As you are aware, I was recently in Las Vegas for the Boarding Area blogger’s conference. We were scheduled to stay at the Mandalay Bay, but because of the hotel being overbooked, I stayed at the Luxor. In either case, both hotel’s belong to MGM’s MLife elite status program.
I’m in the process of completing a Hyatt Diamond status challenge, but because the status is confirmed as soon as you start the trial, I was able to match my status with MGM MLife, who has a partnership with Hyatt. The match is free, and Hyatt Diamond’s get to match to MLife Platinum, the second highest tier. The highest tier, Noir, is by invitation only – mostly by high gambling spend.
The difference between Platinum and Noir, to me, is minimal — Noir does include some guaranteed reservations, and limo service from the airport to the hotel, and while that is convenient, it doesn’t justify me gambling more.
You can view the benefits of each status level here.
There are 2 benefits I greatly appreciated.
Room Upgrades
When I arrived and checked-in, I was offered a one bedroom suite. While it was dated, it was rather nice to have the extra room. The huge downside was my lack of wifi in the room, though.
With Hyatt’s, normally to be upgraded to a suite you need to apply a Diamond suite upgrade certificate. With the vast majority of rooms in Las Vegas, there are plenty of suites, and plenty of freedom to upgrade folks – especially if you indicate you’re a gambler. I really enjoyed my suite, and appreciated this benefit of the Platinum program.
Priority Taxi Line
I took a taxi several times while I was in Vegas, and each time, there was a huge line outside the hotel – sometimes 30-40 people deep. As you approach the taxi line, there’s a sign indicating that if you’re a Platinum or Noir member, you can skip the line. With a whole slew of people in queue, I walked past them to the front, and each time the bellman grabbed the next cab and waived me to come over. I probably saved myself 45 minutes with each of these line skips, and truly appreciated this benefit more than anything
Do you have MLife Platinum status? What is your experience? What is your favorite benefit?
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
Luxor!!! I’m so glad that hotel is still around. I recall being fascinated by it since it’s shaped like a pyramid. Did you get a room with a slanted window?
BTW, was uber popular in LV?
Uber is not allowed to operate there…
I’ve been a Platinum member for some time with Mlife and have never received an upgrade besides to a higher floor or Strip View. And I am an “honest” Platinum member, meaning I “earned” it through stays at Mlife resorts. You must have been lucky (or not so, according to your Luxor review).