Renaissance St. Croix Carambola
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Ritz 140k Offer: A 7 Night Vacation and Over 100k Airline Miles from Two Credit Cards

ByThe Miles Professor

Note: The 140,000 point offer below has expired as of September 24, 2014. 

Last week, at my reader meetup, a few people mentioned to me they had gotten in on an offer for the Ritz Carlton card offering 140,000 points with an annual fee of $395, not waived the first year. To be honest, when I first heard about the offer, my mind kind of passed over it and I didn’t really think about it until last week. After thinking it through, I decided to submit applications for not one, but two of these cards. One for each of my parents.

Why? Are Ritz Carlton points so valuable that we need to pay $800 in annual fees to get them? Perhaps not, but the truth of the matter is they become a lot more valuable once you have a lot of them. At lower levels of points, you can only redeem for hotel nights. With more points, the situation is completely different.

  • Once you have over 200,000 points, you can then access the Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages.
  • These Flight and Hotel Packages allow us to redeem points for a seven night hotel stay and transfer a bunch of Ritz Carlton Rewards points to miles at a 1:1 ratio or better!
  • Spouses can combine points for an award redemption, my parents will be able to get up to 132,000 United miles on top of a a seven night vacation. That’s potentially enough to pay for two tickets to Europe plus a week-long hotel stay somewhere.
Renaissance St. Croix Carambola
Two credit card sign-ups will earn 7 nights at Renaissance St. Croix + 100,000 Miles

In this post, I’ll do a breakdown of the offer and whether it’s worth it. To be fair, I really don’t advocate that everyone else go out and sign up for two of these cards. In fact, unless you have a specific plan in mind on how you’d use the points, I really really suggest just not signing up. That said, I do want to make sure that everyone who may have a use for these points gets a chance to understand the hidden value.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I do not receive any commission for applications for the credit cards mentioned here. I always strive to provide the most honest and useful advice regardless of commission. The offer referenced here is also a specific offer that is only available by phone – it may frequently change and not everyone may be eligible. Please check full terms before applying. )

Coming to Terms with the $395 Annual Fee

The one thing I don’t want is someone to read this post, get excited about the miles and then be surprised at the annual fee. So let’s get that discussion out of the way first. The 140,000 point offer comes with a $395 annual fee, not waived the first year. This means getting two cards is going to cost $790 up front.

Each card now comes with a $300 airline fee credit to use on incidentals, baggage fees, club day passes, etc. Some people have been able to use these for airline gift cards, but this isn’t guaranteed to work and your miles may vary on that one. The other benefit is that the $300 fee credit is per calendar year whereas the annual fee on the card is per membership year… meaning that if you redeem the $300 this year, you can get another $300 next January before the annual fee is due again for a second year. Overall, I may be able to recoup my entire $790 and possibly more – but it’s important to understand I do need to pay it up front.

Signing Up for the Offer and Terms

The offer is not actually available online and you need to call  1-888-846-7004 and mention RSVP code “F5BP.” From a bit of research, it seems the bank is ok with people applying for the offer even if no official targeted letter was received. When I called and mentioned the offer code, they were more than happy to process the application.

  • 140,000 Ritz Carlton points after $2,000 in spend after 3 months
  • $300 in airline fee credits
  • $395 annual fee not waived the first year.
  • Marriott Gold status and a few other perks.
  • A few other perks I don’t value so highly like gold status, 3 club upgrades annually, etc.

You will either first need a Ritz Carlton account or one will be assigned to you when you apply. The points can only be deposited into a Ritz Carlton account. Technically, you should only have a Marriott account or a Ritz Carlton account (not both) so you’ll need to convert your Marriott account to a Ritz Carlton account before you apply. It only took a few minutes when I did this.

Maximizing the Offer

Marriott and Ritz Carlton allow us to redeem our points for Travel Packages. When we redeem for 7 nights vacation, we can choose to transfer additional Marriott Rewards to miles at the same time and this is the one time the transfer ratio is very good. The better ratio transfer partners are Aeromexico, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, GOL/Varig, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia Airlines, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest Rapid Rewards. Because of the RewardsPlus partnership between Marriott and United, you receive a 10% mile bonus when transferring to United. There are more partners, but with worse ratios.

Who is best to transfer to? Well, it depends on which miles you need. However, you do get a 10% bonus transferring to United so that’s definitely an attractive partners. The transferred miles will also count toward the Southwest Companion Pass so this is a good way to get it.

It does take a lot of miles to redeem for travel packages, but spouses are able to combine their points specifically when making an award redemption. The instructions for doing so are here on this page. This means that a set of spouses with 280,000-290,000 has a number of travel packages available.

