World Of Hyatt & MGM Rewards Las Vegas Partnership: How It Works

World of Hyatt does a great job with its partnerships, which potentially give members a lot more ways to both earn and redeem points. For example, Hyatt has partnerships with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Lindblad Expeditions, American Airlines, and others.

I’d argue World of Hyatt’s most valuable partnership is with MGM Rewards in Las Vegas. This partnership dates back to 2013 — not only was this the first hotel loyalty collaboration of its kind in Las Vegas, but to this day I still find it to be the best. MGM’s loyalty program has been rebranded as of February 2022, so I wanted to take an updated look at how the partnership works.

World of Hyatt members get perks at MGM hotels

World of Hyatt and MGM Rewards have a phenomenal collaboration that allows World of Hyatt members to earn and redeem points for over a dozen additional hotels in Las Vegas. Not only that, but there are status matching opportunities, so that you can get even more value for your hotel stays.

Let’s look at the details of how this works — what hotels participate, how can you earn and redeem points, and what are status benefits like?

Which MGM hotels participate in the Hyatt partnership?

The following MGM properties in Las Vegas participate in the Hyatt partnership, allowing you to earn and redeem points:

• ARIA
• Bellagio
• Delano
• Excalibur
• Luxor
• Mandalay Bay
• MGM Grand
• Monte Carlo
• New York New York
• NoMad
• Park MGM
• The Mirage
• The Signature at MGM Grand
• Vdara

Earn World of Hyatt points at MGM properties

The World of Hyatt points earning rates at MGM properties are excellent, and match what you’d earn when staying at a Hyatt property:

• World of Hyatt members earn five base points per dollar spent at MGM properties
• World of Hyatt members receive their standard elite tier bonus points on eligible spending at MGM properties (Discoverist members get a 10% bonus, Explorist members get a 20% bonus, and Globalist members get a 30% bonus)
• MGM stays generally count toward World of Hyatt’s global promotions, and spending also qualifies toward lifetime World of Hyatt Globalist status

There are a few other things to be aware of if trying to earn World of Hyatt points at MGM properties:

• In order to earn points you need to book either directly through MGM or through Hyatt; third-party bookings (including through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts) generally aren’t eligible to earn points
• At check-in inform the front desk agent of your desire to earn World of Hyatt points, and provide both your World of Hyatt and MGM Rewards numbers (yes, you need to provide both, though membership in both programs is free and easy)
• While the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (review) offer 4x World of Hyatt points for Hyatt stays, this doesn’t extend to MGM properties, so you’ll want to use another card for your hotel spending
• You can also earn World of Hyatt points for spending on incidentals at MGM properties, up to $5,000 per stay; if you’re staying at an MGM property you can generally charge incidentals to your room from any participating MGM property, which is a great way to rack up more World of Hyatt points

Redeem World of Hyatt points at MGM properties

You can redeem World of Hyatt points and free night certificates for stays at MGM properties. Each hotel falls into one of Hyatt’s standard award tiers, which are as follows (this includes peak and off-peak award pricing, which kicks in for stays as of March 2022):

All MGM properties are somewhere between Category 3 (typically 12,000 points per night) and Category 6 (typically 25,000 points per night).

Personally I value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, so I’d always recommend comparing cash costs and points costs when redeeming, because it may not always represent a good deal. This is especially true for midweek stays, when hotel rates in Las Vegas are often quite low.

There are a few more things to be aware of if redeeming World of Hyatt points for MGM stays:

• While World of Hyatt waives resort fees for all members when redeeming points at Hyatt properties, this doesn’t apply when redeeming points at MGM properties (as I’ll discuss below, you can potentially get waived resort fees on paid stays, though)
• You can’t redeem points for suites or premium rooms at MGM properties, and also can’t use confirmed suite upgrade awards to secure a suite upgrade
• Some blackout dates do apply for award redemptions, unlike for stays at Hyatt hotels

Earn World of Hyatt elite nights at MGM properties

Regardless of whether you’re paying cash or redeeming points, World of Hyatt members can earn elite nights for MGM stays where their World of Hyatt account is linked. Elite nights earned this way count toward status, and also toward the Milestone Rewards program.

Get a status match with MGM Rewards

World of Hyatt members can status match to MGM Rewards so that they can receive extra perks for stays at MGM properties. Here’s how status maps over between programs:

• World of Hyatt members receive MGM Rewards Sapphire membership
• World of Hyatt Discoverist members receive MGM Rewards Pearl status
• World of Hyatt Explorist & Globalist members receive MGM Rewards Gold status

World of Hyatt members can match status as often as they’d like — you need to reapply at the end of the membership year, but that’s an easy enough process.

You can request an MGM Rewards status match here, and can read about MGM Rewards elite benefits here.

These elite perks are in lieu of the standard World of Hyatt elite perks you’d receive, since MGM Rewards perks are what’s recognized at MGM properties. In terms of benefits, don’t get too excited here. For example, perks for MGM Rewards Gold members include the following:

• Access to a priority check-in queue
• Room upgrades subject to availability, excluding suites
• Priority reservations for restaurants and entertainment
• Room discounts
• Waived resort fees

Get waived resort fees at MGM properties

I wanted to specifically highlight what I consider to be the most exciting MGM Rewards Gold perk, which is waived resort fees. Resort fees are one of the most annoying practices in the hotel industry, as they’re essentially an add-on junk fee.

The great thing is that MGM Rewards Gold members and above, including those who earned the status through a World of Hyatt status match (Explorist and Globalist members), receive waived resort fees. This is an awesome opportunity, since some MGM properties in Las Vegas cost under $30 per night without the resort fee.

The resort fees do still show during the booking process, though it’s my understanding that they should be removed once on property. Since the new program just went live, I haven’t seen any data points yet on how exactly that works in practice.

Bottom line

The collaboration between Hyatt and MGM in Las Vegas remains the most comprehensive hotel partnership of its kind that we’ve seen on the Strip. World of Hyatt members can earn and redeem points at similar rates to Hyatt stays, and there are also some reciprocal elite perks. Most exciting of all, MGM Rewards Gold members and above no longer have to pay resort fees.

Historically when I’ve gone to Las Vegas, this collaboration has made me choose to always stay at MGM properties. In fairness, it has been a few years, and Las Vegas is one place I particularly don’t have much interest in returning to in this era.

Have you ever leveraged the Hyatt & MGM partnership in Las Vegas? If so, what was your experience like?