Breaking News: New Caesars Rewards Prestige Visa Signature Credit Card!
Join host Justin Vacula on the latest episode of the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast where he shares breaking news about the newly released Caesars Rewards Prestige Visa Signature Credit Card.
With guest Darren, Justin dives deep into the benefits, drawbacks, and considerations of this exciting new offering.
Learn about benefits, Tier Credit earning potential, ability to load on Caesars gaming sites, signup bonus, and much more.
Learn how this card compares to the existing Caesars Rewards Visa and its potential for frequent casino-goers and casual travelers alike. Darren and Justin also compare Caesars credit cards to MGM credit cards.
Also, hear about Justin’s latest travel adventures and upcoming meetups and events. Don’t miss this episode for all things travel, points, and rewards!
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Low-Cost Travel with Points and Miles
00:32 Welcome to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast
01:36 Breaking News: New Caesars Rewards Credit Card
02:48 Details of the New Caesars Rewards Prestige Visa
04:12 Earning and Using Reward Credits
05:53 Loading to Caesars Gaming Sites
07:36 Spending Strategies for Tier Credits
13:06 Benefits of Diamond Status and Beyond
18:11 Who Should Consider This Card?
25:16 Creative Spending and Online Gaming
25:56 Proceed with Caution: Potential Issues
26:26 Customer Service Frustrations
27:02 Issues with Upgrading to the New Card
27:46 Marketing and Exclusion Concerns
30:03 Comparisons with MGM Credit Cards
30:45 Potential Solutions and Future Hopes
33:12 Timing Your Application for Maximum Benefits
38:22 Upcoming Travel Plans and Events
42:08 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up
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Rough Transcript:
Theme Song: [00:00:00] Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the smiles. Many adventures tells to be told, make and save money, the world will unfold.
Fight the war on happiness. Pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold.
Justin Vacula: You’re listening to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast. I’m your host, Justin Vacula, here to help you travel the world at next to no cost with credit card points, miles, benefits, and loyalty programs. Thank you for joining me for today’s episode, Caesars Rewards released a new credit card. Visit meetup.com/philly miles and points to RSVP for monthly Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit, miles and points meetups I host in Willow Grove, [00:01:00] Pennsylvania.
The next meetup is August 24th, 2025. Find a link in the show notes. For more content between podcast episodes. Follow Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on Facebook and x. Follow Justin Vacula on Instagram. Subscribe to Hurdy Gurdy Travel podcast on YouTube for daily content, including travel videos, podcast clips, community, and posts on with today’s episode.
Recorded on July 16th, 2025. Thank you for joining me. Welcome back to the show, Darren. Thanks for having me, Justin. Breaking news. Very exciting show for everyone today. Yes, emergency podcast episode. The cruise trip reports will be benched for now because we finally got what we’ve been asking for a new Caesars rewards.
Credit card, the Caesar’s Rewards registered trademark, prestige Visa signature registered trademark credit card, all the trademarks. You think [00:02:00] it’s the card with the most registered trademarks in its name? Justin? I would gamble on a no for this. The,
Darren: no, I think EV negative.
Justin Vacula: I think we have more along our card names with US Bank and Citi, so probably more registered trademarks going on there.
Yeah, but this is an interesting opportunity, especially since it’s a casino branded. Credit card. Always happy to hear about new cards. It’s not everything we’ve asked for, but it is some things that we’ve asked for. So maybe they’re listening, maybe not, but I think there is a lot of potential here
Darren: if they are listening.
Is there anything else you’d like to ask for while we’re asking for things? It just seems appropriate. So far. So good.
Justin Vacula: Later in the episode, for sure. We’ll ask for some changes. Sounds great. And clarification.
Darren: Yeah. This is the New Caesars Rewards Prestige Visa signature trademark by a Citi, but they’re already a old Caesar’s Rewards [00:03:00] credit card.
Tell us, remind us about that.
Justin Vacula: Yes, there is a Caesars Rewards visa also issued by C slash Bread Financial, A more obscure bank, but a possibly rewarding one. They had no annual fee on their card. A small signup bonus, usually of 10,000 reward credits, a small tier credit bump. The spending category is not so interesting, but they have a high spend goal on the old card where you spent 5,000 in a calendar year and you got 5,000 tier credits.
So that was a good bump on the way to Diamond. But the main weakness of this card we’ve talked about before. That you can’t spend your way to the higher status levels. But now with the Caesars Rewards Prestige card, we’ll just call it that. From now on for Easy podcast listening, the new Caesars Rewards card, $149 annual fee, you’re getting many benefits and you’re able to spend your way to status.
The signup bonus is giving you 20,000 [00:04:00] reward credits. This is worth approximately $200 depending on how you use the credits. But let’s just say that for most redemptions. 20 K reward credit signup bonus is gonna be worth $200. So this would be adding to your Caesar’s Rewards Casino account, and you could use these reward credits for food, hotel stays and much more.
