Caesars and Starwood make partnership for using credits/points

[Dan Druff]

Over the summer, MGM partnered with Hyatt, to where you could use Hyatt points at MGM properties, and M-Life points at Hyatt properties.

Now Caesar's is getting in on the action, partnering with Starwood.

At the moment, Starwood has a rewards program called Starwood Preferred Guest. In this program, you earn "Starpoints" by staying at Starwood hotels. You spend Starpoints by redeeming them for future Starwood hotel stays. You earn anywhere from 2-4 Starpoints per $1 spent at Starwood properties, depending upon your SPG status.

Caesar's, of course, has Total Rewards. This program has three elements to it:

1) Rewards Credits, which you earn in a variety of ways (mostly from play in the casino). You do NOT earn Rewards Credits for staying at Caesar's properties (unlike Starwood's situation with Starpoints). However, you can earn Rewards Credits for dining in Caesar's-owned restaurants and shopping in their stores. Rewards Credits are also known as RCs. You redeem Rewards Credits for any expenditure at Caesar's properties, where each RC is worth 1 cent. You can use them for dining, hotel stays, shows, etc. You CANNOT use them for freeplay at the same value, but you can trade them in for freeplay at a rate of 0.5 to 0.8 cents per RC (depending upon your status).

2) Tier Credits. These determine your status in the Total Rewards program. You cannot spend or redeem these. You earn these for play, but also earn one for every $5 spent at Caesar's properties (but NOT for hotel room expenditures).

3) Great Gift Wrap Up Points. These are earned from play at the casino, and are separate from RCs. You can spend them at one of two Great Gift Wrap Up events, where you have to be physically present. If you don't show up to at least one of these events, you lose these points. You also lose any unused points after the events are over in early December. Great Gift Wrap Up points are worth 0.33 cents each if you get max value for them.

Starwood has three status levels: Preferred, Gold, and Platinum.

Total Rewards has 4 status levels: Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Seven Stars.

Caesars and Starwood are partnering -- but primarily involving RCs and Starpoints. This partnership will NOT Great Gift Wrap Up points, and tier credits only a little bit. You will NOT have your Total Rewards status upgraded, even if you are a Starwood Platinum. However, if you are a Caesar's Seven Stars member, you will be upgraded to SPG Gold once you link your accounts, and you will keep your Gold status as long as you stay Seven Stars.

Now here's how the partnership works:

First, you need to have accounts at SPG and Total Rewards. If you don't, use one or both of the links below:

SPG Signup: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...oll/index.html

Total Rewards signup: https://www.totalrewards.com/Program/Default.aspx

Next, you need to link the two accounts here: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...HP_Caesars_Eng

If you are a Seven Stars, wait up to 2 weeks for the Gold SPG match.

Once linked, you will automatically earn extra points with each loyalty program. Here's what you'll earn:

- If you stay at a Starwood property, you will earn one RC (worth 1 cent) on every $1 spent there, excluding taxes. You also earn 100 Total Rewards tier credits, regardless of lenght of stay. You can only earn these if you are a Platinum, Diamond, or Seven Stars Total Rewards member! Otherwise, you earn nothing extra.

- If you stay at a Caesars property, you will earn two Starpoints on every $1 spent there. Each Starpoint is typically worth between 1.5 and 3 cents per point, depending upon how you spend them. You will earn these Starpoints regardless of your status in the SPG or Total Rewards program. The Starpoints earned will be based upon the pre-tax value of your folio at checkout, so make sure to charge as much as possible to your room, and don't pay by credit card or RCs if you spend money on-property!

- While your Starwood stays will not earn you Total Rewards tier points or raise your Total Rewards status level, you will get credit for a Starwood "night" for each stay at a Caesar's property, up to 10 nights. These "nights" can help raise your status at SPG, as you need 25 of them for Gold and 50 for Platinum. This CANNOT be done if you are staying in a comp room at a Caesar's property.

