Hard Rock Status Match Update (Unity / Wild Card) + Sahara + Caesars Note

A lot of people were wondering what the status would be of status matching to Hard Rock’s program from March 1st on, given that their last program year ended February 28th.

Would they continue matching MGM Gold to their ICON program at Mirage in Las Vegas and to Rock Royalty in Atlantic City?

Happily, the answer to both is yes…

Hard Rock / Mirage Unity Tier Match (Las Vegas)

The tier match is still going strong at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

You can match your MGM Gold (or Platinum!) status to ICON status in the Hard Rock program. Similar to MGM Gold, this status gets you free parking, including valet, waived resort fees, and room upgrades.

Additionally, you’ll get $100 in comp dollars loaded to your card when you match from MGM Gold ($200 from Platinum and $300 from Noir, which would match to Unity’s top tier Unity X).

Caesars Diamond *officially* matches one level down but *many* people have had it matched to ICON anyway, so try your luck if that’s all you have. 

There’s been a bit of confusion about the $100, in terms of how you can use it. I can confirm from my match this week that it’s comp dollars. If you are spending them via your card, it’s limited to F&B as the spa isn’t yet linked in. But if you are staying at Mirage, you can spend those comp dollars against your final bill, including any and all charges such as spa or even your room charges.

The card will expire February 2024.

Hard Rock Atlantic City Wild Card Tier Match

Hard Rock Atlantic City is targeting the spring season for finally getting onboard with the Unity program.

But until then, your MGM Gold card still matches to their Rock Royalty tier – and you will get an ICON card whenever they switch over. You can also match from Caesars Diamond.

The terms are unchanged in that if you’ve never had a Hard Rock card, you’ll get a kicker of two complimentary nights, valid any day of the week, and $50 Bonus Free Play. If you are “rematching,” you’ll just get the Rock Royalty card – you don’t get the extra benefits a second time.

Don’t Forget to Match to Ocean Prime

As outlined in the master Status Match Merry Go Round™ post, if you are in Atlantic City, you can parlay that Hard Rock Rock Royalty or ICON status into Ocean Prime status, which comes with a free cruise on MSC ($400 deposit required; becomes onboard ship credit; no port fees or taxes) and two free Nights at Wynn in Las Vegas at Wynn or Encore which comes with a $50 F&B credit and waived resort fees. 

A couple of notes on the Ocean match after I chatted with Nick Reyes from Frequent Miler who shares a few new tips:

• Those who match after March 1st automatically get extended to June 30th 2024, meaning that you’d be able to book a cruise and Wynn nights for both 2023 and 2024.
• It seems that while you have to wait until the 15th of the next month after matching to book Wynn, you can book MSC right away.
• Kids add $359 each to the required deposit. At a point, you may be building more in shipboard credit than you can use, so it’s worth being aware of.
• You can tier match Hyatt Globalist to MSC Diamond which provides additional onboard benefits

Side Note: Sahara Las Vegas Tier Match

I kept getting bombarded with ads while in Vegas to tier match to Sahara’s program. It’s probably only worth caring about if you gamble or stay at Sahara anyway, though, since you don’t appear to get any other instant or tangible benefits like free play.

Side Note: Caesars Tier Match

We’ve talked a lot about how Caesars no longer allows you to “rematch” from Wyndham Diamond and how you need a Wyndham Business Earner Card or Founders Card to be allowed to rematch annually from Wyndham.

Well, many reports have come in from people that did in fact match Caesars back to Wyndham this year and then back to Caesars – with success. 

We can’t know if they will take those away (again) but given the positive data points, you may want to try if you haven’t tried already. Worst case is it doesn’t take.

Get $750 in the form of 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $6,000 in your first 3 months. Points are transferrable if you also hold a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred. Earn 1.5X points on all eligible purchases. Read how you may qualify for this credit card even without a traditional business entity. Get This Offer

Thoughts?

Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram for all sorts of tips on miles, points, credit cards, and travel.

If this post helped you, please consider sharing it!

You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards. 

New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.