Has Radisson dropped ‘family redemptions’? What are the alternatives with kids?

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• Alex W says:

  1 Jan1 January 06:10

  “IHG Rewards Club has nothing to offer familes.”
  I hope this is an exaggeration because as a family of 4 we are sitting on over 600k points and 2 free night certificates!
  I was looking at Holiday Inn Resorts as they have standard rooms which take 4 people. There is an all inclusive one in Jamaica which is 50k points per night. Cash rates currently low at £122, so not great ‘pence per point’ but no worse than getting 2 rooms somewhere.else.

  • Anna says:

    1 Jan1 January 06:58

    Many HI properties offer family rooms for points. Also many IHG properties will either put a rollaway bed in a standard room or upgrade you a room which will accommodate children – The George was going to do this for us before we had to cancel our stay last month. I have booked 3 nights at the IC Dubai Marina at Easter, one night on the Ambassador renewal bonus certificate and 2 with the BOGOF certificate. We have been upgraded to a 1 bed suite for all 3 nights.
    Ambassador or other upgrades awarded to status members can often get you from a standard room to a family-sized one so it’s always worth contacting the hotel and asking when you’re considering a points booking.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      1 Jan1 January 10:03

      Do you tend to contact the property or get Nor1 offers?

      • Pid says:

        1 Jan1 January 10:16

        I normally contact the hotels in advance to explain I will be travelling with two small children and they normally confirm an upgrade to a larger room. I think I have only used nor1 once and that was for a club upgrade.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    1 Jan1 January 09:42

    Most IHG properties will offer only basic rooms and none guarantee connecting rooms. I have, and I recall Rob has also posted previously about challenges even at ICs where even an email exchange promising connecting rooms is trumped by a different person being on shift that morning and operating first come first served.

    There are some exceptions for sure but as a data point I have 1.7mi points and am still earning them faster than I can find a worthwhile use for them because nowhere we’ve been has had a suitable redemption.

    Add in that HH and MR both extend breakfast (and usually lounge) benefits on award stays, whereas IHG make a point to penalise you for actually daring to use the points you’ve accrued.

    IHG was my first elite status but now I’m spire only through the card, I’m titanium at MR through actual stays because their reward program works far better for me despite smaller footprint over here.

    • Anna says:

      1 Jan1 January 10:58

      Hotels tend to have a very limited number of interconnecting rooms. Adjoining rooms are much more likely to be allocated and if your kids are a bit older you probably wouldn’t be leaving the door open anyway. Adjoining or opposite rooms just require going though 2 doors instead of one!

    • Harry T says:

      1 Jan1 January 11:32

      Marriott Bonvoy is far superior in terms of benefits, hotel quality and footprint. I probably won’t even bother to renew my Ambassador status as few IC hotels that are readily accessible have decent hard product, and I don’t personally stay at HI/HIX often.

  • memesweeper says:

    1 Jan1 January 12:31

    In contrast to Rob and others I’ve frequently booked multiple reward rooms with IHG, then emailed the hotel and asked for the bookings to be linked and provide adjoining/connecting. It has never gone wrong for us (family of five, so there’s never a suite big enough). This is in the UK and abroad.

• NigelthePensioner says:

  1 Jan1 January 07:09

  I thought that most hotel reward schemes only allowed “lower end” (for want of a better term) room redemptions and that redemptions for suites, Club Lounge access rooms and such were not included in the programme, BUT that such rooms may be available on status upgrade (according to chain) “if available” at check in. This is why I dont bother with hotel points for “free” rooms but just use status perks courtesy of AmEx which seems to work if you get in touch with the hotel prior to your stay. This way I pay for room type D and get an upgrade to room type E, thereby “saving money” equal to the daily room charge difference between the rooms and get the room type that I want at a lower rate. It is unlikely that you will get a room upgrade on a redemption and indeed the view from your room with a redemption may be such that you crave NOT to be given a late checkout! Happy New Covid (20) to all!!

  • Anna says:

    1 Jan1 January 08:10

    But see above, Nigel, I have often got upgrades on redemptions!

  • John says:

    1 Jan1 January 08:26

    I frequently get upgraded on redemptions and occasionally I find higher end rooms for points at a good rate.

  • Pid says:

    1 Jan1 January 10:19

    I have also received upgrades on redemptions but agree that sometimes it is better to pay for the room you want if you want to guarantee receiving it.

• Sam Wardill says:

  1 Jan1 January 07:41

  British (and American) culture is just not very family friendly. In Australia it is so much better. Qantas allows you to take your family into the lounge. Virgin Australia allows you to pool status credits in a household account (as well as matching Qantas lounge access).

  • Anna says:

    1 Jan1 January 08:12

    I can’t agree with that re America. Their standard hotel rooms often have 2 double beds and there is generally much more expectation that families will be accommodated. It’s common for American families of 4 or more to use one hotel room for an entire holiday! I think lounge access is less of an issue, tbh. (I presume you mean if you have Qantas flyer status).

