyone!
beware wyndham re ceasars hotels has a habit (my last 2 redemptions) of charging both your points & cash rate on your credit card for same stay
Oh dear, I will make sure that doesn’t happen, thank you for the heads up!
In case anyone is wondering, I am guessing Paris is so high on that Saturday for two reasons.
The first is that it is a Saturday night, after all.
The second is that date is the first Saturday of the WSOP which is being held at Paris/Horseshoe.
If you decide at the end of your stay to use reward credits instead of cash or card, they should remove the taxes. At least they did for me, but that was a couple of years ago. I would say it is best to use reward credits at the start.
As far as tier matching goes, just be sure to go to Wynn and then Fontainebleau. You maximize your Fontainebleau benefits that way.
You can then go to an MGM property and get their Gold level.
If you have someone who shares your address, they can share your Gold status so they can go to Wynn and then Fontainebleau to do the tier match at those casinos.
Hi Zoos, that definitely explains the high rate for Saturday night, it is also part of Memorial Day weekend. The Sunday was even more expensive but we are leaving Sunday afternoon.
Thanks for the data point that you can pay with points at checkout. I will ask if they can remove the taxes too.
Yes, the plan is to get my updated Caesars Rewards Diamond card and $100 celebration dinner, then go to Wynn to match to Wynn Platinum ($100 spa credit, probably won’t be used and $150 dining credit doesn’t work since our birthday’s are not in May), then go to Fontainebleau to match to Fontainebleau Gold ($150 spa credit + $150 dining credit). I didn’t realize I could match to MGM Gold, but might as well.
Re: “If you have someone who shares your address, they can share your Gold status so they can go to Wynn and then Fontainebleau to do the tier match at those casinos.” My wife is at the same address, are you saying she can use my MGM Gold status to match to Wynn and then match to Fontainebleau?
About your wife getting the same status as you at MGM properties, that is exactly what I am saying.
But from what I understand, it doesn’t have to be a relative. As long as the person shares your address and has ID to prove it, their account and yours can be linked with the same higher status.
I think only two accounts can be linked so you can’t have your wife plus your mother-in-law who lives with you even if she has proper ID.
Back when MGM had much better spend rules (25x tier credits per dollar spent), my wife and I both went from sapphire to pearl to gold on the same trip due to the spending on show tickets, hotel stay, and dining done through my player’s card simply because our statuses being linked.
Your MGM Rewards accounts are separate, but your status is shared.
Just be sure you and your wife go to the MGM property’s rewards desk together when doing the linking of accounts and the gold tier matching.
Even though our status is already shared, we are going together to be on the safe side when we do the tier matching.
Regarding using reward credits at the end, I did it through a host office and this was before El Dorado merged with Caesars. It should still be possible, but who knows.
Thanks for providing more details. Laura and I will be in Vegas together so I’ll make sure we can both get MGM Gold status together.
As a Caesars Diamond Plus, you and your wife can first go to MGM, then Wynn, and finally Fontainebleau together.
I envy you because I am only Diamond so I am first having to go to Wynn and then Fontainebleau in order to get MGM gold. To save her feet in the Vegas heat, it will only be at that point when my wife joins me to go to an MGM property followed by trips back to Wynn and Fontainebleau for her cards at those properties.
I feel like singing It’s A Small World as I have a relative, although it isn’t my wife, named Laura.
I am only Caesars Diamond, not Caesars Diamond Elite (thanks to the WR status match and WR Biz CC). I think I have to do MGM match last after Fontainebleau.
I am not sure why I thought you were Caesars Diamond Plus although in your first paragraph, you mentioned being Caesars Diamond Elite.
If someone is a base Diamond, you are right the order would be Wynn, Fontainebleau, and an MGM property last. As you are staying at Paris, I think Bellagio would be the logical choice for this last stop.
If someone shares your MGM status, they would then need to go to Wynn followed by Fontainebleau after acquiring MGM Gold in order to get the statuses there to which they are entitled.
