Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card

The new Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card is a Visa Infinite card. The card was already strong, last month Chase made the card great.

Here are 13 things I love:

1. Earn 3 Complimentary Ritz-Carlton Nights

   This card is offering 3 complimentary nights at any participating Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carlton hotel after $5,000 spend on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.

   You can stay at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel or Half Moon Bay in California. It’s hard for me to imagine anything more pleasant than sitting out with a glass of wine or a martini at the Laguna Niguel property watching the sun set over the Pacific.

   
   Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, Credit: Ritz-Carlton

   You can stay at the The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua on Maui, the Ritz-Carlton Aruba, or the Hotel Arts in Barcelona. Use it in Sanya, Macau, or the other China properties. Use it in Bali. To name just a few.

   
   Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, Credit: Ritz-Carlton

   As if that’s not enough you also get 10,000 bonus points when you add the first authorized user to your new account and make a purchase within the same first 3 months from account opening.

2. Chase seems to be welcoming cardmembers that have opened plenty of new card accounts.

   Plenty of reader data points, and reports elsewhere, suggest that Chase doesn’t seem to be imposing restrictions on getting this card like they are many of their other cards: customers haven’t been reporting being denied for too many new cards in the last 24 months.

   You’re eligible for the signup bonus if you are not a current cardholder, and you haven’t received a bonus from this card in the past 24 months.

   If you’re over ‘5/24’ this is a no brainer card to get.

3. Comes With Elite Status

   The card comes with automatic Gold Elite status for your first account year. You can keep Gold status in subsequent years with $10,000 in purchases on the card each year. And $75,000 in purchases in an account year on the Ritz-Carlton credit card earns top tier Platinum status. Gold gets you complimentary room upgrades and late checkout.

4. Ritz-Carlton status means Marriott status recognition too

   Ritz-Carlton Rewards Gold is honored as Marriott Rewards Gold at Marriott hotel properties. At Marriott hotels you get club lounge access. And at most brands and hotels you get breakfast when there’s no lounge available. (There’s no breakfast benefit at Marriott Courtyard properties.)

   This is a fantastic benefit, even for someone like me who is primarily loyal to smaller chains. That’s because there aren’t Hyatt’s everywhere, but certainly in the US there are seemingly Marriotts everywhere, there are about 7 times as many Marriotts as there are Hyatts. My strategy has been Hilton Gold (which you get with the Citi Hilton Reserve Card) but Marriott or Ritz-Carlton Gold works just as well to ensure you can walk into a hotel just about anywhere with status.

5. $100 airfare discount

   The biggest benefit that’s bundled with the card as a Visa Infinite is the $100 airfare credit when buying tickets through their portal (which limited you to United, Delta, and American) for two to five passengers. You can use this benefit an unlimited number of times.

6. $300 airline fee credit that’s per calendar year (use it twice in your first cardmember year)

   You get a $300 annual airline fee credit to use on this like seat upgrades, baggage fees and lounge memberships or club passes. Since it’s an annual benefit, you should be able to get the Ritz-Carlton credit card now and use the credit in 2016, and then again at the beginning of 2017 — for a total of $600 all in your first annual fee year.

7. Airport lounge access

   The card comes with a Priority Pass Select card for lounge access. This gets you into the 900 clubs that are part of the Priority Pass network. In the US that means Alaska Airlines clubs, and many lounges operated by foreign airlines. It means independent lounge networks like The Club. And it means lounges all over the world, most places you’ll travel.

   
   You’ll see the Priority Pass Select sign beside the entrance to the KLM Lounge in Houston

   This is a premium version of Priority Pass that comes with free visits, and authorized users on a Ritz-Carlton credit card account can request a Priority Pass Select as well!

8. Very good concierge service

   The card comes with a Concierge program, useful for travel arrangements and restaurant reservations, finding things and arranging gifts. Many cards come with Concierge benefits, but I’ve been told that the Ritz-Carlton card comes with the same concierge service as Chase’s Palladium card for high net worth banking customers (which is the card President Obama has).

9. High-end look and feel to the card

   It’s nothing like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card which is itself praised for its look and feel. The Ritz-Carlton credit card is heavier than a normal credit card, but also heavier than Sapphire Preferred. Its card construction just blows everything else that’s available to apply for away from a weight and feel perspective.

10. Club level upgrades

    Ritz-Carlton clubs aren’t like the club lounges you may be used with at major chain hotels. They’ll frequently have up to 5 food presentations daily, and adult beverages throughout the day along with great service to take care of any needs you have during your stay.

    
    Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge Chengdu, credit: Ritz-Carlton

    You’ll find delicious, substantive food from breakfast to light snacks, afternoon tee, evening Hors d’Oeuvres and desserts.

    The Ritz-Carlton credit card comes with 3 complimentary upgrades to The Ritz-Carlton Club® Level each year valid on paid stays of up to seven nights. It also comes with a $100 hotel credit toward dining, spa or other hotel recreational activities on paid stays of two nights or longer.

    For both of those benefits you need to call to book the stay at an eligible rate. Some dates at some properties with these benefits will be more expensive, so make sure to shop around, since you can’t use the benefits with corporate rates and non-refundable rates. You’ll use these benefits when it doesn’t cost you more or a few dollars more, and then they’ll provide tremendous value.

11. Visa Infinite protections

    As a Visa Infinite the Ritz-Carlton card offers car rental discounts, and premium benefits on hotels booked through Visa. You get access to the Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection which provides automatic room upgrade on arrival (subject to availability) and complimentary continental breakfast. There’s also Visa Infinite Preferred Hotel Benefits at Relais & Châteaux properties.

    The protections bundled with the card are really strong. You get primary car rental collision damage coverage — so instead of secondary coverage where the card covers what your insurance doesn’t, this comes first so in many cases your own insurance doesn’t even need to know if you’ve played adult bumper cars.

    There’s also trip accident coverage, trip cancellation coverage, trip delay coverage, and a lost luggage benefit as well. Pay for your airfare with the card and if there’s a long enough delay you can send over receipts for hotels and meals and get those reimbursed. If your luggage doesn’t arrive you’ll get coverage for incidental items you need to purchase while the bags are gone.

    Visa Infinite also provides extended warranty, purchase protection and return protection for when you’re unhappy with a product and the retailer won’t accept a return.

12. Global entry fee credit

    You get a $100 statement credit for Global Entry so get expedited immigration, which comes with TSA PreCheck, and the application fee is rebated to you when you pay with the card.

    Already have Global Entry? Use your card to pay the fee for a family member or friend.

13. 10% annual bonus on points earned through card purchases

    Many lament the loss of the annual 7% points bonus that the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card used to have. This card comes with an annual 10% bonus.

Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card