Ritz Carlton if u stay at Marriott Mostly

[plastic_man]

I'm planning to go on a vacation, where there are no ritz Carlton anywhere...there are a few Marriot hotels. My question is, could I use any of my ritz certificate to book a Marriott hotel? Or are those to be used only on ritz ?

[jsucool76]

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@plastic_man wrote:
I'm planning to go on a vacation, where there are no ritz Carlton anywhere...there are a few Marriot hotels. My question is, could I use any of my ritz certificate to book a Marriott hotel? Or are those to be used only on ritz ?

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The certificates you'll get are for tier 1-4 hotels. Tiers are only used for Ritz Carlton and Edition hotels. 

All other brands in the marriott portfolio use "Categories" and run from Category 1 to Category 9

tiers run from 1-5

So...short answer, no you cannot use them there. lol. 

[plastic_man]

That's what I thought .. Thanks .

[adelphi_sky]

I cuurently have a Marriott Rewards card. I thought long and hard about PCing to the RItz. BUt having the Prestige and now the Sapphire Reserve, I feel that the Ritz would be over kill. Marriotts are okay. Not the best. I think you get treated better for your rewards level at Hiltons. Also, Ritz hotels are few and far between, therefore you'll be staying at Marriotts more often. 

Now that I have the CSR, I can transfer UR points to Marriott points. And since Silver Elite is middle of the road in terms of perks, it is hard to justify keeping the Marriott Rewards card around. Even if it is metal cored. 

To be honest, I haven't really put much though into researching the Ritz Card. But I just don't see myself staying in Ritz hotels to get the benefits and justify the AF. In addition, There's no way I can put $10k of spend on a card just to keep a gold level reward tier. I feel if I'm spending that much money, I need Platinum tier or something. lol  I need butler service. 

[Anonymous]

What would be a good points card to pair it with. You can look at my sig and see what cards I currently have. I was thinking about putting most of my spend on the Ritz and making it my new daily driver or at least until I meet the $5k spend for the 3 nights. BTW you could just stay at a Ritz and spend less than $5k  couldn't you??

[Anonymous]

Do you think you'll be spending $10k  to keep Gold Status after the first year and do you have to spend $10k a year or is it $10k on the card in general not necessarly a year?

[jsucool76]

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@adelphi_sky wrote:

I cuurently have a Marriott Rewards card. I thought long and hard about PCing to the RItz. BUt having the Prestige and now the Sapphire Reserve, I feel that the Ritz would be over kill. Marriotts are okay. Not the best. I think you get treated better for your rewards level at Hiltons. Also, Ritz hotels are few and far between, therefore you'll be staying at Marriotts more often. 

Now that I have the CSR, I can transfer UR points to Marriott points. And since Silver Elite is middle of the road in terms of perks, it is hard to justify keeping the Marriott Rewards card around. Even if it is metal cored. 

To be honest, I haven't really put much though into researching the Ritz Card. But I just don't see myself staying in Ritz hotels to get the benefits and justify the AF. In addition, There's no way I can put $10k of spend on a card just to keep a gold level reward tier. I feel if I'm spending that much money, I need Platinum tier or something. lol  I need butler service. 

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Gold elite is the meat and potatoes of the marriott rewards program. All you get extra as a platinum elite is some extra points (50% bonus on earning with plat, 25% as gold) and then the platinum arrival gift. 

Silver elite status is basically useless, like SPG gold, hilton silver, and hyatt platinum. 

To me, the gold status for 10k spend is the main reason I keep the card. I could hit gold status naturally now, but it's nice to have it as a backup, plus the easy points earning is nice, as well as the $300 airline credit. 

Also, having hilton status, in my opinion, means less. You can get gold status with no spend from 3 different credit cards, and diamond for 40k spend. Benefits area about the same for the 2 different programs, and I enjoy my hilton gold status as a backup, but it's marriott all the way for me. 

[jsucool76]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you think you'll be spending $10k a year to keep Gold Status after the first year?

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In my opinion, there isn't a reason to keept the card if you're not gonna spend for the gold status. It's one of the main reasons the card is a keeper. 

Definitely worth it for a churner card though. Signup bonus right now is fantastic. 

[Anonymous]

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@jsucool76 wrote:

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@adelphi_sky wrote:

I cuurently have a Marriott Rewards card. I thought long and hard about PCing to the RItz. BUt having the Prestige and now the Sapphire Reserve, I feel that the Ritz would be over kill. Marriotts are okay. Not the best. I think you get treated better for your rewards level at Hiltons. Also, Ritz hotels are few and far between, therefore you'll be staying at Marriotts more often. 

Now that I have the CSR, I can transfer UR points to Marriott points. And since Silver Elite is middle of the road in terms of perks, it is hard to justify keeping the Marriott Rewards card around. Even if it is metal cored. 

To be honest, I haven't really put much though into researching the Ritz Card. But I just don't see myself staying in Ritz hotels to get the benefits and justify the AF. In addition, There's no way I can put $10k of spend on a card just to keep a gold level reward tier. I feel if I'm spending that much money, I need Platinum tier or something. lol  I need butler service. 

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Gold elite is the meat and potatoes of the marriott rewards program. All you get extra as a platinum elite is some extra points (50% bonus on earning with plat, 25% as gold) and then the platinum arrival gift. 

Silver elite status is basically useless, like SPG gold, hilton silver, and hyatt platinum. 

To me, the gold status for 10k spend is the main reason I keep the card. I could hit gold status naturally now, but it's nice to have it as a backup, plus the easy points earning is nice, as well as the $300 airline credit. 

Also, having hilton status, in my opinion, means less. You can get gold status with no spend from 3 different credit cards, and diamond for 40k spend. Benefits area about the same for the 2 different programs, and I enjoy my hilton gold status as a backup, but it's marriott all the way for me. 

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Completely agree about Ritz/Marriott gold value. Although I am looking forward to hitting platinum so that I can have UA silver. I am AA platinum but it will be a nice backup.

[iced]

If you fly United enough to get UA gold, you also get complimentary Marriott gold as well. I found it strange that it's unbalanced in the other direction (need Marriott platinum for UA silver).

This option obviously isn't for everyone but if gold is a driving factor, and you fly more than casually (which I imagine a lot of people wanting these cards do), it's a way to get gold perks while freeing up a slot in your wallet for a better all-around travel card.