Shortly after Hyatt and MGM announced their long-standing partnership would end this past September, Marriott and MGM announced a new exclusive partnership in its place. And while it isn't live yet, we now know more about what that partnership means for Marriott members.
After it was originally scheduled to roll out last October, the MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy is expected to launch sometime in “early 2024,” according to the latest update from MGM. Neither MGM nor Marriott have provided a more detailed timeline than that.
Once implemented, the new partnership will bring 17 MGM resorts into the Marriott fold, allowing Marriott Bonvoy members to earn and redeem points at more than 40,000 rooms in Las Vegas, including some of the biggest names on The Strip. It also includes a handful of MGM gambling properties in other U.S. cities.
This new partnership with Marriott will work much the same as MGM's previous pact with Hyatt. You'll be able to earn and redeem both Marriott points for stays at more than a dozen different MGM properties – and vice versa.
Some form of status matching between the hotel chains is in the works, though details are sparse.
“We’ve seen first-hand the strong demand from Marriott International customers through our existing relationship at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, and this new agreement will enable us to further optimize our overall profitability,” Bill Hornbuckle, the president and chief executive officer of MGM Resorts, said in a previous statement. “We’re thrilled to now scale the relationship and offer Marriott Bonvoy members greater distribution access to our award-winning resorts – as well as exclusive event and entertainment opportunities – in Las Vegas and across the U.S.”
What Properties Will Be Bookable Through the New MGM Collection?
If you're planning a trip to Las Vegas next year, it should be easy to find a property that is part of the new MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy.
Here are the 17 resort & casino locations that are joining the collection and allowing you to earn – or redeem – Marriott Bonvoy points for stays.
Properties joining an existing Marriott brand collection:
- Bellagio Resort & Casino (will join the Marriott Luxury Collection)
- Aria Resort & Casino (will join the Marriott Autograph Collection)
- Park MGM (will join the Marriott Tribute Portfolio)
- The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (this is an existing partnership that will continue its affiliation with Marriott's Autograph Collection)
Other Las Vegas properties:
- Vdara Hotel & Spa
- MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
- NoMad Las Vegas
- The Signature at MGM Grand
- Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
- New York-New York Hotel & Casino
- Luxor Hotel and Casino
- Excalibur Hotel & Casino
MGM Properties outside of Las Vegas:
- Borgata (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
- Beau Rivage (Biloxi, Mississippi)
- MGM Grand Detroit (Detroit, Michigan)
- MGM National Harbor (Oxon Hill, Maryland)
- MGM Springfield (Springfield, Massachusetts)
Notably, it doesn't appear that Delano Las Vegas will be a part of this new partnership between Marriott and MGM with reciprocal benefits – a property that was available through MGM's previous partnership with Hyatt.
How Will Elite Status Matching Between Marriott and MGM Work?
With the partnership between Hyatt and MGM, you were previously able to match certain levels of Hyatt Elite status to a corresponding level of status with MGM. Notably, if you had either Explorist or Globalist status with Hyatt, that translated to MGM Gold Status.
It was a huge boon for Hyatt Elites as MGM Gold status provides waived resort fees for stays at any of the MGM properties in Las Vegas – a savings of anywhere from $30 to $89 a night.
So what will status matching look like with Marriott Bonvoy and MGM's rewards program? Once the partnership goes live, MGM Rewards members will be able to link their Marriott Bonvoy accounts and match directly into the equivalent Marriott status tier. That means MGM Rewards Gold members will get Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status, Platinum members will get Gold Elite status, and so on.
But Marriott elites won't get a reciprocal status match. Instead, they'll receive extra benefits when staying at MGM properties, but only if they book through Marriott – and that may not always be the best price.
Here's what you'll get at each tier of Marriott status.
