Points for Ritz-Carlton stays?
 

OK, I just recently got a Marriott Rewards Card, and now I will be traveling frequently for business. When I was browsing for hotels for upcoming stays in April and May, I was having a lot of trouble locating Courtyards and such at a government rate. However, what pops up on the Marriott site , but a government rate for Ritz Carlton in my preferred location. Now I made the reservation but I was wondering do I get Marriott Points for this since it was on the Marriott site because I want to have enough nights to get gold/platinum status?

Also, when I went back to book additional dates, this particular Ritz disappeared from the directory.

You don't get anything for RC stays, although there has been discussion that revenue from RCs might be considered if you are going for Plat Premier. Personally I don't think that is true.

You'll still get some points if you have the MR Visa...;)

And you can't beat a RC at a gov't rate. Sure beats a Courtyard, even though you're not earning points!

very true however if you're in an urban location and have a car the parking charges can be shocking when compared to the per diem (the stories I can tell from my RZ days and government employees and parking rates, unfortunately in the city I was in the going daily parking rates are very high, the RZ's parking was 66% of per diem, MHR & BR were slightly less, RI was about 50%)

With the downturn of the economy, the new Marriott Rewards Category 8 soon to come into effect, and the fact that Hilton has been converting more and more LXR resorts into Waldorf Astoria points earning HHonors hotels ( See 2 new Key West WA resorts announced today), we will see if this has an effect on the participation of RC in the future. I bet it does.

Some do remember that for a short time -- during another bad economy -- some RCs did give MR points - albeit in a haphazard manner, I believe.

Yeah, but isnt that true if you stay at Motel 6, too?

Actually the test which happened in the past had more to do with MI's purchase of the company......I personally agree with the rational behind not offering points for stays

Those are some crazy parking rates! I've stayed in downtown locations where parking was tens of dollars a day, but then again rates were hundreds of dollars a day. So I guess I'm used to parking being no more than 10% of the per diem rate for a night of lodging.

In any event, parking is a reimbursable expense (with no limit, unlike per diem for lodging!) so they can make it whatever they want and the government traveler will still make out fine. ;)

Trust me...hoteliers are well aware of this, unfortunately many government travs have sticker shock if they aren't use to downtown parking rates at luxury hotels