Radisson and WorldPoints promos end Sunday
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Two good promotions are ending on Sunday, but there is still time to take advantage.
First up is the 100% bonus on transfers from BAA WorldPoints to Avios, which I outlined here. This is a no-brainer, in my view, if you have a pile of WorldPoints – you are looking at 1,200 Avios points per 500 points, as opposed to a £5 shopping voucher, 750 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles or 500 Miles & More miles. No contest.
Secondly, the first part of the massive Summer Club Carlson giveaway comes to an end. I outlined the promotion here and Sunday is the last night to earn 50,000 points from a Radisson Blu night.
(It is too late to register now if you have missed this promotion, unfortunately – you can still get 15,000 bonus points but that is not enough to justify a mattress run.)
There may still be a cheap night available at a Radisson near you. I would be wary of paying more than £80, though. Your 50,000 bonus points is good for 8,000 miles in a variety of airline programmes, including Avios, so you know that if you pay £80 your worst case result will be paying 1p per mile for a bunch of airline miles. That is a fair if not desperately exciting deal.
In London, rates are starting to creep up as we approach the start of the Olympic influx and there are no real bargains. However, here is a tip. ‘Points and Cash’ redemptions DO count under this promotion, so if you already have some Club Carlson points then this is worth thinking about.
On Thursday night, for example, the Radisson Vanderbilt near South Kensington is £115 + VAT – not worth it, even for a free night. However, ‘Points and Cash’ is £69 + VAT + 10,000 points. In the latter case, you are paying £84 for (50,000 – 10,000 =) 40,000 points – a better deal than £138 for 50,000 points, by a long way.
A warning, though. I have done 3 stays under this promotion so far, and not stayed in the hotel. I just left the key in the room and left, having prepaid at check-in. Points for the first two posted OK and I should get the 3rd set later in the week. However, I know of someone at a particularly cheap Park Inn in the UK who did NOT get the points, with the hotel marking him down on their system as not having personally checked-out and thus not triggering the points. I have only heard of one example of this happening, but it is a risk.
The Park Inn version of this promotion continues for another week, to July 22nd, although it is too late to register now for the full 44,000 point bonus variant. The Park Plaza promotion DOES still accept new registrations via this page and runs until August 22nd, although it is a bit of a damp squib in London because the 4-star nature of these properties and the Olympics have pushed up prices beyond the break-even level for a mattress run.
That said, prices in the week starting August 13th have reduced sharply and may come down even further. I see Park Plaza Riverbank at £95 + VAT on Monday 13th, which for a Monday is exceptionally low – albeit not low enough for the 50,000 bonus points on offer. There are also Park Plaza’s in Belfast, Nottingham, Cardiff and Leeds which I’m sure will have some cheap nights available.
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.)
