My Atlantic City Status Match Adventure

Background:

I already had Caesars Diamond and MLife Gold from my Vegas status matching, but I’ve heard about Atlantic City Status Matching, and since I moved to New York, I went on a fun weekend trek to get some Atlantic City statuses, play some slots and get free food!

First Stop: Borgota (part of MGM Rewards)

This wasn’t quite a “status match” but since I had MGM Gold already, I learned from the internet that if you play the myVEGAS slot app, you can exchange 35,000 loyalty points for $25 in food and dining credit. This credit codes as Express Comps, so it’s great because you can use it to enter the Amphora Lounge at the Borgota, which is reserved for Gold Members and up. It features a bar with free alcohol and a buffet. It’s $12.50 in Express Comps (that you would normally earn by gambling) per person, so the $25 credit allowed my friend and me to enter the lounge.

The hours to the lounge are Sunday-Thursday from 2pm to 9pm and Friday-Saturday from 2pm to 11pm. The menu is updated and posted outside before you take the escalators one floor down to the lounge. Highlights from the menu included Salmon, Prime Rib and Flank Steak.

The selection of food was not too bad, and the service was friendly. It was like an average Vegas buffet, which served to be a good spot for our late lunch.

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Second Stop: Hard Rock

Next, I went to the Hard Rock, and matched to Hard Rock’s Rock Royalty Status with my MGM Gold. This came with two complimentary nights, valid any day of the week (but I would have to wait 72 hours to book). I also got $50 Bonus Free Play for slots. I played Jumanji which was fun and ended up making $20 on top of the $50 bonus play. Yay!

Note: Normally when driving to all the casinos, you pay for parking before you leave (and these status matched cards will get you free parking). BUT, at the Hard Rock, you pay when you enter, and at that point you wouldn’t have the loyalty card to get your parking waived. So we ended up parking at Ocean instead and walking over.

Third Stop: Ocean Resort

With the Hard Rock’s Rock Royalty in hand, I headed back over to the Ocean’s Resort, which is probably the nicest hotel in Atlantic City.

Here, I was able to match to Ocean’s Prime. It came with a T-Shirt, 2 Free Nights at the Oceans (Sun-Fri) which is available 72 hours after matching, and a lounge pass to the Avila Lounge for you and a guest.

Additionally, the cool travel perks outside of Atlantic City that it came with were a Complimentary Caribbean cruise for two, in an Oceanview cabin for up to 7 days for 2 with no port charges or fees. And, 2 free nights at Wynn Las Vegas + $50 Dining Credit. These are per calendar year, and since the program is June to June, you could use these twice in that one program year hypothetically. The only caveat is that you have to wait til the 15th of the next calendar month after the match to use these benefits.

We ended up using the free lounge pass to the Avila Lounge for brunch the next day, and the food was pretty solid! Similar buffet setup, but they even had a make your own omelet bar! I enjoyed that, and the salmon was pretty good. As of my visit, the Avila Lounge is open Monday to Thursday from 12pm-9pm, Friday from 12pm-10pm, Saturday from 11am-10pm and Sunday from 11am-9pm.

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Last Stop: Bally’s Atlantic City

So this Bally’s isn’t part of Caesars Rewards, and they have their own players club. This match wasn’t the best, but it came with a “scratch off” game where you can win various amounts off free slot play and I got matched to Superstar Status. Of course, I got the lowest ($5). Thankfully I got some luck and won $20! They also match other casino offers, and old reports mentioned you could show the old email for the Caesars $100 Diamond Dinner, and they would give you $100 slot play, but sadly now the rule has changed to where you have to show them a physical mailer from an Atlantic City Casino.

We also got 2 passes to the VIP Lounge which is only open Friday and Saturday from 4pm-8pm and Sunday from 1pm-5pm.

We had dinner Saturday at the VIP Lounge. The lounge felt really old and rundown, and the food was actually quite bad. You got served and chose food from a limited menu.

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The fish was super salty, and the chicken was gooey. I did think the chicken noodle soup wasn’t too bad. I mean I can’t complain too much for free food, but it was much worse than the other lounge food offerings.

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The Verdict:

Overall, I think my Atlantic City Status Match Adventure was a success! It was fun to get free food for a weekend, and play some slots. I’m excited to perhaps use my MSC Cruise and Wynn Free Nights in the near future.

 

Have you visited Atlantic City to do some status matches recently? Comment below!

 

Cheers,

Ty

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Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking hotel stays or planning trips. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!