Plop hack: Get Diamond status at Caesars for $199 (or free if you have an Amex Platinum)

[PLOL]

CLEAR now includes a year of FoundersCard membership. This gives you complimentary Diamond status at Caesars (and other things like Gold status at Hilton and random travel discounts). Having Diamond status is clutch for the WSOP to use Diamond lines and also waives resort fees if you stay on property. CLEAR is $199, and now also includes TSA Pre-check for 5 years. This represents the cheapest way to get Diamond status at Caesars while also getting other benefits.

You can get complimentary CLEAR through the Amex Platinum, Amex Green, and Hilton Aspire credit cards.

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[PLOL]

The Amex Green has the lowest annual fee at $150/yr, but the Hilton Aspire and Amex Platinum can provide better value for many people.

I'll give you another hack if you have the Amex Platinum or Hilton Aspire. The Amex Platinum comes with $200/yr in airline credits, which is only supposed to be used on ancillary fees like checked baggage, food, upgraded seats, etc. There used to be a hack where you could buy airline gift cards in $50 increments and it would code as an ancillary purchase. Amex closed this loophole and the hack no longer works. But there's still a hack that does work. You can buy United Travel Bank cash. This is basically the same as a gift card, which you can use on United purchases including airfare. You can now get $200/yr in airfare on United if you're like me and don't spend on ancillary purchases.

Likewise the Hilton Aspire comes with $50/quarter in airline credits. Unlike the Platinum, you actually can use this for reimbursement on airfare, however it resets every quarter and it's use it or lose it. So if there's a quarter where you don't fly, you can buy $50 in United Travel bank cash and it'll get reimbursed, and you can then use those funds at a later date. This way you can always get $200/yr in airfare reimbursed even if you don't fly every quarter.

Of course if you're not in a United market, then this hack isn't as useful

[tgull]

The Amex Green has the lowest annual fee at $150/yr, but the Hilton Aspire and Amex Platinum can provide better value for many people.

I'll give you another hack if you have the Amex Platinum or Hilton Aspire. The Amex Platinum comes with $200/yr in airline credits, which is only supposed to be used on ancillary fees like checked baggage, food, upgraded seats, etc. There used to be a hack where you could buy airline gift cards in $50 increments and it would code as an ancillary purchase. Amex closed this loophole and the hack no longer works. But there's still a hack that does work. You can buy United Travel Bank cash. This is basically the same as a gift card, which you can use on United purchases including airfare. You can now get $200/yr in airfare on United if you're like me and don't spend on ancillary purchases.

Likewise the Hilton Aspire comes with $50/quarter in airline credits. Unlike the Platinum, you actually can use this for reimbursement on airfare, however it resets every quarter and it's use it or lose it. So if there's a quarter where you don't fly, you can buy $50 in United Travel bank cash and it'll get reimbursed, and you can then use those funds at a later date. This way you can always get $200/yr in airfare reimbursed even if you don't fly every quarter.

Of course if you're not in a United market, then this hack isn't as useful

You left off the #1 perk of the Aspire Hilton Card, you get 2 $200 credits a year, $400 total at Hilton Resorts. You also get a free room, and a second room if you hit the spending limit. Also free bag fees on planes and the airport club, free membership. Also, on the AMEX site you get ridiculous credits. I probably got $500 credits on stuff like Raybans, Smokey Bones, a local seafood place, etc.. Card cost $550 a year, and given the points you earn by the card alone its like a free week a year at any Hilton in the world. Earlier in the year wife and myself stayed at a resort in Miami for 4 nights. No charge for the room and $200 resort credit. They also waived the resort fee because I was a Diamond member. I guestimate I earn about $3,000 in benefits for the $550 it costs me.

[PLOL]

The Amex Green has the lowest annual fee at $150/yr, but the Hilton Aspire and Amex Platinum can provide better value for many people.

I'll give you another hack if you have the Amex Platinum or Hilton Aspire. The Amex Platinum comes with $200/yr in airline credits, which is only supposed to be used on ancillary fees like checked baggage, food, upgraded seats, etc. There used to be a hack where you could buy airline gift cards in $50 increments and it would code as an ancillary purchase. Amex closed this loophole and the hack no longer works. But there's still a hack that does work. You can buy United Travel Bank cash. This is basically the same as a gift card, which you can use on United purchases including airfare. You can now get $200/yr in airfare on United if you're like me and don't spend on ancillary purchases.

Likewise the Hilton Aspire comes with $50/quarter in airline credits. Unlike the Platinum, you actually can use this for reimbursement on airfare, however it resets every quarter and it's use it or lose it. So if there's a quarter where you don't fly, you can buy $50 in United Travel bank cash and it'll get reimbursed, and you can then use those funds at a later date. This way you can always get $200/yr in airfare reimbursed even if you don't fly every quarter.

