I love a good hack that yields multiple benefits with a minimum of work. I really love the idea of a great hack that would yield elevated status with the biggest casino loyalty programs without having to put tens of thousands of dollars at risk. Up until now, it was a nice thought, but not something that was easy to accomplish. Well, there’s good news. I’ve got a strategy that will get you casino elite status with Caesars and MGM. The keys to the strategy are FoundersCard and The Borgata Rewards program.
Step 1 – The FoundersCard
The FoundersCard brings together a portfolio of excellent benefits and discounts that include Travel, Lodging, Lifestyle and Business categories. It differs from other offerings with an aggregator approach by focusing on services that appeal to luxury travelers and entrepreneurs. There’s an initiation fee ($95) and then an annual fee to belong but those are easily recouped when you take advantage of the many benefits available. You can also get the initiation fee waived and lock in a reduced annual fee by signing up here. (Pricing and details about the program can be found on the TravelZork FoundersCard page.)
Here’s a few of the benefits you get with the FoundersCard:
- Complimentary Total Rewards® Diamond Status – This benefit alone pays for the card. Resort fees at Vegas hotels are waived and you get lounge access too.
- Clear membership – 6 Months Free. Discounted $140 annual fee thereafter (regularly $179).
- Airfare discounts on Cathay Pacific – Complimentary Marco Polo Club Silver Tier
- Airfare discounts on British Airways, Qantas, and JetBlue
- Complimentary Hilton HHonors™ Gold Status Membership.
- Complimentary TripIt Pro for a year.
- MailChimp (e-mail marketing) – 2,500 MonkeyRewards Credits ($2,500 value).
- Namecheap – Domains and Webhosting – 20% discount.
Step 2 – Get Your Free Caesars TR Diamond Status
Once you have your FoundersCard and a Total Rewards membership, you can select the the free Diamond upgrade from the FoundersCard portal. It takes a little while for the upgrade to process as FoundersCard batches the upgrade requests together once a month and sends them over to Caesars for processing. For example, they submitted the October requests during the first week of November and they were all processed by around November 9th.
That was easy. What’s next?
Step 3 – Get Your Free Status Match To Borgata Black Label
The next step does require you to go to the Borgata in Atlantic City to join the Borgata Rewards program and claim your upgrade to Black Label. The process is pretty painless as they don’t require you to have your Total Rewards card with you – verification via your account status on a cell phone is good enough (Thx to The Free-quent Flyer for that data point). Right away you get some nice benefits including $100 free slot play, complimentary Classic Room stay and access to the VIP lounge. (Even with access Amphora Lounge does charge $10 comp dollars per person, per visit.)
Step 4 – Get Elite Status When MGM Converts Black Label to Mlife in 2017
The last step is patience. MGM acquired Mlife earlier in 2016. They sent a letter out to the Borgata Rewards members letting them know that the program would be integrated into Mlife sometime in 2017. All of their Black Label status, balances and offers will transition over to Mlife intact. In addition, Black Label members that visit Vegas can present their card at any Mlife location and get an immediate status match to Mlife Gold.
Step 5 – Reap the Rewards
That’s it. There’s really only 4 steps to the process. It takes a little work and a trip to Atlantic City to accomplish, but achieving elite status in 3 programs is certainly worth it. It that’s too much work, you can certainly go with the excellent URComped program that will aggregate up all of your play across multiple casinos and programs, and curate the best offers to match your style and level of play.
Let us know your thoughts about this status hack in the comments below.
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If you’re interested in learning more about FoundersCard, please see our extensive FoundersCard page on TravelZork.
Steve has spent the last 35 years traveling around the world for both business and pleasure. He is a Delta Three Million Miler and has earned top tier elite status with multiple Airline and Hotel Programs. One year after a very long mileage run to Japan to qualify for Delta status, he decided to get serious about finding the best way to travel better for less and started building a portfolio of travel hacking tools and techniques. If there's good travel, hotels, food, wine, spirits and company to be had, there's a way to have it for less.
Why does this picture the Mlife Platunum if it only yields Mlife Gold? The cheaper easier way of getting Mlife Gold is to get the Hyatt Credit Card. It gives you Hyatt Platinum status which matches to Mlife Gold. Unfortunately, Hyatt is changing their program in March and the status the card gives you will only match to Mlife Pearl, so take advantage of this before then.
The picture at the top of the article is of my own three cards – FoundersCard, Mlife Platinum and Total Rewards Diamond. Further down in the article I utilize an Mlife marketing photo of the gold card and describe that as the status to be gained. The Hyatt Credit Card is a good way to get Mlife Platinum. However, that one strategy won’t get you Total Rewards Diamond, which has great benefits.
The key point is – don’t postpone any valid strategy for miles, points or status. Terms and conditions change frequently, and what is available today, is often gone tomorrow.
If your a Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Emerald/Diamond (which is lifetime status with Royal) you get mlife Gold, Diamond Plus/Pinnacle get mlife Platinum: mlife tiered cards get benefits on Royal Caribbean including free Cruises, drinks, specialty dining, etc.
That’s great info. Thanks!