Certificates I oredered today have expiration date 6/30/2006.

Same here, 6/30/06

I spoke to a Merrill+ rep today and he informed me the the Ritz program and rewards would be discontinued this year. All certificates requested will expire 6/30/06. This includes certificates for awards earned in 2004.

At least Merrill didn't abandon it's cardholders. We have an additional 6 months.

He stated that Ritz had increased it's fees & costs for the certificates that it sells to Merrill.

The free night program will be replaced with another hotel group. They will announce the hotel later in the year. The rep. mentioned several companies, he first spoke of Sheraton, Westin and then Four Seasons.

Let's hope for the latter.

I would much prefer Sheraton or Westin, since they have a larger network of hotels. The Sheraton brand extends to Westin, W, Luxury Collection, St. Regis, etc... and have as many amenities as Ritz at their high end locations. Four Seasons, which owns a few Ritz Carlton hotels, has a much more limited hotel list. With the Starwood Brand I think card members will have much less of a problem booking rooms, unlike the problems that have been common with Ritz redemptions.

All this may change further as MBNA has been acquired by Bank of America.

Even though I am a huge Starwood (Westin, Sheraton, St. Regis, Luxury Collection and soon to be LeMeridien) fan, I wouldn't like to see ML+ Rewards go with them for the free nights vouchers. A lot of people (including myself) earn SPG points either through hotels stays and/or through the SPG AMEX card. ML offered me another luxury alternative and I hope they go that way with their "new" partner if all the rumors are indeed true. I would naturally prefer Four Seasons.

One interesting thing I noted is that ML+ Rewards currently offers Ritz-Carlton, Fairmont, Hyatt, Marriott and Wyndham vouchers as part of the ML+ Rewards gift certificate points redemption program. Wouldn't it make sense for them to offer vouchers from a chain they already work with or would they go out and negotiate with Four Seasons or Starwood? IMHO Fairmont is nice but they don't have enough properties. Hyatt would be good but I would still like either Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons so I can get 4 free Luxury nights. (Spending my 4 Ritz vouchers at the Laguna Niguel property this year!) One more thing...I can't see Starwood working with ML Visa because they really push their AMEX card.

I wouldn't care who MBNA went with as long as availability was better than Ritz.

Couldn't agree more with the last two posters. ^

As a PS and final update - just booked one night at the Ritz in Philadelphia for a Saturday night in August. We're looking forward to it even tho it's not my first choice, but we'll have a nice little getaway. And the certificate will not go to waste.

Any news of potential changes to this card for 2006? I was thinking of applying, but it appears to be in a state of flux.

Just to update, I was one of the first to complain about reservation availability at the Ritz on this board. Tried to book ANY NIGHT in Central Park, ANY TIME! Finally the agent confirmed that there was no availability for the next twelve months!

At this points, I stopped using the card - except for the few vendors who do not accept AMEX. Reserved one Saturday night in August at the Ritz in Philadelphia and gave the night to my daugher and son-in-law. They had a great time and I, at least, was happy that it wasn't wasted.

My partner, on the other hand, is sitting with 4 nights and also found out the hard way that NY is off-limits. At least it's good to know that the certificates have an extra six months for him to try somewhere else.

I can't imagine the grief ML has gotten over this and can't fathom that they would reinstate it. I hope they learn from experience and choose a chain that will be more responsive. I also agree that it is unlikely to be Starwood due to their relationship with AMEX. We'll see.

"6 months"??? Don't you mean 4 months? All my certs that I earned this year and last year all expire December 30, 2005. Sucessfully used them at SF Ritz, PalmBeach Ritz, DC-Pentagon City Ritz so far. Have nights booked at SF ritz again for my parents in Oct., and just ended up cancelling free nights booked at New Orleans Ritz in November (for obvious reasons). Still got a few more nights to use up though before year-end.

pacman-

as I read the other posts, it seemd to indicate that all certificates are being extended until June 30, 2006. Have not checked this personally as I have use the only night I had.

Just wanted to clear up a few items; all certificates ordered now will have a 6/30/06 date.

ML did not extend that date for certificates with the 12/31/05 date.

I would suggest waiting until you actually need the certificates before requesting them. They do take a few weeks to arrive, but you can still make the reservation, even if you don't have the certificates. You will need them at check in.

FYI: I was able to book two weekend nights for two rooms in Boston Common location in October.

If ML really wanted to take care of it's cardholders especially the ones like myself who are very frustrated with the ritz deal then they should exchange the ones we COULDN'T use for whatever the new program is.