Great reader results from the free TOP-TIER Radisson VIP status offer – have you got yours?

Before Christmas, we covered an exceptional free offer. If you have any level of airline elite status, or mid tier or higher status with any major hotel group, you can claim a full year of top-tier Radisson Rewards VIP hotel status.

As I found in Sheffield recently, the new Radisson Rewards VIP tier does seem to deliver. The first results from HfP readers have stared to trickle in, and if anything they are doing even better than I did.

It is still possible for you to jump in and secure FREE top tier Radisson VIP status for a year.

What results are HfP readers reporting?

One reader has started a thread in our forum to post his experiences. He had no previous Radisson history and has booked the cheapest available room of each occasion.

From three stays so far:

• Park Plaza London Riverbank – upgraded to a suite, offered lounge access

• Radisson Blu Cardiff – upgraded to a suite, offered lounge access, “staff were very helpful, and made the extra effort when saw VIP on system”

• Radisson Blu Bristol – upgraded to a suite, hotel has no lounge

And from our comments:

“Booked the cheapest room at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge and am now in a suite with a fabulous view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I have lounge access and free breakfast. What a fabulous status match.”

“I stayed one night at Radisson RED in Liverpool [HfP review here]. I activated Discount Booster and paid £70 for the cheapest room category. I got early check-in, offered late check out, discount voucher for food/drinks, upgraded to a Suite with a view of St George’s Hall, which is their highest category room and was being offered at £400+ on their website for the day in question. There is no lounge. The person on reception was very welcoming and made a fuss of my VIP status.”

“I’ve stayed at Radisson Blu Manchester Airport and Radisson Blu Shanghai New World hotels since I got VIP status. The treatment I got was similar for both hotels: booked the lowest category room both times, upgraded to best non-suite rooms, got executive lounge access, got free breakfast for two people, late check-out offered.”

If you want to join them, this is what you need to do.

How do you get Platinum status in Club Avolta?

You get your VIP status via Club Avolta, the loyalty programme for the World Duty Free retail group.

This is a two stage process:

• you need to get a free status match to Platinum in Club Avolta using your existing airline or hotel status (instructions here)

• you match your Platinum status in Club Avolta to VIP status in Radisson Rewards (instructions below)

I don’t intend to repeat what I wrote in this article here about how the initial match to Club Avolta works.

All you need to know is that if you have any level of airline elite status (BA Bronze or Virgin Atlantic Silver are good enough) or mid-tier hotel status (Gold with Accor, Gold with Hilton, Explorist with Hyatt, Gold with IHG, Gold with Marriott etc), you qualify.

How do you get Radisson Rewards VIP status?

The details are in the Club Avolta app. It is bizarrely hidden:

• look under the ‘Rewards’ tab and scroll down – you may see a Radisson tile

• if you don’t, click on your home airport at the top of the screen and change it to ‘Shopping’ (yes, I know, it’s weird). Go back to the ‘Rewards’ tab and scroll down – the Radisson tile will now be there

However, you don’t need to see the tile to apply.

This is what you need to do:

• ensure you are already signed up for Radisson Rewards (you can sign up here – this refer-a-friend link should get you 5,000 bonus points after your first stay although it doesn’t show anywhere)

• ensure that your Club Avolta and Radisson Rewards email addresses match

• go to the ‘Wallet’ tab in the Club Avolta app and take a screenshot showing your name and Platinum status

• email the screenshot and your Radisson Rewards number to loyaltypartnerupgrade [at] radissonhotels.com

Your Radisson Rewards status will be upgraded to VIP. It isn’t fully clear when it expires – the email you receive says 31st December 2025 whilst your online card shows October 2025. Most people seem to be getting December 2025. You may get January 2026 if doing it now.

What does Radisson Rewards VIP status get you?

Quite a bit. Details are on the Radisson website here.

You get:

• free breakfast for two people

• an upgrade to the best available room in the hotel at the time of check-in (suites can be excluded, although hotels can obviously choose to give them if they wish – and as the examples above show, they are)

• 15% off food and drink purchased in the hotel

• access to ‘Discount Booster’ which lets you get an additional cash saving of 10% or so off the lowest rate in return for earning a lower rate of points (this does genuinely beat any other rate you will find)

There are also early check-in and late check-out benefits but these are not guaranteed.

At Radisson Collection, art’otel and Holmes Hotel properties you can also get one free piece of ironing done!

To renew your VIP status you will need to do 20 stays or 30 nights during 2025.

Conclusion

This is an excellent opportunity to get top-tier hotel status from bottom-tier airline status or mid-tier hotel status elsewhere.

I know that a lot of HfP readers swore never to visit a Radisson again after their points were devalued by 66% overnight with no notice back in 2022. I don’t blame them, but you would be turning down some good benefits here.

Of course, I suspect that these two events are connected. After alienating all of its elite members back in 2022, it needs to recruit a replacement set of elite members. It’s unfortunate that a lot of HfP readers are going to do very nicely from this match due to another group of HfP readers losing out, some substantially.

Remember that this is a two stage match. You need to first use your airline or hotel status to match to Club Avolta (this should take 24 hours to complete, the instructions are here) and you then submit your status match application to Radisson Rewards.

Remember that if you are not already a Radisson Rewards member, my refer-a-friend link here gets you 5,000 bonus points after your first stay although it doesn’t show anywhere.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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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:

• 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 150,000 Radisson Rewards points

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

• 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. 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.