And in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, and other states with online gambling, we have the opportunity to convert that one to one. One-to-one to free play. So 20,000 reward credits would convert to $200 in free play that we could use for blackjack or other games. So with this new card, you get the 20 K reward credits and 2,500 tier credits after spending a thousand dollars in 90 days outside Caesar’s destinations.
Yes. You can’t just whale away at the casino and get the signup bonus. So it’s a weird thing that they say, but you think they would want you to do that, but maybe not with a credit card. I don’t know. [00:05:00] Nobody knows. 2,500 tier. Will help towards status and we’ll get into more tier. So the reward credits are basically comps or free play.
If you convert online and the tier is what you need to get status with. Caesar’s Rewards some other features of the card, you earn seven x reward credits for spending at Caesar’s Destinations. This would be food, hotel stays and much more. That’s really interesting. Seven x. Then the other earning isn’t super interesting.
Two x dining that’s not competitive with many other cards. Two x travel, definitely not competitive. Two X entertainment. Not really sure what that all includes. Maybe concerts, ticket masters, StubHub, maybe things like that. One X everywhere else, and it has a new feature compared to the older card that you earn one x.
Comps reward credits on cash advances, and this card allows you to load to [00:06:00] Caesar’s websites, Caesar’s online gambling sites as a cash advance with no cash advance fee. This is odd. It’s not a purchase as various MGM cards, the MGM credit cards. You could use the credit card and it counts as a purchase when loading to online gambling sites.
So with a cash advance, it appears to be the case that. Interest starts accruing immediately on cash advances. So if you were to load a thousand dollars to Caesar’s Palace online, then the time is ticking on interest on that cash advance, even though the statement didn’t close, even though 30 days hasn’t passed.
So it sounds like a little bit of an America loves math moment on cash, advance fees that could be very low if paid off. Almost immediately.
Darren: Speaking of America loves math, so did a little little math in preparation for this. So I’d imagine everyone’s cash advance [00:07:00] fee may or percentage, excuse me.
Interest may be different based on credit score and so forth, but we use a number like 20% a PR, annual percentage rate on interest. If you loaded a thousand dollars, you would accrue about 55 cents of interest per day. So you’d earn a thousand tier, am I thinking about
Justin Vacula: that
Darren: correctly?
Justin Vacula: No, it’s one x reward.
Oh, one credits. Reward credits. And then
Darren: however, depending on how you use that, a thousand dollars, you would, would depend on how many tier you earn, what games you played and that sort of thing. Is that That’s correct.
Justin Vacula: You’re not going to earn tier from the spend on the credit card, except for some of the bonus tier that we’ll talk about later.
Darren: But I’d say let’s, I guess step back here, I load a thousand dollars from my credit card onto a Caesar’s online casino. I earn a thousand dollars in rewards credit, and that is worth 10 bucks. Yes. And then for every day that I don’t [00:08:00] pay that off, I accrue 55 cents of interest per day at 20% a PR. Then depending how I spend that money or how I use that money, what games I play with, that money that determines my tier credit, the situation, everything before that.
That’s what determines that.
Justin Vacula: That’s so yes. On blackjack, it’s my understanding that you get one tier credit for online gambling per $50 wagered. So if you were to play through a thousand dollars Exactly. Once you would get 20 tier credits. Then of course you would get the thousand reward credits, which is $10.
So if you were to pay it immediately, then you might only get charged per day. So if it takes three days for it to go from pending to posted, maybe you pay 55 cents three times, but you earned that $10 in comps or reward credits, and you earned some tier from the games itself. We’ll see how that actually would play out, because if it’s pending, is it going [00:09:00] to accrue interest as a pending transaction or is the interest going to accrue only after it goes from pending to post-it?
But let’s say in a worst case scenario, we load that thousand. It takes three days to go from pending to posted, and then we make that payment. We’re only charged a dollar 50, but we get $10 in comps. And then the base tier. On the game itself. I think that’s an optimistic or fair situation.
Darren: Yeah. And if you’re playing optimal blackjack, you’re somewhere in the half percent, 1% expected cost of that.
So that’s, you’re essentially trading your one X rewards credit for that 1% expected loss. Right? So that’s offsets that and you’re able to spend and earn tier credits as well. So. Some opportunities there.
Justin Vacula: I don’t love it, but I like it. It would be great if it didn’t code as cash advance and it coded as a purchase.
And this also probably doesn’t count toward the spending requirements [00:10:00] on the card because it says purchases, and this specifically says cash advance. So some war on happiness there that the online loads don’t count toward the spend goals on the credit cards. So I still think it’s a positive play, but not an amazing one.
I know we’ve had some difficulties using prepaid cards and other types of debit cards, let’s say, on the Caesar’s websites. So if we could use the credit card to load, that’s nice, because otherwise we’re getting throttled when we’re trying to fund the Caesar sites in other ways. Or certain rewarding debit cards have just outright been blocked.
Darren: Yeah, so you’re in the community potentially allows you to use some of those reward earning debit cards to pay that card. So we’re just moving money through a intermediator here through the Caesars Prestige card earning reward credits on its way, accruing a little bit of interest, but also [00:11:00] earning some rewards on the other end.
