Like a shot heard round the world, Wyndham added new terms to its Tier Match page that shuts down the Wyndham Business Earner as a path to Caesars Diamond, effective with the next Caesars program year (Feb 1, 2025).
As is clearly states, you’ll no longer be able to match as the result of being a cardholder. (Also affected is the personal Earner+ card which gives Platinum status. This was enough for a free Caesars stay at Atlantis – albeit more limited than as Diamond – so it’s a double blow.)
Also of note is that the amount of points you can transfer between programs is reduced from 60,000 a year to 30,000 a year. This is notable because you can transfer back and forth to extend the hard expiration on Wyndham points (4 years after the points are earned).
PS: The Caesars site does not reflect this yet…
Obviously, this is a MASSIVE blow to the Status Match Merry Go Round®.
After Caesars stopped “rematching” from Wyndham due to their offset program years in 2022, the Wyndham Business Earner Credit Card quickly became the onramp (an onramp that began in 2020).
In fact, while Founders Card remains the only other path to Caesars Diamond, the Wyndham Business Earner (“WBE”) was the far cheaper route at $95 a year (and with 15,000 points each year at card renewal offsetting that.
Thinking that Founder’s Card will save you? Don’t bet on it. For those with short memories, in February of 2024 (i.e. this year!) Caesars tried to reneg on their arrangement with Founder’s Card which then removed it as a listed benefit – only to have it come back a short while later. I strongly believe this was a result of Caesars being “too late” to change the deal as the program year had started – and that this won’t be an onramp to Caesars Diamond next year either. I’d obviously love to be wrong.
So what now?
I have lots of thoughts and while I’m still digesting this like the rest of you, I can offer some guidance.
- If you already have the Wyndham Business Earner card and haven’t matched to Caesars yet, do it now! Why not?! There was never a reason to wait anyway (since it had been renewable in February anyway), but now that it’s not, get that Cesars status for as long as you can because….
- The name of the game for the foreseeable future of the Merry Go Round will be “keeping things alive.” That means having status wherever you can get it for as long as you can get it.
Examples of how you might be able to keep things going at least for another year (minus Caesars Diamond, of course):
- If you have been on the Atlantic City Merry Go Round in 2024, you have Hard Rock Icon Status through Feb 28, 2025 (and Ocean Prime through June 2025). You may even have MGM Gold if you matched before September 30th from Hard Rock Icon. And you may also have Bally’s Superstar (though that would end, at the latest, December 31, 2024).
- Ballys will rematch every 13 months if I understand their match correctly. If you haven’t matched yet to Ballys in Atlantic City, do that in January 2025. Then use that to rematch to Hard Rock in March 2025.
- Hard Rock will match from Ocean to Icon (or MGM Gold+). So if you have Ocean now you can rematch in March to Hard Rock and use that to match back to Ocean after your 18 months of inactivity are up.
- Bring your highest card to a Rivers casino in January. Ballys Superstar (which you can match from Caesars Diamond) in January would be a great move as you can match that to Rivers – at least in Chicago. Hard Rock Icon will match to Ballys Superstar. Philly doesn’t always match but when they do they will rematch (match someone who has matched before) while other Rivers casinos are one time only. However, you can match to each one separately for now (i.e. at different times) which can be advantageous.
- It’s still going to be worth trying to match your Wyndham status via the credit card. It probably won’t work but you never know. People also (rarely) have had luck matching at a Caesars property on-site. You are not supposed to be able to do this but who knows.
All of the above can keep you cruising (i.e. the MSC cruises from Ocean and any additional cruise matches you can get) for at least another year.
I need some time to game everything out, but there may be ways to keep this going, sans Diamond, for a little while.
Please add your thoughts in the comments. Together we find more ways to keep things going round and round for at least a while longer. And don’t fret too much. We’ve seen the “death of the Merry Go Round” many times and it has risen from the ashes just as often.
We’ll be discussing this over on the MilesTalk Facebook group in this thread. I suspect it will be quite a long thread. And yes, I know – you’ll be cancelling your Wyndham Business Earner. I wonder if Barclays will wonder what’s up with the wave of cancellations!
HT to Professor_Toke on Reddit.
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Thoughts?
End of 1st paragraph should be “Feb 1, 2025”
You’re quick 😉 Already fixed, thanks!