Of course if you're not in a United market, then this hack isn't as useful

You left off the #1 perk of the Aspire Hilton Card, you get 2 $200 credits a year, $400 total at Hilton Resorts. You also get a free room, and a second room if you hit the spending limit. Also free bag fees on planes and the airport club, free membership. Also, on the AMEX site you get ridiculous credits. I probably got $500 credits on stuff like Raybans, Smokey Bones, a local seafood place, etc.. Card cost $550 a year, and given the points you earn by the card alone its like a free week a year at any Hilton in the world. Earlier in the year wife and myself stayed at a resort in Miami for 4 nights. No charge for the room and $200 resort credit. They also waived the resort fee because I was a Diamond member. I guestimate I earn about $3,000 in benefits for the $550 it costs me.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to sell people on either card, I was just giving a hack to use if you already have the card. I have the Hilton Aspire, and imo it is the best hotel-branded credit card on the market. If you stay twice a year at Hilton properties, the card is a no-brainer. The free night certificate every year is clutch since you can use it at any property (provided they have a standard room available). Hotels like The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and Grand Wailea Maui can approach $1,000/nt. With the Marriott cards you're capped at a certain level.

[tgull]

You left off the #1 perk of the Aspire Hilton Card, you get 2 $200 credits a year, $400 total at Hilton Resorts. You also get a free room, and a second room if you hit the spending limit. Also free bag fees on planes and the airport club, free membership. Also, on the AMEX site you get ridiculous credits. I probably got $500 credits on stuff like Raybans, Smokey Bones, a local seafood place, etc.. Card cost $550 a year, and given the points you earn by the card alone its like a free week a year at any Hilton in the world. Earlier in the year wife and myself stayed at a resort in Miami for 4 nights. No charge for the room and $200 resort credit. They also waived the resort fee because I was a Diamond member. I guestimate I earn about $3,000 in benefits for the $550 it costs me.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to sell people on either card, I was just giving a hack to use if you already have the card. I have the Hilton Aspire, and imo it is the best hotel-branded credit card on the market. If you stay twice a year at Hilton properties, the card is a no-brainer.

People don't realize, if you use the Aspire Card for every purchase in your life, it generally equates to about a free week at any Hilton property in the world, and I am not talking Hamptons, rather full service Hiltons and resorts. If you also travel for business and stay at Hilton properties it generally equates to two weeks total. Fun fact, if you use points at a Hilton resort, you get the 5th night for free if the first 4 nights on points. The hotel we stayed at Miami was $390 a night and a $35 resort fee, add in the $200 credit it was a $2,000 comp. Of course, my tab still ended up being $500 because onsite restaurants were insanely priced, but whatever. I still earned 8,000 points for the next trip. You also get Diamond status with the Aspire card, highest level, its a great card.

[Dan Druff]

Glad to see these type of PLOP posts back. Missed them.

I don't have CLEAR but am considering getting it. Are you guaranteed a Founders membership here? I tried to sign up for them in early 2022 and was REJECTED, after they gave me the run around for 4 months and wouldn't even give me a yes or no. They also refused to tell me why I was rejected.

There is an even cheaper way to Caesars Diamond if you have a business TIN. Sign up for the Wyndham Business Earner card, which is $95/year. That comes with free Caesars Diamond via status match. If you don't have a business TIN, ask a friend with a small business to let you use theirs, and claim to be an employee. This may or may not work, as the awful company behind the Wyndham card will sometimes put you through a million hoops to get it. But some people get instantly approved.

[Dan Druff]

PLOP:

I remember like a decade ago you talked about getting value out of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Well, I have a shitload of them and am getting tired of hoarding them. At one point you said booking travel through their portal is best value, but I always see the prices are the same as on the airline/hotel website, so that doesn't do me any good.

Do you know of any way to get better value than 1c/point, or should I just cash them in for statement credit at that rate?

[PLOL]

PLOP:

I remember like a decade ago you talked about getting value out of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Well, I have a shitload of them and am getting tired of hoarding them. At one point you said booking travel through their portal is best value, but I always see the prices are the same as on the airline/hotel website, so that doesn't do me any good.

Do you know of any way to get better value than 1c/point, or should I just cash them in for statement credit at that rate?

If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve you get 50% more value by redeeming them for travel in the portal. If a hotel is $300, it'll cost 20,000 points (1.5 cents/pt redemption).

But the best use of points is to transfer them to one of Chase's transfer partners. One of the better transfer partners is World of Hyatt. They have dynamic redemption rates so you'll have to do your research on the best redemptions, but you can often get over 2 c/pt in value and almost always over 1 c/pt.

My most recent redemption: Virgin Voyages had a promotion where you could redeem 160k Virgin Red points for a 7 night cruise in the Mediterranean for 2 people in a balcony room. At the time, both Amex and Chase UR had a 30% bonus for transferring to Virgin, so I transferred 123k Chase UR points for 160k Virgin points, and redeemed for a Mediterranean cruise. I'm actually leaving tomorrow for it. it includes the full fare, all taxes, tips, wifi, soda, all food, etc. I work for a major airline, so my flights will be free. The only things I'll have to pay for are alcohol and whatever I do at the ports. The cash value of the cruise is $3,600, so I'm getting a redemption rate of about 2.9 cents/pt. There were actually even better cruise redemption rates, but they didn't work with my schedule.