So. I think you start stacking it up. Like you say, I like it, but I don’t love it. It’s not three XMGM. So on purchases, that’s still the golden egg?
Justin Vacula: Yes. With the MG M credit cards, we’ve definitely talked about that in past episodes that BET MGM online gambling has run promotions where if you were to use MGM credit cards to load to BET MGM, you get three x comps and three x tier.
But unfortunately with this new Caesars Rewards prestige Visa signature card. You’re only getting the reward credits, so you’re not getting tier on all the spend, but you do get some tier. There’s an annual bonus of 2,500 tier for spending 5,000 in purchases, not the loads as cash advance once again, so you can get 2,500 tier every calendar year after 5K in purchases another 2,500 tier for spending 10 K total in purchases.
[00:12:00] Another 15 K tier spending $50,000 in a calendar year on purchases, not the cash advances. So you can spend your way to 20 K tier every year more than you need for regular diamond status with Caesars. That’s 15 K tier, and it gets you very close to 25,000 tier that you need for Diamond plus. So very interesting that now with this new credit card, everyone, assuming they have enough credit limit and enough spend, of course they can spend their way to diamond status so you don’t have to rely on status matching.
We hear all the lamentations, oh, status matching is dead. We can’t get Caesar status anymore. But now they’re giving us a way to get diamond status. So for those intermediate to advanced listeners who have a lot of creative ways to spend. They’re looking for new cards to put the spend in to get rewarded.
This can be a very [00:13:00] interesting opportunity, and with the status levels, you’re going to get various benefits. There’s the classic $100 celebration dinner that comes with diamond status, so that’s once a calendar year or a tier year. It goes through January 31, but basically once a year you get a hundred dollars dining credit.
Diamond status is waiving those dreaded resort fees. You’re not having to pay an extra 40 to $50 a night when staying with Caesar’s property, and you’re going to get comp nights as well. So if you get the 15 K tier for Diamond, you’re getting one comp night every 5K. So that’s three comp nights. So it’s interesting that now you can spend your way to Diamond status every year.
A little bit of a high goal for some, but again, those who are listening, who have a lot of creative spending ways you can get there. The credit card, as I mentioned, has $149 annual fee, so sign up bonus is going to [00:14:00] offset that in year one. And there are other benefits. Their advertising, $50 in free slot play, a hundred dollars dining credit, and a comp hotel night up to $300 per year.
I’m not clear as to how that comp hotel night’s going to work. Is it going to be a certificate, like the nights that we earn on the way to Diamond status that I mentioned? So if you’re getting a hundred dollars dining credit and $50 free slot play, that’s $150 offsetting the annual fee. And then when you get the bonus tier and some of the other benefits of status, I think it’s a very low price for an annual fee, getting some decent benefits.
Darren: I was just doing some math because Justin America loves math, but so if you spend that 50 K on this card and you say you do it at say, two x something close to two x in dining, or maybe a few Caesar’s properties or restaurants and maybe a little one X mixed in there, but you get [00:15:00] close to two x overall, so that’s a hundred thousand rewards credits right per year that you would earn on the 50 K spend, which would be a thousand dollars in comps or free play that you could cash in.
So it’s a little bit of a 2% type card there. You’re also gonna earn some amount of money, perhaps if you’re paying that off with a rewards debit card. So maybe another $750 there, offset by an annual fees, $150. And there’s always opportunity costs, depending on what your other options are and what else you’re trying to focus on in your.
Advantage play here. But yeah, I think a lot of opportunities, and like you say, it’s what we’ve been asking for, the opportunity to find a way to get to Diamond or Diamond Plus primarily through credit card spend and not as much of the online play, which can be much more variable or even in person play, much more variable, much more challenging to get done if you wanna achieve that Diamond or Diamond Plus and get some of those benefits.
Justin Vacula: Yes, and this also might open [00:16:00] future tier matching. There’s not too much going on, whereas last year, win Las Vegas had a tear match. Fountain Blue had a tear match and various others. Some MGM challenges where you get MGM status for maybe three months. I think Virgin is still offering tear matching in Las Vegas.
Rio Tier matching just ended. That was very limited, but you might be able to move that Diamond or Diamond plus status. Into other programs in the future. There are some other benefits for frequent casino visitors. With diamond status, you get lounge access if you use thousand reward credits, which is basically $10.
A lot of the lounges have closed, but still some are open. Especially Harris in Atlantic City. Diamond also gives you complimentary drinks at some property. I’ve had this in Lake Tahoe, just the regular diamond gave the drinks. Diamond Plus definitely [00:17:00] gives you comp drinks in Vegas and other locations.
I’ve had four drinks a day at Pinky’s by Vanderpump. There was some incorrect information recently about alleged changes that were made to some properties removed, the drink vouchers, the drink credits, whatever you want to call it, but Pinkies by Vanderpump still. Allows it. They did remove Starbucks earlier in the year.
This wasn’t a recent change. It was earlier in the year, but many of the bars still give the drinks. There’s also Guy Fi at Horseshoe in Paris, and you could use those for drinks there, even non-alcoholic drinks and the Ramsey restaurants, except the drink vouchers as well. So there are some opportunities in Vegas and other properties.
