MGM MLife has sent out an email to their players club customers that they will extend all elite tiers on a complimentary basis through January 31, 2022.
Additionally MLife will overhaul their qualification period system and from 2021 onward evaluate members on a calendar year basis.
Currently the membership years for MGM run from October 1st until September 30th of each year, a system that honestly never made much sense to me.
Depending when Las Vegas Casinos are going to reopen again and customers start coming back to the casinos there will be at least a 3-4 month gap since Las Vegas first shut the doors last month.
Here is the email sent out to members:
Dear Sebastian,
On March 20, we communicated updates to the M life® Rewards program as a result of the unprecedented times we’re all facing during the COVID-19 crisis. We hope that over this time you and those close to you have remained safe and healthy.
One of the program elements we committed to following up on was your Tier Status for 2020. As the implications of this global pandemic have widened and our doors have remained closed, we have remained steadfast in our dedication and commitment to supporting our M life Rewards members and taking the necessary actions to allow you to continue to enjoy your Tier benefits, recognition, service and offers based on your earned status.
With that in mind, we have some important updates and reminders to share with you:
Extending Your Tier Status and Benefits
We are excited to announce that the M life Rewards Tier Status, whether NOIR, Platinum, Gold or Pearl, you earned in 2019 or in 2020, will be extended through January 31, 2022.
Earning Year Changes
With this extension, we are also changing our earning year to January 1 – December 31 from what’s historically been October 1 – September 30, extending your benefits an additional three months and moving to an easier to understand and track calendar earning year.
Points & Express Comps Reminder
We want to make sure you don’t miss redeeming and enjoying any Points or Express Comps™ that may expire during the time we are closed. As a result, we have suspended Point and Express Comp expirations through September 30, 2020.
Offers, Promotions, Events, Entertainment Reminders
Certain M life Rewards offers like promotions, events and entertainment will expire or be cancelled during the time we are closed. We are working on rescheduling these and other offers and will communicate new dates to you soon. For FREEPLAY®, FreeBet, SLOT DOLLARS®, gifts and other offers valid during the closure, please know that we are building new offers for you to enjoy upon reopening. We will share those updates with you soon.
I think this will at least provide a temporary relief for MLife members but it’s more a fallout of program alignment to a regular calendar year qualification at this time. I’m not sure it’s good enough in the long run.
Another interesting detail, the signature under this email was that of Mike Stratton SVP, Direct Marketing and Loyalty and another general customer email yesterday by Bill Hornbuckle, President and acting CEO of MGM.
The last communication from March 17th was signed by Jim Murren, at that time Chairman and CEO of MGM, a post he held for 12 years. Mr. Murren’s departure from MGM was already scheduled prior to the COVID-19 crisis and this is the first communication that is not coming from him. Mr. Murren is now holding the post as Chairman of the COVID-19 Response, Relief & Recovery Task Force for the state of Nevada.
According to media reports Mr. Murren who has steered MGM through hard times (including the last financial crisis that saw MGM almost go under) in the past 12 years is entitled to a sizeable severance package worth $31.9 Mio.
A real improvement would have been that MGM starts to introduce a tiered discount of resort fees for MLife customers. It’s truly ridiculous that even as a Noir member I’m being charged a resort fee, something that Caesars Entertainment already waives for all Diamond members.
Conclusion
It’s very possible that MGM will extend levels again at a later point because I feel that Vegas could be hit with a real slump in customer numbers during the remainder of the year. Las Vegas depends very much on how the country is doing economically and at the moment numbers aren’t looking good.
Should Las Vegas become really desperate for business we’ll likely see good offers again for both hotels and gaming. During the recent boom years I found that MGM has become a bit lackluster as far as promotions are concerned, if not to say arrogant by implementing parking fees and hiking the pesky resort fees across the board.