Caesars Diamond and higher members get free National Car Rental Exeuctive status

[Dan Druff]

Are you a Caesars Rewards member who is currently Diamond, Diamond Plus, Diamond Elite, or Seven Stars?

Good news! You get a free perk which is actually valuable if you rent cars.

National Car Rental, one of the major US car rental companies, is giving these upper tier Caesars cards their top status of Executive Elite.

What does Executive Elite do for you at National?

It does a number of things, but the best thing is the availability of the Executive Aisle at many airports. You simply reserve a (cheaper) midsize vehicle, and then go right to the "Executive Aisle" and take whichever car you want -- which often includes cars in the expensive Premium and SUV categories -- at no extra charge.

It takes normally 25 rentals in a year to get to Executive, but here you get it completely free.

Go to this page to learn how to get the match done: https://www.nationalcar.com/en/emera...s-diamond.html

Then click the ENROLL NOW button, after scrolling down a bit on the page. When the next page loads, click the SIGN IN button if you already have a National account, and if you don't, then enter the info it asks for.

Then follow the rest of the prompts, and you'll get matched. That's it!



What if you're already National Executive Elite? Can you become Caesars Diamond that way? Sadly, no. The status match only goes one way.

National is one of the good rental car companies in the US. It's not one of those crap discount operations. It's on par with Hertz, AVIS, Alamo, and Enterprise.

[MDawg]

This is useful. With my AMEX Platinum I get just Executive status with National Emerald Club, but with Caesars Seven Stars, Executive Elite.

However, the process you describe didn't work for me. When I followed the Enroll Process it asked me to Update my account and then all it did was remove my AMEX Platinum linkage, and didn't give me the option to associate anything else. I called National and the guy didn't know how to handle this, and said someone would call or email me.

Today via chat they asked me to upload an image of my Caesars Seven Stars card at
https://status.emeraldclub.com/usen
so I did that.

[MDawg]

It looks like I was supposed to have Executive Elite status already via AMEX Platinum.

In any case, for now National only "tier matched" my Seven Stars Caesars card to Executive (Not Ex Elite) status with National:



so I have to get a hold of someone when I have a chance, to get this corrected.

Looking at the benefits, once they match me correctly, the only differences between Executive and Ex Elite

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/t...things-to-know

appear to be

-5 instead of 6 credits = 1 free rental day

- Guaranteed vehicle for reservation made within 24 hours.

-Vehicle delivery to most private airport terminals

As far as this,

the best thing is the availability of the Executive Aisle at many airports. You simply reserve a (cheaper) midsize vehicle, and then go right to the "Executive Aisle" and take whichever car you want -- which often includes cars in the expensive Premium and SUV categories -- at no extra charge.

I am not so sure. I think all you get is a one class upgrade. So if you are paying for midsize, you may pick a full sized car. If you want a premium one, you pay for one class lower, which I believe would be full sized.

I don't rent a lot of cars, so maybe Dan the DanDruff man knows better, but the black and white (more like black and green actually) I'm reading seems to contradict him.

[MDawg]

Another tier match is via my Noir MGM status.



Got me Ambassador Elite at Marriott Bonvoy, which in turn got me President's Circle at Hertz (I was already Gold Circle via Platinum AMEX) - Once you reach this level, you'll enjoy a free additional driver, the widest selection of vehicles available, guaranteed upgrades and a dedicated customer service line.

Not sure what Ambassador Elite is good for, but with President's Circle I may rent a less expensive basic car I believe, and then just pick up about anything in the President's Circle area.

Or at least that is the way it works with Caesar's Seven Stars match that got me Executive Elite at National Car Rental.

However, I typically just use HotWire to find the least expensive rental anyway which is strange that even the least expensive car at National or Hertz (which I may use free to upgrade to any vehicle) still winds up more expensive than just paying straight up for a mid sized SUV at HotWire.

[The Boz]

Another tier match is via my Noir MGM status.