- You can use Starpoints for stays at Caesar's properties, and RCs for stays at Starwood properties. However, the exchange rate is not known at this time.

Here is information on the SPG statuses of Preferred, Gold, and Platinum: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...preferred.html

Here is information on the Total Rewards status levels: https://www.totalrewards.com/TotalRe...age=trBenefits

"Companion card" status does NOT count, by the way. So if you're a Total Rewards Gold (the lowest tier), and your friend adds you as a "companion" to his Seven Stars card, you will still be considered Gold for purposes of this program, even though you will have a card that say Seven Stars on it.

[Dan Druff]

A few other notes:

- I said in the original post to charge everything to your room, so you get maximum Starwood points. The one exception to this is Caesar's-owned restaurants. (Ask when you sit down if it's Caesar's-owned.) If you pay with RCs at these restaurants, you do NOT pay sales tax -- which can save you 8.1% in Las Vegas! This is worth more than the Starwood points you would earn. If you are going to pay with cash or credit card, then definitely always charge it to your room instead.

- You DO earn Starwood points when settling your final Caesar's hotel bill with RCs. However, you do NOT earn Starwood points if you are getting other forms of comps, such as free rooms, food coupons, or host comps. You basically earn points on whatever you actually pay for (or alternatively, redeem RCs for).

Here are some examples:

- Stay at Caesar's Las Vegas one night for $150, eat at Old Homestead Steakhouse on-property, spending $200 pre-tax. You charge it all to your room, and then pay your final bill on your credit card. You will earn 200 RCs (for the restaurant), 40 Total Rewards tier credits (you get one per $5 spent on property), 700 Starpoints (entire bill x 2), and will earn one "night" toward your SPG status.

- Stay at Caesar's Las Vegas one night for $150, eat at Old Homestead Steakhouse on-property, spending $200 but using your RCs at the restaurant. Settle your final hotel bill of $150+tax with RCs. You will earn 0 RCs, 0 TR tier credits, and 300 (150x2) Starpoints, as well as one night toward your SPG status.

- Stay at Caesar's Las Vegas on a comp, eat at Old Homestead Steakhouse on-property, spending $200 but using your RCs at the restaurant. You have no final hotel bill to settle, as it's zero. You will earn nothing.

- Stay at Caesar's Las Vegas on a comp, eat at Old Homestead Steakhouse, spending $200 and charging to your room. Settle final bill with RCs. You will earn 200 RCs, 400 Starpoints (200x2), 0 tier credits, 0 night credits toward SPG status. You will also be paying over $16 tax on the meal for charging it to your room instead of using RCs, though.

- You are a Caesar's Platinum member or above. Stay at a Westin (Starwood) hotel, for 2 nights, spending $200 per night. You will earn 400 RCs (since you spent $400), anywhere from 400-800 Starpoints (depending upon your SPG status), 100 tier credits, and 2 nights towards SPG status.

- You are a Caesar's Gold member. Stay at a Westin (Starwood) hotel, for 2 nights, spending $200 per night. You will 0 RCs, anywhere from 400-800 Starpoints (depending upon your SPG status), 0 tier credits, and 2 nights towards SPG status.


*** DISCLAIMER *** I am just interpreting information I have gathered on this online. It is possible some of the above could have inaccuracies.

[Dan Druff]

BUMP

Was considering staying at a Starwood property in a few months, so I looked into the ability to use RCs for Starwood rooms.

This was a very confusing thing to figure out, but finally I came to understand that you have to go here:

http://totalrewards.com/spg

You have to link your Starwood and Total Rewards accounts on that page, and then after that, go back to that page and click "REDEEM REWARDS".

Well, I did that and found that a hotel I wanted which currently shows a regular price of $169 requires $250 in rewards credits, meaning it's a markup of almost 50%.

Totally not worth it.

So that part is a waste of time, though earning points between the properties is still useful.