Club Carlson Announces Program Changes March 15, 2014

You can already redeem points for premium rooms.

On 50,000 point hotels, like Zurich Airport, you can book a "Business Class" room for 75,000 points.

Will this mean you could book a Suite with points?

@ Stephen -- Good point. My assumption is that you'll be able to redeem points for suites and club rooms at many properties.

minor note--Dubai is not in Europe

(sorry to be so nitpicky haha)

These changes seem relatively minor to me. Sure, the best hotels in London and Paris are now 70k points, but they didn't touch the ridiculously generous credit card benefits of last night free and the 5x earnings on all credit card spend. Even spending 14k on the credit card to get 2 free nights at a nice property in London or Paris is still pretty darn generous, and I can't think of another hotel program where that's possible.

I redeemed two nights at the Radisson Royal in Dubai over Christmas week for 50k points (using the credit card 2-for-1 deal). Sad to see the price go up as it was a spectacular value at the old rate using the 2-for-1 deal.

*Breathes sigh of relief* That could have been so much worse. Also, oddly, one of the Paris ones (Opera) seems to be staying at 50,000

Yeah, these changes still leave the card (seemingly) too good to be true. Just glad I got in stays at the May Fair and Paris this summer...

Thanks, Lucky, for sharing this. I agree that it could have been a lot worse. I've been worrying that I'm building up a larger balance of CC points than I can use for desirable properties.

@James K - Opera is no longer a Radisson property.

"The nine new Category 7 hotels are as follows (not surprisingly they’re all in Europe):

Radisson Royal Hotel, Dubai"

Guy who travels around the world doesn't know where Dubai is or what?

@ ssk @ Kryton -- Whoops, was posting way too late and not paying attention. Fixed. 😀

Lucky, is Plaza on the River, London that good? I always stay at The May Fair and maybe I should change my upcoming stay to the Plaza?

@ Alan -- Haven't stayed there myself, though have heard good things about both The Plaza on the River and The May Fair. Can't go wrong with either, guess it depends what part of town you want to be in.

Hi Lucky,

Can you clarify if I get it right about the term?
If my future stay is on or after May 1st, I have to make the reservation before Mar 15th. But if the planning stay is before May 1st, I can reserve the room with the old category anytime before May 1st.

Am I right about it?

Thanks

@ yang -- Best I can tell, you can make bookings at the old rates until April 30. Starting May 1 any bookings made (for future stays of course) would trigger the new costs. But you should be able to make a booking in April for a stay in May or later at the old rates.

So that's another hotel programme hit by points inflation from an overly generous US credit card offer. I wish these companies would open up their card deals to the rest of the world if we're all going to be stung with the higher redemption rates!

If I apply for this card now and get both the new account first-spend bonus and spend an additional $2,500, how much total do I need to spend to earn 2 nights free at the London Radisson Blu Leicester Square in May/June this summer (assuming it's available by the time I spend enough)? I vaguely remember reading that I'd have to have enough Gold Points in my account to trade-in for the 2 nights upfront, and only get the 2nd night credited back after I've used my points to pay for the 2 nights (i.e. I'd need to have let's say 100K points upfront (assuming 50K points per night) rather than actually trade in only 50K points for two nights). Can you clarify?

@ Rick -- Nope, you don't need the full points upfront. You would just need 50,000 points total, assuming you can rack them up before the devaluation hits.

@Lucky, assuming 50K Gold Points are required per night, if I had 100K Gold Points, could I make 2 reservations at one hotel for 2 nights each under the same name & get the 2nd night free on both reservations? That'd be 4 nights for a total of 100K GP. Or, would I have to switch hotels in the same city after 2 nights to get the 2nd night free on the 2nd reservation?

@ Rick -- If you do back-to-back reservations then you can't do the second night free twice. Only the second night is free, and back-to-back reservations at the same hotel qualify as one stay.

So you could do that if you have a night between the stays, or if you do two nights at two different hotels.

@alan

I stay there a lot near vauxhall / Lambeth Bridge because it was ironically cheaper with points!! it's not fantastic and I don't think it's better than the Westminster on the Southbank which is in a better location ( it's a bus ride or long walk from Waterloo, and it can feel isolated at the Riverside one being nearer Vauxhall) and has a nicer bar and a better restaurant. The food is good there but the feel of the hotel is a bit corporate. One thing to note, they are a conference venue so this might explain the strange increase. there are often big conferences held there. Westminster - a large hotel but much cooler and doesn't have the conference feel. The Brasserie Joel is nicer as well.