The Rewards Sitch (Sadboi Post).

The bill has come due for my abject failure in December.

Tier level updates have happened and I am no longer MGM Gold. I'm back to a lowly Pearl, where the poors hang out. My shame is beyond measure. I knew it was coming. I didn't monitor my spend well enough at the end of the Xmas trip and left myself 5K points short, which would have been easily gettable had I not been in a fog of Belvedere and cocaine the last few days of the trip. I have no one to blame but myself, Belvedere and cocaine.

In a practical sense it means 2 things. The biggie is no more waived resort fees at MGM resorts. That will cost me $200-300 per trip depending on length of stay and resort. Not inconsiderable, but also not the end of the living universe. The other main drag will be no available room upgrades on check in, which is less of a big deal. I think the whole time I was Gold it might have only meant a few view upgrades, I don't think I ever got a better room class out of it. There are also things like preferred check in lines for Gold and up but I usually do mobile check in anyway so whatev.

So now comes the choice. Do I bust my ass and balls over 4 trips this year to try to regain Gold, or do I let it go and play the field again as I did in years past. I have put significant effort into MGM the last 3 years or so since I've had the MGM CC. I decided to MGM-max and have done so. I've used the CC for nearly every purchase and have racked up some good benefits from it, mainly Freeplay for slots and VP. Having the CC has also helped me keep Gold by adding 3-6K tier points per month. I've stayed 80% of the time at MGM resorts in that stretch.

One side benefit of the MGM CC is being guaranteed Pearl status. So, I can literally never be lower than I am now. So, do I keep the card, continue to gain the benefits but not hit myself over the head like I did last year trying to make Gold? That would free me up to play and stay where I want - if I'm not getting free resort fees why not spread my love around? The obvious downside being if I'm spreading it around I'm not maxxing points and earning anywhere.

I like MGM resorts. I like staying there for the most part. But I do sometimes feel like I'm not taking full advantage of what the whole strip offers. I also like V/P, Wynncore, Cosmo, RW, and now Fontainebleau. I'm leaning toward spending more time in those spots this year, seeing what I can eek out for offers in other spots. I'm frankly a bit bored by the MGM-verse right now. Might be time to off-cycle from them, let them renovate a few properties and see how the other half (of the strip) lives.

Step one: April. I'm staying at RW and intend to spend a lot of time (and spend) there. Maybe they will throw me an offer after. I gambled for about an hour at FB over Xmas and already have a nice offer from them. Lets see what else might be happening around and about - it literally can't hurt, MGM-wise. If I'm longing to go back to MGM by mid-year I can always try to bomb my way back to Gold in the last couple trips.

Kinda thinking I won't be, though.

UPDATE:

Just got a 9000 point bump on tier points. No FP or RC. No idea what it's from, maybe a tier multiplier bump from December? If so I'm pissed BC that was supposed to be real time and it would have gotten me to Gold back then. Need to look into it maybe the quest for 2023 Gold is not over...