{"id":230,"date":"2021-01-06T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-06T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-visit-the-ritz-carlton-in-st-thomas-for-free-3500-dollar-value\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T19:38:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:38:50","slug":"how-to-visit-the-ritz-carlton-in-st-thomas-for-free-3500-dollar-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/how-to-visit-the-ritz-carlton-in-st-thomas-for-free-3500-dollar-value\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Visit the Ritz Carlton in St. Thomas for Free ($3,500 Value)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I have no idea where this picture is from in St. Thomas, but it represents the island well \u2013 beautiful.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Disclosure<\/em><\/strong>: This content is <\/em>not <\/em><\/strong>sponsored or endorsed by any of the card brands described here and is accurate as of the posting date, but some of the offers mentioned may have expired. Money with Katie is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on my site, and this site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I must admit, first and foremost, that this title is in some ways a misnomer: While I can teach you how to get a free ocean view king suite at the Ritz in St. Thomas and fly there for free, you certainly will not get off the island without spending anything \u2013 the food at the Ritz is priced for the type of clientele who actually can <\/em>afford rooms that normally run you $1,000\/night, so you should plan your indulging accordingly. <\/p>\n

The other ~ fun and flirty ~ disclaimer I want to make from the jump is that credit card hacking is not a strategy to employ if you (a) have a lot of credit card debt or (b) have a low credit score \u2013 I hate to discriminate, but if you feel like you\u2019re still getting your rudimentary financial ducks in a row (i.e., paying off credit card debt and repairing your credit score), I\u2019d recommend shelving this strategy for now and revisiting it after you\u2019ve gotten back to baseline (and if you\u2019d like to read more about my strategies for high-interest debt payoff<\/strong>, you can check out this post<\/a>). <\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019ve got our basics out of the way, read this post keeping one more thing in mind\u2026<\/p>\n

You can employ this strategy to any trip<\/strong> \u2013 many of the takeaways are widely applicable and can be used regardless of whether you\u2019re duplicating this vacation or another one. <\/p>\n

That said, traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic worked in our favor since base prices were lower. You\u2019ll reap this same benefit if you choose to travel in early 2021; beyond that, I\u2019m not sure. We joked while we were there that \u2013 points or no points \u2013 this was probably the sweet spot for being able to afford a place where even their low occupancy COVID pricing <\/em>still reached nearly $1,000\/night.<\/p>\n

I include a few notes about referrals within this post; please be sure to read them closely as I\u2019ll always be honest with you about whether your best bet is the referral or to apply directly. <\/em><\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019ll show you how to duplicate a trip we went on in December 2020: <\/p>\n

4 days and 3 nights at the Ritz Carlton, a 5-star resort, in St. Thomas, USVI.<\/em><\/p>\n

Had we paid in doll-hairs for this swanky getaway, it would\u2019ve set us back:<\/p>\n