Again, Starbucks and some other places removed, but still lots of opportunities, especially for those looking for alcohol as we hear a lot. Oh, drinks in Vegas are so expensive. Oh, food is so [00:18:00] expensive in Vegas. But constantly we’re talking on here about creative ways to lower the cost of those Vegas trips, and here’s an opportunity with a credit card.
That can get you to that.
Darren: It’s, I think it’s a great segue, Justin, to say who, who should be interested in this card. Certainly we, a lot of these benefits revolve around in casino opportunities, whether it be comps or free play through those reward credits as a discount or a rebate against the annual fee and other things.
So what do you think, who, who should be thinking about this card?
Justin Vacula: Obviously people visiting you. Justin, you, Justin, you want this card? Besides you though, besides. Yes, people who stay in play at Caesar’s Properties, Las Vegas visitors, people who value status and the tier credits. So this can really help you get to that next level we mentioned.
It can get you to Diamond, it’ll get you close to Diamond Plus, and it will also get you a good way into the Diamond Elite status with Caesars. So that’s 70 [00:19:00] 5K tier for Diamond Elite, and this card can get you a good chunk of the way there. Diamond Elite gives you a $600 airfare rebate, and I’ve been getting various emails that have said Diamond Elite at the top and then give me flight offers.
Oh, chartered flight to Gulf Coast, chartered flight to Vegas, come out to Laughlin, come out to Lake Tahoe, and so on. I did play video poker earlier in the year during the 10 X tier promotions that we’ve talked about before. So that probably has something to do with it. But there might be a future in which you spend your way to status and then you start getting offers for comp flights, comp rooms, gifts, free play, and much more.
So that we don’t know, because previously with the no annual fee, Caesar’s card, you can only get 5,000 tier a year and that doesn’t get you to Diamond or better. So the card is appealing to people who stay and play at Caesar’s, visit Las Vegas and other destinations like [00:20:00] Atlantic City. Tier matching is really appealing.
So for those going to different casinos matching, we might see other opportunities opening in later 2025 or sometime in 2026, occasional travelers who want easy platinum status. A feature of this card and the no annual fee card is that after your first purchase in 90 days, you get Caesar’s Platinum status, which is a low level status with Caesar’s rewards, but that gives you.
Complimentary parking and maybe tear matches with platinum. I think at one point win Las Vegas was accepting Caesar’s Platinum, or maybe it was Fountain blue. I don’t quite remember, but there could be some tear matching even with platinum status. So if you’re not putting in the 50 K spend. You can still get the platinum status just by being a card holder.
Darren: That’s every year that as long as you maintain the card as being active and pay the annual fee, you maintain low level [00:21:00] platinum status.
Justin Vacula: Yes. You maintain the platinum status as long as you have the credit card.
Darren: Yeah. Like you said, I think that’s a good entry point for a lot of folks that maybe are only going to Vegas once a year or a couple other casino or locations once or twice a year.
Take advantage of that free parking and. Maybe some tear matches when they become available. A little spend on the card, some free play when you get there, or some comps, eat at the the steakhouse. I know Justin, that’s your favorite place to eat. The least favorite. Yeah. But yeah, it seems like a, even for a casual, I don’t wanna say gambler, but casual casino attendee.
That’s not the right term. Casual casino visitor. There you go. Thank you for that. It seems like it, it has some appeal there and the cash advance probably isn’t gonna be a big deal for them ’cause they’re not probably loading that onto Caesar’s websites. But they spend some money on entertainment. They spend some money on dining and they can accrue a few points that makes their trip to Vegas or Atlantic City.
You’re one of the many other Caesar’s properties that we’ve talked about. A little more [00:22:00] enjoyable.
Justin Vacula: Seven x on Caesar’s purchases, so that’s interesting. We may have other cards with five x on travel and those can be worth more than a cent per point, but seven x is not so bad and there could be some uplift with these Caesars comps as well as there was a recent promotion for all.
You can eat breakfast for $20 at Guy FI’s, once again at Horseshoe in Paris. So $20 for an all you can eat breakfast. Not terrible, especially for Vegas. Then you can also use your drink vouchers there if you get the Diamond plus status. I’m not sure if that’s still going on In mid-July, I will be in Vegas at the end of July, early August.
I’ll go there for the show of course, and see if that’s still happening and can I stack the drink vouchers and the comps and the all you can eat breakfast? Time will tell. So sometimes these opportunities open where we get more value. Out of the reward credits or the [00:23:00] comps. So this is a way to earn those within the Caesars system.
Otherwise you’d only be, or mostly be earning them through actual gambling in person mainly, or spend at the hotels and dining and all that. So earning the comps with the credit card is interesting, especially at seven x. I think this is appealing to people who already have many credit cards. Of course, the answer to everything is more credit cards.
So for those who have been in the Miles and points hobby for years, they’re finished with Chase cards. They’ve gotten the more valuable cards with other issuers. They’re not looking at getting back in with Chase because they’ve already had so many cards. They’re not eligible for Chase anymore, or they already have 10 Chase cards.
