17th July is the last day to salvage value from your Radisson points via Choice Privileges

Late last year, Radisson Rewards – the loyalty programme for the non-Americas hotels under the Radisson, Park Inn and Park Plaza brands – shocked the industry with a huge overnight devaluation of its points.

It was brutal. We used to put a value of 0.33p on Radisson Rewards points, but in reality you could do a lot better in peak cities on peak dates.

Overnight, with no warning, the programme moved to revenue based redemptions – see our article here. You now get a fixed 0.2p discount off a cash room for every point you redeemed.

You’d lost arguably 50% of the value of your Radisson Rewards points overnight.

Radisson Rewards had a history of ‘no notice’ changes to its rewards programme, but nothing as extreme as this. Unsurprisingly, anyone with a fairly sized (and so fairly valuable) pot of Radisson Rewards points was furious.

There is still a way to potentially salvage some value – but it is closing

First, a bit of background.

Radisson Hotels outside of North America is now, effectively, owned by the Chinese Government. It was forced to sell the North American arm under pressure from the US Government, which was concerned about the use of passport and credit card data supplied by guests.

The two companies, Radisson Hotels and Radisson Hotels Americas, each have separate loyalty programmes. The points are currently interchangeable as long as you have an account with each programme.

In June 2022, Radisson Hotels Americas was sold to US hotel giant Choice Hotels.

Choice Hotels has its own loyalty programme, Choice Privileges. You can transfer points from Radisson Rewards Americas to Choice Privileges at a 2:1 ratio.

So ….. this means you can currently:

• transfer points from Radisson Rewards (UK / Rest of World) to Radisson Rewards Americas at 1:1, and then

• transfer points from Radisson Rewards Americas to Choice Privileges at 2:1

This opportunity will end on 17th July

Choice Privileges has announced that the Radisson Rewards Americas programme will close on 17th July.

If you have any points sitting in a Radisson Rewards Americas account on that date, they will be forcibly converted into Choice Privileges points in a newly opened account.

This means that you have two decisions to make:

• if you have any points in Radission Rewards (the UK / Rest of World scheme) should you transfer them to Radisson Rewards Americas and onwards into Choice Privileges, where they may have more value?

• if you have any points in Radisson Rewards Americas or Choice Privileges, should you move them into a Radisson Rewards (UK / Rest of World) account before the transfer mechanism is shut down?

I had 2,000 Choice Privileges points in my account, which are worthless as they stand. I moved them into 4,000 Radisson Rewards Americas points and then across into my Radisson Rewards (UK / Rest of World) account.

4,000 Radisson Rewards points are also fairly worthless – I will get £8 off my next Radisson booking – but £8 is better than nothing.

Is there any value in turning your Radisson Rewards points into Choice Privileges points before 18th July?

In some scenarios, yes.

Choice Privileges is virtually unknown in the UK. We have only done one article on it out of the 14,000+ on the site.

This is because it comprises of, primarily, low- to mid-market US-centric brands. These include Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, Woodspring Suites, Choice, Clarion, Cambria, Sleep Inn and Mainstay Suites.

The only reason you might come across it is due to Ascend Hotel Collection, a handful of higher end independent hotels.

And then there is Strawberry ….

You’ve probably never heard of Strawberry. It just rebranded from Nordic Choice Hotels, but that wasn’t a household name either.

However, Nordic Choice / Strawberry has over 200 hotels in Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltics and over 16,500 employees. It is privately owned and operates as a franchise of Choice International.

This means that you will see a bunch of Clarion, Quality and Comfort branded hotels across Scandinavia. More interesting, however, are the luxury boutique hotels it runs.

According to a Wikipedia list, it includes many of the top hotels in the region:

• Sweden: Hotel At Six, Hobo, Nordic Light Hotel, Hotel C Stockholm, Aronsborg Konferenshotellet, Selma Spa+, Copperhill Mountain Lodge, Strömstad Spa, Stenungsbaden Yacht Club, Avalon Hotel, Vox Hotel, Ice Hotel Jukkasjärvi and Frösö Park
• Norway: The Thief, Hotel Christiania Teater, Farris Bad, Hotel Oleana, Hotel No13, Hotel Brosundet, Norefjell Ski & Spa, Son Spa, Funken Lodge and Amerikalinjen
• Denmark: Hotel Skt. Petri and Villa Copenhagen
• Finland: Hotel Kämp, Hotel St. George, Klaus K Hotel, Hotel Haven, Hotel Fabian, Hotel Lilla Roberts, GLO Hotel Kluuvi, GLO Hotel Art, GLO Hotel Airport, GLO Hotel Sello and Hotel F6

There are some exceptionally high quality hotels on this list. The photo below is Hotel Kämp in Helsinki, which used to be part of Marriott’s The Luxury Collection.