Got me Ambassador Elite at Marriott Bonvoy, which in turn got me President's Circle at Hertz (I was already Gold Circle via Platinum AMEX) - Once you reach this level, you'll enjoy a free additional driver, the widest selection of vehicles available, guaranteed upgrades and a dedicated customer service line.

Not sure what Ambassador Elite is good for, but with President's Circle I may rent a less expensive basic car I believe, and then just pick up about anything in the President's Circle area.

Or at least that is the way it works with Caesar's Seven Stars match that got me Executive Elite at National Car Rental.

However, I typically just use HotWire to find the least expensive rental anyway which is strange that even the least expensive car at National or Hertz (which I may use free to upgrade to any vehicle) still winds up more expensive than just paying straight up for a mid sized SUV at HotWire.

As someone who has been a Presidents Circle member at Hertz for years, I agree it’s almost worthless. The main benefit is the cities that offer your choice in a designated area. But for the most part these are middle sized cars and small SUV’s. The true good stuff is still in designated areas that you had to pay for a reserve. And the “free” 1 level upgrade is almost worthless because of the large amount of levels they offer.

And as you said, Hertz is higher priced that most others as well. One trick is to look at pricing if the city has a choice area (you can research it) and book the lowest cost option, you will still get sent to the Presidents choice area.

Another advantage over Hotwire is knowing you will save time with your status just walking up and getting in the car with a short stop at the gate to show ID and them trying to sell you fuel. I just don’t have the patience to risk getting an agency where I have to stand in some long line to save a few bucks. Actually surprised you are ok doing that. Time is money.😀

[The Boz]

Caesars also gets you the Wyndham upgrade to their highest though they are lower end hotels for the most part. I only used it once, last fall in Ocean City Maryland for a nostalgia trip when back in the NE. Stayed at a Howard Johnson on the boardwalk that had good reviews. Got upgraded to possibly the best room in the place oceanfront with a huge balcony. Probably a $500+ night a room in summer for around $120 a night.

There is definitely a lot of these opportunities between hotels and airlines as well. As ExP with American Airlines you can always earn Hyatt points (and vice versa) by linking your accounts. And once a year they do a status challenge where they upgrade you to Globalist for 3 months with the chance to get a full year with a certain amount of stays.

I use Hyatt as my main hotel chain but their lack of hotels in many areas is a negative. I’m their 2nd tier, Explorist, which gets you a good amount of benefits but Globalist is crazy. Almost always you get a suite upgrade. Granted if it’s a one night stay by an airport it’s not much but if you are staying for multiple nights it’s a nice perk.

If there isn’t a Hyatt where I’m going I use AA hotels which gets you large amounts of miles and loyalty points per night. Just check reviews of the hotel first.

Off topic but AA hotels has created a cottage industry of people earning higher status with American by booking no show stays where you still get the points. Las Vegas is a hot spot because you can get 1000’s of miles on a weeknight for less than $50 most nights. The gimmick is with a no show you don’t have to pay the resort fee as it is collected at check in. Booking.com who runs the AA hotels site only collects the room charge and taxes. Interesting loophole that can actually save you money on a flight by earning the miles and using them to book compared to paying for the flight.

Some have stepped it up to booking rooms in Taiwan where the miles and points per dollar are actually better. But they are reports some have had their AA hotel account banned for abuse. It has been calculated you can earn AA ExP level status for under $2500 using this method. Which is valuable if you fly AA enough.

That said, AA status has been devalued in the past few years with the emphasis on loyalty points and credit card spend compared to flying. So upgrades are next to impossible on main routes with upgrade lists over 100 individuals on hub to hub flights like DFW-ORD and such.

Damn, that was all over the place but the point is as MDawg and Druff said, the status matching game is alive and well.

[MDawg]

When I book with HotWire it seems like it reveals what the car agency will be (lately anyway - I do recall in the past it would hide that information until after you paid for the rental). Then I Google that car agency for that location to make sure it has high star reviews for how long it takes to get the car.

