I returned from a recent trip to Las Vegas that was enhanced by a great hacks in the award travel business, status matching to Caesars Entertainment Diamond Status. Both my friend and I were able to achieve Caesars Diamond Status through status matches from Hilton Gold and Diamond. This feat provided us with several money saving benefits and time saving perks.
Status Match
As an American Express Platinum Card Member I am automatically granted Hilton Honors Gold status. With that status I was able to first request to be a Wyndham Rewards Diamond member. Once that status was granted I requested a match to Caesars Rewards Diamond. My friend is a Hilton Diamond member through his Hilton Aspire card and used the same method to match to Caesars. The process might sound complex or a bit of a drug deal but it’s actually pretty straightforward.
Once that was complete I had my newly minted Diamond status for the remainder of this year.
Diamond Benefits
Some of the key benefits provided by Caesars Diamond Status are:
- Free or discounted hotel stays
- No resort fees
- Guaranteed room in Las Vegas or Atlantic City with 72 hours notice
- 20% Discount at casino gift shops
- $100 annual Celebration Dinner
- 2 free show tickets per month
- Priority lines at check-in, restaurants and casino cashiers
Source: Caesars Rewards
For the two of us that meant we derived over $750 in value from our status matches.
| Resort fees waived | $168 |
| Free valet parking | $75 |
| Celebration Dinner ($100 each x 2) | $200 |
| Penn & Teller show tickets (2 each x 2 @ $80 value) | $320 |
| Total Value | $763 |
Hotel
My friend booked a room for 3 nights at Planet Hollywood which coincidentally due to some previous tier credit activity he earned was completely free. This saved us about an additional $600 based on the published rates. Caesars owns many properties in Vegas and many of them are located at prime center strip locations. Planet Hollywood was a large resort located next to Paris and diagonally across from The Bellagio. The location was perfect.
One thing I liked about Planet Hollywood was the elevator to the rooms were in fairly close proximity to the casino floor and a short walk to the exit to The Strip.
View of the Planet Hollywood casino floor from the Mezzanine.
Las Vegas is the epicenter of resort fees. These egregious and often hidden fees have become a commonplace shady practice in Vegas and around the world. Anytime you can avoid them, the better. Planet Hollywood charges fees of $42 per day which are fortunately wived with Diamond status. This benefit alone can save a pretty good chunk of change on a long stay, whether it is comped or not.
An additional benefit we took advantage of was free valet parking. While self parking is free at many Vegas resorts these days, the convenience of a valet was great. If we had to pay for this service it would cost $25 per day.
Dining Benefits
One of the popular benefits of Caesars Diamond status is the $100 “Celebration Dinner.” This annual credit is available to all Diamond guests and can be redeemed at a number of restaurants at Caesars properties. All you need to do is present your physical Diamond card and $100 will be deducted from the bill.
The current list of eligible restaurants is maintained on the Caesars website. The $100 must be redeemed all at once and if there is a remainder left it will be forfeited. Since we had two credits to use we decided to split it up.
The first use was for lunch at Gordon Ramsay Burger inside Planet Hollywood.
I ordered a backyard burger with truffle parmesan fries. It was absolutely delicious. For the three of us with drinks the bill came to just under $100 so the waitress offered if we wanted to order a drink to go to exceed the $100 threshold and make full use of the credit. I gladly accepted.
The second credit was used at Rao’s inside Caesar’s Palace. Rao’s is fantastic old school Italian restaurant.
I ordered the penne alla vodka for the main course and it was absolutely delicious.
For the three of us the bill came to about $200 so the $100 credit helped to offset it quite nicely.
Shows
Also with Caesars Diamond status you are entitled to free show tickets at a variety of Caesar’s properties. We opted for tickets to Penn & Teller at the Rio. Face value is $80 each so with two free tickets each we scored $320 of value. It also gave us the opportunity to check out the Rio which is off the strip but a short walk from Caesars Palace. It was also a good opportunity to walk off the delicious dinner from Rao’s.
The show was quite entertaining and interactive. We even got a chance to explore the expansive Rio property a bit after the show. Even though the location is a bit off the strip it might be a nice spot to stay at next time.
Other Benefits
In addition to the monetary benefits discussed above, Diamond guests receive other perks at Caesar’s properties. Dedicated check in lines are standard with most hotel elite programs but additionally there are dedicated lines at casino restaurants like the ever popular Starbucks. No matter what the time of the day it seemed like this line could save 10-15 minutes over waiting in the commoner line.
Diamond guests also receive 20% off at casino gift shops so that saved me a bit of change on souvenirs for the family too.
Conclusion
Caesar’s Diamond status match is one of those unadvertised but extremely valuable benefits of hotel status granted by the Amex Platinum. While Gold and above status can be earned through a variety of ways the $550 annual fee of the Amex Platinum was almost nearly covered by just one trip to Las Vegas. With a $175 additional fee for up to 3 authorized users you can get additional Platinum cards for your friends and family with that they can sign up for their own Hilton or Marriott Gold status which then ultimately matches to Caesar’s. These additional Platinum accounts come with their own celebration dinner and show tickets so the benefits can be stacked quite effectively.
Bottom line is I would not go to Vegas again without Caesar’s Diamond status. With the ability to match from many hotel programs and potentially renew in perpetuity you should also never have to go without it either.
In Points We Trust 