Booking Nordic Choice / Strawberry hotels with Choice Privileges points

Here are the key things you need to know about using Choice Privileges points to book hotels in Scandinavia:

• Whilst you cannot earn Choice Privileges points at Nordic Choice / Strawberry hotels (it has its own programme), you can redeem them

• you cannot book more than 100 days before your stay (an odd rule – no other hotel loyalty scheme has such a restriction)

• you can often buy Choice Privileges points very cheaply

• Nordic Choice / Strawberry hotels have a fixed year-round redemption cost irrespective of the cash rate that night

The combination of #3 and #4 above means that there are some exceptional deals to be had. The reason these deals continue to exist is that, let’s be honest, there are very few regular guests at your average US Rodeway Inn who are interested in redeeming their points at 5-star Scandinavian boutique hotels.

Last year I stayed at ‘The Thief’ in Oslo

It is unlikely that you will ever earn any Choice Privileges points from a hotel stay if you are UK based. You can buy them, however.

Last year, in a special promotion, I picked up 42,000 points for $220 (£184).

This allowed me to book two nights at ‘The Thief’, a modern boutique hotel that is generally regarded as the best hotel in Oslo, for 40,000 Choice Privileges points in total. (The spare 2,000 Choice Privileges points I had left are the 2,000 I have just moved across to Radisson Rewards UK.)

The cash cost for my dates was NOK 3,690 per night (£320).

This means that I got £640-worth of hotel rooms for £184.

This is probably the highest percentage discount (71%) that I have ever got by buying points, although 60%-65% discounts are common if you are on the ball. This article looks at how I saved 62% at Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria Dubai The Palm by buying points, for example.

Let’s do the maths based on Radisson Rewards points

Last year I paid 20,000 Choice Privileges points per night to get a £320 per night room at The Thief in Oslo.

You could get 20,000 Choice Privileges points by transferring 40,000 Radisson Rewards points into 40,000 Radisson Rewards Americas points. You can transfer these onwards into 20,000 Choice Privileges points.

You’d be getting (£320 / 40,000 Radisson Rewards points) 0.8p per Radisson Rewards point, which is 4x what they are worth if you redeem them for a cash discount on a Radisson hotel.

Don’t collect Radisson points? This may still work for you

There may be something here if you have NO Radisson Rewards points

American Express Membership Rewards points convert to Radisson Rewards points at 1:3.

If you wanted a room at The Thief worth £320, you could do this:

• transfer 13,333 American Express Membership Rewards points to Radisson Rewards, ending up with 40,000 Radisson Rewards points

• transfer 40,000 Radisson Rewards points into 40,000 Radisson Rewards Americas points

• transfer 40,000 Radisson Rewards Americas points into 20,000 Choice Privileges points which is enough for one night at The Thief

Using 13,333 Amex points for a £320 per night hotel room is very good going. You obviously shouldn’t do this until you have checked reward availability via Choice Privileges, remembering that rooms are only booking from 100 days before arrival.

Conclusion

If you are sitting on a pile of supposedly worthless Radisson Rewards points, you only have just over two weeks left to decide if you want to move them into Radisson Rewards Americas and onwards to Choice Privileges.

Similarly, if you have any Choice Privileges or Radisson Rewards Americas points, you only have two weeks left to decide if you want to move them into a Radisson Rewards (UK / Rest of World) account.

Choice Privileges isn’t perfect, of course. For a start, apart from the Ascend Collection, the points are only really worth using for the Nordic Choice properties in Scandinavia.

There are worse places for a weekend break, of course, and you would finally be able to get value from your Radisson pile.

Key links

The links to transfer between the three programmes are not always easy to find.

I am assuming you already have a Radisson Rewards (UK / Rest of World) account.

• To open a Radisson Rewards Americas account, click here. The details must match your Radisson Rewards (non-US) account or you won’t be able to transfer points.

• To transfer points from a Radisson Rewards (UK / Rest of World) account to a Radisson Rewards Americas account, click here

• To open a Choice Privileges account, click here

• To transfer points between a Radisson Rewards Americas account and a Choice Privileges account, click here

Remember that the ability to transfer between Choice Privileges / Radisson Rewards Americas and Radisson Rewards (UK / Rest of World) will end on 17th July. Wherever your points are on the 18th July is where they will have to remain.

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How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards (October 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.)