M life Devaluation
Welcome to 2022 MGM faithful, you are not gonna like your New Year’s present from MGM and their M life program. They even had the audacity to Thank You For Your Loyalty in big bold print right before taking the knife out of your back. There is a huge M life devaluation coming in the next few weeks. I guess that is how they reward you for sticking with them through the pandemic etc. This is exactly the same as when airlines and hotels say they are “enhancing” their programs. Let’s take a look at the changes.
M life Program Old Earnings
The big changes for this M life devaluation that we know of right now are in the way you earn tier credits. Here is a look at what they are currently at (HT BestUSCasinos).
- Hotel, dining, entertainment and spa: you’ll earn 25 tier credits for every $1 spent
- Slot machines: you’ll earn 10 tier credits for every base point earned (base point is earned for each $3 coin in on slots)
- Video poker: you’ll earn 10 tier credits for every base point earned (base point is earned for each $10 coin in on VP)
- Table games: base credits are determined by average wager and time played
New M life Earnings Starting February 1, 2022
- For hotel, dining, entertainment and spa: you’ll earn 4 tier credits for every $1 spent
- A massive 84% reduction in earning. An unheard of level of devaluation.
- Tier Credit earning rates will change when playing slots, video poker, and video lottery terminals. Starting February 1, 2022 earn Tier Credits playing slots, video poker, and video lottery terminals based on length of play, average bet, and game type.
- We don’t really know how bad this will be yet but it will undoubtedly be worse. Hopefully it isn’t like the old table games set up where you don’t really know the formula and just hope for the best.
- Through our partnership with Hyatt hotels & resorts, MGM Rewards members who stay at participating Hyatt hotels may elect to earn MGM Rewards Tier Credits in lieu of World of Hyatt points for eligible spend. Starting February 1, 2022, MGM Rewards members will earn 4 Tier Credits for every eligible US dollar spent for stays at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts.
- If you don’t value Hyatt points at all this is a nice feature. Taking the Hyatt points on your stay offers more value so only take MGM Tier Credits if you know you will never use the Hyatt points.
- Bonuses on Express Comps based on Tier Status earned playing slots will be discontinued but will be offered on a promotional basis. Pearl, Gold, Platinum and NOIR members will continue to receive a bonus on Points earned playing slots at the same rate as today.
- MGM Rewards members who generate high level amounts of table gaming activity may be subject to exclusion from earning further Express Comps upon notice from MGM management.
- Uh, what? Isn’t the whole point to get people to gamble more? So you punish your best customers?
- The Platinum Experience upon check-in at Las Vegas Resorts will be placed on hold. We will relaunch a new and improved Platinum Experience at a later date.
- Oh boy, here come the “enhancements”!
M life Devaluation – Final Thoughts
This may be the biggest devaluation I have seen a program take in one swing. They neutered earning status at MGM Resort properties via spending at your hotel, dining, experiences and services. This was a nice perk of dropping a ton of money on your room and dining. The fact that the slots earning rates are not readily accessible makes me think that is going to be very bad as well. It has always been a known quantity, earning rate in the past. Bet X number of dollars on this slot earn 10 tier credits. The fact that they seem to be taking it behind closed doors is not a good thing for us, the customer. Removing the bonuses from Express Comps on slots based on tiers removes some value as well.
It appears MGM, and their M life rewards program, is starting to reverse the shift towards non gambling revenue. Over the past decade, or more, Las Vegas has been focusing on experiences and getting people to spend outside the casino. On of the ways they encouraged it was by rewarding people well for that expense. It appears now they are shifting back towards a focus on gambling revenue. What is next, a move back to making Vegas a “family friendly destination” like in the 90’s?
A Double Slap In The Face For Cosmo Fans
This is extra horrible for Cosmo lovers out there. The Cosmo program is the most rewarding program in terms of earning status through spend on property. With MGM buying Cosmo last year they will become a part of the M life rewards program. That change over will remove all of the value for on property spending that Cosmo used to offer. Which is a shame because of all of the great restaurants and bars the property has to offer.
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[…] to Memories’ Mark Ostermann wrote a pretty strongly-worded post detailing the changes. (Spoiler alert: I don’t think he’s happy with […]
[…] Miles to Memories has a good overview of the new and less-than-stellar Tier Credits policy. […]
sad, my acct with a $100 F&B comp for last 3 yrs is now gone for 2022; only comp room, but won’t stay anymore as could stay at caesar’s w/o resort fee
Sad.. I can remember the days when I enjoyed MGM Hotels. I think the most disgusting part is how they try to frame it as a positive move. Call it what it is… “We are making so much money that we want to make even more money because you can never have enough”. If they get away with it then it’s only because ignorant people let them.
The mLife card is good for free parking. That is why I have mine.
You can get that with what I think is a better card, the World of Hyatt card and then status match over to get free parking.
Between the devaluation and the high resort fees it’s a wonder anyone wants to stay at an MGM property. Status Match to Caesars and have a better time there.
for east coaster, MGM Borgata (Atlantic City), MGM Springfield (Boston, New England). Both are not that appealing anymore. just use Mlife Gold as a Caesar Diamond matching tool.
That means we will need to spend $50,000 per year in hotels, dining and other just to stay platinum vs just $8,000 before. Seems way out of line. I have not seen anything about a possible new tier level. We have had a great year with MGM and have been are very loyal but we have always wanted to stay at the Wynn or Encore. Fingers crossed.
It is crazy how big of a difference it is this year vs last year.
Any idea what’s going on with Wyndham status this year or when it resets? I’ve still got diamond from status match – it seems like they have maybe extended the status through 2022 but I can’t tell for sure.
That is what I am thinking at this point.
I went ahead and went through the status match routine even though I still showed Wyndham Diamond. I’ll keep an eye on the Wyndham status until the end of the month. Then I’ll match for the Caesar Diamond status in February, whether Caesar still says Diamond or not.
I also transferred 20K Wyndham points for Caesar Reward credits. Will do 10K, to hit the max, later in the year,
Thanks for posting! I was just considering the card…not anymore. OUCH MLife.
Will see how things go before I ditch mLife. Ended 2021 with close to 750K TCs (15% from hotel/dining spend) and have close to $1.3K in ECs that I haven’t used yet. If it’s really awful, I will just go with Wynn/Encore and/or Resorts World for future stays.
I could see a lot of players moving to Wynn if it is really bad when all the details come out.
Im NOIR and stopped staying at their hotels. The Vegas Experience on the Strip SUCKS! No coffee makers, no amenities in the room, over priced everything and yes, awful service and management. I have enjoyed renting a car and staying off the strip. 10x better experience.
Interesting – glad you found what works for you.
with Noir status, didn’t one get an upgrade to a suite where comes with a minibar that has coffee/expresso maker & fridge?
as only a Gold member, i still got a comp upgrade to a better room or mini suite when asking
The MGM properties are making money hand over fist right now as consumers are crawling over each other to gamble their free government handouts, so why should they give anything away?
Agreed. I also wonder why these changes are being implemented AFTER a CoVID surge has started up again. The timing and depth of this devaluation seem poorly thought-out
Not good, but I never earned anything from these credits anyway despite playing $15+ table games, but I hope they keep the comp rooms for Vegas. That is really my only benefit, which is significant, along with the match to Hyatt. I did get a strong offer to offset losses to come back to National Harbor, which I was really happy with.
Yeah I doubt this changes comps much so for table players probably not a huge deal if you weren’t spending on property anyway.
Agreed