the Jebba Journal: Sixth Edition
Using my Amex Platinum for a Ritz Carlton birthday getaway
In my last full newsletter, the Jebba Journal: Fifth Edition, I talked about why I chose the American Express Platinum as my “premium” card over the Chase Sapphire cards. I also promised to go more in-depth on one of my favorite credits offered on the card: the Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) $200 statement credit.
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Kayla and I both have our birthdays in June and me being me, I wanted to take a small vacation. Our trip “goals” were to bake in the sun, go in a pool, drink ice-cold cocktails, and…..yeah that’s basically it. Well, that and use as many points and as little cash as possible. After doing some research, we settled on going to the Ritz Carlton Ranch Mirage, just outside of Palm Springs.
Before I get into the trip report and how I booked the trip, it’s worth explaining more about the FHR Program.
What is the Amex FHR Program?
One of the perks of the Platinum lineup of cards from Amex is access to their FHR program, which is just a special way to book hotel rooms. The few hotels that are part of the program tend to be higher-end properties.
Booking through FHR gets you extra perks that you usually wouldn’t get by booking directly with the hotel. The catch is that booking through FHR typically costs more money than booking directly.
These perks include:
12:00 pm check-in (when available)
Guaranteed 4:00 pm late check-out
$100 on-site property credit per stay
On-site breakfast credit for two people every morning, except the day of check-in (usually $60-$75 per day total)
Room upgrade (when available)
A few years ago, Amex increased the annual fee on the Platinum card but added additional statement credits (hence people dubbing the card the Platinum Coupon Book). One of those credits was an annual $200 rebate on hotel bookings made through the FHR program or The Hotel Collection Program (similar to FHR, just more watered down).
I’ve been able to take advantage of this perk, often finding hotels where the rate through FHR is within a few dollars of booking directly. So far I’ve loved using the FHR benefit every year they’ve offered the credit.
Flight and Hotel Booking
For our flights, I searched which airlines fly non-stop between SFO and Palm Springs (PSP) and found this only included United and Alaska. United flights were absurdly expensive, but Alaska was about $250/person roundtrip. I don’t have any Alaska points, and didn’t want to pay cash, but I do know that you can sometimes book Alaska flights through British Airways using British Airways points, called Avios.
Sure enough, the dates we wanted to go were available to book through British Airways (BA) for only 30,000 Avios points total. So instead of paying $500 in cash, I transferred over 30,000 of my Amex points to BA, for a value of 1.67 cents per point, which is above average for how I value Amex points. ($500 x 100 cents = 50,000 cents), (50,000 cents / 30,000 points = 1.67 cents per point). You can transfer Chase, Amex, and Capital One points to British Airways, so this isn’t exclusive to the Amex Platinum card.
Not only did BA have availability, but they actually had desirable flight times available to book, which isn’t always the case when booking a partner award flight (i.e. an Alaska flight booked through British Airways). We left San Francisco early in the morning and returned in the early evening, maximizing the time we got to spend on vacation.
Below is a screenshot of an example itinerary on the British Airways Website showing the same flights in August for 15,000 points (per person). The points price won’t ever change as British Airways uses a distance-based system to determine the cost of award tickets, but that’s for another newsletter.
Because the summer months are considered the off-season for Palm Desert, the Ritz Carlton was relatively well-priced. Cash rates were about $440/night compared to upwards of $1,000 during the busy season. But I don’t pay cash if I can help it. The first night was available for only 53,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and thankfully I had more than that leftover from a previous Marriott card sign-up bonus.
For the second night, I booked via Amex FHR since I wanted to use my $200 statement credit. After the credit, I had $220 left to pay at the time of booking. Through FHR, I have the option to use my Amex points to cover the remaining hotel balance at a rate of 1.0 cents/point. Normally I wouldn’t do this because it isn’t *optimal value* but I really wanted to save the cash, so I used 22,000 Amex points to cover the $220 remaining balance.
All in all, the hotel cost a combined 75,000 points between my Marriott and Amex accounts. I only got 1.17 cents per point on the hotel for both nights, but again, the name of the game is paying as little as possible with cash.
The Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage
This was the second time I stayed at this hotel and it definitely lived up to my expectations. Because it was off-season the hotel didn’t seem to be at capacity, which made it feel even more relaxed. We were also able to check in early and while we weren’t upgraded, our room did have a nice private feel due to being on the far left side of the property facing the nearby neighborhood and mountains.
The Property
As you can see from the photo above, this isn’t a gigantic property and it only has 244 guest rooms which helps contribute to the secluded feel. For reference, the nearby JW Marriott Desert Springs has 884 rooms and the La Quinta Resort & Club (formerly part of Waldorf Astoria) has 800 rooms, both of which I know are great hotels.
There is a large main pool, a smaller “adults only” pool that overlooks the valley below, and a whirlpool that also has a nice view of the valley. They also have a few grassy spaces to play lawn games like cornhole. Because the hotel is on a hill, it feels somewhat far from town, which can be good and bad. You can expect to drive about 15-30 minutes each way to get to various attractions in the area.
Off to the corner of the resort are the spa and fitness center, housed in the same building separated by one floor. During my last trip, I went to the spa facilities to use the hot tub and steam room, but wasn’t terribly impressed. I didn’t have an actual spa treatment, so I can’t comment on the paid services.
