Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card: how valuable is it?

With a business card, US Bank will create a second Club Carlson account for you, which allows you to book alternating 2-night stays....so no need for hotel hopping. I used this in europe recently.

Can I sign up for both and get double the points?

@george
yes

Lucky
The problem is that CC requires card holder / acct holder to be present at the time for the free night
I have had problems getting a free day for my family (and friends) in EU when they checkin on a 2 adult reservation that I have made for them.

Is it really enough for two sets of 2 night stays? I thought you had to have the points in your account in order to book. Meaning that after your first stay of 2 nights, you would only have 50k points, so you would not be able to book another 2 night stay until you earned another 50k. Am I wrong about this?

@jason - Lucky is correct, you'd have enough because the discount is applied when the reservation is made. I've done this several times.

Love the CC card. I've earned quite a few points from it and that second night stay feature is great. I'll be hotel hopping this summer in London, two nights at a Radisson Blu and then one night at a IHG property which was under $200/night. I valued the extra 50K points at more than $200 so paid cash.

Those rates are insane for London, guess if its cutting it close, but when I booked in Feb rates were in the upper 200s (GBP) or so for most London properties.

I unfortunately do expect some sort of devaluation in the next year or so but hopefully it won't be as severe as Hilton's. I reckon they will and should add one more tier and move up many of the London/Paris properties along with the new properties in the Maldives and some other Blu's such as the one in St Martin, Aruba, and Chicago. Say its 60K a night or so which would be fair.

My only complaint with the CC card is US Bank does the bait and switch like Bank of America does. I apped for the gold card, got an email that I was approved for the gold card, but actually received the silver card, which ticked me off. I still get the 2nd night free, though, so I'm keeping it for now.

Even though I pretty much know that already, it still makes my heart beat a little faster reading those examples. Can't wait to use some CC points in London and Paris!!

@ Lucky,

Oddly enough, I got instantly approved for a business card (used my SSN for a business I actually want to start) and got wait listed for the Personal. I'll know in a few days if I get the Personal but they were the first two cards I applied for in my applications over the weekend. Also went for the 50k United business offer and should know soon on that too. I valued the 50k United more then the 60k Ink since the increase over standard (50k vs 30k on United as opposed to the 60k vs. 50k on the Ink) was better with less spend, assuming I get it. Also bagged the Lufthansa, so a one way first class trip from Europe is in my future too.

Lucky, you forget to mention how difficult it is to get this card, your friend over Hack my trip shows a tip to get approve but require some work.

My husband got the gold card and I got the personal gold and business cards. We've booked 2 free nights in Salzburg and 4 in Vienna. For Vienna, we booked 2 nights in his name and 2 in my name. After meeting the spend we still have enough points for 4 more free nights (2 each). We might use them in Germany or save them for Chicago. We had no problem getting the personal cards but I did have to call in about the business card.

I actually stayed 2 nights at the Radisson Blu Champs Elysees in March using points. Beautiful place! At the time I didn't realize the main benefit of the CC card and never applied for one. It made me sick when I realized I just threw 50k points out the window.

I was in Europe for 10 days and pretty much stayed in 5 star hotels for pretty much free using CC points and SPG Cash and points. I can say without a doubt the CC points are extremely valuable in expensive cities like London and Paris.

Frequent Burner: I also have the personal and business card. Great cards if you can get them! Did they let you keep the same room? Did you have to check out of the room and remove your stuff before you started the second 2-day stay?

Are you aware of hotels where the extra "Business Class" room redemptions are worthwhile? This is 75K instead of 50K...normally bigger room, breakfast.

I saw once that the difference in rates between a std and bus room was 20€, so not worth the extra 12.5K CC pts/nt, but it might be worthwhile in other hotels...

@Chris -- no checkout, no moving around, the hotel doesn't care where the points come from, and it's easier for them to keep me in the same room. It's Club Carlson and US Bank that cough up the points, so as long as they let you book it, you're good.