Marriott Rewards flights and hotel packages
Marriott Rewards flights and hotel packages

The number of miles you receive depends on which category hotel you choose. As an example, you receive 120,000 miles (or 132,000 for United) when redeeming 270,000 points at Category 5, but only 70,000 if you go for a Category 7 hotel. To go for Category 8, the couple would have to do a little work to boost the Marriott Rewards points balance as the vacation package requires 290,000 points. Ritz Carlton is actually a transfer partner of Ultimate Rewards so that’s a potential option.

The next question is: What kind of options do we have in places where we’d actually want to spend seven nights? My parents like to relax and take it easy on vacation so I made them a list of places they could consider and I’ll share it here. The list is a bit long so bear with me. They like the Caribbean and the beach and would like to take a trip to Hawaii in the near future. These are destinations where they could easily enjoy a week and I also included a few properties in Europe.

I’ve broken out the option for Categories with how many miles they’d receive on the airline partners. Keep in mind transferring to United earns an additional 10% miles bonus.

Category 5: 270k points = 7 Nights + 120,000 Miles

Category 6: 280k points = 7 Nights + 100,000 Miles

Category 7: 280k points = 7 Nights + 70,000 Miles

Category 8: 290k points = 7 Nights + 50,000 Miles

Summary

The Ritz Carlton credit card with Chase is currently offering 140,000 points as a sign-up bonus after spending $2000 within 3 months and a $395 annual fee. Two spouses or domestic partners teaming up can redeem for a Marriott Flights and Hotel package to receive seven nights at a Marriott property as well as up to 132,000 miles depending on which category they choose. It is $800 in annual fees up front, but there’s opportunity to earn up to $1200 in airline incidental fees in the first year of membership. The select few for whom the plans and fees align can turn $800 into a seven night vacation package, 100,000+ miles and $1200.

Anyone else going for the Ritz Carlton 140,000 point offer? How are you planning to spend the points?

47 Comments

  1. All I have to say is WOW, you are brilliant! I actually got the 140k offer and didn’t even think about this. This is absolutely perfect for my travel plans. Thank you so much, Inna.

  2. The miles dont need to be used for the vacation with the 7 night hotel stay correct? Also no way to split up the hotel stay 2 different hotels? Anyone have any experience with the airline fee credit? Is it similar to amex where you are limited to one airline per year.

  4. @hdawg I’ll let the Miles Professor correct me if I’m wrong – but you are correct that the miles don’t need to be used for the vacation with the 7 night hotel stay – they just go into your regular mileage account. As for the hotel stay, you are again correct – there is no way to break that up. It has to be booked all as 1 7 day stay.

  6. Awesome post! Thanks very much. One question: What is the reader meetup?

    Regarding Ritz, I went with two cards (me and my wife) — not for the reasons you mentioned at all. But this is how I look at things:

    $395*2 = -$790; Less $1200 in airline incidentals in the first you and $200 spending at Ritz. This makes my card free every year and I am now $500 in Green and $280,000 points, which could be easily valued at $2,000 and higher.

    Add six club upgrades every year ($300 value). Plus lounge access when you don’t have a business/first class tickets. That’s $300 value every year for me.

    Somewhere I read that Ritz also has Fall promotion where if you stayed two nights at Ritz, you get two complimentary nights during the year. That would be one heck of a benefit if correct. Add 10% bonus points every year and Primary rental car coverage. Also, JP Morgan’s concierge service is absolutely fantastic. They all are US based and super nice.

    So, compared to Platinum, this card is a no brainer for me.

    1. The $300 credit on airline incidentals….can I use it to buy paid air tickets? giftcards? or upgrade?
      Also, what is your advice for singe/solo person like me to be able to get the second Ritz 140k card?

  7. •Spouses can combine points for an award redemption, my parents will be able to get up to 132,000 United miles on top of a a seven night vacation. That’s potentially enough to pay for two tickets to Europe plus a week-long hotel stay somewhere.

    Please explain in more detail As I am new to this. TIA!!!:)

  9. Another question

    •Category 7: Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa on Big Island

    Looks like 1 room for 7 nights 8/3/2015-8/9/2015 will only come out to 175,000 points per 7 night stay. Would I still receive the bonus 70,000 points if the total is only 175,000 points and if so how many bonus points would I receive? I would probably take 2 rooms at 350,000 for the stay on two different cards. Thank you!!!

    1. Hi. The way Marriott Flights and Hotel packages work is you pay one price package for the hotel and for the miles at once. You need to use a Flight and Hotel chart I posted rather than just the hotel nights rate. So if you redeem a Category 7 Flight and Hotel package and pay 280,000 points, you will receive 7 nights in a Category 7 hotel and 70,000 miles.