Also, lately HotWire doesn't even collect a penny up front which means you may cancel it anytime. (Not for all rentals - for some HotWire does collect in full at time of booking.)

There have been business trips when I have been in Vegas and needed to go somewhere for a day, fly back same day, and needed a rental car just for that day, where I have booked directly with the agency and paid more because the one HotWire was giving me had horror stories about long waits at that particular airport.

We have used HotWire for full month long rentals in places like Hawaii, and used it on this Florida trip too for part of the trip, the only time issue at the Miami airport when returning to California was that the car rental agency has a shuttle that takes you to a train that then takes you to the terminal, but maybe all of the car rental agencies are like that at that airport - no direct shuttle to the departure terminal?

Anyway, for this latest rental, one way from Orlando to Miami HotWire was the only feasible reasonably priced rental - the others I checked weren't even willing to rent one way, and the couple who were wanted an exorbitant amount.

Time is definitely money, but can you put a price on the satisfaction of having gotten a good deal? *

[MDawg]

* Sometimes though you do have to just pony up and pay. We have a lot of Tumi luggage which is a good compromise between something so flashy (like Louis Vuitton) that it might get stolen if you miss your flight and your luggage flies ahead of you.

Some of our Tumi luggage is older from the days when it had a lifetime guarantee.

Couple times now I have had to turn in a piece to the Tumi store for repair, and later when dealing with customer service via email pointed out that ours is lifetime warranty versus their current 5 year warranty deal. On one piece, that was repaired some years ago, I just kept arguing back and forth until they acquiesced and fixed it free. This time however, when they offered free shipping as a concession but wanted just around $100. to fix everything, I paid it right away and just wanted to make sure the piece would be returned in time for our next trip, which is coming up soon. We have a lot of luggage (including Briggs and Riley which has a no questions asked lifetime warranty), but that particular Tumi piece I know my wife needs and uses a lot.

As far as that Louis Vuitton luggage, I bought only one suitcase from them and used it exactly once. It is so expensive, like in the five thousand dollar range, that you don't even want to use it. Now, the newest carbon fiber Tumis are up around two grand too, but all the Tumis we have date from when they cost something like $900. or so max. Actually the new carbon fiber Tumis might be worth investigating because one downside to most Tumis including the ones we have is that they are durable because they have solid frames inside that ballistic nylon, which makes them pretty heavy, even empty, leaving less capacity before hitting the airline 50 lb. limit. And still, carbon fiber or not, most people have no idea what a "Tumi" even is, and would not target those bags for theft (notwithstanding that these days a lot of people, including us, have AirTags hidden in the bags to track them).

[Keystone]

* Sometimes though you do have to just pony up and pay. We have a lot of Tumi luggage which is a good compromise between something so flashy (like Louis Vuitton) that it might get stolen if you miss your flight and your luggage flies ahead of you.

Some of our Tumi luggage is older from the days when it had a lifetime guarantee.

Couple times now I have had to turn in a piece to the Tumi store for repair, and later when dealing with customer service via email pointed out that ours is lifetime warranty versus their current 5 year warranty deal. On one piece, that was repaired some years ago, I just kept arguing back and forth until they acquiesced and fixed it free. This time however, when they offered free shipping as a concession but wanted just around $100. to fix everything, I paid it right away and just wanted to make sure the piece would be returned in time for our next trip, which is coming up soon. We have a lot of luggage (including Briggs and Riley which has a no questions asked lifetime warranty), but that particular Tumi piece I know my wife needs and uses a lot.

As far as that Louis Vuitton luggage, I bought only one suitcase from them and used it exactly once. It is so expensive, like in the five thousand dollar range, that you don't even want to use it. Now, the newest carbon fiber Tumis are up around two grand too, but all the Tumis we have date from when they cost something like $900. or so max. Actually the new carbon fiber Tumis might be worth investigating because one downside to most Tumis including the ones we have is that they are durable because they have solid frames inside that ballistic nylon, which makes them pretty heavy, even empty, leaving less capacity before hitting the airline 50 lb. limit. And still, carbon fiber or not, most people have no idea what a "Tumi" even is, and would not target those bags for theft (notwithstanding that these days a lot of people, including us, have AirTags hidden in the bags to track them).