Correction: The WBE gives you 15000 points at card renewal (not 10000 points).
Yes, thank you.
I did the SMMGR in early September so my timing I believe would be: back match from Ocean > HR Icon in March 2025. My 18 months might be the dead end at that point though as i need to wait it out until March 2026 by which time Icon expires.
So even if I am currently matched to Diamond now I should submit my match for next year?
No, you can’t match while you have the status already. Nobody will be able to match past February unless a miracle recants this whole situation.
I read on Reddit that this info is showing on the Canadian website, but not on the US website. Could this be possible? Any way to confirm directly with Wyndham?
The T&Cs were listed as being as of today, Weds Nov 13th.
If you check the US site now, the terms have been added. That was Reddit hopium.
I recently signed up for the Wyndham Business Earners card primarily for the Caesars Diamond match. Would it make sense to match to Caesars Diamond in January as opposed to now? The thinking is if the match occurs in January 2025, the upgraded status would last until January 2026. Thanks.
Caesars status ends Jan 31 of each year. They won’t match Wyndham credit cards starting in February. So your best bet is to get the Caesars card and then in January match to Ballys Superstar and match that later to Hard Rock and Ocean
I went to Vegas and got Caesars Diamond, Fontainebleau Gold, Wynn Platinum (+ 2 days and Holland Cruise) and Unit Legend (Vegas Baby). So, I was thinking going to AC and to upgrade my Hard Rock from Unit to Icon, Bally’s and Ocean. Is a good plan?
Based on how things are today I would do that in January (get Ballys from Caesars) and then in March get Hard Rock Icon from Ballys and Ocean in April or July depending on when they start the next year’s matching (if they do). If you aren’t local, then you could just do January and again whenever Ocean opens the match – picking up Hard Rock Icon along the way.
Still worth signing up for this card to pick up some cruises next year? Thank you!
You’d have to sail that Ocean cruise by June 30 2025.
I already have a MSC cruise booked for the Ocean 24-25 year.
But what if my spouse goes to AC in January to get first Caesar’s card and then matches to Bally’s.
Then wait until July to go to Ocean with Bally’s card to match for the 25-26 MSC cruise?
Can’t see why that wouldn’t work.
But wait, does Ocean match to Prime for Bally’s alone? Not seeing Bally’s listed in their brochure.
You missed that you have to go to Hard Rock with the Ballys card to pick up an Icon card first 🙂
what about the caesars credit card? for atlantis stays it can get you platinum
You’ll only get the 5,000 points year 1, but it would work for one year. Note that Platinum only gets to choose from 4 months of the year for the stay.
I have ceasars but currently no hard rock and my 18 months for ocean is done in june so planned on going in July initially.. do I have this mapped out correctly..
Jan 25 fly to ac and get ballys superstar from cesars diamond. Or renew icon and take that to ballys if diamond doesn’t work
Then in July fly back to ac and match the ballys to hard rock and then ocean.
Then 2026 march rematch the ocean to icon and then hope something else has happened by then??
Wow. That got complicated 😉 As of now the recommendation is to check in January if Ballys is still matching. If so, match before either your Caesars Diamond or Hard Rock Icon expires. Then match back to Hard Rock ideally in April if Ocean allows early matching. A lot of moving parts that could change.
oh man, this is such a bummer and so confusing! If I’m currently a Caesar’s Diamond thanks to the Wyndham Business credit card, and want to get the MSC cruise, I would need to travel to AC and match to ICON to OCEAN before Feb 28, 2025 and then cruise before June 30, 2025? Is that correct?
correction: I would need to match to ICON before Jan 31, 2025, OCEAN before Feb 28, 2025, and cruise before June 30, 2025. is that correct?
That would work. Or what I laid out as an option is matching CZR Diamond to Ballys in January (if they still match) and then match to HR and Ocean in April with the hopes that Ocean starts 2025/26 matches then and you’d get the full year.
But it’s all based on what exists now, and we don’t know what that will mean next year, unfortunately.
Hi dave…
so i currently have caesars diamond via wynd biz, but even if we play the game w AC and bally’s & HR etc, theres still no way to get caesars diamond again becuase they only match for new players correct? or is it different in caesars AC?
im stuck in the northeast… will Wynn encore in boston match if not a new player? or MGM in springfield Mass?
