Aug 11, 2016, 1:33 pm
Last edit by: RedSun
Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa Infinite (closed to new applications)
All card offers are dead as of 7/26/18.
Information still available on the Chase SITE.
The previous version of this card was discussed HERE.
(Expired) New Card Bonus ($4,000 spending): Two free night certificates good at any Ritz Carlton (Marriott) properties up to 60,000 points (possible to book any SPG properties later)
(old: at any tier 1-4 Ritz Carlton Hotel after $4k spend).
current offer (dead): https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/rit...n/naepredirect
Things qualifying/not qualifying under $300 annual travel credit
one member wrote: AA is now showing gift cards as "giftcard" rather than general purchase if the csr looks closely. Last year it worked for me, yesterday it did not and csr told me that's why. However, later the same day I also requested the credit by Secure Message (for "baggage fees) and it was approved. Very YMMV now but still doable. 2/10/2017
Southwest Airlines GCs work fairly easily. I've generally bought them for $150 and said they're excess baggage fees.
Frequent Miler has a collection of data points of what has worked in the past. Link
All card offers are dead as of 7/26/18.
Information still available on the Chase SITE.
The previous version of this card was discussed HERE.
(Expired) New Card Bonus ($4,000 spending): Two free night certificates good at any Ritz Carlton (Marriott) properties up to 60,000 points (possible to book any SPG properties later)
(old: at any tier 1-4 Ritz Carlton Hotel after $4k spend).
current offer (dead): https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/rit...n/naepredirect
- Annual fee of $450 NOT waived.
- 6 points per dollar at Marriott properties, including SPGs and Ritz-Carltons. (same as all Chase & AmEx Marriott cards)
- 3 points per dollar at restaurants, car rental companies and airline tickets purchased directly from airlines
- 2 points per dollar on all other purchases (same as all Chase & AmEx Marriott cards)
- Annual (anniversary) free night award good at any Marriott (including Ritz) property up to 50,000 MRs.
- Automatic Marriott Gold Status.
- Marriott Platinum Status after $75,000 card spending in a card-member year.
$100 companion airfare discount booked through Visa Infinite website.- $100 statement credit for Global Entry after the Global Entry program application fee is charged to an eligible card.
- $300 Annual (calendar) Travel Credit "Only the following types of non-ticket purchases qualify for this offer: airline lounge day pass, or towards a yearly lounge membership of your choice; airline seat upgrades; airline baggage fees; in-flight Internet/entertainment; in-flight meals."
- Three (3) Ritz Carlton Club Level upgrade certificates each year for up to 7 nights each stay. The stays must be paid stays, excluding point redemption and award night.
- Troon Rewards and PRIVÉ ACCESS golf benefits
- $100 credit for qualifying dining, spa or other hotel recreational activities. Use the credit with any paid stay at The Ritz-Carlton of two nights or more OR get a $100 hotel credit per stay at all Marriott luxury properties. Advance reservations are required. Valid only on non-discounted rates. Cannot be combined with any packages, discounts, negotiated corporate or group rates or point-redemption bookings.
Things qualifying/not qualifying under $300 annual travel credit
one member wrote: AA is now showing gift cards as "giftcard" rather than general purchase if the csr looks closely. Last year it worked for me, yesterday it did not and csr told me that's why. However, later the same day I also requested the credit by Secure Message (for "baggage fees) and it was approved. Very YMMV now but still doable. 2/10/2017
Southwest Airlines GCs work fairly easily. I've generally bought them for $150 and said they're excess baggage fees.
Frequent Miler has a collection of data points of what has worked in the past. Link
Ritz-Carlton Visa Infinite - closed for applications 7.26.2018 (2016-2021)
Jan 17, 2020, 9:46 am
#3362
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SF
Programs: UA MM, AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTP, HH Dia
Posts: 1,132
It worked on standard low fares. If it cost $200 for a roundtrip ticket from SFO-LAX on United, and you traveled with a companion, you paid $300 out of pocket instead of $400. TBH, it was only really worth it if you bought very cheap coach tickets and traveled as a pair. The $100 savings became less valuable the more expensive your tickets were, since the opportunity cost of using the Ritz to buy airfare (vs a more lucrative card like Plat Amex) grew with the ticket price.
Jan 17, 2020, 9:51 am
#3363
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: DFW
Posts: 50
...!!
I'm going to guess there were a few people abusing this pretty hard. Jetblue went away for a reason, and now it all goes away. Dang.
