How Does Earning Marriott Platinum With Credit Card Spending Work?

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Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card

The new Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card gives you Gold Elite status (complimentary the first year and that you retain each year you spend $10,000 on the card); a $300 Airline Fee credit, $100 Global Entry credit, and unlimited use $100 Airline Ticket discounts when buying for 2 or more passengers; 3 complimentary upgrades to The Ritz-Carlton Club® Level each year valid on paid stays of up to seven nights; plus airport lounge access and a premium concierge, the card gives you:

    A great signup bonus of 3 complimentary nights at any participating Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carlton hotel after $5,000 spend on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.

Marriott has been investing in their rewards program more than I’d have expected since announcing the Starwood merger, which has now closed. I see Marriott Rewards getting stronger. And Ritz-Carlton Rewards status is honored equally as Marriott status.


Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman

So earning Gold status just for having a credit card is great, $10,000 in spend each year to keep it is as well. And being able to earn Platinum status through spend is impressive.

@IlliniJeff asks,

You have the full 12 months of your cardmember year, also known as your ‘account year’ to spend $75,000 to obtain Platinum status.

“Account anniversary year” means the year beginning with your account open date through the anniversary of your account open date, and each 12 months after that.


Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman

That means you can start spending on the card right away towards your $75,000 goal, you don’t need to wait until 2017 if you aren’t able to make it by the end of the calendar year (which would be tough for most).

Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

Comments

  1. Is the status duration the same as normal? If you hit the spending in 2017, you keep it til end of 2018?

    Do you think its worth the opportunity cost of 50K starpoints?

  2. @Gary – somewhat related to JP’s question above, if you hit SPG 50 this year, will that carry through 2017?

Comments are closed.