A few days ago, Radisson Rewards revealed some brutal loyalty program program changes. The program moved to dynamic award pricing without notice, and completely destroyed any value that existed. We’ve seen a fair number of loyalty program devaluations over the years, but I don’t remember the last time I saw such a complete gutting of award pricing before.
There’s some good news, though — you can move your points to Radisson Rewards Americas at no cost. This is something that I just did, and that I think others might be interested in doing as well.
In this post:
Why you might want to transfer points to Radisson Rewards Americas
The whole Radisson Rewards concept is pretty complicated at this point:
- In the summer of 2021, we saw Radisson Rewards split into two, with a separate loyalty program for the Americas; this was because the Chinese government essentially owns Radisson, and the United States has restrictions around data the Chinese government can access.
- In the summer of 2022, Choice Hotels acquired Radisson Hotel Group Americas, meaning that Radisson’s properties in the Americas nowadays have nothing to do with Radisson’s non-Americas properties
- The good news is that for the time being, it’s still possible to transfer points between Radisson Rewards and Radisson Rewards Americas at no cost, even though the programs now belong to two unrelated companies
Anyway, I had ~436K Radisson Rewards points in the non-Americas program. I acquired these mostly with Radisson Rewards’ credit card over the years, as the card offered an annual bonus of 40,000 points (the card has since been discontinued).
I just made the decision to transfer all of my Radisson Rewards points to Radisson Rewards Americas, even though I don’t really have an immediate plans for them. Why?
- Radisson Rewards has been gutted, so this is a case where the “evil” you don’t know is probably better than the “evil” you do know
- Radisson Rewards Americas hasn’t devalued its award pricing yet, and continues to have an award chart; that being said, Radisson’s portfolio in the Americas isn’t exactly inspiring, and if your points are in the Americas program, you can’t redeem at non-Americas properties
- I assume transferring points is costing Radisson Rewards something, since the two programs now belong to separate companies, so on principle I’d at least like this terrible devaluation to cost Radisson Rewards something
- I imagine at some point Choice Privileges and Radisson Rewards Americas will be merged (it’s only logical, given the merger of the hotel groups), and there’s some potential upside there for members
- It’s anyone’s guess when the free transfer functionality will be eliminated; I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s soon, given the radical changes Radisson Rewards just made
How to transfer points between Radisson Rewards programs
Transferring points between Radisson Rewards and Radisson Rewards Americas is super easy and generally instant:
- At this link you can move points from Radisson Rewards to Radisson Rewards Americas (probably what you want to do)
- At this link you can move points from Radisson Rewards Americas to Radisson Rewards (probably not what you want to do)
There’s no cost to transfer points between accounts in the same name, and the process is easy. Once you have an account with both programs, just follow this link, and log into your Radisson Rewards account (the non-Americas one).
Once on the next page, you’ll be asked how many points you want to transfer, and you’ll be asked to enter your Radisson Rewards Americas account number. While I had 436,000 points, the transfer page only allowed me to transfer up to 420,000 points. However, I was able to make a subsequent transfer for an additional 16,000 points.
After submitting the transfer request, I refreshed my Radisson Rewards Americas account, and the points immediately posted there.
By the way, I was happy to see that I didn’t have issues with this, given that one account has my first name as “Ben,” while the other has my first name as “Benjamin.”
What will I do with my Radisson Rewards Americas points? I have no clue. But I figure I can’t be in a worse position than I was with a balance of Radisson Rewards points, and it’s anyone’s guess how much longer this transfer functionality is even around.
Bottom line
With Radisson Rewards’ massive devaluation, it could make a lot of sense to transfer points to Radisson Rewards Americas, even without a specific use in mind for points. We know that Radisson Rewards points are now worth very little, while we don’t know what the future holds with Radisson Rewards Americas. However, I’m willing to take my chances.
Anyone else moving their points to Radisson Rewards Americas?
