Ritz-Carlton

Ritz-Carlton Rewards, loyalty program of Ritz-Carlton, is a program that allows you to book Ritz-Carlton hotels, Marriott hotels, and Starwood hotels, among other redemptions.  The Ritz-Carlton brand is under Marriott International but the award program is separate.  You can be a member in either Marriott Rewards or Ritz-Carlton rewards, but not both programs.  With Ritz-Carlton, Marriott and Starwood under one umbrella, members receive reciprocal status in each program (i.e. Starwood Platinum = Ritz-Carlton Platinum).

As I mentioned in last week’s Marriott post, Ritz-Carlton members can use points to book hotels across all three of the brand’s portfolio of hotels.  Point transfers from Marriott/Ritz-Carlton to Starwood Preferred Guest are instantaneous at a 3:1 ratio (3 Marriott/Ritz-Carlton points = 1 Starpoint).

Earning Points

Ritz-Carlton members can earn points from hotel stays, earn airline miles from hotel stays, earn points or airline miles from hosting an event, earn points with travel booked through Abercrombie & Kent, earn points from the Ritz-Carlton credit card, transfer points from American Express to SPG or transfer  Starpoints earned from SPG credit cards to Marriott.

Hotel Stays

Hotel stays at premium brands like The Ritz-Carlton earn 10 points per $1 spent while stays at Residence Inn and Townplace Suites earn 5 points per $1 spent.  Members also have the option to earn two airline miles per $1 spent at premium brands and one airline mile per $1 spent at Residence Inn and Townplace Suites.  Members can only earn points or airline miles for stays but not both.

Airlines

The program also partners with more than 30 airline programs allowing members to earn two miles per $1 spent on Ritz-Carlton hotel stays.

Rewarding Events

Event planners can also benefit from the program by earning both points and elite status.  Elite status is earned by:

• Silver Elite – 1 Meeting or 1 Event
• Gold Elite – 5 Meetings or Events
• Platinum Elite – 8 Meetings or Events

In addition to earning elite status, event planners also receive points or airline miles in these increments:

• 3 points per $1 spent.  Maximum of 50,000 points per event.
• 1 airline mile per $1 spent.  Maximum of 15,000 airline miles per event.

Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card

The primary draw of the card is the premium benefits associated with a card that has a $450 annual fee.  I consider the following benefits important after card members hit the minimum spend requirements:

• Two complimentary nights at a Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carlton
• $300 travel credit (air fare excluded)
• $100 hotel credit on paid stays of two nights or longer (hotel rooms excluded)
• Three Club Level upgrades on paid stays up to seven nights
• $100 airline discount on the total cost of two to five round-trip, domestic economy tickets on the same itinerary
• Earn 5 points per $1 spent on Ritz-Carlton and SPG stays
• Gold Elite status in year 1 followed by $10,000 spend to re-qualify for Gold Elite status thereafter
• Priority Pass membership

Redeeming Points

The Ritz-Carlton program allows you to redeem points for Cash & Points, Travel Packages, Room Upgrades, PointSavers, Hotel Stays, Air Mileage, Seasonal Awards, and Meeting and Retail Gift Cards.

Cash and Points

Similar to Marriott’s program, Ritz-Carlton allows you to pay for a portion of your award stay with cash and the remainder in points.  Cash + Points start at $115 and 15,000 points for a Tier 1 hotel.

Travel Packages

Ritz-Carlton also follows Marriott’s program with their own Travel Packages.  Exchange hotel points for either Tier 1-3 or Tier 4-5 hotel stays plus airline miles by calling guest services at 866-922-6882.  Southwest Airlines has its own chart.  JetBlue Airways and Virgin America use the same chart.  The remaining airline partner are grouped into two additional charts.

Room Upgrades

Ritz-Carlton members may upgrade their room through the use of points or cash.  The amount of points or cash required for the upgrade is driven by the view or room type.  Upgrades are made by calling guest services at 866-922-6882.  Ritz-Carlton illustrates several upgrade examples below:

PointSavers

Mirroring Marriott PointSavers is Ritz-Carlton’s own PointSavers’ benefit. PointSavers Rewards start at 20,000 points per night for a Tier 1 hotel saving members 10,000 points on the everyday rate.  When points are used for a five-night stay, the fifth night is free.

Hotel Stays

Presumably the benefit most members are familiar with is to use points for hotels stays.  The program allows members to combine award nights with paid nights within a reservation of two or more nights.  Points may also be redeemed at Marriott’s portfolio of 3,600 properties.  As with PointSavers, when points are used to book a five-night stay, the fifth night is free.

Air Mileage

In addition to offering Travel Packages, the program allows members to redeem points for airline miles.  Southwest Airlines has its own chart while JetBlue Airways and Virgin America share a chart.  The remaining airline partners use two additional charts.  Call guest services at 866-922-6882 to redeem points for airline miles.

Membership Levels

Ritz-Carlton offers three membership levels:

• Silver
  • Earned after 10 nights of 1 meeting
  • 20% bonus on base points on stays
• Gold
  • Earned after 50 nights or 5 meetings
  • Same as Silver plus
  • Complimentary room upgrades
  • Guaranteed late checkout
  • 25% bonus on base points on stays
• Platinum
  • Earned after 75 nights or 8 meetings
  • Same as Gold plus
  • Gift of 1,000 points or 500 miles upon arrival
  • 50% bonus on base points on stays

With an overview of the program, below are redemptions to consider.  You can book Ritz-Carlton hotels by transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards directly to your Ritz-Carlton account.  Simply login to your Ultimate Rewards account, select “Use Points,” select “Transfer to Travel Partners,” select “Transfer Points,” to the right side of Ritz-Carlton, and transfer the necessary points for your redemption.  The Points Guy has an in-depth post on how to complete this transfer.  Unlike most Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners, transfers to Ritz-Carlton are not the best use of your points.

PointSavers

Award stays with savings up to 33% is what I would focus on for Ritz-Carlton hotel stays.  PointSavers reduce your point requirements by 10,000 points per night for each hotel tier and can be combined with the fifth night free.  Hotels that I saw continually recommended and would be ideal for PointSavers are The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo and The Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay.

Hotel Stays

Members have the ability to redeem stays for both award and cash nights on a reservation of two or more nights.  Award nights start at 30,000 points per night for a Tier 1 hotel and the fifth night is free on a five night stay.  I am skeptical any of the hotels I mentioned in the PointSavers section ever becomes available during this promotion, so redemptions for these high-end properties will likely come from full point requirement redemptions.

Conclusion

Ritz-Carlton, like Marriott, is a program providing a wide variety of ways to use your points.  Reciprocal benefits across Ritz-Carlton, Marriott and SPG is what I value about their program.

For a deeper dive into The Ritz-Carlton program, blog posts by AwardWallet and Upgraded Points help me tremendously in understanding the intricacies of how best to maximize the program.

Have you redeemed Ritz-Carlton points on these or any other redemptions?  If yes, please let me know in the comments or by sending me an email pointswithq@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading!