Business Platinum Card from American Express
130,000 MR points
For the Love of the Game: My 12-Hour Cross-Border Status Matching Trip
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Business Platinum Card from American Express
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Hi Amy,
Re “Spend US$200, Get US$50 on Marriott” statement credit on my Amex US Bonvoy Brilliant – I will be down at Detroit next week.
Do you just go into a Marriott property front desk and buy those GC for $250 USD (assuming they have those in stock)?
Is it that simple – or there are more hoops to jump through?
Hey Alex, you only need to spend $200 usd to get the $50 credit. Also, call the properties first to see if they carry gift cards. FYI I was able to use gift cards purchased in Canadian funds without a loss in the exchange rate at a couple of properties overseas 😉
Interesting – so I could potentially buy the GC here in Canada with my US AMEX Bonvoy business card? If so – I guess I need to make sure the CAD equivalent is not less than $200USD (or just ask then to bill me in USD).
There are several Marriott properties north of Toronto I pass by fairly regularly.
Hi Amy! Was it a problem that you did your PCR test in Canada and not the US? I want to go to Buffalo for the day, but it says the PcR has to be outside of Canada which would be virtually impossible for a day trip!
Do you have a guide on getting Google-Fi set-up?
Jayce has a great article on this:
https://www.pointsnerd.ca/why-google-fi-is-my-go-to-solution-to-stay-connected/amp/
Funny posts! Loved it! We’ve booked our free nights at Atlantis for 2 years now (since Ricky’s article). Kept postponing from Xmas to Summer to Xmas to Summer 2022. Good thing is that you get the Royal rooms now instead of the Beach rooms.
@Amy, can you elaborate on getting MLife if you have Caesar Diamond? Without going to Detroit? Also, how were you able to get $300 of dinning credits? By just visiting the casinos?
The $300 credit is because Caesars extended the dining credit from last year into this year so husband has $200 and now I’ve got another $100 😁
Great! That means I have $200 as well. Have to be used by Dec 31?
Do you think we can use the free show tix at the Windsor property? Avril is there in May 22!
MLife is allowing status matching right now and Caesars Diamond will get u MLife Gold.
Great post Amy which reminded me to check my Wyndham and Caesars status which I had completely forgot about. I also wasn’t aware that Wyndham had discontinued the status match program. Myself and P2 did this in February 2020 but never used it. We still both have Wyndham Diamond, but I assume this will expire at the end of this year?
Our Caesars Diamond status says valid until January 31st 2022. I assume that there is no way for us to keep this alive now that we can no longer match from Caesars Diamond to Wyndham Diamond on January 1st when our Wyndham Diamond expires?
There is also the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card which comes with Wyndham Diamond, although I don’t know how easy it is to get as a Canadian
Hey Dan, this is my reminder to self:
Match Caesars to Wyndham after Jan 1
(Wyndham expires Dec 31)
Match Wyndham to Caesars after Feb 1
(Caesars expires Jan 31)
Hope that’s useful.
Thanks Amy, added to calendar.
You mention retaining Diamond status long term…trying to figure this angle out as I made use of the status match between Wyndham and Caesars but the casino status was only valid for the year?
Because of Caesar’s’ special partnership with Wyndham, you can still status match between the two every year, but you have to time it right (you just can’t status match any other program to Wyndham right now).
Seems like a lot of effort, to each their own, but I’d never do all of that. Enjoy the benefits though…
I really hope you ethically paid for your 2 RT-PCR tests instead of using Jayce’s “trick” to leave Ontario taxpayers with the bill for your little journey. Assuming you did, the cost of 2 of those tests + baby sitter + other costs is probably close to the discounted cost of the Founder’s Card…maybe that would have been the better way to go. The things this hobby can make people do lol
Mike,
Just to mention – Amy is also an Ontario taxpayer.
I don’t see any ethical issue with using her own paid taxes to subsidize the PCR test.
Unfortunately, the government (both provincial and Federal) abuses our hard-earned clawed tax money by spending it on a myriad of failed endeavors.
You might see it as unethical – it is your right.
But keep in mind that others have different opinions about so-called ethics (grey zone in general) – so you being aggressive and disrespectful to Amy isn’t helping…
Just my 5c – don’t bother to reply because this conversation is over on my end.
Mike, you do realize PCR tests are no longer needed for US trips less than 72 hours, right?
She stated she did PCR tests before crossing over. Given the declining ethics of this blog (see Ricky’s latest post about delaying a flight so he could go from one first class product to another), I just can’t imagine her paying for 2 expensive tests out of pocket, especially when you consider all the petty US cc credits she made sure to use up. Notice how she didn’t speak to it in her reply to my comment either.
Hey Mike, I appreciate your ethical concerns but I what I do not appreciate are your accusations. I did not address your accusation because I do not feel the need to. Before you make accusations, please take into consideration that some of us are willing to pay for tests and there are cheap options ($85 per test) and that some people legitimately require tests in certain situations and in their line of work. My main goal was to get my Caesars Diamond status and not use up ‘petty’ cc credits, which I may as well make use of if I have the opportunity to.
Childcare was free so that helps 🙂
The Pot team are trailblazers chopping down the weeds – pun intended. I learned 1. Get family so big need 2 suites. 2. Get double the diamond status. 3. Funnier to tell border patrol – because of Uber statement credit 😳
Was initially excited with this post….but just reading that status match doesn’t seem to be happening right now with anyone. Booooo
It’s happening but you may have to do some digging. Casinos are offering status matching. Car rental companies are as well. Frontier airlines currently has an interesting status match opportunity as well 😉
Amy, can you expand more on this? How does car rental status help get mlife or caesar diamond status?
Sorry, I was referring to status matching opportunities in general. For the Caesars Diamond, you’ll specifically need either another top tier status with another casino, Wyndham status or Hyatt status. If u’ve got none, sign up for emails from FoundersCard and wait for a good sign-up offer with them to get Caesars Diamond.
Ok thx Amy. Any direction is appreciated. I’m Titanium Bonvoy but website said matching not currently happenning.
You could’ve saved yourself the trip to the MGM. Windsor took my MLife info from logging into the MLife website. But glad you knocked a few other things off your to-do list!
Lucky! Although the 2 casinos are so close it didn’t make a big difference to me since I had to go all the way to windsor anyway. I called them and they said no, couldn’t match from the app. And it was also in the T&C of the status match.