Hi everyone,
do you know, if the transfer of points from Radisson International to Radisson Americas is still possible? The global points transfer page is still online, but I cannot check, if it really still works, as I currently do not have any points to transfer. But I would urgently need to know it, as I would like to transfer points from my credit card first to Radisson International and then from there to...
Hi everyone,
do you know, if the transfer of points from Radisson International to Radisson Americas is still possible? The global points transfer page is still online, but I cannot check, if it really still works, as I currently do not have any points to transfer. But I would urgently need to know it, as I would like to transfer points from my credit card first to Radisson International and then from there to Radisson Americas, as my credit card unfortunately only cooperates with Radisson Rewards International and not with Radisson Americas, where I would need the points.
Thanks so much for your help!
Yes - I just earned 10K points at Radisson Blu Maldives (Radisson International) and today transferred those points to Radisson America. The transfer was almost instant.
This post is false. It is not possible to transfer points either way. The points transfer page submits to a 404 error (page hot found) on the Radisson main site, while Radisson Americas site goes to points.com which says that points transfer is down.
Is there any way to extend the expiration of these crappy points?
Unfortunately, Radisson Anericas gas drastically devalued points as well. Hotels that used to cost 7500 points now cost as much as 40,000. Radisson Americas has horrible customer service. Any problem you encounter at a hotel will be ignored by the Asian call center.
I hear one can also consolidate Radisson Americas points among people in the same household, but can not find how yo do it. Can anyone help?
Torn. Should probably book a trip to Svalbard and burn the point there and also the Radisson Aqua Blu Chicago.
Unusual is that the airline transfers stayed the same. If Americas devaluation follows, 10:1 to airlines may be decent. What really worries me is this new "pay with points" .2ccp scheme that Radission came out with the same week as Aer Club's "promo" which exposed pay with points as .6ccp on "special" for 1.2ccp. Are FF programs hiding drastic devaluation by starting these "Pay with Points" rip-offs?
Anywhere half decent to stay at in Anerica?
Check your accounts as Radisson may have already transitioned you automatically (did so for me earlier this June after giving me a heads-up email in April).
What are the odds that Radisson Americas keeps its award chart as is, or at least does not massively devaluate?
@ Dror -- Unfortunately I have no clue, though I imagine eventually we'll see some changes. However, the program is owned by a completely different company, and for that matter I personally think a Choice Privileges integration will happen sooner or later.
I'm not saying there won't be a devaluation, but I can't imagine it will be as bad as at Radisson Rewards.
Hi Ben, in response to Dror's question, Radisson Rewards Americas is running an airline miles redemption promotion with United Airlines running till 31 Oct 2022. The promotion is: 2,000 RRA points = 300 MileagePlus miles (200 miles normal); 50,000 RRA points = 7,500 MileagePlus miles (5,000 miles normal); 100,000 RRA points = 15,000 MileagePlus miles (10,000 miles normal). In your opinion, given the uncertainty surrounding the merger of RRA into Choice Hotels, with the risk...
Hi Ben, in response to Dror's question, Radisson Rewards Americas is running an airline miles redemption promotion with United Airlines running till 31 Oct 2022. The promotion is: 2,000 RRA points = 300 MileagePlus miles (200 miles normal); 50,000 RRA points = 7,500 MileagePlus miles (5,000 miles normal); 100,000 RRA points = 15,000 MileagePlus miles (10,000 miles normal). In your opinion, given the uncertainty surrounding the merger of RRA into Choice Hotels, with the risk of further devaluation, does it make sense to take advantage of the United Airlines promotion and covert RRA points into MileagePlus miles? For context, I'm based in Singapore and unlikely to take advantage of any RRA award stays in the Americas. Looking forward to your perspective.
Almost impossible that the award charts will stay, likely by 2023.
Devaluation or not will depend on what the conversion rate will be. Personally I find Choice points are worth a little less than double so anything less than 2:1 is a sure devaluation.