Using rewards at Ritz...
 

1) Can a Silver redeem rewards at the Ritz?

2) Also, I assume that the redemtion value would be CAT 8 = 40,000 point per night?

Yes, Silvers and non-elites can redeem points for awards at RCs.

Actually the points/night can be higher than even that (and quite a bit lower). Check out Partner Hotel Rewards . If you notice in the upper right-hand corner under "Related Links" there is a link to RC Pointsaver awards. Those can bring the points/night down to around 20K/night. And there are some nice RCs that participate. I've stayed at the Cayman Islands RC using a Pointsaver award and was very pleased with the stay and the award.

hhoope01 has got you covered.

The main reason I stay at Marriott's for business is for the access to Ritz awards.

Same here.

Any luck getting upgrades via points or cash to suites or club level?

Haven't tried before.

I've never seen any points based upgrade awards at an RC. I have been offered cash upgrades though. The Cayman RC offered to upgrade me a per night charge to upgrade to either an oceanfront or club room.

If you are interested in paying for an upgrade, I would suggest calling the hotel and ask them about it.

IMHO, the ability to redeem MR points at the Ritz is one of the program's best benefits. And now that the Ritz (along with other luxury chains) are hurting, the Point Savers make it a great choice. As far as upgrades go, I've redeemed points for rooms in SIN, Tokyo, PHL, and Osaka, and never been able to upgrade with $$. Even being PLT, we were not upgraded to the club floor, although we were given nice rooms in all cases.

You can indeed pay for upgrades to club level at RC Tokyo and Osaka, even on a points stay, thought it is quite expensive (12,500 yen a night, about $160 as of now...)

Paid $100 per night for 3 nights (for a friend) to upgrade (well in advance) to the club level at the Ritz Dallas. It was a points stay. They gave away her club level room and still charged the $300 but a little complaining got it removed...