Club Carlson slashes its airline conversion rates with NO notice

Naughty, naughty, naughty.  And very disappointing, too.

For the last couple of years, Club Carlson has been making a special effort to force itself into the top tier of hotel loyalty programmes. 

It started by merging together the separate US and non-US GoldPoints schemes, followed by a rebranding, followed by a series of VERY generous promotions.  In 2011 and 2012, they were offering 40,000+ bonus points for ANY stay, anywhere – and those 40,000 points very nearly got you a night in their poshest hotels.

Club Carlson is still the best hotel partner that Amex Membership Rewards has, due to the generous 1:3 conversion rate and the 50,000 point cap on redemption levels.

And then, suddenly, Club Carlson goes and blows up the good reputation it has worked hard to generate.

Overnight, the conversion rate from Club Carlson points to airline miles has been decimated.  And with no notice.

The old rates were:

• 2,000 points = 250 miles
• 50,000 points = 8,000 miles
• 100,000 points = 18,000 miles

The new rates are:

• 2,000 points = 200 miles
• 50,000 points = 5,000 miles
• 100,000 points = 10,000 miles

These new rates don’t even make sense.  What is the point of having 5,000 point and 10,000 point tiers when the conversion rate is the same?!

If you had been stacking up your Club Carlson points to transfer them to miles, you’ve just been stuffed.  Because of the tiered conversion system, it is far more likely that you would have been saving up your points as well.  After all, if you thought you could reach 100,000 points in a few months, it would have been silly to convert at the 50,000 level and lose out.

This is really not a good move by Club Carlson.  The lack of notice means that people will now be very, very cautious about hoarding their points – after all, given their record, a 50,000 point redemption could easily jump to 75,000 points tomorrow, with no notice.

The word “loyalty”, as in loyalty scheme, is meant to work both ways.  Schemes that forget this are making a mistake.

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How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Radisson Rewards does not have a dedicated UK credit card. However, you can earn Radisson Rewards points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

These cards earn Membership Rewards points:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 60,000 Radisson Rewards points. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 40,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 120,000 Radisson Rewards points

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 30,000 Radisson Rewards points. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:3 into Radisson Rewards points which is a very attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 3 Radisson Rewards points.

Even better, holders of The Platinum Card receive free Radisson Rewards Premium status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here.

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)