The Ritz Certs can be used for consecutive nights or broken up. Each Cert is good for one night and can be used however you like whether consecutively or at different hotels. For the next question that I am sure you guys are wondering and I'll get straight to the point: you can't sell it on eBay because it requires you to use your Merrill Visa at check-in to be held for deposit/incidentals. Also the Certs have a big "Merrill+" written on it. Beside the fact that it states the certs are void if sold, I guess it would work for another person with a Merrill+ Visa, but that cuts down significantly on the qualified bidders which would reduce your auction price.

To answer the question about point accumulation, the points are based on a CALENDAR year and resets on January 1. So basically if you signed up for the card now, you would have until 12/31/2005 to have your points count towards +2 or +3 status.

The Certs earned last calendar year are good until 12/31/2005. I'm pretty sure the Certs earned during 2005 will be good until 12/31/2006... can't confirm this since I haven't earned 20k points yet in 2005, but very close to it.