Will Caesars Rewards Extend Status & Change Earning Year
A few weeks ago we shared the news that Mlife was extending status because of Covid-19. This wasn’t surprising since many travel related companies have done something similar. Because of this change MGM decided to adjust Mlife’s earning year. They had been using October 1st – September 30th as their earn year and adjusted it to match the calendar year which makes a ton more sense. Because of the move some feared the Mlife to Hyatt status merry go round may change. Luckily Hyatt status goes until February the following year so it shouldn’t be an issue. But what is Caesars Rewards extends status and makes similar changes? Will we lose out on the more valuable Wyndham to Caesars status merry go round?
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Why The Wyndham To Caesars Status Match Works & Is So Valuable
It is possible to get Caesars Diamond status each year by playing match game back and forth. Wyndham status ends on 12/31 each year but Caesars Rewards status doesn’t end until 1/31 the following year. That gives you a month to match the status back and forth. This essentially lets you extend your status for as long as the program is in place.
Caesars Diamond status is a lot more valuable than Mlife Gold (that you get from the match). It comes with the following perks:
- $100 dinner
- Free show tickets
- Free parking
- No resort fees
- An Atlantis package – although you may want to avoid this one.
- Plus some other perks like cutting the buffet line etc.
But what if they extend status like Mlife, will they change the dates like Mlife too? Would that mean that there would no longer be overlap between Wyndham and Caesars Rewards?
When Will Caesars Rewards Extend Status?
So far Caesars Rewards has not done much for their members. They are kind of in a wait and see approach which isn’t a bad thing but a little surprising when their main competitor, MGM, has come out with extensions already. Here is what they have said on their website:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reward Credit expirations have been paused until at least September 1, 2020. We are also making Tier Status easier to achieve and will share details soon. Stay tuned.
That is the definition of kicking the can down the road. I am personally not a fan of this at all because I have $250 worth of rewards credits that would expire September 1st (showing August 21st right now). I am not sure that I will want to enter a casino this fall to extend my credits. This is similar to what Mlife has done, extending their expiration date till September 30th of 2020. Hopefully both adjust that in the near future.
I imagine that Caesars will have to extend status at some point through 2021 or at least greatly reduce what is required to achieve it. I don’t think the latter would go over well with members though. The real question is would they also mess with the earning year and effectively kill the status match game while doing the status extension?
Would A Caesars Rewards Status Extension Mess Up The Status Match Merry Go Round?
If Caesars Rewards decides to extend status would they mess with the earning date. And if they did would it mess up the good thing we have going?
I would say that it is unlikely for anything to change in terms of the earn year with Caesars Rewards. They already use the calendar year for the status earning year. Even though we earn status from 1/1-12/31 each year any status that is earned lasts until 1/31 of the following year. There is a little bit of overhang there similar to what Hyatt does. That has confused people in the past when I have done the status match articles. Essentially in January of each year you are working on earning status for the new year but still have the status from the previous year.
They could always eliminate that extra month of overhang but I don’t see them doing it. The reason it is there is to help out people that earn the next level of status at the end of the year. For example the Diamond and Seven Star celebration dinners expire on 1/31 the following year that they are earned. That gives people that make a push for status at the end of the year some time to use it.
Let’s say you earned Diamond status in the middle of December. It would be unlikely that you could take advantage of that $100 Diamond Celebration cert before the end of the year. So Caesars gives you an extra month to use it in the new year. This isn’t really that much of a customer friendly set up since I think that you should get a year to use it from when you earned it. But because they give this extra month to use your earned perks I don’t see them eliminating the status overhang. It would require them changing up their celebration dinner dates and the Seven Star retreats etc. So I think we are safe in that aspect.
Final Thoughts
While I hope to see Caesars Rewards extend status I don’t envision them messing with the earning year or our status match merry go round. The way it is currently set up makes too much sense for them. It is much more likely that the partnership or status match between Caesars and Wyndham end completely versus them playing with the dates. Too many things are tied to that extra month of status that every member gets each year for them to adjust it.
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Buying something on the Caesars Rewards marketplace extends the expiration date.
Thanks Jan – I will be sure to do that
Mark – as a king time Diamond Plus member (over 25,000 tier credits and usually around 50,000) I’d like to share some thoughts and also help you w expiring RCs:
– First of all I agree the year won’t change since, unlike MGM, Caesars Rewards already uses the calendar year.
– I have almost $1100 in RCs that had an expiration date of 9/11 (was in Atlantic City early March). Since I didn’t want to lose them and wasn’t sure about casinos this year I ordered flowers off the Caesars Reward website entering my Rewards number which added RCs and changed expiration to 10/1 so that is an easy way to do it. Also their credit card is no fee and you get $100 in RCs for a minimal purchase requirement so that is an easy way to extend it also.
– I expect Caesars to either extend status, have some big 2x or better earning in 2nd half of 2020 or both. Also I’m curious if they will do anything for people like me that have already earned over 25,000 TCs in 2020 (carryover credit like Delta is offering would be nice)
– Finally I have no desire to go to a casino (as much as I love it) if no restaurants or entertainment are open, very limited seating (which will increase table minimums with estimate of $50 minimums on the strip per one article) and requirements for masks and other similar such requirements. Just not worth it IMHO and I’m planning to wait until 2021 when hopefully the most extreme measures have been relaxed.
It would be awesome for them to carry over any tier credits earned in 2020. I doubt they will since they have gutted the program over the last few years and don’t seem overly concerned with providing loyal members value.
I also agree that gambling and Vegas in general doesn’t seem like it will be all that fun for the foreseeable future. Hopefully they are able to loosen up the rules sooner than expected.
Thanks for the tip on extending credits – I am going to need it later this year.
An easy way to extend your credit expiration is to use their survey site: https://www.sayandplay.com/. Even if you don’t complete a survey, it gives you 5 reward credits and it extends out your expiration.
Great tip – thanks Dan!