Radisson Rewards family hotel room redemptions …. are they a good deal or not?

If you have kids, hotel reward redemptions can be a bit messy.  Most programmes only make standard rooms available for redemption and, especially in big cities, these are small with a maximum occupancy of two people.

There are exceptions – in London, Holiday Inn Mayfair, Holiday Inn Camden and Hilton Park Lane are three I have booked for my brother in the past with two double beds in a standard reward room.

However, usually the only option is to book two connecting rooms.  I promise you, however, that getting hotels to honour requests for connecting rooms is a complete nightmare.  I have stayed at super-luxe hotels where I have personally contacted the Director of Rooms in advance and had a guarantee in writing that my connecting rooms would be available – only to find out, on arrival, they were not.

The other downside of booking two connecting rooms is that, in terms of value for your points, it is often a bad deal compared with paying cash for one superior / deluxe room or junior suite.

Radisson Rewards – the Radisson, Park Plaza and Park Inn programme – has ‘Family Room Redemptions’.  These are an interesting option worth looking at if you have kids.

The only Radisson Rewards property where I redeem on a regular basis is Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in London (above), where my brother and his family occasionally stay when they visit.  I reviewed the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge here.

The hotel offers three levels of redemption:

Standard Room at 70,000 points

Standard Atrium Room at 105,000 points

Studio Room (‘Family Room Award’) at 87,500 points

The Atrium room is a waste of the extra 35,000 points.  These rooms only sell for a modest premium and are the same size.

The studio rooms are a lot bigger and well worth 87,500 points for a family.  The rooms sleep three adults or two adults and two children.

Plaza on the River London is also interesting.  They are offering 1-bedroom suites at 60 square metres for 105,000 points, 50% more than the standard redemption.  This would sleep four people.

As well as offering ‘Family Room Awards’, Radisson Rewards also has ‘Premium Room Awards’.  If you can’t see a family room offered, click through to the details of the premium award.  This rooms are usually bigger and may be able to sleep a whole family anyway.

PS.  One other option for family-sized rooms is via Marriott Bonvoy.  A lot of Marriott hotels offer, via the usual booking site, larger rooms for a co-pay on top of the standard reward price.  On two visits to the JW Marriott Venice (review here) in recent years we have booked a Junior Suite, sleeping four, for the standard 50,000 points per night plus €250, which is roughly the difference in the cash rate between a basic room and a Junior Suite.  These are very large square rooms and even with two rollaway beds still feel spacious.

PPS.  If you’re travelling on British Airways with your family, I recommend you have a look at this HfP article which explains how British Airways Household Accounts work, including how to earn Avios for children.

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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.)