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

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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.

Family Room redemptions with Radisson Rewards

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.


How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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:

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. You can apply here.

Got a small business?

You can get free top-tier Radisson Rewards VIP status with the new Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card for small business. Clck here to apply.

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Comments (19)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • One Born Every Minute says:

    O/T HFP Summer party tickets for sale.
    4 tickets £1000.00 each.

  • AlanC says:

    My pet peeve is a hotel room with 2 Double Beds in which one bed can accommodate 2 adults yet according to the hotel the other bed is only for 2 small children. Not good if the children are older.

  • SammyJ says:

    With 2 younger teen boys there’s so much to be said for Travelodge. They might be crappy but we’d choose a king plus 2 singles over 2 doubles every time.

  • Luckyjim says:

    I have said it before on here, but I really don’t understand why so many hotel schemes make it impossible to redeem points for family rooms. As AlanC says, sometimes a perfectly suitable room is available if you search for two adults but not if you include two children. Even booking two (hopefully adjoing) rooms on the same night can only be done over the phone.

    Most of us collect points on business trips and spend them on leisure. A scheme which recognised this would surely win a lot of business.

    • Peter K says:

      Hilton allows you to book any room as a premium reward (though the rate per point is poor).

  • George says:

    @Rob I would be interested to know was there any service recovery or other outcome from the failure to provide connecting rooms? This has never happened to me but I would be livid if it did, particularly after having a guarantee from the director of rooms!

  • Freddy says:

    Bit more problematic with 3 kids in UK and Europe. USA hotels appear to be alot more family friendly

    • Anna says:

      Yes, Americans habitually cram entire families into one hotel room, often for a week-long holiday! I don’t think I could cope wit that but they don’t seem to face the same restrictions that we do in the UK and Europe.

  • Malcolm says:

    Interesting article but it really does show how so many hotels are behind the curve when it comes to accommodating families…. Especially now when Airbnb and equivalents are so prolific.

    The lack of space, lack of interconnecting rooms, lack of affordable suites that mean you don’t have to sit in the dark silently waiting for your kids to go to sleep etc…

    We’re travelling to Toronto in October and gave up trying to find suitable hotel accommodation at a reasonable price. We’ve gone for a 2 bed apartment with full facilities and a pool on-site etc at about 1/3rd less in price of a hotel room…

    • Anna says:

      Indeed – our timeshare investments have proved invaluable since we had our son, it means we can holiday in large apartments with 2 bedrooms (up to 3) bathrooms and a full kitchen for the price of a 4/5 star hotel room.

  • Lady London says:

    Had connecting rooms a few times over the years Trouble was, Ihadnt asked for them. And the rooms connected to were complete strangers! Door in room to the other room found to be unlocked on checking in.

    IC Prague was the Most récent one. “Palace” style hôtels like IC Cannes, Palais Montreux, etc, seem to have been built with quite a few interconnecting rooms. Modern ones, less so.

    Agree about hotels in the USA Boeing much better organised for familles travelling together. Lots of older Holiday Inns seem to offer 2-double bedded rooms.

    In London I think the IBIS Styles at Heathrow had some rooms that sleep more people – been put into theme a couple of times. Not huge but the right number of beds. And not expensive. One was even a Happy Monday (which i only caught the tail end of grrr).

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