[PLOL]

Glad to see these type of PLOP posts back. Missed them.

I don't have CLEAR but am considering getting it. Are you guaranteed a Founders membership here? I tried to sign up for them in early 2022 and was REJECTED, after they gave me the run around for 4 months and wouldn't even give me a yes or no. They also refused to tell me why I was rejected.

It should be guaranteed. I got an email from CLEAR with an activation link. You may want to verify with CLEAR first.

[Dan Druff]

Thanks for the info. I don't love booking flights through these portals, because often it is a headache to change/cancel anything with the airline. But the Hyatt thing is a good tip. I don't stay at Hyatts that often, but sometimes I do. I will definitely remember this.

The cruise thing sounds like a great deal. I just haven't taken any in 7 years and kinda got out of the habit of doing it.

[PLOL]

Thanks for the info. I don't love booking flights through these portals, because often it is a headache to change/cancel anything with the airline. But the Hyatt thing is a good tip. I don't stay at Hyatts that often, but sometimes I do. I will definitely remember this.

The cruise thing sounds like a great deal. I just haven't taken any in 7 years and kinda got out of the habit of doing it.

Chase UR points also transfer to United, Southwest, and JetBlue if you fly with any of those airlines. You can transfer to them, and book directly with the airline using points which may give you greater than 1c/pt depending on the redemption rate

[Sanlmar]

Posts like these had me checking the casino stocks for short opportunities.

Casino stocks always suck but with credit and recession crisis looming we might be back in business.

I see Wynn doing a project in the United Arab Emirates. Interesting. It would be Wynn-like for them to fuck that up too.

[tgull]

You left off the #1 perk of the Aspire Hilton Card, you get 2 $200 credits a year, $400 total at Hilton Resorts. You also get a free room, and a second room if you hit the spending limit. Also free bag fees on planes and the airport club, free membership. Also, on the AMEX site you get ridiculous credits. I probably got $500 credits on stuff like Raybans, Smokey Bones, a local seafood place, etc.. Card cost $550 a year, and given the points you earn by the card alone its like a free week a year at any Hilton in the world. Earlier in the year wife and myself stayed at a resort in Miami for 4 nights. No charge for the room and $200 resort credit. They also waived the resort fee because I was a Diamond member. I guestimate I earn about $3,000 in benefits for the $550 it costs me.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to sell people on either card, I was just giving a hack to use if you already have the card. I have the Hilton Aspire, and imo it is the best hotel-branded credit card on the market. If you stay twice a year at Hilton properties, the card is a no-brainer. The free night certificate every year is clutch since you can use it at any property (provided they have a standard room available). Hotels like The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and Grand Wailea Maui can approach $1,000/nt. With the Marriott cards you're capped at a certain level.

Because you are Diamond with Aspire, it's super easy to get an upgrade to a suite, that is if they have them available. Like I said, you get the $400 credit annually at Hilton resorts, and if you put $30,000 on the card for purchases over a year you get two free nights. Let's say you put $30,000 annually in charges on the card which is easy to do if you use it for everything. That generally yields about 150,000 points a year. Just take a Orlando resort say bordering Disney World as an example. With your free rooms, you are staying 5 nights for free, plus a $200 credit and no resort fee. Do the math that is like a $2,000 comp. But the hidden perks are the best, they have literally a 100 perks to choose from. I stopped credit card bonus whoring after getting this card. Getting a free week at a resort with credits just can't be beat.

[tgull]

Yeah, I wasn't trying to sell people on either card, I was just giving a hack to use if you already have the card. I have the Hilton Aspire, and imo it is the best hotel-branded credit card on the market. If you stay twice a year at Hilton properties, the card is a no-brainer. The free night certificate every year is clutch since you can use it at any property (provided they have a standard room available). Hotels like The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and Grand Wailea Maui can approach $1,000/nt. With the Marriott cards you're capped at a certain level.

Because you are Diamond with Aspire, it's super easy to get an upgrade to a suite, that is if they have them available. Like I said, you get the $400 credit annually at Hilton resorts, and if you put $30,000 on the card for purchases over a year you get two free nights. Let's say you put $30,000 annually in charges on the card which is easy to do if you use it for everything. That generally yields about 150,000 points a year. Just take a Orlando resort say bordering Disney World as an example. With your free rooms, you are staying 5 nights for free, plus a $200 credit and no resort fee. Do the math that is like a $2,000 comp. But the hidden perks are the best, they have literally a 100 perks to choose from. I stopped credit card bonus whoring after getting this card. Getting a free week at a resort with credits just can't be beat.

And this card, as fair warning, is not for everyone given the $550 upfront free. Yes, you come out way ahead at the end of the year by like $3,000. But if I were advising most on this forum say like Sloppy Joe, I would recommend a debit card from a local credit union with overdraft protection.