Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve without Standard Room Award Availability?
It’s been a few years since Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties were integrated within Marriott Bonvoy where we can redeem Marriott points towards a stay. They typically command high price in cash, and especially for points.
Though there are some that are still within reach like Mandapa (Indonesia), Phulay Bay (Thailand), Higashiyama (Japan), and the “supposed” Rissai Valley in China where they could charge in mid 100k per night or, at times, barely under 100k where you can potentially book it with an 85K Free Night Certificate plus topup.
Rissai Valley is China’s first and one & only Ritz-Carlton Reserve property located near Jiuzhaigou National Park, and it looks absolutely stunning! Unfortunately, it’s way too hard to book on points! There’s not much in-depth review of it from western media too, so the mystery surrounding it is intriguing.
Where’s Rissai Valley’s Standard Room Award Availability?
The strange thing about Rissai Valley is that standard room availability for points booking doesn’t seem to exist no matter what date you choose or how far out you’re checking until the end of schedule. I’ve noticed this since last year too. This is not an issue for other Ritz-Carlton Reserve hotels, or any Marriott hotels I could think of.
The only room available bookable with points seem to be the Grand Reserve Villa, which is a 2 bedroom villa that’s categorized as an upgraded room. This means that the prices are way higher than the standard. I would assume the 2 bedroom villa could be way too much for most people too.
Deluxe Reserve Villa is the cheapest/standard room category of the property. Yet, only cash is shown as the only option to book.
From a sample random date I took, it would cost 260,400 Marriott points to book a room in Rissai Valley for a night. Alternatively, you can pay 98000 points plus 5574 yuan instead to mix points and cash. The problem is you can’t use a free night certificate under the Redemption with Cash Upgrade rate.
The Deluxe Reserve Villa is clearly available here too, but no option to book points with.
98,000 points indicate that it should’ve been the price for standard room should they exist since that’s how Marriott sets up points + cash upgrade. Or standard room points price + some amount of cash. It could’ve been booked with an 85K FNC, which would’ve been amazing since it retails at more than $1000 a night.
Conclusion
Rissai Valley is the only Ritz-Carlton Reserve hotel where standard room availability for award booking doesn’t exist. The only way to book it is by booking the Grand Reserve Villa which demands a much higher price, and is geared towards families with the 2 bedrooms inside the villa. You can expect more than 200k points per night to do it, which is way too many considering how hard Marriott points are to acquire.
It looks to be a really fascinating and beautiful hotel. Hopefully points booking for standard rooms appear in the future for much more sensible pricing.