Question
Ok, here's how the free Ritz nights worked for me. First you call up to have the certificates issued & mailed. It took about 8 days .
At the +3 level you do indeed receive four one night stay coupons.
Using them is another issue!!! :mad:
I tried several locations durring a 10 day period March 17-27 at the following locations: Batchelor Gulch, Naples, Amelia Island, New York, at all those location I could not get 4 night availablity.
All locations had availability.
So Far No Good, What Gives :td: :td:
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I think trying to book a month or so before your actual stay is gonna be difficult/impossible using a free night cert. I have 5 of these certs from Merrill as well and had no problem booking 3 nights at the San Fran Ritz in mid July. Unfortunately the certs are only good for the standard rooms and not the Club level rooms. I called the hotel and they said they might let me pay the difference to upgrade to the club level, depending on availability at time of check-in.
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Ok, here's how the free Ritz nights worked for me. First you call up to have the certificates issued & mailed. It took about 8 days .
At the +3 level you do indeed receive four one night stay coupons.
Using them is another issue!!! :mad:
I tried several locations durring a 10 day period March 17-27 at the following locations: Batchelor Gulch, Naples, Amelia Island, New York, at all those location I could not get 4 night availablity.
All locations had availability.
So Far No Good, What Gives :td: :td:
I would agree with OP that is spring break and on short notice might be tough. The merrill + 5000 points and exec suite is a nice deal - i need two rooms (3 kids) so I booked one with Merrill + suite and the other with amex centurion so I get benifits for both programs.
You might try orlando
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I think trying to book a month or so before your actual stay is gonna be difficult/impossible using a free night cert. I have 5 of these certs from Merrill as well and had no problem booking 3 nights at the San Fran Ritz in mid July. Unfortunately the certs are only good for the standard rooms and not the Club level rooms. I called the hotel and they said they might let me pay the difference to upgrade to the club level, depending on availability at time of check-in.
I tried Boston in June , no luck either. Maybe just bad luck. I haven't given up yet.
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I tried Boston in June , no luck either. Maybe just bad luck. I haven't given up yet.
You are calling the reservation number that is on the certificate right? I think it might be different than the actual ritz reservation line. Thanks for the heads up on the limited availability and difficulty of use. Now I know to book way in advance for my free nights at the Ritz-Maui in the summer of 2006.
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You are calling the reservation number that is on the certificate right? I think it might be different than the actual ritz reservation line.
Yes, you must call the reservation number listed on back of the certificates.
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You are calling the reservation number that is on the certificate right? I think it might be different than the actual ritz reservation line. Thanks for the heads up on the limited availability and difficulty of use. Now I know to book way in advance for my free nights at the Ritz-Maui in the summer of 2006.
From another poster: His experience shows rooms will be available only if a standard room is less than $300. I tried this weekend to schedule some thing for the summer and was told nothing available until Sept. :mad: Checking their room rates, room for < $300, they did not any room until Sept.
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I had spent most of my dollars on my Starwood AMEX and some on a Centurion. Thanks to this board, I got the MERRILL+ card - mostly for the free Ritz nights. I reached the +2 ($20,000) category two weeks ago. I will seriously have to reconsider my plans after reading this thread.
My Starwood points can be used pretty much anywhere, anytime. To divert my business to MERRILL only to find out I have 4 Ritz certificates I can't use would be very distressing. My plan when I started was to use the 4 nights for NJ teachers convention (early November) in Naples.
That said, as I posted elsewhere, the 20,000 level apparently will get American Airlines to match my Gold status on a few airlines. We'll see what that's worth.
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This week I booked 4 free nights at the RC Orlando for early June. :)
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I had spent most of my dollars on my Starwood AMEX and some on a Centurion. Thanks to this board, I got the MERRILL+ card - mostly for the free Ritz nights. I reached the +2 ($20,000) category two weeks ago. I will seriously have to reconsider my plans after reading this thread.
