MGM Hotels Now Bookable With Marriott Points, Plus Status Benefits Added

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For a decade, Hyatt had an excellent partnership with MGM, which included reciprocal elite status matching. That was great as I was able to receive MGM status benefits like waived resort fees when booking via AMEX Travel for the $200 annual FHR hotel credit.

Marriott stole them away and has now launched their partnership, but unsurprisingly it’s not as generous.

MGM Platinum members can match to Marriott Gold this year and MGM NOIR members can match to Marriott Ambassador. However, Marriott elites can’t match to MGM status. Instead, they will receive these benefits, but only when booking via Marriott.

The benefits are significantly weaker than with Hyatt. For example, only Ambassador elites receive waived resort fees, and that’s only when booking via Marriott, and only applies for stays in 2024. Platinum member will receive 50% bonus points, 1,000 bonus points, a room (but not a suite) upgrade, priority check-in, and 2pm late checkout. The last checkout benefit is only valid for stays in 2024.

You can read the FAQ on benefits here.

It remains to be seen if you can get elite credit by checking in on the MGM app, as was possible with Hyatt.

Marriott will also have Moment auctions for MGM experiences.

Four MGM hotels will be affiliated with existing Marriott collection brands:

• Bellagio Resort & Casino – The Luxury Collection
• ARIA Resort & Casino – Autograph Collection
• Park MGM Las Vegas – Tribute Portfolio
• The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas – Autograph Collection

Seven MGM Resorts destinations in Las Vegas will join the new Marriott MGM Collection:

• Vdara Hotel & Spa at ARIA Las Vegas
• MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
• The Signature at MGM Grand
• Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
• New York-New York Hotel & Casino
• Luxor Hotel & Casino
• Excalibur Hotel & Casino

Five MGM Resorts destinations in other U.S. locations will also join the new MGM Collection:

• Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
• Beau Rivage Resort & Casino (Biloxi, Mississippi)
• MGM Grand Detroit (Detroit, Michigan)
• MGM National Harbor (Oxon Hill, Maryland)
• MGM Springfield (Springfield, Massachusetts)

Point requirements are all over the place, with a night at the Bellagio costing anywhere from 27.5K points to 160K points, plus a $50 resort fee.

The point rates and cash calendar exclude the resort fee and taxes. Oddly, the points rate often seems untethered to the cash cost.

For a room tonight, the cost would be $270.98 or 150K points+$56.69 after the resort fee. That’s a horrendous value of 0.14 cents (270.98-56.69/150,000) per Marriott point.

For a room tomorrow night, the cost would be $239 or 27.5K points+$56.69 after the resort fee. That’s a decent value of 0.78 cents per Marriott point.

I generally value Marriott points at 0.6 cents each, though I try to use them where I get a value of 0.9 cents or higher.

You’ll have to make the calculation to see if it’s worth using Marriott points at MGM hotels.

You should also always check the cash rate at MGM properties on the MGM and 3rd party sites, though you won’t receive Marriott elite benefits or stay credits in that case.

Bellagio March points calendar:

Bellagio March cash calendar:

Bellagio April points calendar:

Bellagio April cash calendar:

Bellagio May points calendar:

Bellagio May cash calendar:

A night at the Aria can cost anywhere from 21K points to 160K points, plus a $50 resort fee. You’ll have to calculate when it makes sense to use points based on the cash rate that night.

You can currently earn 5 free nights on the Marriott Business AMEX, or 155,000-185,000 points on Marriott consumer AMEX cards.

What do you think of the Marriott-MGM partnership?