Fee just posted so will call for 'ongoign retention offers' . The card is still worth having either way, but this is devastating to the potential value.
I'm going to guess there were a few people abusing this pretty hard. Jetblue went away for a reason, and now it all goes away. Dang.
Fee just posted so will call for 'ongoign retention offers' . The card is still worth having either way, but this is devastating to the potential value.
Jan 17, 2020, 9:54 am
#3364
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: New York, NY
Programs: Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 240
The $300 credit is easy to use, much more so than Amex as it doesn’t require selecting an airline.
There is no authorized user fee and AUs get their own priority pass card. For a net $150 (after credit) you get a free night at a category 6 hotel.
the free authorized user with PP makes it great for 2 player mode if you don’t have too many premium cards between you and your spouse/child/etc.
I've also used the $100 Ritz/St Regis credit (on stays 2 days or more) a few times.
but without the $100 discount it won’t see any spend from me. At least previously I put the flights for the $100 off on it. Now it’s purely a benefits sock drawer card.
There is no authorized user fee and AUs get their own priority pass card. For a net $150 (after credit) you get a free night at a category 6 hotel.
the free authorized user with PP makes it great for 2 player mode if you don’t have too many premium cards between you and your spouse/child/etc.
I've also used the $100 Ritz/St Regis credit (on stays 2 days or more) a few times.
but without the $100 discount it won’t see any spend from me. At least previously I put the flights for the $100 off on it. Now it’s purely a benefits sock drawer card.
Jan 17, 2020, 9:56 am
#3365
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ATL, BHM, DUB, County Wexford
Programs: DL DM, AA ExPlt, Diamond HH, HY, BW, & Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 4,855
It worked on standard low fares. If it cost $200 for a roundtrip ticket from SFO-LAX on United, and you traveled with a companion, you paid $300 out of pocket instead of $400. TBH, it was only really worth it if you bought very cheap coach tickets and traveled as a pair. The $100 savings became less valuable the more expensive your tickets were, since the opportunity cost of using the Ritz to buy airfare (vs a more lucrative card like Plat Amex) grew with the ticket price.
Jan 17, 2020, 10:49 am
#3366
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 1,028
The $300 credit is easy to use, much more so than Amex as it doesn’t require selecting an airline.
There is no authorized user fee and AUs get their own priority pass card. For a net $150 (after credit) you get a free night at a category 6 hotel.
the free authorized user with PP makes it great for 2 player mode if you don’t have too many premium cards between you and your spouse/child/etc.
I've also used the $100 Ritz/St Regis credit (on stays 2 days or more) a few times.
but without the $100 discount it won’t see any spend from me. At least previously I put the flights for the $100 off on it. Now it’s purely a benefits sock drawer card.
There is no authorized user fee and AUs get their own priority pass card. For a net $150 (after credit) you get a free night at a category 6 hotel.
the free authorized user with PP makes it great for 2 player mode if you don’t have too many premium cards between you and your spouse/child/etc.
I've also used the $100 Ritz/St Regis credit (on stays 2 days or more) a few times.
but without the $100 discount it won’t see any spend from me. At least previously I put the flights for the $100 off on it. Now it’s purely a benefits sock drawer card.
Jan 17, 2020, 11:49 am
#3367
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: LAX
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, AA Lifetime Gold, UA Premier Silver
Posts: 188
I'll keep the card because I still come out ahead each year between the $300 credit, 50,000K cert, and three club upgrades for up to a week each, but this loss definitely hurts.
Jan 17, 2020, 12:14 pm
#3368
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 483
The $300 credit is easy to use, much more so than Amex as it doesn’t require selecting an airline.
There is no authorized user fee and AUs get their own priority pass card. For a net $150 (after credit) you get a free night at a category 6 hotel.
the free authorized user with PP makes it great for 2 player mode if you don’t have too many premium cards between you and your spouse/child/etc.
I've also used the $100 Ritz/St Regis credit (on stays 2 days or more) a few times.
but without the $100 discount it won’t see any spend from me. At least previously I put the flights for the $100 off on it. Now it’s purely a benefits sock drawer card.
There is no authorized user fee and AUs get their own priority pass card. For a net $150 (after credit) you get a free night at a category 6 hotel.
the free authorized user with PP makes it great for 2 player mode if you don’t have too many premium cards between you and your spouse/child/etc.