@ David -- That's a great question. I believe in most cases it's not worthwhile since it's just an "executive" or "deluxe" room, though I'll do some investigating.

good and accurate review as always.. my only complaint is the 3% forex fee considering the only worthwhile properties to stay at are in Europe. Overall one of the best cards and many people can make this program work for them very well

I forgot to mention the forex fee sucks. They even get you on purchases in USD but from a foreign company. I received a fee on about $1000 in fees on a BA award which was a little under $20. Not a huge deal and I put that charge because I was trying to meet min spend but I only did it because the charge was in USD. So no chance I use it on my Carlson hotels abroad because 2X UR > 10X CC points - 3% fee. I wish all of these cards at least waived the forex fees on purchases of the branded company.

Thanks so much for showing Carlson some love. With so much negative progress in hotel loyalty, isn't it wonderful seeing a program actively court our business?

--Sent from the Radisson Blu Champs Elysees, paid for by their sweet points promotions last year

That Radisson Blue Polar Hotel is among the coolest (no pun intended) things I've ever seen! It's on my bucket list now!

Lucky, I'm not currently a Club Carlson member. Is there any advantage to joining (or not) before I submit my Visa card application?

(BTW, the "notify me" options disappeared from your blog posts since the server migration.)

@ UAPhil -- Not any advantage or disadvantage as far as I know.

Thanks also for the heads up about the comment notification. Have put in a request to have that fixed!

I have both personal and business cards and am very happy with the benefits a

And quality of the stays. We just spent three nights at the Radisson Blu Bosphorus in Istanbul and truly enjoyed the location, room, and service...all were excellent. Upgraded to deluxe room with view of the bridge. The breakfasts overlooking the Bosphorus were a great way to start the day and the neighborhood was lively and fun. I didn't hesitate to collect more points through their flash sale this week!

I'm wondering about getting a business class room as well. Here's my thinking and please correct me if I'm wrong. If you're gold, which you get with the card, you may get your room upgraded. So, if you use points to get a business class room, then are you more likely to get bumped up to a proper suite, because that's now the next category up?

@ Jamie -- You certainly could, though I don't think Club Carlson is as generous/strict when it comes to upgrades as other programs. So it's almost entirely at the discretion of the person checking you in, meaning you may get a suite if you book a standard room, or may get nothing if you book a premium room.

Lucky, thank you for a comprehensive summary of a fantastic card. You missed one more great benefit. CC frequently offers to Gold members "pay one get one free" sales. Finding deals takes some patience since they do not list the discounted destinations but the list seems to be quite long. For this summer, I booked 3x2 nights in Berlin and 2 nights in Warsaw at their already very low one-night prices. With "second night free" redemption, I would have received less than 0.2 cent/point. Cheers! http://www.clubcarlson.com/2for1

One more data point: I applied for the card 36 hours ago, got the "we'll let you know in 7-10 days" message. This morning I received an approval. I had not frozen my credit reports at IDA/ARS (but I'm not a compulsive card opener; I've "only" opened about 3 other cards in the last year and 8 total in the last 3 years)..

If I freeze IDA/ARS to get the CC card, will this effect my other credit card apps?

I wanted to throw an app party.

@ jim -- Aside from US Bank other bueareu don't seem to pull from there, so it doesn't seem like it would impact any other applications.

@ lucky - If I cancel the card say after I get 100K points, would my free nights still be available since they are based on point redemption, or like the Hilton/Hyatt cards, I need to use them within a year and have to keep the card?

@ mary -- Yes, your free nights would still be available. However, if you don't have the card you don't get the second night free, so you wouldn't get as much benefit out of those points.

I value the 40,000 point anniversary bonus most

I thought I read that the second night free is not available in Europe any longer. Is that true?

@ John -- Haven't heard that yet, believe it still applies.

I just tried a 2 night test booking in London in May, still got the bonus night.

Thanks, UAPhil.

in your opinion please... my carlson personal account annual fee is coming due in 1 month. i just opened the carlson business also. worth keeping the personal anyway? thanks

I was denied the card when i applied online. I called the reconsideration line and they granted me the card after seeing my DL and proof of income. I had to have this card the value of the bonus is incredible. I was denied due to too many inquiries. All you gotta do is talk to the people and they pretty much give you the card if you provide what they need.

@ ryan prillman -- Happy to hear you got approved in the end!