Using Total Rewards Visa card to avoid Caesars Resort Fees

One of the little-discussed perks of the Total Rewards Visa card is the automatic upgrade to Platinum status. The best benefit of Platinum is your Resort Fees being waived at CET properties. This is important because Gold TR members still have to pay Resort Fees, even on "comp" offers.

However, there are a few tricks in getting approved in the first place for this card, as the auto-approval process is somewhat buggy.

1) Apply for the card: https://www.totalrewards.com/content...s/tr-visa.html ... Make sure to use the address where most of your credit card bills go, regardless of which address is in the Total Rewards system.

2) If you are instantly approved, you need to wait 30 days from approval date in order to get upgraded to Platinum! So if you are planning travel in the future to a CET property, you will want to apply for this more than a month in advance.

2a) If you are NOT instantly approved, you will be informed by mail "within 7-10 business days". However, in most cases you will receive an answer within 5 days.

2b) If you get rejected by mail, they will not give you the exact reason for the rejection. They will also NOT provide a phone number to call and discuss it! You will be told to write to them with any inquiries. Do NOT write to them as directed. Instead, call (855) 381-5714. That is the office which processes the applications. Ask them the reason you were rejected. Provided it wasn't for poor credit, you should ask them to reconsider. Initially a lot of people get rejected for flimsy reasons. I got rejected because I had "too many credit inquiries recently", despite having overall excellent credit. My friend got rejected because the address he used didn't have enough credit cards already associated with it. Do NOT let them tell you to apply again in 30 days. If necessary, ask for a supervisor, who has the power to reverse the rejection. Both myself and my friends got our rejections instantly reversed on the phone, but both times it required a supervisor.

If already booked at a CET property prior to becoming a Platinum, you will still be charged resort fees. Once granted Platinum (30 days later), call the hotel and tell them to waive the resort fee, as you are now Platinum. This will not happen automatically if you initially booked as a Gold.

Your Platinum status will last until March 31 of the following calendar year. So if you get the Total Rewards Visa in January, it will last over 14 months. If you get it at the end of December, it will last only 3 months. Keep that in mind when applying.

When your Platinum is about 2 months from expiring (late January), if you have not already renewed it through your play, you should have your wife/husband apply for the Total Rewards Visa. This way you can still stay without Resort Fees, by switching the name it's booked under.

Of course, if you are already Platinum, Diamond, or Seven Stars anyway (and will renew it this year through play), you don't have to worry about your Platinum upgrade.

Make sure to spend $750 in the first 90 days, because you get 10,000 RCs ($100) for doing so! Also, make sure the $750 spent is OUTSIDE of CET properties, because those don't count toward the $750!

Speaking of CET properties, always have the TR Visa on hand when you stay, because all room charges earn you 5 RCs per $1 (5%), and that includes tips.

However, don't bother using the card for anything else once you've earned your 10,000 RC award. The other categories aren't worth it. This is because other cards are far superior.

This Quicksilver Capital One card gets you 1.5% cash back on ALL CATEGORIES, and has no annual fee: http://www.capitalone.com/credit-car...-cash-rewards/

This Capital One SPARK business card gets you 2% cash back on ALL CATEGORIES, but you do need a business TIN to apply: http://www.capitalone.com/business-c...-cash-rewards/

So earning 1-2 RCs per dollar isn't as good as these cards, because cash back is better than RCs.