For Ritz-Carlton stays should you earn frequent flyer miles or Ritz Rewards points? A TravelSort Client recently asked me this question, and of course I answered miles, but I needed to check all the various frequent flyer programs you can credit to.
Since other readers may also be wondering about whether to earn miles or point for their stays, I figured I'd advise on which I recommend earning, and how earning airline miles instead of Ritz-Carlton Rewards points works.
Earn Airline Miles Instead of Ritz-Carlton Rewards Points
You have the choice to earn either Riz-Carlton Rewards points or airline frequent flyer miles on a Ritz-Carlton hotel stay:
- Earn 10 Ritz-Carlton Rewards points per $1 spent on your room rate (excludes taxes and resort fees)
- Earn 2 airline miles per $1 spent on your
My own recommendation is to earn airline frequent flyer miles instead of Ritz-Carlton Rewards points, even though you could earn 5 times as many Ritz-Carlton Rewards points as miles. That's because I value airline miles such as Singapore KrisFlyer miles and Lufthansa Miles & More miles much more highly than Ritz-Carlton hotel points. Redeeming them for Singapore Suites or Lufthansa First Class can easily mean a valuation of 5-10 cents per mile, whereas I value a Ritz-Carlton Rewards points closer to half a cent per point.
That said, there are certainly those who put a greater premium on Ritz-Carlton points and status than I do, and don't value first class airline travel as highly, so your valuation could be quite different to mine.
Which Airline Frequent Flyer Programs Can You Credit Ritz-Carlton Stays To?
Here are the frequent flyer programs you can credit Ritz-Carlton stays to. I've put in bold font the programs that I consider most interesting for U.S. based flyers:
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- airberlin
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Aeroflot
- Air China
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Alitalia
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- ANA
- Asiana Airlines
- Aviana-TACA Lifemiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- China Eastern
- China Southern
- Delta Airlines SkyMiles
- Emirates
- Etihad Airways
- Frontier Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Iberia Airlines
- Japan Airlines
- Jet Airways
- JetBlue
- LAN
- Lufthansa Miles & More
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Saudia Airlines
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest
- TAP Air Portugal
- Turkish Airlines
- United Airlines
- US Airways Dividend Miles (only a few weeks left until these become AAdvantage miles)
- Varig Airlines
- Virgin America
- Virgin Atlantic
- Alaska Mileage Plan: 1-2 weeks
- American AAdvantage miles: 1-2 weeks
- British Airways: 3 business days
- Delta SkyMiles: 3 business days
- JAL: 1-2 weeks
- Lufthansa Miles & More: 2-4 weeks
- Singapore KrisFlyer: 1-2 weeks
- United MileagePlus: 3 business days
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