Just got the email too. I can do the 5k no sweat which means I renewed Founders for nothing even if they keep the Diamond option.

Depends on how soon you need Diamond. It says it can take up to 45 days to get the upgrade, AFTER you have spent the 5k. So theoretically it could be 45 days from the statement cutting that got you to the 5k point.

Also, if you are locked in at the $295 rate for FC, you are avoiding what I have heard it going to be a significant rate increase as well as joining fees if you want to go back... since I am guessing this TR Visa upgrade may be a one time thing.

Just received this email from FC:

If it actually takes 2 weeks I am going to be pissed. Even though I have paid for the upgrade I won't have any of the benefits.

If they try to charge me a resort fee for the nights I am there if they don't have this done yet, I will be furious and will raise high hell.

this is what it says now:

Update as of 2/1/17: We expect that Members in good standing will be re-upgraded for another year of diamond status. Thank you for your patience.

Five grand in three months is a heap o' spending. I doubt I spend that much normally on stuff I can use a credit card on.

You have to go down further to the "Fine Print" on the FC page...

Looking GOOD


FCExclusive Benefits
Complimentary Diamond Total Rewards® Status.
Update as of 2/1/17: We expect that Members in good standing will be re-upgraded for another year of diamond status. Thank you for your patience.


The Fine Print

Current upgrade valid through January 31, 2018.
Please allow up to two weeks for upgrade to process from the time you submit your request.
Must be 21+ to redeem this benefit.
* Where available. Fees or other restrictions may apply. Please see Total Rewards Center for complete details.
** Cash/Credit purchases only. Some items may be excluded from this discount. Please see Total Rewards Center or retail outlet for any restrictions.

I am thinking about not renewing my Founder's Card and just doing DIAD instead. I will be arriving this evening and staying for about 10 days and am currently/temporarily demoted to Platinum until CET gets around to upgrading FC members again (which I am told may take 2 weeks or more). I need to pay to renew FC at the end of this month anyways, so figure I may as well just earn Diamond the old fashioned way where it will be good until January 2019 and can save on FC membership fee ($295x2 for 2017 and 2018), resort fees for this trip (probably going to approach $400 if Diamond upgrade not processed by end of trip for FC), plus I will be able to enjoy Diamond for the entire trip and not have the worry all over again next January whether it is going to renew or not.

Is the 9/5 JOB DSTP 10 play machines in the Planet Hollywood high limit room still the best machines to do this on?

At $70/spin there can obviously be some fairly high swings and a lot of money needs to be loaded in the machine. Can I bring a bunch of cash to the cashier and have them give me a TITO instead of having to feed 1 $100 bill to the machine at a time?

Meant to quote pig here....

If you buy stuff on Amazon, you can add funds to your account to get you to $5k . With people you trust to pay u back, you can buy their Amazon stuff and ship to them.

Founders club not fixed completely-lots of strings now-have to book a trip and still apply for diamond separately-looking like ceasars is changing the benefit significantly

Rio has a few 99.17% machines that are stil $10/TC. To get DIAD, you'd need 10000 spins at $5/spin, with an EV of -$415 if you play perfectly. You can also spread it over two days.

where did you get that info? link?

you don't have to do 10 play.
you can do 3play. lowers the variance a little.

feeding 10 $100 bills at a time isn't that big of a deal. probably faster vs a line at the cashier.
and I don't even know if the cashier can do that

takes about 17hrs for DiaD @$5/spin.
or 8.5hrs for a 2500tc day

What do you mean "have to book a trip"? I have a trip booked at Rio for 2 5 night stints in June, would this mean I couldn't get the Diamond through FC to get rid of resort fees?

The Diamond Upgrade option was always separate from the Book a Trip option. They're independent from one another.

You're looking at the separate travel benefit rather than just the Diamond benefit. First is in travel section, latter is in lifestyle section.

Google manufactured spending. This is a common concern for people who are trying to get sign up bonuses for a number of credit cards.

fyp

At 10-play the swings will be huge, like 5 grand either way, or more.

That's if you don't get tired and are really fast at mashing buttons. And don't eat or go to the bathroom. And are able to find the machine you want to play on easily. I spent about 9 hours getting 2500 and ran out of time at the end and had to resort to playing on a multi-line machine with a bad paytable.

I don't know what that means but it doesn't matter because I'm not getting the credit card, nor would I want any of my money in google's hands.

haha google was a verb there (i.e. search)

I was looking at the wrong place-another poster has pointed out the place to redeem diamond is on the lifestyle section-but I am having an issue with getting it renewed getting a message that says I can only redeem the benefit once waiting to see if it gets updated with the ongoing issue

Fingers Crossed

If you know the game well, you can do 1000 spins/hour. I know I've done 2500 spins in 2.5 hours at JoB. Though I couldn't sustain this 10 hours without significant breaks.

spend on whatever you usually buy, then order a jacket from Nordstrom for the difference

return it a few months later

Is that Total rewards visa offer public? Spending 5000$ to get Diamond would be great deal for me.

Here's my email with the phone number included. You can give them a call and check. I'd imagine it's only for people recently demoted though if I had to guess.

Subbing in on this. I haven't heard of Founders Card till now, but if I can buy my way into diamond status, I am all in.