That’s correct. We will have to patiently wait for a new way to match Caesars. Some people may get lucky trying in person etc but most will be denied.
Encore doesn’t match.
MGM matched from Jan to Sept this year, but currently is not. However, you need Hard Rock Icon – Caesars won’t match there. Springfield used to play by its own tier match rules but no longer. MGM has unified every property on this.
Hi Dave. Called MGM in Springfield today and girl in the cage told me they only match to Caesar’s Diamond plus and above. Also they will only match to Ballys in RI but not ATlantic city. Crazy!
Very interesting if they are indeed once again matching when the rest of MGM is not. Used to be the case, but I didn’t think they still did – great to know.
They definitely only match Caesars Diamond Plus/Elite/7 Stars. If they said they match Ballys Superstar (did they??) the card does not say where it’s from IIRC. If they are matching outside of the regular MGM program I do wonder if they match the 4 months or until program year end like the old days…. maybe you’ll try and let me know 🙂
Hey Dave! i wasnt there in person so no match, also the way they know where the ballys card is from is because they have different numbers…my card from AC starts w 404 and Twin rivers RI start w a letter…i didnt ask how long the match would last but im assuming the 3 months…. heard the Founders card is also gonna be closed to caesars , not surprised….
Very interesting about Bally’s. I wonder why Rivers in Chicago didn’t care my card was not from Chicago. My hunch is that they didn’t look very closely (I know they didn’t). They just saw Superstar. So I guess it depends on who is matching and if they know to look?
Hi Dave!
I’m currently in a status match challenge to get Wyndham Platinum until Dec 2025.
Will that work to match to Caesars?
Only if you get lucky since matched statuses are excluded from the Caesars match. Note that Plat only would match to Plat anyway which won’t get you anywhere on the MGR but would get you an Atlantis stay (only 4 months to choose from, though).
Dave,
First of all thanks for your diligence is tracking all of this and gaming out the various scenarios. I had matched a few years ago Caesars > MGM (back when they did that in like ’22 > Rock Royalty (just before the change over to Icon > Ocean Prime. I have to be in AC this week for work and trying to see what my optimal strategy is.
Would you suggest (a) rematching Caesars > Icon > Prime to “keep it alive” for as long as possible or (b) doing nothing for now, and waiting until January as you’d suggested in one of the earliest comments?
Thanks in advance!
So you have nothing but Caesars now? I’d probably match to Bally’s and then match that to Hard Rock and Ocean in April IF Ocean in April allows early matching.
But if you are super risk averse and could use a cruise by June then you might go your first route…
Correct – I have nothing but Caesars now. I had Rock Royalty (pre-Icon) and had matched to MGM at Borgata in AC but that was a few years ago – like ’21 or ’22.
I don’t love the idea of going to AC and having to pay for hotel nights just to do the matches… Would it work to do this:
1. This week match Caesars to Bally’s to Hard Rock Icon to get the free nights.
2. Next year use the free nights at Hard Rock to do a weekend in AC. While there match to Ocean to get a couple more nights + cruise. While on that trip, P2 could match Caesars to Bally’s to Icon to Ocean as well.
3. That should leave P2 with another couple of nights in AC and both of with nights at Wynn.
Alternately I could just match to Bally’s for now, as you said. But in that case I’d have to pay for my hotel nights when I go to AC in 2025 to complete the match, right?
Thanks again!!
I think you missed this. https://milestalk.com/ocean-to-require-250-tier-points-for-wynn-cruise-benefits-from-dec-1/.
If you don’t gamble, you need to get Ocean ASAP and book before Dec 1st for Wynn/MSC. (We aren’t sure yet if the Dec 1 cutoff if the match or the booking).
So you’ll have to do this right away, all in one shot. And you can’t use the Hard Rock nights when you match – it takes a couple of days and they have just about no availability for the free nights which have to be used within 60 days even though they usually tell you there aren’t any available when you call to book.
Oof. Yeah I did miss that. I will try to see how the earning works to see the logistics. My buddy who gambles points out there are often 5x or even 10x tier point promotions at casinos so maybe Ocean has some similar promo which would lessen he sting.
I did know the Hard Rock nights can’t be used immediately. So my thought was to match to Hard Rock now, and use those nights in Jan or so, to complete the matches. But if I have to match to Ocean now, before 12/1, that may be moot.
