In my previous overview of the Caesars Rewards credit card, one of the biggest negatives I noted was while it could help you secure Platinum if your spending and gaming did not do so on their own. A change taking effect April 1, 2022 will to some degree help remedy that.
A letter to existing cardholders went out explaining the changes, and probably the biggest and most important was the adjustment in how the tier bump is earned. In the past, when you spent $5,000 in a calendar year, you would be granted Platinum status (with the first year of having the card seeing that granted automatically). The status was granted, but no tier credits were.
Going forward, you’ll receive the 5,000 tier credits that get you to Platinum – this is a big change given that’s 1/3 of the way to Diamond right off the bat. Now, even if you’re a higher tier Caesars player, you might find those 5,000 points valuable as it might be, for instance, what gets you from Diamond to Diamond Plus, which waives Laurel Lounge entry fees (in markets that still have them, like Atlantic City, anyway).
This effectively earns you tier credits at the rate of $1/TC, about what you’d earn booking a hotel room and so on in 2022 as this change is implemented, and if you used your Caesars card you’d earn it on both sides. Unfortunately it doesn’t keep earning past the $5,000, so it’s still not as strong an option as the MGM Rewards card in that aspect, but it’s at least an improvement.
Of course, Caesars giveth and taketh away, and so the VIP line cutting privileges for cardholders who spend enough is going away (not surprising given lots of other line cutting has been fading from view over time as the new owners keep tweaking).
In what could be a positive, negative or neutral move depending on your spending patterns, the 2 Reward Credits/$1 on gas and grocery store purchases are being shifted to dining, travel and entertainment, a category many travel cards serve with a better rewards program in terms of value, so if you already use a travel card for those perks, this may be a negative move.
But overall, just that tier credit opportunity can help unlock some momentum from players without having to lean on property spend or gambling quite as much, so it’s a big change for the card.
