Earlier, I wrote about my experiences with hotel status matches, and noted that the ability to match to Hyatt Explorist status was dead. I’m glad to say that it’s alive again! You can now follow 3 steps to a Hyatt status match to Explorist. Today I’ll walk through exactly how to get Hyatt Explorist status – free, without staying a single night.
Why get Hyatt Explorist status?
You should get Hyatt Explorist status because elite status helps with perks such as upgrades, lounge access, and more. The Points Guy values Hyatt Explorist status at $995/year.
Personally, I think the biggest reasons you should do this Hyatt status match is because you’ll receive 1 free night with Hyatt (up to Category 4) and 2 Club Lounge access awards.
Note, Hyatt does allow employees of certain corporations – and they don’t tell you which ones – to get status matches. You should check your eligibility here just in case you qualify for a corporate match.
Step 1: Get Caesars Diamond status
What does Caesars’ casino status have to do with anything? Well, Caesars is a competitor of MGM, which partners with Hyatt. Having Caesars Diamond status is actually pretty cool in its own right – I wrote about getting a free $100 dinner and show tickets when I visited Vegas. But you really want Caesars Diamond status because it gets you MGM’s status. More about that later.
To get Caesars Diamond status in the past, you could get Wyndham Diamond (top-tier) status just for having any other hotel brand’s status, at any level. Since Wyndham and Caesars are partners, you could then use your newfound Wyndham status to get Caesars Diamond status. However, as I wrote in my updated status match guide, you can’t use your Hilton/Marriott/Hyatt/IHG/whatever status to get Wyndham status anymore.
However, there are still 2 ways to get Caesars Diamond status today:
- If you already have Wyndham Diamond status, use it to automatically match to Caesars Diamond. Wyndham and Caesars are partners and you can match either status from one to the other here.
- Obtain casino status with any other casino brand besides Caesars. Here is a full list of which casino brands match into Caesars Diamond status. If you aren’t much of a gambler, you can get the Station Casino Mastercard, which gives you Station Platinum status without having to gamble a single dollar. (Downside: It causes a hard credit check and uses up a 5/24 slot.) Check out the Caesars section of my guide for some more ideas.
Step 2: Use Caesars Diamond status to match to MLife Gold status
MGM’s casino loyalty program is called MLife. Regardless of whether you’re a member of MLife or not, you can use your Caesars Diamond status to obtain MLife Gold status. (Bear with me, we’re about to get to the actual Hyatt status match, we’ve just got to follow another step in between.)
To get MLife Gold status, you have to go to an MGM casino in-person between now and December 31, 2020. You have to go up to the MLife front desk and say that you want to get a “Tier Match.” Full details are listed here at MGM’s site.
While you do have to go to a casino in person, you don’t have to necessarily go to Las Vegas! Here’s a full list of casinos, and corresponding competitor loyalty programs. Note, you definitely want to match into either MLife Gold or Platinum. I believe the easiest way to do this is with Caesars Diamond status, but if you have other status, use that link to figure out what works for you.
Step 3: Use MLife Gold status for your Hyatt status match
Once you’ve got your MLife Gold status, the last part is pretty simple. Hyatt and MLife are partners. You automatically get Hyatt Explorist status if you have MLife Gold status.
To complete this last step, go here and login to your MLife account and follow the instructions. It’s that simple!
Bottom line
I hope you learned a little more about the Hyatt status match today. In COVID times, companies are giving out a lot of loyalty benefits. Even if you’re not traveling right now, it’s a great opportunity to take advantage for later!
Please reach out with any questions about these or other hotel status matches. And, if this was helpful to you, please share this post! Cheers.