I could still see about using the Hard Rock nights in Jan to re-do the same sequence with P2, before P2’s status runs out on 2/1. But yeah, definitely a one-two punch
MGM Mastercard to earn status with spend!
Hi! I matched Caesar’s Diamond (achieved through Wyndham card) to Oceans back in July of this year. I’m booked on my free MSC cruise in December of this year. I should be able to get one more free MSC cruise as long as I call after Jan 1 2025 and take a cruise before June 30 2025, correct?
I would call today and ask to book that cruise. We don’t know what happens after Dec 1.
I just got Wyndham diamond through status match with Hilton. I don’t have a Caesars card yet. Should I try to match with Wyndham through the portal now? I saw Caesars also had other matches for new sign ups, want to make sure I am not closing off other opportunities. Thanks in advance!
Hi Dave, I have Wyndham Diamond through status match with Hilton. I don’t have a Caesars account yet. Is it worth getting an account then trying the Wyndham match now? I saw a promo for first time sign up and wanted to make sure I wasn’t ruining another status match by signing up for the first time. Thanks so much!
Sorry- Didn’t mean to double post!
If you have another casino status and you’ll have it through at least next February and you have NEVER had a Caesars card at all (at any time in your life, any status) then you could match that way next February and have a whole year of status.
Otherwise, your Hilton “earned” Wyndham status by the books does not match to Caesars. Yet some people slip through the cracks and get approved anyway, so if the first part of this doesn’t apply to you, then yes, I would try to match.
However if you think you could have another mid tier casino status, do the former.
This is very helpful. Thank you for all the work you’ve put in for this merry-go-round, it has helped me out a ton!
SO MUCH INFORMATION! Thank you for that and your patience with our questions!
I heard today about the Oceans cutoff on 12/1 for no tier points. I only have Ceasar’s now. I’m thinking about doing a quick day trip on Saturday to AC and do the Caesar’s – Bally’s – Hard Rock – Oceans. Really looking for the MSC Cruise in the first half of next year. Am I losing out or giving up much to do it right now instead of waiting til mid next year? Thanks!
If you aren’t willing to gamble several hours to get the 250 tier credits, then do it now. You can skip Bally’s if doing it now. That way you can get it in January to match back to Hark Rock in March.
Back in summer I was told that my match to Ballys was only granted for 3 months unless I earn some ridiculous number of tier points. I don’t remember how much because it was out of question, anyway.
I hoped, at the time, it was just one clueless employee, which is why I didn’t walk away. But when I checked online last month, they did soft-land me to Star.
Maybe just my luck, but beware.
If you have Hilton Honors GOLD, Wyndham will status match to Wyndham DIAMOND.
That will get you Wyndham DIAMOND without the Business Earner credit card.
Any thoughts on whether that might be a work around to get to Caesars DIAMOND.
The terms and conditions clearly state that matched status does not qualify for Caesars matches. This changed a long time ago (as the match was the original on ramp to the Merry Go Round). You can always try, though!
Hi Dave, Thanks for all your good advice over the years. I’m a low roller who goes to Vegas 4 or 5 times a year. I have Ceasars Diamond from my Wyndham credit card. I know I can’t do that next year.
This is what I’m doing. Going to Vegas in 10 days. Going to Venetian and getting Ruby with my Diamond card . Then going to MGM to get Gold. Is there any other status match I should then do?
Then in February use either my Venetian or MGM status to get back Ceasars Diamond.
Your thoughts. thanks as always
Hi Marc, I answered you a few days ago in this thread: https://milestalk.com/venetian-tier-match-is-live-and-kind-of-boring/
I status matched to Icon in 2023 in Vegas from ceasers diamond. Will i be able to status match again in 2025 in AC to Icon from Ceasers Diamond?
Yes, but your Hard Rock status will expire Feb 28, 2025 (FYI)
Thanks. I plan to match to Ballys superstar in January to then match to Icon in March or June (As soon as Ocean Prime allows status match for the following year). I just wanted to make sure Hard Rock would allowed me another status match. Would you happen to know when would be the earliest to match to Ocean Prime that would allow me to have until 2026?
We don’t know until April 1 if Ocean will allow those matches April 1 or not until July 1.