The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card has always been one of those cards that sounds a little too good to be true. It’s a premium travel card with a reasonable annual fee, a valuable annual free night, a flexible airline credit, strong travel protections and airport lounge access. The catch? You can’t just apply for it.
That has always been part of the card’s mystique. The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card is hard to get, which makes it easy to overlook. But if you can get it, this card can be one of the better values in the premium travel card space.
When I first wrote about this card, I already thought it was worth the effort. Since then, it has become an even more important part of our travel toolkit. Not because we’re constantly staying at Ritz-Carlton properties, but because the benefits line up with how we actually travel.
The $300 airline incidental credit helps cover things like seat assignments, which have become an unavoidable part of travel. Airlines now charge for anything better than the worst seats, and some international carriers charge for seat assignments even on award tickets. The card’s airport lounge access complements our American Express Platinum Card, especially because the Ritz-Carlton Card gives us access to Chase Sapphire Lounges through its Priority Pass membership. And the annual 85K Marriott Free Night Certificate is still one of the most valuable hotel certificates available from a credit card.
In fact, this card was one of the main reasons we eventually canceled our Chase Sapphire Reserve. There was simply too much overlap, and for us, the Ritz-Carlton Card covered several of the benefits we cared about most.
How To Get The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card
The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card is no longer open to new applicants. Chase pulled it from public applications years ago, so you won’t find a standard application link.
But the card is still available through a backdoor method: you can product change to it from an eligible Chase-issued Marriott Bonvoy personal credit card, such as the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless or Marriott Bonvoy Bold.
Important: This needs to be a Chase-issued personal Marriott card. You can’t product change from an American Express Marriott card, a Marriott business card or a non-Marriott Chase card.
In general, you’ll need to have the card for at least one year before Chase will allow a product change. You’ll also need enough of a credit limit to qualify for the premium card. Since Chase no longer publicly markets this card, the process may involve calling and asking specifically whether your account is eligible for an upgrade to the Ritz-Carlton Credit Card.
That extra step is why this card isn’t for everyone. If you want a premium card you can apply for today, this isn’t it. But if you already have a Chase Marriott card, or you’re willing to plan ahead, the Ritz-Carlton Card can be worth the wait.
The Annual Fee
The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card has a $450 annual fee, which puts it in premium travel card territory. But compared to many other premium cards, that fee is easier to justify.
The biggest reason is the card’s $300 annual airline incidental credit. If you can use that credit, the effective cost of the card drops to $150 before considering the annual Free Night Certificate, lounge access, travel protections or any Ritz-Carlton-specific benefits.
That’s where the card starts to make sense. You’re not keeping it because it earns the most points on everyday spending. You’re keeping it because the benefits can be worth far more than the annual fee.
What The Card Earns
The Ritz-Carlton Card earns:
- 6x Marriott Bonvoy points at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels
- 3x Marriott Bonvoy points on dining, airfare and rental cars
- 2x Marriott Bonvoy points on all other purchases
Those earning rates are fine, but they’re not the reason to get this card. Marriott points can be useful, but they’re not as flexible as Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One miles or Bilt Rewards points.
For most purchases, we’d rather use a card that earns transferable points or offers better category bonuses. The Ritz-Carlton Card is not a card we keep for everyday spending. It’s a card we keep for the benefits.
The 85K Marriott Free Night Certificate
Every year after your account anniversary, the Ritz-Carlton Card provides a Marriott Bonvoy Free Night Certificate worth up to 85,000 points.
That alone can justify a large part of the annual fee. Marriott pricing can be unpredictable, but an 85K certificate is still powerful enough to use at many high-end Marriott properties, including some where cash rates can be several hundred dollars per night.
Even better, Marriott now allows members to top off Free Night Certificates with up to 25,000 additional Marriott Bonvoy points. That means the Ritz-Carlton Card’s 85K certificate can now be used for a night costing up to 110,000 points, assuming standard award availability is there.
That’s a big improvement. Previously, a 15K top-off meant this certificate maxed out at 100K points. The extra 10K points may not sound like much, but with Marriott’s dynamic pricing, that can be the difference between using the certificate at a property you actually want and being just out of range.
The certificate still has limits. It won’t work everywhere, especially at Marriott’s most expensive properties on peak dates. You also have to use it within the expiration period, and you’re still responsible for resort fees where applicable. But as credit card free night certificates go, this is one of the stronger ones.
