Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp Now Bookable With Points

Last week, Marriott’s newest safari resort became available to book with cash. With eye-wateringly expensive pricing (we’re talking $4,000+ per night), we wondered how booking this property with Marriott Bonvoy points would shake out.

Now, we’ve got the news, and it’s rough — even if you’re a Marriott millionaire.

Let’s take a look at the Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp, its cost in points, and whether it’s worth the splurge.

Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp Opening Soon

The Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp will open in August 2025. It’s an ultra-high-end experience, with all-inclusive pricing and suites for every room. Along with the luxury comes the price tag, which ranges from $4,000 to nearly $7,000 per night.

Every room features a 1,600-square-foot suite with a private pool and the hilarious option of adding a rollaway bed for just $2,995 extra per night.

This is the second Marriott property to open in Kenya, with the JW Marriott Masai Mara debuting in 2023. Also coming soon is the JW Marriott Mount Kenya Rhino Reserve Safari Camp, which should open next year.

Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp Award Bookings Open

Now, we’ve finally discovered the pricing for the Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp when redeeming your Marriott Bonvoy points. After Marriott did away with its award chart, prices have slowly crept upward. But this is a whole new ballgame.

You can either pay $6,700 in cash or a minimum of 316,500 points — yes, per night.

We’re a little speechless. Certainly, the Free Night Award issued by the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant^® American Express^® Card isn’t going to cover the cost since those are limited to redemption levels at or under 85,000 points.

It’s also significantly more expensive than the JW Marriott Masai Mara, which feels like a steal at a paltry 198,000 points per night for a similar experience.

So let’s say you’d love to stay at the Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp and you have so many Marriott Bonvoy points they’re falling out of your ears. Is this considered a good deal, redemption-wise, despite the high price?

We value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, which means you’re spending roughly $2,215 worth of Marriott points each night.

In other words, you’re redeeming your points at a value of 2.17 cents each, which is more than double our value.

And if you’re staying for 5 nights, the value proposition gets even better thanks to Marriott’s fifth-night-free policy.

While you’d need to pay just over $34,000 for a 5-night stay here (“LOL” seems fitting), you can choose to redeem just 1,266,000 points instead. There’s a “million” in that figure, to be clear.

In this case, you’re redeeming your Marriott points for 2.7 cents each.

Final Thoughts

Award bookings for the Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp are now open, though the pricing is sky-high. If you have a casual million points to drop, you’ll find a good redemption value at this property, which otherwise costs $4,000 or more per night.