So for those looking for a new card, and they probably don’t have cards with C Amenity that issues this card or Bread Financial. This could be an interesting option for those running low on options. This is also an interesting card for big spenders. So for [00:24:00] those that are doing a lot of creative spend, maybe a lot of business spend, and you’re running into credit limits, you have other cards, you’re only getting maybe 2% cash back after you’ve exhausted the better and bigger categories.
I spend a lot each month, so here’s a card that I can get, a high spend goal. Get casino status with, I think there’s an appeal for that. For those that don’t do creative spend, those that are maybe lightly into this hobby, I don’t think it’s gonna be worth spending 50,000 on this card in a calendar year.
But of course, my response would be find more creative ways to spend. But for those that aren’t or they aren’t dedicating the time, this card is probably a pass. But I think very appealing for the casino. Regulars very appealing for the tier matching. Appealing for the occasional travelers and definitely appealing to the more intermediate and advanced audience with many credit cards.
Darren: Yeah, I think that’s spot on [00:25:00] and if people need help figuring out more creative ways to spend Justin, they can come see us in In Giant at Willow Grove. Oh
Justin Vacula: yes. The Greater Philadelphia travel credit Miles and Points meet up that time. I said it instead of you. Yeah, because I’m never gonna write Justin. I did.
Darren: It’s too many words.
Justin Vacula: It’s also an appealing credit card for those, doing the online gambling, the online blackjack, the online video poker, whatever there happens to be. But again, a little bit of caution on that cash advance. However, that process is, I’m not so clear about that, but maybe you’re paying a very slight amount in fees, but then you’re getting back the reward credits and potentially some deposit bonuses and play bonuses.
With the Caesars websites, I’ve been seeing daily, almost daily bonuses. $10, $15. The other day I saw a $30 deposit bonus, so that can definitely offset the small or likely small cash advance fees. But as the WE wrestler, Naomi says, proceed [00:26:00] with caution.
Darren: Speaking of proceeding with caution, I can hear the excitement and anticipation in your voice.
Justin, you are eager to sign up for this card, but wait. Yes. Oh, oh,
Justin Vacula: yes,
Darren: but wait, Justin,
Justin Vacula: there’s a problem. Is there a problem? Do we know if there’s a problem? Yes. I say that with a sigh for sure, because when I heard about this card announcement a day or two ago, I called the number on the back of the card.
The existing Caesars no annual fee credit card. I called customer service, and customer service wasn’t very helpful. They actually told me to call customer service. So this was the, the, my friend South Park? Yes. This was the South Park episode grounded NDA loop where the boys are maybe stuck in virtual reality, maybe not.
It’s not so clear. And they call customer service. Customer service, didn’t know what to do and customer service had to call customer service. And [00:27:00] that created another problem. So I’m talking to the agent, asking, can I product change to the new card? Is there an upgrade path to the new card? What is exactly going on?
And they didn’t have answers. They told me to call the same number that I called, which is just ridiculous, and I informed him very politely, the number that you provided to me is the same number that I used to speak with you. So I don’t think this is going to work. Did I answer all your questions courteously, Justin?
That is the point of customer service. Yeah. So it didn’t make any sense. Yes, he did answer the questions as the South Park episode was, and I asked about upgrading. I asked about product changing because this card has really strange terms. I think they, they roll out this brand new Caesar’s credit card and I would think that most of the people who’d be interested in applying for the new card already have the old card.
It’s been marketed for years, [00:28:00] maybe 10 years, maybe more, even when it was total rewards, they changed to Caesar’s Rewards a few years ago. People are still getting it wrong and still calling it Total Rewards. RIP, Darryl McEwen, of course, of the Seven Stars Insider, but it used to be the Total Rewards Visa.
Now it’s the Caesar’s Rewards Visa. So the card has been around for a very long time, and I imagine many people outside of miles and points see the advertisements in the casino. If they sign up for the card, and now since you can’t have both cards, they’re excluding a very large portion of people who would be interested in the new card.
So you can’t have the new card and the old card at the same time. So since you can’t have both, and I recently applied for mini credit cards and would probably get declined if I outright applied after canceling the old card. I wanna get this new card. I want to get the tier before the end of the calendar year to get the next level of status.
They’re telling me that I can’t product change, I can’t upgrade. You can only apply for the card. And customer service was telling me [00:29:00] to apply for the new card, and I told customer service terms, say, I can’t do that, I can’t have bolt at the same time. So this was very strange. Calls with customer service.
They did not get the memo about the new card, and unfortunately that’s not surprising, right? How
Darren: many times have we spoken with someone, even at the world’s funs? Even at the world’s funnest bank, right? Where we have a question, we think we know the answer. We’re 90. 5% sure of the answer and they give us an answer that we hadn’t even considered, and it turns out to be not true.