The $300 Airline Incidental Credit
The Ritz-Carlton Card comes with a $300 annual airline incidental credit. This is one of the card’s most useful benefits, and it has become even more relevant as airlines continue to slice up the travel experience into separate charges.
We’ve used this type of credit for seat assignments, which have become increasingly hard to avoid. On some airlines, you pay extra for anything other than the least desirable seats. On some international carriers, even award tickets don’t include free seat assignments unless you have elite status or wait until check-in.
That makes this credit practical. It’s not a vague lifestyle credit or a monthly coupon you have to remember to use at a specific merchant. It applies to real travel costs that we’d likely pay anyway.
There is one important downside: the credit is not automatic. After making an eligible charge, you need to contact Chase to request reimbursement. That adds friction, but in practice, it’s still far easier to use than some premium card credits that require a specific portal, a specific merchant or a narrow monthly window.
Airport Lounge Access
The Ritz-Carlton Card includes Priority Pass Select membership, which can be especially valuable depending on which airports you use.
For us, this benefit has become more important because it complements our American Express Platinum Card. The Amex Platinum is still excellent for lounge access, especially with Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs when flying Delta, Escape Lounges and Plaza Premium locations. But no single card covers everything.
The Ritz-Carlton Card fills in some of those gaps. Most importantly, its Priority Pass membership can be used for access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, which have become some of the better domestic airport lounges in the U.S.
That matters because Chase Sapphire Lounge access is tied to having an eligible Priority Pass membership. It’s not simply a matter of flashing a Chase card at the entrance. If you have the Ritz-Carlton Card, you need to make sure you’re using the Priority Pass membership issued through that card.
We’ve written more about the entry rules here: Understanding The Entry Rules For Chase Sapphire Lounges.
Why It Made The Sapphire Reserve Harder To Justify
This is where the Ritz-Carlton Card became more than just a Marriott card for us.
For years, the Chase Sapphire Reserve was one of the easiest premium travel cards to justify. It had a broad travel credit, strong travel protections, airport lounge access and the ability to earn and redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points. It was a very useful card.
But once we had the Ritz-Carlton Card, there was a lot of overlap.
The Ritz card gave us a $300 airline incidental credit, Priority Pass access, Chase Sapphire Lounge access through Priority Pass, strong travel protections and an annual 85K Marriott Free Night Certificate. Since we already had other cards that earn transferable points, the Sapphire Reserve became less essential to our setup.
That doesn’t mean the Ritz-Carlton Card is better than the Sapphire Reserve for everyone. If you use Chase Ultimate Rewards heavily, book through Chase Travel or rely on the Sapphire Reserve’s broader $300 travel credit, the Sapphire Reserve can still make sense. But for us, there was too much duplication, and the Ritz-Carlton Card covered enough of the travel-benefit side that keeping both became harder to justify.
Travel Protections
Another reason the Ritz-Carlton Card belongs in the premium travel card conversation is that it comes with strong travel protections.
Benefits can change, and you should always check the current Guide to Benefits before relying on coverage, but the card has historically included protections such as:
- Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
- Trip delay reimbursement
- Baggage delay coverage
- Lost luggage reimbursement
- Primary rental car coverage
- Emergency evacuation and transportation coverage
That last part is important. Premium cards aren’t just about lounge access and credits. When a trip goes sideways, the protections can matter far more than the points earned from the purchase.
That’s another reason this card competes with more widely discussed premium cards. It’s not just a hotel card with a free night. It’s a full travel card with benefits that can matter when something goes wrong.
Marriott Bonvoy Benefits
The Ritz-Carlton Card also includes several Marriott Bonvoy benefits:
- Automatic Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status
- 15 Elite Night Credits each year
- A path to Platinum Elite status after $75,000 in annual spending
Gold status is better than nothing, but it’s not the same as Marriott Platinum status. You may receive room upgrades when available, late checkout when available and a points bonus on paid stays, but don’t expect free breakfast or guaranteed lounge access at most brands.
The 15 Elite Night Credits are more useful, especially if you also have a Marriott business card. Marriott allows elite night credits from one personal card and one business card to stack, which can help if you’re trying to qualify for Platinum or Titanium status.
Spending $75,000 on the card to earn Platinum status is technically an option, but it’s not something I’d recommend for most people. There are usually better ways to use that much credit card spend unless Marriott Platinum status is especially valuable to you and you don’t have another path to earn it.
