Perpetual Status and Matches with Hyatt, Wyndham, MGM, and Caesars

Now that I'm living within easy reach of Las Vegas, I am starting to get more familiar with casino loyalty programs.  I'm not a big gamer, but I do like cheap hotel rooms and VIP benefits!

There are four programs that offer status matches between each other that can be highly lucrative:

• Hyatt - World of Hyatt
• Normal way to obtain status: hotel stays
• The easy ways to get status: Hyatt credit card (automatic Discoverist, Explorist after $50k spend)
• Automatic status match from: MGM M life, Royal Caribbean or Celebrity
• Wyndham - Wyndham Rewards
• Normal way to obtain status: hotel stays
• The easy ways to get status: Wyndham credit card (automatic Platinum)
• Automatic status match from: Caesars Total Rewards, La Quinta, Other Hotels (90 days)
• MGM - M life
• Normal way to obtain status: gaming, spend
• The easy ways to get status: MGM credit card (automatic Pearl)
• Automatic status match from: World of Hyatt, Total Rewards (YMMV, new accounts only)
• Caesars - Total Rewards
• Normal way to obtain status: gaming, spend
• The easy way to get status: Caesars credit card (automatic Platinum)
• Automatic status match from: Wyndham Rewards, MLife (once every two years, M life Gold to Total Rewards Diamond)

Round and Round We Go!  Perpetual Status

Once you obtain a mid-level status with one program, you may be able to keep it perpetually due to differences in loyalty program status years.  This works for both hotel/casino pairs: Hyatt/M life and Wyndham/Caesars.  First, you need to know the expiration dates of your status with each program:

• Hyatt - World of Hyatt
• Status expires: 2/28 (or 2/29)
• Wyndham - Wyndham Rewards
• Status expires: 12/31
• MGM - M life
• Status expires: 9/30
• Caesars - Total Rewards
• Status expires: 1/31

Knowing these dates, you can "bounce" your status back and forth.  For example, if you start with Hyatt Explorist (until 2/28), you can match to M life Gold between October and February.  Then, you will have M life Gold (until 9/30) and you can match back to Hyatt Explorist between March and September.  You can do this year after year for perpetual status -- just be sure to watch when your status expires in each program and then do the match again.

Bump up to Diamond

While most matches are like-for-like (e.g. Hyatt Explorist to M life Gold), and the Hyatt/M life matches are limited to lower mid-tier (e.g. Hyatt Globalist only gets you M life Gold), there's one match where you can actually bump up!  If you go into a Caesars casino after February 1, you can match M life Gold to Total Rewards Diamond, which is their upper mid-tier status, until January 31 of the following year.

La Quinta is the Gateway from Other Hotel Status

If you have status in other hotel chains (Hilton, Marriott, etc.) then LaQuinta offers straight-up status matches.  If you match to LaQuinta Elite, then you can automatically match to Wyndham Platinum for the full status year, and perpetually using the technique above.

Wait, How Does This Work Exactly?

You need to start somewhere...  Status in another hotel or cruise program would be a great start, but you can also sign up for credit cards.

Let's say you start with Royal Caribbean Emerald status.

• Match Royal Caribbean Emerald status to M life Gold status via players' club desk.
• Match M life Gold status to Hyatt Explorist status via website.
• Match to M life Gold status to Total Rewards Diamond status via players' club desk.
• Match Total Rewards Diamond status to Wyndham Rewards Diamond status via website.

Let's say you start with Marriott Gold status.  This one is a bit more YMMV due to the fourth step.

• Match Marriott Gold status to La Quinta Elite status via email.
• Match La Quinta Elite status to Wyndham Rewards Platinum status via website.
• Match Wyndham Rewards Platinum status to Total Rewards Platinum status via website.
• Open a new M life account and match Total Rewards Platinum status to M life Gold status via casino host (YMMV).
• Match M life Gold status to Hyatt Explorist status via website.
• Match to M life Gold status to Total Rewards Diamond status via players' club desk.
• Match Total Rewards Diamond status to Wyndham Rewards Diamond status via website.

In the end, you'll gain the following statuses perpetually as long as you match back and forth when each status expires:

• Hyatt Explorist
• Wyndham Diamond
• M life Gold
• Total Rewards Diamond

Let the Perks Roll In

The perks of mid-level status in these programs are pretty impressive.  The links will take you to the full lists, but here are some highlights.

• Hyatt Explorist Benefits
• 4 club lounge upgrade certificates (ending in 2020) and room upgrades.
• Wyndham Diamond Benefits
• Suite upgrades and welcome amenities.
• M life Gold Benefits
• Skip lines and upgrades.
• Total Rewards Diamond Benefits
• No resort fees, celebration dinner, lounge access (for a fee), complementary stay at Atlantis Bahamas with waterpark access and activities.

Enjoy!