Lol

[Rob.Singer]

Not sure what this adds other than knowing efficiency to the Nth degree.

For 25 years whether working for the gov't or Aerospace, I took many around-the-world month to 2 or even 3 monthlong trips, and I never checked baggage anywhere. It didn't take long to realize checking baggage was a time-waster, inconvenient, and an unnecessary burden--especially in third world shithole countries and/or massively overcrowded locations like Cairo, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, Johannesburg, etc. When you're going to a single meeting or function at every location, you wear your suit and hand-carry one shirt/tie & underware change, get your laundry & shirts done and suit pressed in the hotels, and on your next stop no one knew what you were wearing the day before.

Yes I stayed in basically every Hyatt, Marriott and Sheraton throughout the world, I received millions of air mile and hotel points for many family vacations, and I never paid a single dime of my own money to collect that massive # of points everywhere. The gov't wouldn't let me keep them, but private industry did. And with 100% of my international flights being expensive business and first class (something most corporations have cut back on in the last 15 years) my airline points piled up fast.

We fly no more; too much of a hassle comparatively speaking. My wife hasn't been on a plane since 1999, and my last flight was on a C17 in 2002 for a retiree classified mission related to 9-11.

[jdog]

As far as that Louis Vuitton luggage, I bought only one suitcase from them and used it exactly once. It is so expensive, like in the five thousand dollar range, that you don't even want to use it.

What moron would hand over a $5000 bag to luggage crews so they can destroy it?? So glad my wife is not into the designer bags nonsense.

[MDawg]

You'd be surprised you see Asiatic hordes show up at places like Wynn with tens of thousands of dollars of Louis Vuitton luggage loaded on the bellmen carts. A lot them flew in, including internationally. I tend to assume that it is the women in the clans with the LV luggage while the men don't care so much.

But the you also will see obviously wealthy people with cheap even tattered luggage.

And everything in between.

For us Tumi and Briggs and Riley are the ticket.

[The Boz]

You'd be surprised you see Asiatic hordes show up at places like Wynn with tens of thousands of dollars of Louis Vuitton luggage loaded on the bellmen carts. A lot them flew in, including internationally. I tend to assume that it is the women in the clans with the LV luggage while the men don't care so much.

But the you also will see obviously wealthy people with cheap even tattered luggage.

And everything in between.

For us Tumi and Briggs and Riley are the ticket.

I fly 60-75000 air miles a year and mostly use carry on as many are shorter trips. My checked baggage is all Delsey. The stuff lasts years and is under $150 a piece. I’m not looking to impress anyone and I could buy a lifetimes worth of it compared to the cost of one Louis bag.

But I’m one that values experiences over material things. I don’t buy the cheapest clothes but no one will think I have much looking at me, and I’m fine with that.

[The Boz]

As someone who mostly travels on miles saved from my business days, and charging almost everything still on an airline card, here is a great tip.

I fly exclusively with America and its partners if flying out of the country. I have found award mileage changes constantly and often going down closer to the travel date based on how full the plane is. This is totally different than with paid fares that go up closer to the flight to maximize revenue from last minute travelers, many on business.

So the trick is to always book 2 one way awards, this way you can occasionally check if one has went down. On AA you can cancel it, the miles return to your account immediately and rebook at the lower rate. If you book a RT, one may have gone down but the other went up so you can’t take advantage of it. I’ve saved tens of thousands of miles over the years doing this.

The mileage game isn’t as lucrative as it was at one point, but it’s still very beneficial if you know when and where to look. I personally have the time and see it as a hobby, one that allows me extra travel, many at the last minute.

[MDawg]

Carry on only is definitely the way to go.