Silver Elite
- 10% Marriott Bonvoy bonus points on qualifying charges
Gold Elite
- 25% Marriott Bonvoy bonus points on qualifying charges
- Welcome gift of 500 Marriott Bonvoy points per stay
Platinum Elite
- 50% Marriott Bonvoy bonus points on qualifying charges
- Enhanced room upgrades, based on availability
- Priority check-in line
- Complimentary 2:00 p.m. late checkout (subject to availability)
- Welcome gift of 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per stay or $15 F&B credit per night of stay
Titanium Elite
- 75% Marriott Bonvoy bonus points on Qualifying Charges
- Enhanced room upgrades, based upon availability
- Priority Check-In Line
- Complimentary 2:00 p.m. late checkout (subject to availability)*
- Welcome gift of 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per stay or $15 food & beverage credit per night of stay
Ambassador Elite
- 75% Marriott Bonvoy bonus points on Qualifying Charges
- Waived resort fee*
- One suite upgrade at a Las Vegas hotel per year, up to 3-night stay*
- Enhanced room upgrades, based on availability
- Complimentary 1:00 p.m. early check-in and 4 p.m. late checkout (subject to availability)*
- Welcome gift of 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per stay or $15 food & beverage credit per night of stay
- Complimentary self-parking*
- Priority access on dining and check-in*
- 15% retail discounts
While better than nothing, these benefits aren't that great – unless you're one of the few travelers who hold Marriott's top-tier Ambassador Elite status. The key benefits for staying at MGM properties under the Hyatt partnership were waived resort fees – a huge money saver in Vegas, early check-in, and free parking and all those are only available to Ambassador Elites, a staus level that's incredibly difficult for most travelers to earn.
What's worse, though, is not all of these perks are permanent. Marriott elites will only get denoted with an asterisk like late checkout and the waived resort fees through Dec. 31, 2024. After that, Marriott “will be evaluating benefits for members,” a spokesperson told Thrifty Traveler in an email.
Marriott Bonvoy Gold status is one of the easier hotel statuses to earn as you'll get it just for holding cards like *amex platinum*, the *bonvoy bevy*, and even the *bonvoy business*.
You'll also get automatic Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status just for holding the *bonvoy brilliant*.
Earn Marriott Bonvoy Points Through BetMGM
Perhaps the most interesting part of this new tie-up with Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Rewards is that it allows Marriott Bonvoy members to earn Bonvoy points on certain BetMGM transactions, and to participate in exclusive games, experiences, and offers on the BetMGM platform.
BetMGM is MGM's online gaming and sports betting platform, and as a part of this partnership, BetMGM Rewards members will have the opportunity to exchange BetMGM Rewards points for Marriott Bonvoy points.
Not much else is known about this new partnership – including what BetMGM transactions will be eligible for earning Bonvoy points, but both Marriott and MGM are encouraging us to stay tuned for further details in the weeks and months ahead.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be able to offer Marriott Bonvoy Members and our players another suite of incredible perks only found on BetMGM,” Adam Greenblatt, BetMGM's Chief Executive Officer said in a statement. “Our new agreement with Marriott International will create a truly robust rewards program that connects our players and Marriott guests to the full BetMGM omnichannel experience.”
While much of the rest of this new Marriott and MGM partnership appears to mimic what was previously available through Hyatt, this is an interesting wrinkle and something MGM didn't make available to World of Hyatt Elite members in the past.
Bottom Line
While we still don't know when Marriott and MGM will officially launch their new partnership beyond sometime in “early 2024,” we now have more details about how Marriott Bonvoy members will be able to take advantage.
Once it goes live, the new agreement will bring 17 different properties into the new MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, allowing Marriott Bonvoy members to earn and redeem points at more than 40,000 rooms in Las Vegas and other cities across the U.S. through Marriott's booking channels.
Stay tuned for more information on when this partnership will actually go live.
Couple of things. Firstly you state that “This new partnership with Marriott should work much the same as MGM’s previous one with Hyatt.” Yet we don’t have any details on how earning elite night credit will work or how reciprocal status will work. As much as I’d like it I doubt you’ll be able to match over like you could from hyatt. On MGM’s website they state “Members of MGM Rewards… will be eligible to link accounts with Marriott Bonvoy and receive select member benefits.” Select benefits, knowing how much Marriott hates it when their members get value or do anything remotely resembling “gaming” I’m not holding my breath. Also I suspect some mgm properties will only give 1/2 elite night credit.
MGM has 3 levels plus Noir which is invitation only. Marriott has 4 levels plus an invitation only level. My prediction- based on their past matching and how easy it is to get Marriott status is that Marriott Gold will get MGM Silver. Marriott Platinum = MGM Gold, Marriott Titanium = MGM Platinum. Just a guess. Ref MGM website for their current matching.
Putting the merger off until 2024 likely means somebody is getting cold feet and I predict the deal falls through… No particular info to base it on, just my hunch having spent years in the gaming biz.
Hopefully MGM can go back to Hyatt!
I agree Marriott will back out and squash the whole deal. Just a waste of time Unless MGM can offer something out of this world for Marriott. Marriott can most likely get a better deal with a different company or Airline. MGM will say it is Marriott’s fault but we will never know. There is a 50 50 chance it will work out. I hope it does but Marriott won’t do it unless they can benefit from it.