So it sounds to your point, this is maybe a bad rollout. The reps don’t really know what’s going on. They don’t have the one page memo. Perhaps down the road a week or so here when you’re back from Alaska, your crews to Alaska, that everything will be right as rain. They’ll be emailing you looking for opportunities to upgrade that card maybe with a small sign up or spend bonus.
Who knows? And if not, the opportunity to sign up for the card and allow you to have two cards just like Cardless change their mind. Maybe [00:30:00] amenity and Caesar’s rewards will also wanna change their mind.
Justin Vacula: Yes. MGM even allows you to have the legacy, no annual fee. MGM, MasterCard and the new MGM iconic credit card.
So this wasn’t a problem at all. I applied for the iconic card. I was thankfully approved with the generous credit limit as well. So I have both MGM credit cards right now, and I’d love to have both Caesar’s credit cards, even product changing without a bonus for a welcome offer. I would still do it and sacrifice the signup bonus because I’d like to get this tier before the end of the year.
So please come in, please, Caesars. I will pay your $149 annual fee. I’ll even pay $150 if you want, and I just want this new card. So yes, maybe there will be a consolation email. We’re very sorry for the confusion, but we are offering existing card cardholders to upgrade and we’ll waive that annual fee the first year.
Maybe [00:31:00] we’ll give you a slight bonus, or even if they just. Give no bonus, I’d still do it and pay the one 50 to get these extra benefits. The a hundred dollars dining credit, the $50 slot play, more earning, and the ability to load to the Caesar’s websites for online gambling. So really bad rollout, and I really like you Caesar’s Rewards, but this was a terrible rollout.
This would be like Chase saying, Hey, we released the new Chase Sapphire Reserve. We released the new Chase Sapphire business. But hey. If you currently have any business card with Chase, you can’t apply for the new one, or, oh, you currently have a Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited, then you’re not eligible to apply for the Sapphire Reserve.
It just makes no sense. A more reasonable thing they would do is have some kind of cool off period and saying. MGM did recently, you’re only allowed to get a signup bonus once per year on either card, so why exclude your audience?
Darren: Alright, Tom Reig, you’re listening. We know you’re listening. You’ve brought us this card.
Now you [00:32:00] just need to make a small change to allow Justin get the card and think of all the free publicity you’ll get. So we know you’re listening between probably summer vacations to the various Caesars properties throughout the world. We’ll wait for your message and they’ll changes to the terms,
Justin Vacula: and there might be some hope, at least according to a commenter on the Caesar’s Rewards Facebook page.
I posted about my issues with this card and someone responded, claiming a rep told them to call in on July 23rd, 2025, and ask for an upgrade offer. So I don’t know what’s so special about July 23rd. It’s currently the 16th. We’re recording. So that’s about a week, and I’ll have my cell service in Alaska.
So I’ll be excited to call while in Kach, Deon, or Juno or wherever I’ll happen to be. I’m walking through Alaska. I’m walking back to the cruise ship, and I’ll chat with Commend on the phone and hopefully not be on the phone for an hour and [00:33:00] maybe get a straight answer. Very bad rollouts. If you’re going to allow an upgrade or a change on July 23rd, 2025, that’d be great, but.
Why not have done that when the card rolled out?
Darren: So for Justin, for those folks that do not currently have a Caesars card like myself, what sort of timing would you recommend for this card? Is this something to get early in the year, late in the year, doesn’t matter.
Justin Vacula: Yeah, it’s a really good question. I think the strategy is similar to the MGM credit cards that one of the biggest benefits of these cards is likely spending towards status.
So if you apply at the end of the calendar year. October or November, that’s not going to be so good because then you’re not gonna be able to get in enough spend to reach these higher spend goals for the bonus tier credits. So you probably would want to get the card very late in the year and then wait until the new calendar year to spend, or just wait until early January and apply.
Darren: Yeah, that’s, that makes sense. And [00:34:00] certainly for folks that have already qualified. You wanna time that so that whatever tier you’re gonna earn is gonna go to the next year and ensures that you have continuity in that tier.
Justin Vacula: Yeah, it’s a little bit different than the MGM tier because the tier earning posts, when the statement closes, and this one, it’s spend based on the calendar year.
So if you got approved on December 1st, all your spending from early December to the end of the calendar year won’t count towards. The spend you need to do to get the tier. So maybe an application on December 26th, the day after Christmas, and then by the time the card arrives in the mail, the ball drops and your new flashy Caesar’s credit card arrives and then you could start spending towards status.
Darren: It is prestigious after all. Justin, so
Justin Vacula: not iconic. Not not so. You can time it and maybe some people would want to get it now as the card releases. [00:35:00] Maybe it’s a higher signup bonus than it will be in the future. We don’t know that. So that’s a little bit of a gamble. It’s very on point. Or if you want to get the free parking, if you want to have some of these benefits, the free play, the dining credit, the hotel night, then you could get that, because that seems to be based on a calendar year.
Although sometimes it’s confusing of which year, is it the anniversary year or the calendar year? So I could be mistaken, but it’s a new card. So we’ll see how these things go into effect.
Darren: Exciting opportunities here. Justin, that’s the great thing about these credit card programs, right? They always present us with new opportunities and we’re looking for ways to make them work for us.
