A WILD roller coaster of a year not only describes my knee also what happened with travel hacking. Planning this as a multi part series because it’s super involved with many moving parts. It will be ongoing with recaps of the trips I was able to score, but even crazier is that as I get comps and offers, I can use those to get more offers!  Strap in ~ the whiplash might be intense (as my PT has said that she gets stressed out just listening to my updates!)

TLDR: How I was able to parlay status matches and an investment of ~$300 and one day in Atlantic City and Philly into comped hotel nights, waived resort + parking fees and multiple free cruises! But it wasn’t all fun and games and because I gambled (plus luck in general wasn’t on my side), I lost out on the ONE I was really wanting but I have to remind myself in the end, lots of freebies = winning. 

How it started and what I have to remind myself is a silver lining with how things have gone with my knee is that having so many procedures and rehabbing for the full year gave me time I wouldn’t have had otherwise to fully immerse myself into travel hacking. 

In March, I came across an Apple News article about a Hyatt status match/challenge. Spent a little time googling Bilt and the challenge and figured might as well since there was nothing to lose and much to gain. IMO (and most of the travelsphere would agree) that Hyatt has the best hotel loyalty program by far and it’s especially valuable once you have Globalist status. And to be able to earn it with 1/3 of the normal stays is pretty amazing. 

This is also when I joined the numerous Facebook travel hacking groups suggested to me and they were instrumental for what happened next. Whilst I still love Flyertalk and still find it very useful esp w/DPs and more nuanced things, it was refreshing to find a way to search more easily and even more importantly, get introduced randomly to things I would have never known about!

Since I have had to take a huge step back from baking, it was so nice to be able to have something else to focus on besides my recovery and good/bad to be around so many points obsessed people. But boy oh boy did it pay off! I had joined the groups at the time the Hyatt challenge was going live and they had many, many interesting ideas about how to hack it even further.

This is when I learned about the partnership between Hyatt and MGM (which is now sadly dead). What’s the big deal? My Hyatt Explorist would match to MGM ➡️ MGM gold status. And this would come with discounted room rates and most importantly NO resort fees. My thinking was that it would be easy to get a few of the nights needed for super cheap (rooms at Luxor or Excalibur could be found for $30-$45 for the status challenge period). 

I always talk about using resources and a big shout out to the FB groups as in one (10x), I was found out about a loophole that put this whole thing into motion. Original plan was to take a quick trip out to Vegas but then I came across what is known as the casino status match merry go round (MGR). Miles Talk in particular was the biggest help as the founder is the one that popularized that moniker and wrote a very detailed post re the subject which I’ll link here. And so many group members provided so much valuable insight re their experiences/helpful notes and really helped with maximizing the gains when I came back later asking for some guidance.  

I learned that I could not only match to MGM but parlay that into elite status with Caesar’s, Hard Rock, Ocean’s, Live! and Rivers casino. Only caveat was that I would have to go out to Atlantic City since these matches would have to be done in person. And why was I wanting to do this? Because it would result in free nights at the Wynn or Encore + free cruises. The irony is NOT lost on me that I may not be a cruise person but free is free. Plus sometimes l just like to see how far I can push things and that has definitely paid off big for me this year.

I thought that time was of the essence here because Hard Rock AC is in the process of getting fully integrated into the Unity reward program and what you will earn with your Caesar’s Diamond would then become ICON (lower than Rock Royalty according to Ocean). lol as of 12/15/2024, this has not happened even though their signage changed in Q1 and employees were told that it would happen sometime in the middle of the year.

I talk a lot about the roller coaster nature of my recovery and this showcases what is has been like for me. In April, things felt really great with my leg and I really thought I would be able to capitalize on all of these benes so I booked a quick trip out to Philly and made my way to AC. Again because Hyatt/MGM partnership no longer exists, my particular route isn’t open but there’s still a way for you to do this. You’ll have to start w/getting a Wyndham Business earner credit card that you can use your Wyndham Diamond status to match to Caesar’s diamond. I’ll refer you to Dave’s well researched article and/or join the FB group for lots more info since that part I am not keeping up to date on.

I started the day at MGM Borgata and was able to easily get my MGM Gold. Met the nicest rewards rep who I chatted with for about 10 mins about upcoming changes + also about how I could also add a household member to my account that would also get gold status. What this means in practice is that one could have two times as many of the freebies in the end! MGM Gold benes: waived resort fees, free parking including valet, priority checkin and buffet seating. So the loophole that I found that made me consider doing all this is that my Hyatt card in my Apple wallet did not show it was a temporary match and with that things could commence. Crazy I was also able to match my MGM gold back to Hyatt and obtained Explorist status (which was currently temporary due to the challenge) that is valid until Feb 2025! 

Headed to Caesar’s and again parking was waived. MGM Gold ➡️ Caesar’s Diamond benes: waived resort fees, free parking including valet, priority checkin, skip the line for most restaurants, free Atlantis stay,  free $100 celebration dinner, free tickets (used to be shows but current reports state it’s free tix for the high roller) 

Headed to Hard Rock next and again valet parking was waived. Caesar’s Diamond ➡️ Hard Rock Rock Royalty benes: not 100% certain what all the benes are since I was just matching to get Ocean but I know that you’re eligible for a comped two night stay. In addition, I received $50 free slot play + I ended up winning $80 (which paid for my rental car and gas)! 

Kept the car parked at Hard Rock since these two casinos were pretty close to each other and matched Hard Rock Rock Royalty ➡️ Ocean Prime benes: this is where things get interesting. I was able to visit their player’s lounge for lunch (prime rib, shrimp cocktail ~ fairly decent but really great since it was free!), but this was the whole point of my trip: a comp Caribbean cruise for two: ocean view for up to 7 days + no port fee/taxes and 2 night comp stay at Wynn Vegas + $50 dining credit AND the crazy thing is that I could do this twice (not valid more than once per calendar year but my status would be from May 2023 – end of June 2024)! I had seen this on the groups but the rewards rep was also telling me about this hack. _{These benes changed on June 1 (for the worst, it’s now Resort World and only valid once but for the better, the MSC cruise is now up to 10 days valid anywhere they sail but China).} This started the trend of ya win some and ya lose some. 

I decided to go HAM and since I was staying in Philly and what I was pretty stoked about was Hard Rock Rock Royalty ➡️ Live! Philly benes: a 10 day MSC free ocean view cruise (was better than Ocean at the time because it was sail anywhere but China vs just Caribbean), 3 nights at the Resorts World Hilton in Las Vegas and a BOGO on Baha Mar (Buy 2 nights, get 2 free). Haha how quickly things change in the travel hacking world and within the time I went to when I was matched (they send to a back department so someone noticed all of us trying to game the system 🤣) to when I was officially award an elite status a week later, it was to a lower level. 

But there’s more with one additional casino and I matched Hard Rock Rock Royalty ➡️ Rivers Philly benes: this was also supposed to be a free cruise but terms were changed that it is was only for those with earned status by the time I called in to inquire about the cruise. 

I can’t remember if it was at Live or Rivers but I did win $20 on a new member prize wheel~ it would have been worth $40 if I used it towards food at the casino but I took the cash. And not sure why but the burger meal that I ordered to go ended up being comped anyways!

Dear reader: fret not as not all hope was lost (or the two free cruises I thought had slipped through my fingers). This is to be continued because as if this wasn’t already pretty involved, the next part is a doozy and even more complicated!