The Laurel Lounge at Caesars Windsor
Wyndham is selling Wyndham Rewards points at a 40% discount. Found in this post via this post.
This 40% off discount means you can buy points for $9.29 per 1,000 rather than $13. Still overpriced, but more decent, IMHO. UPDATED: The promo is valid until January 16, 2020.
This is a very rare sale outside of Wyndham’s “regular” annual Daily Getaways sales, Those, however, are for one day only and I honestly don’t remember seeing a discount so deep. I might be wrong, though.
Loyalty Traveler makes a case for using the discounted points on some (rather limited) hotel stay options. I used to feel very enthusiastic about the Wyndham Rewards program when they set all their redemption prices at 15,000 points per night in 2015, but that enthusiasm evaporated after the recent reversal. Although I’m sure there are properties that might well be worth looking into.
However, there is another unexpected way to benefit from this sale — if you’re interested in having a good time in Las Vegas and/or Atlantic City, as well as other casino cities in the U.S.
Diamond Caesars Rewards members get access to lounge and Wyndham Rewards can help
I’ve never been to Caesars Rewards Diamond lounges in Vegas. If you’re interested, there are 6 of them.
- Caesars Palace
- Flamingo Las Vegas
- Harrah’s Las Vegas
- Paris Las Vegas
- Planet Hollywood
- Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino
Here are Diamond lounges in other cities:
- Ak-Chin
- Caesars Windsor
- Harrah’s Atlantic City
- Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort
- Harrah’s Council Bluffs
- Harrah’s Gulf Coast
- Harrah’s Joliet
- Harrah’s Laughlin
- Harrah’s Louisiana Downs
- Harrah’s Metropolis
- Harrah’s New Orleans
- Harrah’s North Kansas City
- Harrah’s Philadelphia
- Harrah’s Reno
- Harrah’s Resort Southern California
- Harrah’s Tahoe
- Horeshoe Council Bluffs
- Horeshoe Hammond
- Horeshoe Indiana Grand
- Horseshoe Southern Indiana
- Horseshoe Tunica
While I’ve never been to any Vegas lounges, I do know and like the Diamond lounges at Caesars Palace and Bally’s Atlantic City, and both are very, very nice. Mark from Miles to Memories believes that AC Caesars lounges are better than Vegas’, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some hidden gems to be found in other locations, as well.
The pickle is that since 2018, Diamond members who haven’t earned 25,000 tier points have to pay 10 comp dollars per person per visit (1,000 rewards points). So “fake” gamblers like me do feel a pinch. And this is why the Wyndham Rewards points sale is so awesome. It gives you and a partner access to a Diamond lounge of your choice for just $9.29 per person. Here is how.
Wyndham Rewards and Caesars Rewards (former Total Rewards) are partners
UPDATE: As readers Jon and Andy pointed out, the transfer is in 10,000-point increments, so you’ll need to spend at least $92.90 to be eligible. Still, it’s 5 visits for 2 people.
That means as a Wyndham Rewards member you can:
- Earn and redeem points at Caesars Rewards properties
- Match Wyndham status to Caesars Rewards tier
- Transfer your Wyndham Rewards points to Caesars Rewards
Still not a Wyndham Rewards Diamond member? May I ask why? This is my screenshot. Never had Wyndham Rewards points. And I mean never!
Getting the top Diamond status with Wyndham Rewards is so ridiculously easy — and has been for the last year — that I’m still shaking my head in disbelief. They will match (and upgrade) your status from 8 hotel programs:
- Marriott Rewards (GOLD to DIAMOND)
- Hilton Honors (GOLD to DIAMOND)
- Choice Privileges
- Best Western
- World of Hyatt
- IHG (PLATINUM to DIAMOND)
- Radisson Rewards (GOLD to DIAMOND)
- Omni Select Guest (huh?)
The 4 bolded programs above will give you Gold with credit cards. If you have Amex Platinum, you’re Marriott and Hilton Gold; with Hilton Surpass you’re Gold, too. You also get Radisson Rewards Gold with the Radisson card and IHG Platinum with the IHG card. Each of these cards, except for the Amex Platinum, carries a sub-$100 annual fee, and, if you are interested in travel at all, you should carry at least one of them and probably more.
You can also match to Caesars Rewards Diamond tier from several casino programs, but for all non-gamblers — Wyndham Rewards is the easiest gateway. I’ve dedicated several posts to tier-matching options and their benefits.
My Atlantic City Status Match Adventure — Part 1: What’s Still Working and What Is Not
My Atlantic City Status Match Adventure — Part 2: Total Rewards Diamond Benefits IN DEPTH!
My Atlantic City Status Match Adventure — Part 3: MGM M life Gold Benefits IN DEPTH!
My Atlantic City Status Match Adventure — Part 4: Hard Rock Casino Wild Card Benefits and Summing Up
Is it really worth it?
Well, if you have to ask… 🙂
Look, the answer is no, if:
- You hate casinos
- You don’t drink
- You despise (nearly) free food
In other cases, you bet it’s damn worth it! The Diamond lounges at Caesars and Bally’s in Atlantic City (again, never been to others) are classy joints with awesome views. And drinking premium top-shelf liqueurs with your spartner for a couple of hours or more can easily run you a $100+ bill, and that’s not even mentioning a small but pretty decent buffet. Well, maybe you could skip the whole thing if you’re not Wyndham Diamond and don’t want to become one because you’re not interested in other Caesars Diamond benefits, which are nothing to sneeze at, by the way.
However, consider this. The only tangible benefit of the Founder Card (which everyone sells for $400-600 per year) is the Caesars Diamond membership. That’s all I could find.
And it’s yours for free!
What is the future planning for us?
Caesars Hotels has been been acquired by Eldorado Resorts, the owner of almost 2 dozen casinos including Atlantic City Tropicana. What will they do about the Wyndham-Caesars partnership considering that Eldorado Resorts has its own loyalty program, One Club? Will they extend the partnership to other properties or take it down? Or leave it at the current number of hotels run by Caesars? It will be interesting to find out.
Will you buy Wyndham Rewards Points sale for lounge access or other purposes?