So
Justin Vacula: what do you think? Fi final thoughts? I like it, but I don’t love it. I’ll stick to that. It’s bizarre that we can’t just product change or upgrade right now. It’s bizarre that we can’t just have both cards. The cash advance thing is not a good element. I wish it just was a purchase and then there were no additional [00:36:00] fees.
So there’s some weaknesses, but the big positives are the higher tier earning the seven x earning is somewhat interesting, and the ability to load to the Caesar’s websites is very interesting too. More deposit bonuses, play bonuses, and even more tier on the base game, especially since it’s hard to get money on those sites using prepaid cards and other debit cards.
Darren: Yeah, certainly some opportunity there. And I was thinking even if someone has a trip planned to Vegas and planning on staying in one of the casino hotels, Caesar Casino hotels, maybe this is a card you pick up for 150 bucks. Right? You automatically get operated to platinum. If you’re gonna stay for any length of time, you’re probably gonna spend that much on, on, on parking anyway and resort fees.
And so maybe it’s an easy proposition no matter what time of year. And then you try to spend, try to time your spend if you’re gonna go for a higher spend goal to earn a higher tier status in that following year. So certainly it’s a lot of different [00:37:00] to ways to approach that.
Justin Vacula: It’s July 16th as we’re recording.
Maybe some people are planning to go to Zork Fest in December, so maybe getting the credit card. In August or tomorrow when the episode releases, and then they could spend their way to diamond status and have that for Las Vegas. That could be an option as well. So it’s gonna depend. We talk about different goals that different people have and different spending, different priorities.
There’s potential here. It’s a niche card for sure. It has its problems, but it also has. Its benefits. So maybe around a six out of 10 for this card, for my purposes.
Darren: That’s probably a fair score. Yeah, maybe six and a half. There’s some opportunity here. If we play our, if we play our cards right, Justin. Oh,
Justin Vacula: and if more tear matches show up and it gets harder to match in other ways, then I think the card becomes more powerful.
And every time these tier matching [00:38:00] promotions come out. People lament, oh, I can’t just match from Hilton anymore. I can’t just match from Wyndham anymore. And they miss these opportunities. So I’ve been saying for years, instead of relying on status matching. Do things that will get you the status so you won’t miss these opportunities.
Darren: Yeah. Obviously the answer to all the problems is, yeah. More credit cards. So you, you mentioned Justin, you’re gonna be maybe applying for this card or talking to community about upgrading your card while you’re on a, an Alaska cruise. Tell us a little bit about what’s, what’s coming next.
Justin Vacula: Yes. I’m just back from the Holland America Cruise in Norway, the FRD cruise.
I was pining for the fjords as someone posted. I thought that was cool. I was in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and that was a complimentary cruise, thanks to win Las Vegas tier matching. So that went really well and it’s an Alaska cruise coming up this weekend. I don’t like that. It’s so back to back, but I’ll be cruising with past podcast guest, Mandy whose schedule [00:39:00] was quite limited.
So it’s about a week in between cruises flying out to San Francisco, and it’s a long one. It’s an 11 day cruise. It’s two sea days to get there and the initial day, so two and a half. But going to new locations, as I mentioned earlier, it’s going back to San Francisco. Then I’m going to fly from San Francisco to Vegas.
I have three nights at Wyndham Desert Blue using Wyndham points that we’ve been accruing for such a long time with the eight x gas earning. Still loving that. And then I have a two night comp stay at Park MGM. Las Vegas using the My Vegas Rewards, and I’ve had a very good track record of getting room upgrades in Las Vegas with my MGM Platinum status from MGM credit card spend.
I was at MGM Grand and I got an upgrade to an Executive King Suite. A few months ago I was at Aria and I got an upgrade to [00:40:00] the Sky Suites, which was a really big deal that went for, I think, $1,500 a night. That people are paying for or is advertised, but I guess yeah, some are paying. It is Vegas after all, so I’m hoping to get the upgrade at Park.
MGM. I’ve never stayed at Park MGM, so I’ll try that, see how it goes. I really like the location of Park MGM. You can just walk out the back door basically and hop on the MGM tram and get around to Vegas. Go right to Bellagio, see the conservatory. And redeem many of the My Vegas food rewards as well. So all these rumors about Vegas food being expensive, Vegas drinks being expensive, we’ll just continue debunking that and not running with stories about mini bar water that is $25.
Ooh, okay. Avoid the mini bar guys. That’s always been the basic strategy, right? So we’ll get some nice things in Vegas with my Vegas deploying the phone Army. Once again, so I’m excited for Alaska and Vegas. It seems like, hey, if I’m in [00:41:00] California and I’m flying back to Philadelphia, I might as well stop at Vegas on the way back.
Darren: Absolutely. I know you like to string these trips together and like you said, so you don’t like to maybe do some of these cruises so close, but to travel hackers dilemma, right? You just gotta take advantage when you can do it and enjoy the time there.
Justin Vacula: Yeah. In the past I flew to Chicago for Chicago seminars and after Chicago I went to Vegas.