But, even having traveled an average of four months a year since I was an infink, I still haven't learned how to travel light, and neither has my wife which pretty much resigns us to checked luggage when we fly and even more bags when we drive, such that even if I did travel light we'd still have at least a couple of checked suitcases.

If I am alone on a business only trip then yes I will take very little, but typically I extend the business trips into a vacation and bring the wife along. And then we end up bringing back even more than we brought with us.

The airlines have gotten a lot better at efficiency with checked luggage though.

[jdog]

So the trick is to always book 2 one way awards, this way you can occasionally check if one has went down. On AA you can cancel it, the miles return to your account immediately and rebook at the lower rate. If you book a RT, one may have gone down but the other went up so you can’t take advantage of it. I’ve saved tens of thousands of miles over the years doing this.

Yep that's exactly what I've been doing with SW for years. I agree with all that you've said. We have to go to Asia at least every couple years so we will just buy cheap bags for that because quite often one of them will get absolutely destroyed on the trip. Domestic flights we generally will not check bags at all if we can avoid it. Vegas trips I can do with one backpack, but my wife is of course more challenged than me by this policy.

[Rob.Singer]

You'd be surprised you see Asiatic hordes show up at places like Wynn with tens of thousands of dollars of Louis Vuitton luggage loaded on the bellmen carts. A lot them flew in, including internationally. I tend to assume that it is the women in the clans with the LV luggage while the men don't care so much.

But the you also will see obviously wealthy people with cheap even tattered luggage.

And everything in between.

For us Tumi and Briggs and Riley are the ticket.

A lot of those designer bags the Asians use are knock-offs, which are readily available in huge outdoor markets like PatPong in Bangkok, Itaewon & Namdaemun in Seoul, and just about anywhere in Kowloon. They get damaged? Just pick up some more no problem.

[MDawg]

It is possible that these Louis Vuitton luggage pieces I see are fakes, but these people are staying in thousand dollar a night type suites (comped), and winning and losing tens of thousands of dollars at the tables, so they could afford the real thing.

The younger Asian girls hit the Louis Vuitton and other designer stores whenever they win - it's some kind of cultural superstitious thing which reaffirms the win for them, so those handbags I see them with at the tables are definitely real.

The ones buying the fakes might be the older Asians, they probably don't care so much about whether the items are genuine.

[The Boz]

It is possible that these Louis Vuitton luggage pieces I see are fakes, but these people are staying in thousand dollar a night type suites (comped), and winning and losing tens of thousands of dollars at the tables, so they could afford the real thing.

The younger Asian girls hit the Louis Vuitton and other designer stores whenever they win - it's some kind of cultural superstitious thing which reaffirms the win for them, so those handbags I see them with at the tables are definitely real.

The ones buying the fakes might be the older Asians, they probably don't care so much about whether the items are genuine.

We had a place in PA years ago that was known for selling this fake stuff. It was the Asians selling it but most of the buyers were blacks and middle class white trash.

RED probably knows of this place, right in the heart of Amish Country, near Lancaster PA.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/loc...0ce8ce0a1.html

[DGenBen]

It is possible that these Louis Vuitton luggage pieces I see are fakes, but these people are staying in thousand dollar a night type suites (comped), and winning and losing tens of thousands of dollars at the tables, so they could afford the real thing.

The younger Asian girls hit the Louis Vuitton and other designer stores whenever they win - it's some kind of cultural superstitious thing which reaffirms the win for them, so those handbags I see them with at the tables are definitely real.

The ones buying the fakes might be the older Asians, they probably don't care so much about whether the items are genuine.

We had a place in PA years ago that was known for selling this fake stuff. It was the Asians selling it but most of the buyers were blacks and middle class white trash.

RED probably knows of this place, right in the heart of Amish Country, near Lancaster PA.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/loc...0ce8ce0a1.html

The coolest thing about that story is knowing that the Pennsylvania State Police are using their limited resources & the tax funds allocated to them by the hard working citizens of Pennsylvania for something that will really benefit Pennsylvanians:

Protecting a multibillion dollar French luxury goods company.