As I complete the first part of getting my cards, the wife will probably be getting a massage at Bellagio. We will then meet up there, get MGM Gold for both of us, then get her cards at Wynn and Fontainebleau.
Wynn and Fontainebleau do not make you earn the requisite level points in order to reap the benefits of your new statuses at their respective resorts.
However, I have read elsewhere that you do need to “activate” the cards and by that I mean you must put them in a machine and play a little before getting benefits like dining. Don’t know if it is true, but better safe than sorry.
If you tier match, MGM does make you earn the requisite number of points in order to reap certain benefits. Complete details are on their website.
With Caesars, you need one hundred tier points ($500 coin-in on slots) to get the Celebration Dinner if you acquired Diamond status through tier matching.
That doesn’t mean it is $500 of your money originally. It is a combination of the money you put in the machine directly and the credits you win as you play.
You didn’t ask for suggestions on your Celebration dinner, but I am going to give you some. Hell’s Kitchen at Caesars, Bugsy and Meyer’s at Flamingo, or Jack Binion’s at Flamingo. The wife and I have eaten at the first two and have eaten at Jack Binion’s at two other Caesars owned properties and really liked all three. Our upcoming trip is longer than yours and we are eating at two of the three along with Mother Wolf at Fontainebleau using their dining benefit. We are going to hit up the third when we go back to take advantage of Wynn’s birthday month dining benefit. Not sure where we will dine at Wynn.
Not all restaurants participate in the Caesars Celebration Dinner program so someone should check Caesars’ website to be sure their choice does.
Sorry for writing a book.
Very helpful info, thank you for the order of steps and restaurant recommendations.
We want to see the Cirque du Soleil Beatles Love Show at the Mirage. That is a Hard Rock casino, which uses the Unity program. Do you know if you can match to any level of Unity and if that benefit will allow me to purchase show tickets at a discount or any noticeable perks?
Yes, you can tier match to Unity’s Icon status at Mirage AND you can match to Monarch at Resorts IF you have never had cards before.
This according to a video at JacobsLifeInVegas.
Unfortunately for me, I have cards at Resorts Las Vegas and at Hard Rock Hollywood Florida which is who is behind the Mirage. I am still going to try. The worst they can do is tell me no.
I forget which card to use to get the highest status possible at these two resorts.
Jacob has a couple of videos done in the last few weeks on tier matching. I have watched one. It was a good video, but do NOT follow his order. He is using MGM Pearl then going to Fontainebleau followed by Wynn to go back and get MGM gold and doesn’t take into consideration Caesars. IF you follow his order, you will not be the tier you could be at Fontainebleau.
He does talk about tier matching at Mirage and Resorts.
As far as any dinners go, I know Icon has that benefit at Mirage BUT you have to have earned that status rather then tier matched.
Any level card at Mirage gets you show ticket discounts in general, but I don’t know about Beatles Love specifically.
I am not sure I would wait to buy the tickets. Just being able to get tickets might override getting tickets at a discount.
Prices for the show might be like airline tickets which go up in price and/or sell out the closer the date is.
I hadn’t set up an online Unity account before I bought our tickets so I cannot tell you if we would have gotten a discount by using the card.
This will be the third time I have seen the show and second time for the wife so we got the cheapest tickets.
We have never watched the Mirage volcano erupt and are going to do that this trip as it will eventually be torn down to make way for a guitar shaped hotel tower. If you haven’t seen it either, you might want to do it.
The Palms seems to tier match, but info is somewhat sketchy.
As always, terms and conditions can change at any moment so check the respective websites.
Again, I wrote another book.
Thank you for all the helpful info. I looked into matching to Monarch status at Resorts World, but it looks like the Dining Credit and Airfare Reimbursement both require earning 250k Genting points, so that will not be helpful to me.
I don’t think I’ve seen the volcano erupt so I will check that out.
I will sometimes go back over my prior comments which I just did and I see a typo in one of them.
Jack Binion’s is at Horseshoe and not Flamingo.
