Get a 20% discount on Radisson Rewards points conversions to airline miles
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Radisson Rewards is running a promotion to encourage you to transfer your points to airline miles. You should ignore it.
As you can see on this page of their website, you will get a 20% points rebate if you transfer your points to miles before 13th November.
The transfer rate from Radisson Rewards to most airlines, including Avios, is 10:1. With this promotion, the rate is 8:1. It still stinks.
I would value a Radisson Rewards points at 0.33p, and you can easily do better at peak times. I generally value airline miles at 1p.
On the basis, a ‘fair’ ratio between Radisson Rewards and airline miles would be 3:1. Since I accept that the scheme does not want to encourage you to transfer to airlines, since it costs them ‘real’ money, I would have accepted 5:1.
10:1, however, is a joke and 8:1, after the 20% rebate, is only slightly better. You are still giving up 2.5p of free hotel room for 1p of airline miles.
Don’t forget the 35% Avios transfer bonus though ….
Until 2nd December, you will receive a 35% bonus on Radisson Rewards transfers to Avios. This also covers transfers from IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Bonvoy, Shangri-La Golden Circle, Melia Rewards and Best Western Rewards.
We wrote about the 35% ‘hotels to Avios’ bonus here.
This still doesn’t change the maths much, however. Not even a 20% rebate and a 35% bonus makes ‘Radisson to Avios’ transfers good value!
Imagine you had 10,000 Radisson Rewards points, which should get you at least £33 of free hotel room.
Transfer them to Avios and you would receive 1,000 Avios plus a bonus 35%, for a total of 1,350 Avios. When you received your 2,000 rebated Radisson Rewards points in a few weeks, you could convert those into a further 200 Avios. Your total Avios earnings would be 1,550.
This means you are turning £33 of free hotel points into (assuming 1p per Avios) £15.50 of free flights. You are still losing 50% of the value. It is only worth doing if you really, really won’t use those Radisson Rewards points. Personally I would consider topping them up via American Express Membership Rewards – a generous 1:3 conversion rate – and redeeming them for a nice hotel.
If I still haven’t talked you out of it, the landing page for the 20% ‘points to miles’ transfer rebate is here.
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.)
