Next Steps on the Status Match Merry Go Round (2025)

What? “I thought the Status Match Merry Go Round® was dead,” you say… 

Not quite (although the end of the Wyndham Business Earner credit card providing Caesars Diamond status as of February 1, 2025 is a HUGE blow).

There is no known way to match back to Caesars Diamond in Feb 2025 at this time. It’s possible that it will still be a benefit of Founder’s Card, but I would not touch that until they confirm the benefit IN FEBRUARY when you can actually attain the 2025 Caesars program year status.

If you are already on the Merry Go Round and can get to Atlantic City easy enough, let’s look at your playbook. And let’s keep in mind that Ocean now requires 24 months of inactivity to rematch. The Wynn stay and MSC cruise from Ocean is a primary goal of the MGR for many, so what can you do?

If You Have Ocean Prime Now

If you currently have Ocean Prime status, that means it expires June 30, 2025. It also means that you have at minimum 15 more months until you are eligible again as the earliest you could have matched was April 1, 2024. Even if you matched then, you are looking for a rematch no earlier than April of 2026!

How can we get you at least one more shot at it (assuming now more significant program changes)? 

In March 2025, take your Ocean card back to Hard Rock and re-match to Icon. You’ll now have Icon status until February 2026. In January of 2026 (anytime from January 6th on to be safe), you’ll take your Hard Rock over to Bally’s and match to Superstar. THEN, in March of 2026 you can rematch that to Hard Rock Icon. And then in either April or July of 2026 (or whenever you hit your two years of Ocean inactivity), you can match back to Ocean! The April OR July is because the program year begins in July but they have allowed matches up to 3 months early the last 2 years.

If your Bally’s Superstar card has a Dec 2026 expiration date, which it should, then you could consolidate and do the Bally’s match in February and do the rest all at once when you are eligible for Ocean.

Is that a lot of effort? You betcha. But you’ve been asking for a strategy and now you’ve got one!

Don’t forget you also now need to earn 250 Tier Credits at Ocean to receive the Wynn nights and cruise.

If You Don’t Have Ocean Prime, But Do Have Caesars Diamond

I’m talking about those with Caesars Diamond and nothing else. This implies you got the Wyndham Business credit card recently, got Caesars Diamond, and haven’t acted yet. You are in crunch time. That card will expire January 31st and you’ll be out of the game. 

You need to go to Bally’s Atlantic City THIS MONTH (Jan 2025) and match to Superstar.

Then from March on, you can match your Superstar card to Hard Rock Icon.

And then you can match that to Ocean Prime in either April or July. Once again, the April OR July is because the program year begins in July but they have allowed matches up to 3 months early the last 2 years.

Note: I’m giving earliest match dates above. But if your Superstar card from Bally’s expires Dec 2025, there is no reason you can’t wait until April or July and make only two total trips to Atlantic City.

Another Note: If you are in Chicago, that Bally’s will only match from Hard Rock Icon, not Caesars Diamond. 

Caveats

I can take no responsibility for things changing.

As always, something could change tomorrow that kills every single word I wrote above. Being in the MilesTalk Facebook group and subscribing to this blog are the best ways to at least know if something major changes. 

But let’s say that come March, Hard Rock decides you can no longer “re-match” to Icon… game over for anyone that’s had Hard Rock status before.

As of now we know that Bally’s IS still matching. However, what we are not sure about is their “inactivity” rule. We’ve been told 13 months of inactivity, but I have heard of people matching a second time sooner than that. If you have any datapoints on matching sooner than 13 months, please drop them in the Comments.

Questions?

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.