Massive Club Carlson devaluation decimates European redemptions

Club Carlson, the Radisson / Park Inn / Park Plaza programme, slipped out a list of category changes on its website yesterday.  No announcement has been made to members.

The impact is shocking with many properties – mainly in Europe – jumping by 40%.

Take a look at this chart on the Club Carlson website.  329 hotels are changing category of which 212 are going up.

Let’s take a quick step back.  Last year, Club Carlson introduced its new Category 7 which costs 70,000 points per night.  Only 11 hotels globally – their real top tier hotels – were in Category 7.

Whilst 70,000 points was a massive jump from Category 6’s 50,000 points, it didn’t matter much with only 11 hotels involved.

On June 1st, another 67 properties are moving into Category 7.  Pretty much every London hotel, for a start, will now cost 70,000 points per night – up 40%.

There is no logic for this move at all.  Remember that Starwood Preferred Guest cut the points price of many of its European hotels this year to reflect the more attractive $ / € exchange rate.

Here a few of the other European hotels which will now be 70,000 points per night (there are many more besides):

• Radisson Blu Style, Vienna
• Radisson Blu, Lucerne
• Radisson Blu, Zurich Airport (I mean … who has airport hotels in their top tier?!)
• Radisson Blu, Basel
• Radisson Blu Royal, Copenhagen
• Radisson Blu, Madrid Prado
• Radisson Blu, Nice

Even the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge (above) where I stayed for £27 last week, will be 70,000 points.

Club Carlson has been very generous with awarding points, of course.  The current triple points offer gives a Gold member 67 points for every US$ spent.

You will still need less spend to get a free top tier night with Club Carlson than with many other programmes.  For example:

Hilton HHonors wants 70,000-80,000 points for top hotels in London and gives you 15 base points per $1 before status bonuses

IHG Rewards Club wants 50,000 points for a top-end redemption and you earn 10 points per $1

Club Carlson will be 70,000 points based on 20 per $1 spent – and their bonus offers are better than Hilton (IHG is less clear cut)

Let’s look at it another way.  I have written before – most recently yesterday! – that I value Club Carlson points at £5 per 1,000.  I will now drop that to £3.50 per 1,000, based on redeeming 70,000 points for a £250 room.

Given that you can still transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards to Club Carlson at 1:3, it remains a decent conversion option.  You will still get better value than 2:1 into Starwood or 1:2 into Hilton.

If you want to make bookings at the old rates, make sure you get them locked down before May 31st.  I will remind you before the day comes but if you need to transfer points from American Express first you should initiate it ASAP.

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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.)