GREAT NEWS FOR CASINO STATUS MATCHERS.

MGM announced that MLife benefits will switch over to MGM Rewards this year starting February 1st. As part of the ‘reimagined loyalty program’, they’re starting to offer additional perks, which is HUGE, because if you’ve played the status match merry-go-round before, you know that MLife Gold didn’t offer too many perks on it’s own.

With the new roll out, MGM Gold will offer:

  • Waived resort fees for up to two rooms when booking direct
  • Complimentary enhanced room upgrade at check-in based on availability (room view, high floor, etc.)
  • Complimentary tickets to exclusive MGM Rewards concerts in Vegas
  • Access to exclusive tier appreciation events and experiences
  • Complimentary self-parking at MGM properties
  • Potential late check out (ymmv)

There are other perks, like a $100 tier achievement dining experience, but those are for qualifying members, and most status matchers won’t qualify from the status match alone. 

If you’re interested in what ‘direct’ booking means, it essentially means you pay at the hotel. This seems to combine with the free room offers they publish (Excalibur, Luxor etc.) if you have MLife Gold. A rep for MGM said they’d check to see if prepaid AmEx Fine Hotels & Resort nights qualify for benefits. This should also apply to award nights booked through Hyatt as well.

How to Earn MGM Gold

We’ll have a full post on how to status match in 2022 coming soon, but if you have Caesars Diamond, Hyatt Explorist or Globalist, Hard Rock Rock Royalty, Wynn Platinum or Ocean Prime status (among others) you can status match in-person for this. It appears that if you status match before February 1st, that it will automatically update starting February 1st, and you won’t need to go back in-person for the update. 

Why It Matters

As we stated above, MLife didn’t offer that many excellent perks for being MLife Gold. There was free hotel parking in Vegas and a designated check-in line, but everything else was pretty watered down and we often didn’t receive any worthwhile perks for staying on-property. 

With the update to MGM Rewards, staying at a MGM property now becomes more appealing. MGM frequently sends out free room offers for 1-2 nights at their lower-tier properties like MGM Grand, Excalibur and Luxor for guests who simply have status with them, but don’t gamble. With the resort fees waived, this allows free rooms to finally be that, completely free. 

The enchanted room upgrades is also amazing, especially given MGM is set to add Cosmo Las Vegas to their lineup this year. The Cosmopolitan is one of my personal favorite resorts in Las Vegas (second only to the Wynn), so being able to stay there in likely a Bellagio fountain room, resort-fee free is amazing. 

Finally, for those thinking of working towards Hyatt Status, being MGM Gold automatically gives you Hyatt Explorist status. On it’s own that’s amazing, BUT there’s another amazing perk, and that’s if you book your first night with Hyatt, the rest of your stay, even if it’s comp nights offered by MGM, will all count towards your Hyatt qualifying room nights. With waived resort fees, that means you can stay at Excalibur for four nights (assuming you combine your stay with the comp three night offer), for as little as 12,000 points and earn all four night qualifying room nights. 

We’ll update once we hear back on a few small details of how this all comes together, but as of right now, this seems like a fantastic upgrade to a program that desperately needed it. I’ll be in Vegas in two weeks and can update on what having the new status is like!

We’ve reached out to MGM and are getting clarification on a few things and will keep you updated!