Ritz-Carlton-Specific Benefits
Despite the name on the card, some of the Ritz-Carlton-specific benefits aren’t the main reason we keep it.
The card includes a $100 property credit when booking an eligible paid Ritz-Carlton stay of two nights or more using the special cardmember rate. It also includes three Club Level Upgrade Certificates each year, which can be used on eligible paid stays at participating Ritz-Carlton properties.
For the right traveler, those benefits can be very valuable. If you regularly book paid Ritz-Carlton stays, the card can become even more compelling.
For us, though, these are more like bonus perks than the core value proposition. We don’t need to use the Ritz-Carlton-specific benefits for the card to make sense. The airline credit, lounge access, Free Night Certificate and travel protections are enough to justify keeping it. If we’re able to use the Ritz-Carlton benefits on top of that, even better.
Global Entry Credit
The Ritz-Carlton Card also includes a Global Entry application fee credit. Since Global Entry includes TSA PreCheck, this is still the version of the trusted traveler benefit I’d choose if eligible.
If you already have Global Entry, you may be able to use the credit for someone else’s application by paying with your card. That makes the benefit easier to use in a household where not everyone renews at the same time.
No Foreign Transaction Fees
As expected from a premium travel card, the Ritz-Carlton Card has no foreign transaction fees.
That doesn’t mean it’s the best card to use for every international purchase, but it does mean you don’t have to worry about an extra fee when using it abroad. For travel purchases where the card’s protections matter, that can be useful.
How It Compares To Other Premium Cards
The Ritz-Carlton Card sits in an unusual place. It’s a Marriott card, but it competes with broader premium travel cards.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve: Better for earning and using Chase Ultimate Rewards points, but there can be significant overlap in travel benefits.
- American Express Platinum Card: Better overall lounge footprint for many travelers, but loaded with credits you need to track and use intentionally.
- Capital One Venture X: Easier to justify on paper, but more dependent on using Capital One Travel and less compelling if you already have overlapping lounge access.
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card: Better if you want automatic Marriott Platinum status, but with a much higher annual fee and more Amex-style credits to manage.
The Ritz-Carlton Card doesn’t win every comparison. It doesn’t earn transferable points. You can’t apply for it directly. The airline credit requires a reimbursement request. And if you don’t value Marriott free night certificates, much of the card’s appeal disappears.
But if you can use the benefits, the math is hard to ignore.
The Downsides
No card is perfect, and the Ritz-Carlton Card has several drawbacks.
You Can’t Apply For It Directly
This is the biggest obstacle. You need to switch to a product change from an eligible Chase Marriott personal card, which usually means planning at least a year in advance. There’s also no welcome bonus when you product change, which is a real opportunity cost.
The Airline Credit Requires A Request
The $300 airline incidental credit is useful, but it’s not automatic. You need to call Chase or send a secure message after making an eligible purchase. That’s not difficult, but it is one more thing to remember.
The Free Night Certificate Still Has Limits
An 85K certificate that can be topped off to 110K points is excellent, but it still won’t cover every Marriott property on every date. You also need to find standard award availability and use the certificate before it expires.
It’s Not A Great Everyday Spending Card
The earning rates are not bad, but Marriott points are not flexible enough to make this our everyday card. If you’re looking for the best return on daily spending, there are better options.
Final Thought
The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card is still hard to get. That hasn’t changed. You can’t apply directly; you need an eligible Chase Marriott card first, and you have to be willing to product change without receiving a new-card welcome bonus.
But the card can absolutely be worth it.
For a $450 annual fee, the Ritz-Carlton Card offers a $300 airline incidental credit, an annual 85K Marriott Free Night Certificate that can now be topped off to 110K points, Priority Pass access, Chase Sapphire Lounge access through its Priority Pass membership, strong travel protections and useful Marriott benefits.
For us, it has become even more important over time. It’s one of the cards that helped make the Chase Sapphire Reserve unnecessary in our wallet, not because the Sapphire Reserve is a bad card, but because there was too much overlap in how we travel.
And that may be the best way to think about the Ritz-Carlton Card. It’s not just a card for people who stay at Ritz-Carlton properties. It’s a premium travel card hiding inside a Marriott card.
If you can get it and use the benefits, the Ritz-Carlton Credit Card is still hard to get — but totally worth it.
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