I figured I’m about halfway there. So it could fly out. And at that point there was also a tier match opportunity as well. And then we had the meeting of the minds at Rio Las Vegas, but I already have my Hyatt globalist status, so I don’t have as much incentive to stay at Rio now, especially since I have all these Wyndham points and want to use that.
And then I have the comps stay with MGM through my Vegas. So this time we’ll mix it up with Wyndham and Park MGM. So I’m looking forward to that. We had to record this episode with these new announcements, so thanks for coming on. It was hot weather, [00:42:00] stormy, but we made it through.
Darren: We persevered Justin. The, the technology, not always cooperative, but we’re, we’re podcasters of the people.
We need to share this important message and we wanna make sure folks are aware of new opportunities and how they can leverage them and their opportunities and interests and travel in the world at free or no cost, low cost. One of these days, I’ll get it right.
Justin Vacula: Travel at low cost with points in mile.
Darren: Wait, you said you didn’t sing it. You just sang it. So now,
Justin Vacula: nah. Yes. So interesting news with a new credit card, hopefully will have an upgrade path, a product change path, or they just remove the one card rule and change their mind like Carlos did. Yeah, I hope so. Carlos
Darren: is gonna have build cards soon, so they’re gonna have all sorts of.
Extra cards to, to choose from. But yeah, I think, like you said, it doesn’t make a lot of sense from a marketing perspective that the people that are most likely to apply for this card already have the other card if they’re trying. And it get, again, [00:43:00] depends on to some extent what their goals are. If they’re trying to expand their customer base, I see that.
But if they’re trying to capture more value by adding this annual fee, geez, the way to do that is to ensure there’s an upgrade pathway. So I gotta think that’s gonna happen if not. On the July 23rd day. Some day a day going down industry. Exactly, exactly.
Justin Vacula: Some sometime soon after that. Oh, yes. The other strategy is potentially canceling the no annual fee card and then applying for the new card.
But I think that’s strange because there’s a possibility that you cancel the card, then you apply, and then you get declined for weird reasons. One could be that the system still recognizes the card and it takes a while for the system to clear the card and you have to call in for reconsideration. That might not work, and then you might get declined due to recently opened accounts or too many recent [00:44:00] inquiries or structure of your business.
For all we know, we’ve heard that recently, lack of real estate ownership. Mm-hmm. These weird decline reasons that could come about, and I think it would be really strange. To tell someone outside of miles and points, Hey, you have to cancel that Caesar’s card that you have now and then apply for the new one.
But that’s really what they’re saying here. If you want this new card, you need to cancel your existing card or you’re just not eligible.
Darren: Maybe like today, July 23rd today, that’s the case. So I would say if you’re currently a cardholder, don’t get out your jump to conclusions. Matt, just go on your cruise, Justin.
See how things play out. Yep. Here for the next week or so. And when you’re back in Philadelphia, give community a call or see what news has has broken or updated. Hopefully by that time they’ve
Justin Vacula: come to their census and since I applied for cards in early July, I think I’d be declined if I canceled and applied today.
So [00:45:00] if no changes happen, if there’s no product change path, no upgrade path, no rule change, then I’d probably cancel this card around October. After a statement closes, all the rewards are posted, everything is settled. Cancel the card in late 2025 and then apply for the card in January, and then have the whole calendar year to spend to hit that tier goal.
The 50 K spend for all the tier.
Darren: Yeah, I think that timing makes sense, right? And you’d have tier carrying over to carry you into the year such that. You wouldn’t start, you’d start at a high tier and then have the whole year to meet the spend for the tier the next year. Plus gambling probably.
Justin Vacula: Oh, definitely, yes.
More video poker. 10 x promotions more online blackjack. Yes. This’ll be a good augment, I believe is the word we’re looking for.
Darren: I agree.
Justin Vacula: Augmented reality.
Darren: Justin, always a pleasure to join you, especially when [00:46:00] exciting news breaks. Do you wanna do a wrap up here and tell folks where folks can find you when?
When we’re not doing these exciting
Justin Vacula: podcasts? Yes, we have a lot coming up. Ticket sales for Zork Fest 2025. A miles points and gambling event are live at zorkfest.travelzork.com. I hope to see you at ZorkFest 2025 in Las Vegas. December 5th through the seventh at M Resort Casino Hotel. I’ll also be speaking at Chicago Seminars Hyatt Regency O’Hare, November 7th through the ninth, 2025.
Use promo code HurdyGurdy when buying a ticket to support me. Also, join me October 24th through the 26th 2025 for Chicago Seminars at Holiday Inn Chicago Oakbrook. Use promo code I must have a promo code 20. For $20 off tickets still the best promo account. Visit [00:47:00] meetup.com/philly miles and points to RSVP for monthly Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit Miles and points meetups I host in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.
The next meetup is August 24th, 2025. Find a link in the show notes. for more content between podcast episodes, Follow Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on Facebook and x. Follow Justin Vacula on Instagram. Subscribe to Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on YouTube for daily content, including travel videos, podcast clips, community and posts.
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