There have been several opportunities to purchase Club Carlson points this week, between Daily Getaways and their Flash Sale. All Club Carlson members can combine or transfer points to a household members, and Elite members (ie credit card holders) can transfer points to anyone. Why does this matter, and how can you maximize the benefit?
Continue reading: How To Combine Club Carlson Points
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Why would anyone do something so dumb? The main feature of this program is 2nd night free and if a couple (or one person with 2 accounts) has enough points in each, they can stack alternating 2-night awards at half price.
Seriously, why do you stubbornly keep overlooking this feature in each of your articles about Club Carlson and your comments to readers?
@atxtravel You may do something so dumb, if you have say 75,000 pts in account A, and 25,000 pts in account B. If I was "very dumb", I could transfer 25,000 from A to B, and have 50,000 in both, in which case I could then stack alternating 2-night awards.
Are Club Carlson points ever for sale at a price better than with this 75% promo?
My wife and I each have the Club Carlson Premiere Signature Visa, and we always choose to "take advantage of the last-night-free benefit of the Club Carlson credit cards by 'staggering' award stays between travel companions." I will book the first two nights, the second of which is free, then she will book the next two nights, the second of which is free, and so on. If there is another way to maximize the value of Gold Points, please enlighten me.
Also, the purchase of 40,000 flash sale Gold Points with the Club Carlson Visa nets not only the bonus 30,000 points but also an additional 1,400 bonus points for purchasing with the branded card. Every bonus is welcomed regardless of size.
@Lucky When booking a "staggered" 4 night stay, do we need to be discrete about it?
Usually when booking a multi-night stay with points from both of our accounts, I will link the reservations, so that neither we nor the hotel needs to have us check out and back in again.
But we will be doing a staggered stay with Carlson for the first time this July in Nice, and right now the reservations are not linked. Is it ok to have either the hotel or Carlson Reservations link them? Or do we need to pretend we aren't doing what we are doing by not mentioning it?
@ Robert Hanson -- When points are coming out of two peoples' accounts? You should be fine. I wouldn't mention it in advance, but you can mention it at check-in. Chances are you'll have to settle the bill after the second day.
The "staggering" idea has a lot of merit and as Shawn points out, the transfer feature can make it easier to accomplish.
On another note, with the demise of MR as a freely transferable trading currency, the field of trading currencies is narrowed down to CC and UR. I'd expect that UR will clamp down at some point, leaving only CC. Isn't CC is the only program that is "officially" flexible about who you can transfer points to?
@ Robert Hanson - My wife and I just stayed 5 nights in Cannes using the staggering method. paid one night, used 2 CC accounts to get 4 free nights. No questions asked by front desk, and they kept us in the same room. We only had to settle when we checked out on the last day.
I'm trying to book 4 nights before the 2nd night free perk goes away. I was looking to create an account for my fiance now (she doesn't have a CC account) and then immediately transfer the points, in order to book 2 separate reservations and get the 2 free nights.. Due to the 1yr account opening limitation, it looks like no dice.. Any ideas? Thanks!
Does anyone know how long points transfers between Gold Elite takes? My father can give me points, but it's only worth it if it happens before the devaluation. Thanks!