On this trip, Kayla and I both used the fitness center which was very well-appointed. Tons of treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, weight machines, and some free weights. Every cardio machine had a bottle of water and hand towel already placed in the cup holders. There was even a mini-fridge stocked with cold towels infused with essential oils to help you cool down.
The Room
I booked us into a “Desert View King Room” which is one category above their base room, a “Deluxe King Room.” It’s roughly 450 sq. ft and felt well appointed including a balcony (standard for every room) and Nespresso machine.
The room wasn’t really anything that blew us away personality-wise, but it was (mostly) clean save for some dust on the blinds, comfortable, and had nice wood accents and a large bathroom. Plus who doesn’t love to start their day sipping espresso from a private balcony overlooking palm trees and mountains?
The Food
There are really only two restaurants on site: State Fare, which is a more casual breakfast/lunch/dinner restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating, and The Edge Steakhouse, which is only open for dinner. They also offer room-service and poolside food and drink service.
Thanks to booking through FHR, we had a $100 food & beverage credit we used at the pool and a $70 breakfast credit to use on our last morning. The food we ordered by the pool was surprisingly good and I really enjoyed all of the (many) cocktails we tried, especially a passionfruit cocktail Kayla got at the bar before we left. We had breakfast at State Fare on our last morning and while the $70 credit didn’t cover the entire breakfast (shit was expensive), we definitely didn’t go hungry. We didn’t have dinner at the hotel, but from what I remember during my last visit in 2021, I enjoyed what they had to offer.
One thing to consider is their lack of labeling for dietary restrictions. Kayla is vegan and nothing on the menu, except for one appetizer from the State Fare bar menu, was labeled vegan. They were able to make modifications to menu items, although the modification for breakfast wound up being unseasoned, slightly-warmed tofu instead of eggs on avocado toast (vegans like flavor too!).
We ate in town quite a bit because of the restricted menus and how expensive the food is at the hotel. I definitely recommend checking out Chef Tanya’s Kitchen if you want some seriously delicious vegan-friendly food.
The Service
Here is where I think the hotel really shines. About a week before our stay I responded to a welcome email from the hotel concierge and asked about some off-site vegan restaurants. I also mentioned the stay was a joint birthday celebration knowing this may help us get a complimentary room upgrade.*
*I don’t ever condone lying to a concierge or other staff to try and get free stuff (like saying it’s your birthday/honeymoon/anniversary/etc). BUT, I would encourage you to help the staff find a reason to make your stay memorable. After all, they won’t know if you don’t tell them.
We didn’t get a room upgrade, but they did send us a complimentary slice of delicious cheesecake and beautiful chocolates shortly after we checked in. They also gave us a $25 drink voucher and the bartender at the State Fare bar gave us a free drink as a birthday gift. Everyone was incredibly friendly from the valet, front desk, and servers at the pool. It was definitely the highest level of service I’ve experienced at a hotel, albeit I don’t have a ton of stays at high-end luxury properties.
The Pool
We spent the majority of our time at the “adults only” pool lounging and reading. One thing that sets a hotel like the Ritz Carlton apart from mid-tier hotels is the amount of umbrellas they had. Basically, every lounge chair could be put in the shade, which is a must in the desert in June. The lounge chairs themselves were also very comfortable with several inches of padding and custom-fitted towels that cover their entire length.
There were some times when the pool got crowded and we had to hunt to find an optimal seat, but we never had a hard time getting a pool attendant’s attention to order drinks or get more water. They also offer complimentary sunscreen of various strengths, and about every hour or two the would hand out complimentary fruit slices or shots of frozen lemonade drinks to help people stay cool. Our time at the pool accomplished exactly what we wanted out of the trip and Kayla’s only regret was that we didn’t spend more time in the sun.
Overall Impression & Final Costs
Is this a hotel I would stay at again in the future? Yes, 100%. Would I pay the cash rate of $440/night to come back during the off-season? At this point in my life, no, probably not. Do I recommend you stay there if you want a luxury getaway in the greater Palm Springs area? Absolutely, if you can get it on points, through FHR, or are comfortable dropping a ton of cash.
The hotel is fantastic and the service was impeccable, but I just don’t think it’s worth spending $440 a night (plus taxes and fees) to experience. I’m sure as shit not paying $1,000+ a night during the busy season. Thankfully, I didn’t have to pay the going rate thanks to my hoard of points from sign-up bonuses and the $200 FHR statement credit.
To recap, I spent:
30,000 Amex points for two round-trip flights from SFO to PSP
53,000 Marriott points for the first night at the hotel
22,000 Amex points to cover the remaining cost for the second night, after the $200 statement credit took effect.
Had I paid all in cash for this trip, the flights and hotel would have cost about $1,400! Instead, I paid a total of 105,000 points, which is less than the total sign-up bonus you can find on the Amex Platinum card right now (125,000 points) with a few simple tricks.
Using points to cover the cost of the travel allowed us to spend our money on things like food, drinks, Ubers, and going to the movies. Overall, we both had a wonderful time, and I’m already thinking about when we can go back.
Great write up! I've never stayed there, but am so glad you made that happen for you two.
Thanks Jebba!!!!