My Starwood points can be used pretty much anywhere, anytime. To divert my business to MERRILL only to find out I have 4 Ritz certificates I can't use would be very distressing. My plan when I started was to use the 4 nights for NJ teachers convention (early November) in Naples.
That said, as I posted elsewhere, the 20,000 level apparently will get American Airlines to match my Gold status on a few airlines. We'll see what that's worth.
The Merrill card is still a great deal for the Ritz nights. Considering that 20K starpoints get you 2 night cat 4 and the that the Ritz nights cost you no points you have approx 200.00 value in points for soemthing else. I called for July at Central Park. Inisiatlly they havd nothing available. I called a week later and there was availability. I think they have differend allocations on the rooms. Considering a regular oom in Central park goes for 550.00 a night 3 nights is worth 1650.00 plus tax which in NY is probably another 200.00 or more.
Rob
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All of you posters with complaints about the Merrill + Rewards Program have just been "LYNCHED," and I have no doubt that you will suffer many more "lynchings" when trying to use the Merrill + Rewards Program before you crawl beaten down and exasperated to American Express where you can get a Rewards Program credit card that works as advertised in the form of an Amex Hilton HHonors or Starwood Preferred. Why do you think the card is black manure colored with an outline of a bull on the front of the card -- I think that it's Merill's way of informing consumers from the outset that the Rewards Program is "bull _ _ _ _."
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All of you posters with complaints about the Merrill + Rewards Program have just been "LYNCHED," and I have no doubt that you will suffer many more "lynchings" when trying to use the Merrill + Rewards Program before you crawl beaten down and exasperated to American Express where you can get a Rewards Program credit card that works as advertised in the form of an Amex Hilton HHonors or Starwood Preferred. Why do you think the card is black manure colored with an outline of a bull on the front of the card -- I think that it's Merill's way of informing consumers from the outset that the Rewards Program is "bull _ _ _ _."
Didn't you post a similar tirade in another thread?
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Didn't you post a similar tirade in another thread?
Yes he did. Incredibly negative & unhelpful, although somewhat comical & amusing in a 12-year old kind of way. :p
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I give TWO Thumbs up for this card! I'm saving up for 132k points so I can cash them in for the Weber Summit grill. I'm at 80k points and will hopefully have enough by summer grilling season.
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About 2-3 weeks ago, I sent documentation for the American Airlines Elite status match. I was currently gold on Continental, Delta and US Air. Checked the American website and now, thanks to the Merrill + card, I am Platinum Elite at American. Not sure if it means anything, but I'll take it for free.
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About 2-3 weeks ago, I sent documentation for the American Airlines Elite status match. I was currently gold on Continental, Delta and US Air. Checked the American website and now, thanks to the Merrill + card, I am Platinum Elite at American.
Great to hear the comp worked! Did anyone ever find out if the comp was a one time thing or if it could be renewed each year based on the ML + card?
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Has anyone tried to get the Marriott and Sofitel benefits:
Marriott: $100 per night in resort credits toward spa, dining, golf and resort shops with a min. 2 night stay.
Sofitel: Purchase the first night and get the second night free plus a complimentary breakfast at 11 exclusive Sofitel hotels in the U.S. and Canada.
These seem like very nice deals if they apply to discounted rates, esp. since they don't seem to restrict the number of times you can use the offer.
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Well just racked up another $20k in charges and earned another 1 night Ritz Stay. Here is the catch though, the certs you earn this year expire on Dec. 30, 2005. Yup, they expire THIS year. I asked the rep when the Ritz Certs expired, and she told me that they will expire this year. She said that they may discontinue the Ritz Cert award and subsitute it with another similar type program (such as with another hotel) after this year. I can confirm this as I received the cert today and it does indeed expire at the end of this year. I was really hoping to use the ones that I earn this year next year. Now I got too many certs to use from last year and the ones I'll earn this year.
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I called ML Visa+ for the buy 1 get 1 economy class on British Airways for late May. They quoted me the unrestricted economy fare to be around $2250! That comes out to be about $1100 per ticket. I don't see how this is any benefit at all. BA is selling economy class tix (restricted of course) for only about $525.