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Ritz-Carlton Club St. Thomas

vistana101

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Does anyone have up-to-date photos of the units here? I saw this posting, but not sure if units have been updated since?

Thanks!
 

Steve Fatula

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Was there < 1 year ago, looks about right. It was beautiful. Can't wait to go back there.
 

Eric B

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Here you go - 2 BR Residence pictures from last April.

Ritz Carlton photos

Edited to add: let me know if the link doesn’t work - it’s acting a bit funky on my iPhone right now.
 

alexadeparis

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Does this resort close for Hurricane Season? I was looking to add a week before or after my St John week and those weeks aren't even in the MVC points chart. Does anyone know why?
 

Eric B

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They do close for certain periods that are listed on the bottom right of the points chart. It's not completely aligned with hurricane season.

Accommodations will be unavailable during the following dates, which are subject
to change:
2023
2-BDRM Suites: May 12–May 25, Aug 18–Nov 9
2-BDRM: Apr 29–May 26, Aug 19–Nov 10
3-BDRM: Apr 29–May 26, Aug 19–Nov 10
 

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Sorry. No photos. But, was there in mid December for the second time. Still beautiful and great service. Bring your reef shoes. Getting into the water is a painful experience. Lots of rocks. Once past them everything is good.
 

vistana101

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Here you go - 2 BR Residence pictures from last April.

Ritz Carlton photos

Edited to add: let me know if the link doesn’t work - it’s acting a bit funky on my iPhone right now.
Thank you! Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work, but it may be on my end. No worries though, thank you!
 

vistana101

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Separate question: how is availability here? Is it still very hard to book at 13 months out?
 

DanCali

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Separate question: how is availability here? Is it still very hard to book at 13 months out?

It probably somewhat depends on when you want to go. Peak season in the Caribbean is Winter (Jan-March) and Summer school break is also always in pretty high demand. It's easier to book than Ritz Tahoe (which is near impossible), but you need to be there at 13 months out. Inventory usually doesn't last long.
 

Marathoner

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I'm not sure if the above is accurate. When I look at the availability calendar for the Ritz St Thomas, it seems that we can only book 6 months out. I am Chairman Club so I should be able to see all availability.
 

bazzap

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I'm not sure if the above is accurate. When I look at the availability calendar for the Ritz St Thomas, it seems that we can only book 6 months out. I am Chairman Club so I should be able to see all availability.
Ritz Carlton should come under the 13 months 1+ night booking for Chairman’s Club.
St Thomas has a 3 night minimum stay requirement though, as in the footnote 5.

F6F31838-FB15-4DF1-B659-9BD135E386E2.jpeg
 

DanCali

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I'm not sure if the above is accurate. When I look at the availability calendar for the Ritz St Thomas, it seems that we can only book 6 months out. I am Chairman Club so I should be able to see all availability.

I see what you are saying regarding what you can see now, and it does look odd that you can't see a single broken night anywhere post 6 months out (which you would not be able to book anyway due to the min stay requirement).

It's possible that there are other minimum stay "hidden restrictions" that apply here. In particular, they will (too) often not show any availability if the stay does not include one or two weekend nights, and it all falls under the clause that allows them to impose minimum stay restrictions anywhere, anytime, as they see fit. When you combine such restrictions who low availability to begin with, it may just seem that nothing is available.

The above paragraph is probably confusing so let me illustrate what I mean. NCV has no "official" minimum stay requirement (no resorts do, besides Ritz St. Thomas). It's an all-2BR resort so let's first agree that if you see availability for 5 nights then you should also see availability for 3 nights, right? Well... not always. See in the example below how you can book 5 nights for March 14 and March 29, but not 3 nights.... These restrictions are very common and not advertised anywhere. In the example below they occur both within and outside the 60-day window. Most people who look for 3 nights and don't see availability, will not bother searching for 5 nights anyway because it's not what they want and it's not even intuitive to do (you may look for 1 or 2 nights, but not 5 nights if 3 nights are not available). This kind of goes against the "book 1+ nights at 13 months" but they may be applied by MVC often and most of us never observe it.

So, this might explain what you see (or don't see) beyond 6 months out...

1674662230392.png
1674662177002.png
 
Last edited:

Bodie

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Separate question: how is availability here? Is it still very hard to book at 13 months out?
It’s my understanding that the RC releases availability at six months out on the first of the month. IOW, if you want to visit in December, search on June 1.
 

DanCali

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It’s my understanding that the RC releases availability at six months out on the first of the month. IOW, if you want to visit in December, search on June 1.

They also release inventory at 13 months out. Except that now 13 months out is February 2024 and I wouldn't expect that inventory for what is Platinum season in the Caribbean to last more than a few minutes, at best.
 

Eric B

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Ritz Carlton also deposits in ThirdHome. Not so much that it seems like bulk deposits, but I’m not sure it’s all owned inventory.
 

Marathoner

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All these observations that inventory is released at 13 months and there could possibly be hidden rules at Ritz St Thomas is all theoretical speculation or even the written rules. What I am reporting about Ritz St Thomas is how the website actually works.
 

DanCali

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All these observations that inventory is released at 13 months and there could possibly be hidden rules at Ritz St Thomas is all theoretical speculation or even the written rules. What I am reporting about Ritz St Thomas is how the website actually works.

I actually provided evidence above of how the website works with these "hidden restrictions". That's something you can verify right now.

What you are suggesting is that because you can't see any inventory past 6 months, then no inventory is released at 13 or 12 months or anytime before 6 months. That conclusion is not something you can immediately draw, and it contradicts other tuggers' experiences, including my own.

We're going there this summer and I booked the reservation last summer. Maybe things changed in the past 6 months, but I wouldn't draw that conclusion just because you can't see anything available. Below is a link to a thread from 2019 that discusses others' experiences with booking this resort. 13 months inventory is not always reliable, but plenty have seen it before.

 

tmoscola

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I was just looking at inventory for July. Can anyone explain the difference in the rooms? Seems to be two unique two bedroom options
 

ljmiii

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I was just looking at inventory for July. Can anyone explain the difference in the rooms? Seems to be two unique two bedroom options
There are two different 2BRs, the villa and the suite. Floorplans follow below...

RCC StThom 2BR.jpg
RCC StThom 2BR Suite.jpg
 
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