  11. as tempting as the United transfer sounds, I think I’d be tempted to transfer it to Southwest if I didn’t have a companion pass already. The miles transferred there counts towards getting companion pass.

  12. I have the Marriott CC which I got about 9 months ago (70K) offer. My point balance is 90K. Sent a referral to my Wife and she was instantly approved for the 70K last night. I received a 10K referral bonus. We now have about 175K points. I will be applying for the Ritz-Carlton card shortly. If approved we will have after spend, about 320K. I picked up a $300 bonus for opening a Chase checking account last week which will cover most of the annual fee for the Ritz-Carlton CC. Looks like a category 8 or 9 stay is in our future.

  13. Can you explain ratio if you just need air miles, like to AA? We usually like to stay in small B&B hotels?

  15. I have a lot of Marriott points from work so I’ve been pondering going for the 70K point version that has the annual fee waived. Anyone have any idea how much longer these codes are planned to be valid for?

    Mention these RSVP:
    F5BP – 140k points after 2k spend in 3 months. Annual fee of $395 not waived first year.
    F53K – 70k points, $395 waived first year.

  16. Will they prorate refund the annual fee if card is cancelled. Or can u cancel within X amounts if days for a full annual fee refund?

  17. Can you deposit the 140K points in your Marriott account by providing your MR number on the application?

  18. I got my RC card with 140k offer… I never thought about having my wife get one too and go for the package deal. Thanks!

  19. I posted this under your “best offer for credit card” post but haven’t received answer so I reposted it here:
    I currently have 3 Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard. Would I get approved for Citi Platinum Select one? I have heard that if I get the Executive version first then I won’t be eligible for the Platinum Select but if I get the Platinum version first then I can get the Executive. Please confirm about this since I want to use your link.

    1. Sorry I haven’t gotten to all the comments yet! The Executive card and the Platinum card are different products, but this is a case of YMMV. You generally have to wait 60 days before applying for another Citi card, but if you do get approved for the offer, you generally will get the miles. The link to the Citi card is not an affiliate link of mine, but thanks for the support regardless :)

  20. “Less $1200 in airline incidentals in the first you and $200 spending at Ritz.”

    can you pls explain in more details the above…just called & from they said airline incidentals seems to be pretty limited in scope… lounge charge, checked bags, in flight charges… i am not sure I can recoup all that in a yr. good thing is it is per calendar yr.

  21. MP, you wrote: “You will either first need a Ritz Carlton account or one will be assigned to you when you apply. Technically, you should only have a Marriott account or a Ritz Carlton account so you’ll need to convert your Ritz Carlton account to Marriott before you apply.” I found this hard to follow, so perhaps you could clarify. Does this mean that if you have a Marriott account but not a RC account, you can give them your Marriott account number when you apply and they will give you 140k Marriott points instead of RC points? Thanks.

  22. Are you only able to stay at Marriott properties via the miles/points package option, or can you opt for Ritz properties as well?

  23. Can one partner with Marriott Platinum points can combine points with a new Ritz Carlton cardholder?

    2. Can you please elaborate? so it means that I can apply for Marriot Platinum card (is there any? link please) and then Ritz card then combine them? that would be great if can do so because I am single and have no spouse to help me and my parents also don’t have good credit scores.

      1. John, my original question was too vague. What I meant was “Can one partner with Marriott points (and Platinum status, important to keep) combine points with a new Ritz Carlton cardholder?” She said, yes, if the Ritz Carlton account is converted into a Marriott account, then combine points. There is no Marriott Platinum card that I know of, although there an American Express Platinum card that is not related to this thread.

  26. Thanks so much for sharing great hotels to consider! I spend most my time looking for place to spend points, and it is greatly appreciated that you share best places to spend points!

    1. Thank you! As seen in the redemption chart, you can redeem 270,000 Ritz Carlton points for a 7 night vacation package at a Category 5 resort and receive 120,000 miles. If you choose your transfer partner to be United, you receive a 10% bonus resulting in 132,000 United miles.

  28. Just called tonight the number listed here above but when I provided the code, they stated that it needed to be redeemed online via Ritz Carlton login page. Guess they might have had too many requests and are now limiting it to those receiving the code through their Ritz tailored email offer. Anyone else had the same issue?

  29. Pingback: Do You Know About the 140,000 Points Ritz-Carlton Card? | Million Mile Secrets
  30. Pingback: Fly free with a companion for two years - The Frequent Miler

  31. I waited a bit too long. The offered died sometime during 9/24/14, because when I called yesterday the CSR said it had expired the day before. I’m sad. It was a brilliant idea of yours.

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