I have the Ritz Carlton credit card, which gave me 3 free club-level upgrade certs, but I don't want to use the card to pay for my stay.

I set up a reservation for the RC using my Citi Thank You Prestige card (4th night free)... then later that same day, I called Ritz to try to use one of the upgrade certs. At that point two things happened:

- The room rate went up by ~$100/night to move to the club level-- not great and doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but acceptable.

- I was told I had to pay for my room with the RC credit card (killing the 4th night free deal). That's no good.

Is it a requirement of these certificates that I also pay for my stay with the Ritz Carlton credit card? And if so, is there a way around this? I'm excited to stay at the RC and if I pay with my Citi card, they're still booking 4 nights' paid stay from me... I just don't want to use that card to pay.

FWIW I can't seem to look at the certs themselves anywhere on my account-- I see them under "my activity" but clicking them doesn't give me any more information. I can't find any official rules/requirements/terms & conditions for the certs anywhere.