One thing I keep meaning to mention, but forgetting to is that higher status will get you no resort fees, but there will still be refundable incidental fees.
At Paris, for example, that is $50 a night.
You get that money back, minus any incidentals you charged to the room, in seven to ten days. The resort says the time depends on your financial institution, but I think they are getting a free float on the money.
I don’t know when the last time you, or anyone, has been to Vegas, but flat fee taxi service having been instituted might be worth mentioning.
Now, you know exactly how much your taxi from the airport to a resort will cost and you don’t have to worry about getting overcharged by being longhauled.
For those who don’t know, longhauling is when a taxi takes you the long way around to pad their fare. You used to have to tell taxi drivers, “No tunnel, no highway.” If you ended up going through the tunnel or on the highway, you got longhauled.
Due to knowing how much that is, you can decide if booking a limo instead is a good idea. The advantage of a limo is not having to wait in a hot taxi line and the cars are in better shape inside and out.
Where we are staying, a taxi would be about twenty-five dollars total, before any tip, for a trip from the airport and back again.
Unlike a New York limo, pricing for a Vegas limo is round trip.
The limo service was running a special for sixty-six dollars round trip, but the cheapest now is around a hundred dollars before any taxes and fees for a Tesla.
We have always used the same service starting with our second trip and been very happy, but I don’t know if you want me to post the name so I won’t.
I normally take an Uber / Lyft from the Las Vegas airport to the hotel and around town – I don’t trust taxi drivers. You can share the name of the limo company you use, it might be helpful for other readers.
I don’t have, and don’t want to have, a credit/debit card saved to my phone and I understand you have to in order to use Uber or Lyft which is why we don’t use them.
Getting around on the strip, we take taxis if we aren’t walking or using one of the trams. If planning on taxis, we just make sure we have plenty of cash.
During your trip and ours, Vegas will be hot according to most people’s idea of hot so taxis are in our future.
For a limo, we use Bell Trans. I thought that was the case since our second trip, but it was actually since our third or fourth.
Before using limos, we took a taxi and got longhauled once.
We stayed at a casino/resort for the first time as part of a large gathering and the wife and I didn’t have a good experience so I complained.
The casino/resort was under new management and wanted to keep our group happy so they threw benefits our way.
They gave us free transportation, free room, free food and beverage, and free show tickets.
The limo was through Bell Trans. Since then, we have had Teslas up to once getting a stretch limo on a special trip.
All have been with great drivers.
Thank you for the limo company name, I will check out Bell Trans. Yes, it looks to be in the mid 90s which definitely qualifies as hot in my book!
I like Uber since there are a few AMEX CCs that offer Uber credit and I can often buy Uber GCs for 10-15% off, but I understand your reasons for not using Uber with the stored credit card payment.
The price for Bell Trans is more than what I posted so my apologies for the error.
It is still worth it, in my opinion.
Thanks to you for all you do with this website.
Thank you for the heads up on the pricing. I’m glad you think the current prices are still worth it.
Thank you for reading and enjoy your weekend :)
I should be the one thanking you for reading.
To anyone going to Vegas at almost anytime of the year, one of the most important tips is to stay hydrated. The heat will sap your strength if you don’t.
I don’t know if you leave articles open to comments, but if you do, I will make a comment dealing solely with how the tier matching went once we get back.
Yes, all comments stay open indefinitely so you can provide an update after your stay on your tier matching. I will provide an update after my stay too.
I was checking to see what other Las Vegas casino/resorts tier match and Sahara does although it is hard to tell what benefits you get as a tier matcher as opposed to earned and their website doesn’t even say what cards they match to. They make you ask someone at their rewards desk. My best suggestion is to figure out the highest level card you have and ask them to match that.
The big benefits of tier matching for me are no resort fees and dedicated check-in lines and food credit is the cherry on top.
I know, it is annoying when the casinos say that match competitors but don’t say what status they match from and what status they will match you to. I like waived resort fees and free dining credit is great too.