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      1 Jan1 January 09:37

      In a broader sense I’d say there’s a general view that almost anything is accommodated- they’re not short on cultural flaws over there but customer is king pretty consistently

      • Doug M says:

        1 Jan1 January 11:09

        Agree about USA generally, but in places where space is expensive like Manhattan or many other central city areas the two beds thing is much less true.

      • Doug M says:

        1 Jan1 January 11:11

        My own experience and that of many I speak to is that USA customer service is as varied as anywhere else. Customer is King is a throwback to a different era and USA customer service is often now very poor.

        • tony says:

          1 Jan1 January 13:50

          A few years back we (2 adults & 3 kids) stayed at the Radisson in mid-town NY. I think it has been rebadged now. Anyway, booked two rooms, requested connecting rooms, called the day before etc etc. Anyway, arrived, both rooms had connecting doors – just not to one another.

          Conversely we have never had a problem in SE Asia getting connecting rooms, although admittedly that has always been at higher end properties.

  • Harry T says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:34

    But I don’t want families in lounges… I want to sip my flat white in peace 😂

• Britbronco says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:10

  I contacted a Radisson property directly about this, as I could see the family room type was available for cash but not points.
  They replied to say they had now opened up points bookings for that room type and then I was able to make a family booking.

• Wally1976 says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:45

  In this country, when traveling with the kids we tend to stick with Premier Inn or Travelodge but sometimes Holiday Inn Express who often offer a room with double bed and double sofa bed for redemption. Only problem is our kids refuse to share a bed (which is why PI and TL generally better for us).

  We don’t generally use redemptions for ‘main’ holidays but I’ve been looking at Florida – planning for 2022. All hotels there will do a room with two queen beds and I’ve found some with Hilton and Marriott that offer a mini suite or studio with 2 doubles and a sofa bed for reasonable amounts of points. However I think we’re going to use the Marriott villas redemptions for the majority of our time there.

  • kitten says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:28

    Suite hotel brands in the US are made for this.

• C says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:54

  What have people found is generally the best way of handling redemptions with an infant (specifically Marriott and IHG)? Book a standard room for 2 adults then contact the hotel to make sure they will accept an infant in a travel cot? Thanks!

  • Anna says:

    1 Jan1 January 09:36

    Yes – it’s always better to take your own travel cot for as long as the infant fits in it as you know it’s clean and you won’t be charged an arm and a leg for it! Once you have to start asking for a rollaway bed you will find yourself charged between £0 and £50 or more for the priviledge.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      1 Jan1 January 10:13

      I’ll never understand the high nightly charge. £50 to arrange it perhaps but what reason is there to charge £50 for subsequent nights!

      Even the mention of it would put me off staying unless it was unavoidable.

      • Anna says:

        1 Jan1 January 11:04

        I know! With older children it’s often worth booking them their own room once you factor in things like points awarded on cash stays and free breakfasts. Plus the added bonus of privacy and happy kids who feel like they’re being a bit spoiled.

  • Princess says:

    1 Jan1 January 10:42

    Yes, until my boys were 3y I usually booked the room for 2 adults and then send an email asking about 2 toddlers sharing it with us and possibility to have 2 cots. In most cases we didn’t have issues and hotel could also provide 2 cots. On long trips we usually had our super-light weight travel cot with us anyway as sometimes even in posh hotel the cots are not always in great condition. Rarely in some hotel they would have charged us £20-30 per child if we were using their cot, but nothing if using ours.
    Now they need a proper bed so I usually check for rooms that accomodate at least 3 people (possibly with a sofa bed that is usually double) and then send an email asking if 2 kids (almost 5y) can share the sofa bed. I would say I got a positive answer 50% of times

    • C says:

      1 Jan1 January 13:37

      Thanks for the advice! Baby no. 1 due in a few months and thinking ahead to when we can travel again. Good to know most hotels are open to you doing that with redemptions as otherwise we’ll be sat on a load of points we can’t use for a while! Definitely going to get a lightweight travel cot and hopefully (vaccine permitting) get in at least one long haul trip early 2022 while I’m on maternity leave!

    • Pid says:

      1 Jan1 January 14:17

      I have had the same experience. Just book a normal room and then email hotel asking for two cots. They have normally agreed and also offered a larger room. On the few occasions they say it would breach maximum occupancy i just cancel and book elsewhere.

• The Savage Squirrel says:

  1 Jan1 January 09:08

  Really hope this is not the end. Family redemptions were the main driver of my Amex points heading to Radisson due to exactly what Rob describes re small base rooms and uncertain connecting rooms elsewhere.. Without that they really do lose my business forever.

  • Harry T says:

    1 Jan1 January 17:29

    I hope it isn’t the end, as it sounds like you’ve derived a lot of value from this feature of their scheme! At worst, hopefully hotels have just been given more discretion over whether to offer this option.

• Frenske says:

  1 Jan1 January 18:10

  For the summer holidays last year, I contacted the Radissson in Padua directly and they told me to book a standard room (40.000 per night) and pay the difference for upgraded room in cash (40 euro).
  So it is possible to book family rooms with points.

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