There have been persistent rumors about modifications to the current partnership between World of Hyatt and the MGM Hotels & Resorts properties, tied into MGM Rewards, some even suggesting the option to match tier level will end mid-year.
Part of the issue is that after the takeover of Cosmopolitan by MGM, the partnership with Marriott continues while MGM Rewards and all other properties are affiliated with Hyatt for purposes of stay credit and status matching.
The partnership started exactly ten years ago, in June of 2013, and since then Hyatt Gold Passport members were able to collect points as well as stay credits when staying at the participating MGM properties.
These new speculations about the future of Hyatt & MGM are based on this Flyertalk post where an MGM reservations manager told a customer that the relationship is ending this summer, at least as far as matching status is concerned.
Here is what he posted:
I’m not a fan of speculating but today I called MGM Reservations for MGM Reward members and the agent was pretty unhelpful quoting me 60% more than MGM online rates.
Asked to speak with a reservations manager who booked the nights with a proper discount as expected.
I asked him how long my Gold Status runs and he let me know that it runs out at the end of this month.Said I would be in next month to rematch again.He then went onto to say to my complete surprise that going forward MGM will no longer do Hyatt status matches to any MGM Rewards elite levels /status effective sometime in June
Elite status could only be had based on how much you played inside MGM hotels once all accounts are re-accessed this June.
Effective July 1 all elite members will be shown the door stripped of any MGM status they previously held unless meeting MGM requirements.
I challenged him saying there has been no public announcement nor has any of my circle of well known bloggers brought it up privately or publicly.The story then evolved to this.And I quote him.
“The MGM Hyatt relationship was never intended to be a rematch or status match annually but it just kind of went that way”.
As of this moment he went on to say” Its over officially as of for now”.” …
The background of this is that the status match, which was initially designed to reward elite members of both programs, has been exploited through a loophole in the system that allowed the match between both programs perpetually without ever achieving the qualification requirement in either.
You can access the Hyatt website that explains status-matching benefits here:
And here is the same for MGM members to match to Hyatt:
While I can see that this loophole causes irritation, it’s really the fault of Hyatt and MGM for allowing this to happen, and most likely, it’s rooted in the catastrophic MGM IT infrastructure. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand does there and not only in terms of this particular case but in general. MGM is simply a terrible company when it comes to administration.
Mind you; there is absolutely nothing official in any capacity at this point, as the original poster noted as well. This comes from the mouth of a random call center employee, and no matter what the exact position is, such things aren’t being shared with line employees. Especially not this long before it kicks in and without something being published.
I can’t recount how many times I was told completely made-up stories by frontline employees who liked to tell some fantasy tale. Most recently at the Mirage VIP Lounge where the ladies told me plenty of fantastic stories about the timeline and fashion of the Casino Resort exiting MGM. None of them were based on facts or came to fruition the way they described.
Some have also started panicking about the partnership being dissolved altogether.
To get a second opinion, I got in touch with Las Vegas expert Michael Trager from Travel Zork and he also agreed that there is no need to panic at this point.
… This just seemed like one source with a strong opinion. You can’t read anything into it based on Cosmopolitan. The Cosmopolitan and Marriott are stuck together because of a contract. I think it’s a very positive relationship but it’s not like the contract was going to end unless both parties agreed to that. And there is no reason for that. I guess it will all hinge on Marriott renewing its contract with Cosmo. At this point, I can’t see the partnership between MGM and Hyatt ceasing.
Cosmo is happy with Marriott. Regular BonVoy relationship and Luminous [Marriott’s partner agent, benefit booking program]. We do not know much more than that. No real idea or opinion if that could be expanded. Luminous at Cosmo is pretty smart. It would be nice to have multiple Luminous hotels available for guests or even Hyatt Privé. My guess is, though, that if Privé was gonna happen it would have happened already with MGM properties. …
Michael raises some good points here. Special booking channels such as Marriott Stars / Luminous, Virtuoso or Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts are valuable in Las Vegas to receive upgrades, property credits, late check-out etc. It would be great if more properties introduced this, but at this point, I can’t see Hyatt extending their Privé program to MGM properties because they don’t own or operate these hotels. We have to see what the deal with the RIO is going to be in the future.
MGM Hotels can indeed be booked with American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts but in that case, the chain has made clear that you can’t stack it with getting your resort fees waived based on MGM Rewards status. To get your MGM Rewards benefits you have to book directly with them.
I don’t see any danger for the time being and as far as the match loophole is concerned I’m surprised it has been going for this long. Maybe they will find a way to plug it rather than discontinuing the match benefit altogether.
Other match opportunities for MGM include tier match campaigns from other casinos or alternative a very lucrative option, namely from the MGM cruise line partners Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean.
Here is the table how Celebrity status maps over to MGM:
And Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Club:
The great feature: Cruise ship status is for life so once you have obtained even the rather low Select (Celebrity) and Emerald (RCL) tier level, you’re basically MGM Gold for life as well. I doubt this partnership will end anytime soon as the sea-based casinos want a land-based partner and vice versa.
Conclusion
There is a rumor going around that MGM Hotels & Casinos will make modifications to their partnership with Hyatt’s World of Hyatt program. The source of this rumor is a single call center agent, and that information was relayed on Flyertalk. To sum it up, I don’t believe stories that random employees dream up in their cubicle.
The partnership will most likely remain and if there is anything undertaken by MGM / Hyatt at all, then that the loophole that now existed for many years and allowed members to match perpetually between programs will be plugged.
I wouldn’t panic for now, there is no basis for that.Many things of what this individual allegedly said don’t make any sense. MGM status always goes until January of each year and I highly doubt they will suddenly, without advance, revoke all status tiers that have been matched. Las Vegas is a very cash-conscious business but they also understand the importance of marketing.
