It's a MGM, MGM, MGM, MGM World.

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I've squawked about it before, but this trip is...THE MGM TRIP.

In past years, even when I've been able to scrape into MGM Gold during a year, I still spread a lot of other spend around the strip. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, the strip is a big, great place and I want to be able to enjoy as much of it as I can. 

But with "spreading the love around", I also minimize the rewards earning potential. While on most trips the bulk of gambling spend is at MGM resorts (maybe 60 MGM, 40 elsewhere), I do and always have dabbled little bits here and there...a couple hundred at Caesars, a hundred at Venetian, $300 at Fontainebleau. That's getting me nowhere in their programs, and that's all spend that can get me even better rewards at MGM.

With the new Iconic card being here, the reformed benefit package from Rewards itself, and just the landscape of Vegas I'm in now, it's time to really double down on the MGM ecosystem, once and for all. The benefits are too deep now, I just have to go with it. It makes no sense to play/stay/eat anywhere else. Examples:

-The Iconic MGM card, now 6X points earned on every MGM dollar plus all the other benefits that have been exalted in other posts. Spend and points milestones, mainly.

-Challenges, they pop up before every MGM booked trip, this time for the stay next week it's from the time I land to the time I leave; if I earn 12600 tier points, I get another $110 of Freeplay. Just for gambling at MGM spots, which I'll be doing anyway. Bit of a stretch for low-rolling me, but if I have a good gambling trip it's not out of the realm of reason.

-Just being at Gold Rewards tier level, crazy room rates, even for me, nearly full comps on non-base rooms, saving me hundreds or thousands on the room, and no resort fees. And a $100 RC bump for earning the 75K points needed for retaining Gold. Better check in lines, free parking, yadda yadda.

-Accelerator Milestones, #1 Earn 5,000 Tier Credits in one day, receive a 1,250 Tier Credit Bonus. Or earn 50,000 Tier Credits in 2025 (I'll probably be there after this trip) & you start 2026 with 7,500 Tier Credits. Makes getting back to Gold next year cake.

And it's not like it's a deprival somehow. MGM is stacked with good places to eat, gamble and drink. I can still play the field, just no gambling, and really no reason to use the Iconic card in any other resorts. 1X points per dollar spent, what is that, for sub-humans? I'll still get around to Fuel, and I'll check out new spots on strip like Bottled Blonde, it's not like I'm never going to leave Bellagio.

And YES, I know this is all a ploy by the MGM bean counters to get me to stay longer in MGM resorts, because the longer they have me the more I'll lose, but that's the case for ALL the resorts on strip. If I'm going to get fleeced I might as well get some perks back from it.

So, I'm resolved. All the other resort rewards card stay here in San Francisco this trip, and maybe for all coming trips.




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