I've also used the $100 Ritz/St Regis credit (on stays 2 days or more) a few times.
but without the $100 discount it won’t see any spend from me. At least previously I put the flights for the $100 off on it. Now it’s purely a benefits sock drawer card.
Jan 17, 2020, 12:25 pm
#3369
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: SJC (AA PLT 2MM - Marriott LTT - Avis Preferred)
Posts: 2,028
It worked on standard low fares. If it cost $200 for a roundtrip ticket from SFO-LAX on United, and you traveled with a companion, you paid $300 out of pocket instead of $400. TBH, it was only really worth it if you bought very cheap coach tickets and traveled as a pair. The $100 savings became less valuable the more expensive your tickets were, since the opportunity cost of using the Ritz to buy airfare (vs a more lucrative card like Plat Amex) grew with the ticket price.
Jan 17, 2020, 12:26 pm
#3370
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Some discussion here:
How old does AU need to be - Chase is asking for DOB?
However, there is also this: You must be at least 18 years old to enrol as a Member of the Priority Pass program.
https://www.prioritypass.com/en/member-support/faq
How old does AU need to be - Chase is asking for DOB?
However, there is also this: You must be at least 18 years old to enrol as a Member of the Priority Pass program.
https://www.prioritypass.com/en/member-support/faq
Jan 17, 2020, 12:30 pm
#3371
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: SJC (AA PLT 2MM - Marriott LTT - Avis Preferred)
Posts: 2,028
We also use the Club Upgrade certs and $100 hotel credit which more than pay for themselves.
Jan 17, 2020, 1:29 pm
#3372
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
One could hypothetically buy several tickets on good discounts, and if you had the correct status, cancel them for a voucher. Usually you can use several vouchers when buying a ticket if needed. I ran into this inadvertently after having Mosaic Jetblue status and actually needing to refund it and being a little surprised. This is likely the reason there was no-notice, as its likely people would load up on your alaska account if you could at a good discount.
Jan 17, 2020, 1:46 pm
#3373
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
Then, several priority passes, travel insurances that are the same as CSR, rental car primary insurance, obviously this is a terrible development but im thinking about this $550 CSR nonsense with the added lyft and doordash benefits (just annoying if you didn't already use those frequently). Shouldn't hold on to both cards and the Ritz even with this deval is the clear winner. The CSR was on my chopping block radar for a while but I think now I need to make a decision on just having one premium chase card, the .015 per point is/was the one thing the CSR has going for it, but I don't think thats enough to justify the fee as you should usually do better per point. (this assumes you otherwise have a chase card that can transfer to hyatt, etc).
I also have the business amex plt (cent lounges and emergency evac, wework), hilton aspire (first year free and lots of benes), and citi prestige card (5x dining I guess is still worth it? idk).
Lots of negatives recently. Maybe some will have luck with retention offers?
Jan 17, 2020, 5:49 pm
#3374
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: SJC
Programs: AAdvantage 2MM+ Lifetime PLT; BA, CO, UA, US; SPG; HHonors Gold
Posts: 757
Chase in full benefit cutting mode
I was this close to shutting down my Ritz card but the Visa Discount Air benefit tipped the balance in favor of keeping it. Next they will start cutting back on the priority pass benefits.
I had my CSR fee post 25 days ago (old fee) but I'm canceling. Time to stick it to the man.
Jan 17, 2020, 5:59 pm
#3375
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
This latest dropped shoe combined with the CSR fee increase, the Amex Gold Fee increase, Citi benefit cuts, all around tightening up on churning - shows that the oligopolists are in full profit taking mode. No more fighting for market share.
I was this close to shutting down my Ritz card but the Visa Discount Air benefit tipped the balance in favor of keeping it. Next they will start cutting back on the priority pass benefits.
I had my CSR fee post 25 days ago (old fee) but I'm canceling. Time to stick it to the man.
I was this close to shutting down my Ritz card but the Visa Discount Air benefit tipped the balance in favor of keeping it. Next they will start cutting back on the priority pass benefits.
I had my CSR fee post 25 days ago (old fee) but I'm canceling. Time to stick it to the man.
edit to add: At the same time of all the drops of benefits, perhaps the best card for earning just came up, and an amazing redemption opportunity is available for the time being. Not great for people gaming the system, but great for people that actually put alot of spend on cards (citi DC and turkish is what I am referencing). I can spend 22.5k and get a business class ticket to anywhere in europe, its been a long time since anything was that good/easy.