It’s a big day for Radisson Rewards, as Radisson’s loyalty program is officially being split into two as of today (June 17, 2021). There’s even an award chart devaluation to accompany that. I had written about this change in the past when we first learned the details, but wanted to provide a recap of that, with the new program going live.
In this post:
Radisson Rewards program split into two
The Radisson Rewards loyalty program has now been split into two:
- Radisson Rewards remains the dedicated loyalty program for members in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific
- Radisson Rewards Americas has become the new loyalty program for members in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean
Along similar lines, you’ll now find that all hotels in the Americas are bookable through RadissonHotelsAmericas.com, and not through the regular Radisson website anymore.
What are the implications of these changes?
Members with Radisson Rewards accounts registered in the Americas are automatically having their accounts transferred to the new program. What happens to your points, status, etc.?
- You’re able to transfer points at a 1:1 ratio between programs for free using the new Global Points Transfer process
- If you have status in Radisson Rewards, you’re able to call member services to request a status match for Silver, Gold, or Platinum tiers (seriously, they want people to call?), so that you can receive reciprocal elite perks in the other region
- You’re only able to earn points and elite nights with each program for stays within each of the two regions; in other words, Radisson Rewards Americas members aren’t able to earn points or elite nights for stays outside of the Americas, at least not directly in the Radisson Rewards Americas program
There are still some unanswered questions. For example, will promotions differ between the two programs, or will they align promotions?
I’m not sure this clears much up, but here’s a chart Radisson Rewards provided about determining which program you’re supposed to belong to:
And here’s a chart about determining how you can earn and redeem points:
Radisson Rewards award chart changes
To coincide with the launch of the new Radisson Rewards loyalty program in the Americas, Radisson has introduced “a simplified award night experience,” more commonly known as a devaluation. 😉
As of today Radisson Rewards has adjusted its award chart. As these changes are described:
- The number of hotel categories has been reduced from seven to five
- All category point values now increase in increments of 15,000 points
- The number of hotels available for 15,000 points per night has doubled
- Over 40% of hotels require fewer points (though that leaves a lot of hotels to require more points)
- You can find all the hotel category changes here
Here’s the new Radisson Rewards award chart:
As a point of comparison, here’s the old Radisson Rewards award chart:
As you can see, this isn’t a particularly customer friendly change. The cheapest properties have gone from 9,000 points per night to 15,000 points per night (that’s a 67% increase), while the most expensive properties have gone from 70,000 points per night to 75,000 points per night (that’s only a 7% increase).
How do the price changes break down?
- 64% of hotels require more points
- 29% of hotels require fewer points
- 7% of hotels require the same number of points
These changes are brutal. A customer unfriendly change is being made to the program by it being split into two, and they’ve added a major points devaluation in just for good measure?
Never mind the fact that there aren’t many aspirational Radisson Rewards properties in the United States for members to redeem at.
Why has Radisson’s loyalty program been split?
Radisson isn’t being particularly honest about why this change was made. According to the FAQs, here’s the reason given for why the programs were split:
Why will there be two different loyalty programs?
Radisson Hotels and Radisson Hotels Americas are launching a second program, Radisson Rewards Americas program, to deliver a more localized experience. Ensuring that Radisson Rewards members will continue to enjoy great regional offers.
That’s quite an explanation. Radisson is creating unnecessary confusion and making the program less compelling and global to “deliver a more localized experience?”
The real reason the programs were split is because Radisson is essentially owned by the Chinese government — it was first acquired by HNA Group a few years back, and was then sold off to Jin Jiang International, which is controlled by the Chinese government.
The US government is requiring that the Chinese government no longer have access to this type of data for US consumers, which is presumably why the programs were separated.
Bottom line
The new Radisson Rewards Americas program has now launched, and it’s a program for those who have Radisson Rewards accounts registered in the Americas. It seems that this was done due to US regulations requiring the Chinese government not have access to so much data.
While I get the motive, this sounds like a pretty negative change in terms of the value proposition of the program. At least points can be transferred between programs and there is status matching, but the logistics still don’t exactly sound great. On top of that, there’s an award chart devaluation to go along with it.
I have status and Radisson Rewards points through a co-branded credit card, and ultimately I value this most for stays in Europe, where Radisson hotels are generally the nicest.
What do you make of these Radisson Rewards changes, including award chart changes?
I have tried and tried to create an account in Radisson Rewards on June 18 and 19, but each time after filling out the form and clicking create, it takes me to the log in page and it will not accept either my email or my password. I tried changing password but never got the reset email, I also never received an account # or any email.
I still have the Radisson Rewards Americas account and it works.
Any idea what happened?
I am curious what is going to happen to the credit card annual bonuses. I had two Radisson Rewards (Club Carlson) accounts because I had one personal and one business cards, and they created two different account. The cards come with annual 40000 points that post after I pay my annual fee.
So, the account tied to the personal card transferred to the Radisson Americas, and the account tied to the business card transferred...
I am curious what is going to happen to the credit card annual bonuses. I had two Radisson Rewards (Club Carlson) accounts because I had one personal and one business cards, and they created two different account. The cards come with annual 40000 points that post after I pay my annual fee.
So, the account tied to the personal card transferred to the Radisson Americas, and the account tied to the business card transferred to the Radisson International. Both accounts work, and the previous points got posted. Now, my personal card bonus points posted in May before this change, but the business ones have not posted yet (will in August timeframe). I am wondering is if they are going to post to the Radisson International version of the program now, or are there changes? It does not matter to me where they post as long as they post since the points can be combined 1:1 easily now (they did not before, so had to book different reservations before). Anybody have any idea?
Got the email from Radisson. What a goat rope. I live in the US, mostly stay at Radisson overseas and in fact I'm booking now for Sierra Leone. No thanks. I'll look for something else.
I plan to burn my Radisson points and avoid staying at their hotels from this point on. This is a confusing change that's annoying for customers to adapt to. Loyalty and reward programs should make life EASIER, not more challenging. I live in the US, but spend 90% of my year traveling globally.
Having read you for a couple of years now I'm getting used to it, that you turn out well written and data informative articles. But you don't speak truth to power in a blunt way, this Radisson devaluation is deserving of a boycott and nothing less, and occasionally I think the points and Miles boosters like yourself should say it bluntly just like I just did. 64% of the properties now cost more, say that...
Having read you for a couple of years now I'm getting used to it, that you turn out well written and data informative articles. But you don't speak truth to power in a blunt way, this Radisson devaluation is deserving of a boycott and nothing less, and occasionally I think the points and Miles boosters like yourself should say it bluntly just like I just did. 64% of the properties now cost more, say that three times slowly. I was about to apply for the Radisson hotel credit card recently, it's never going to happen now.
I am having a terrible time with this change.
My wife's accounts are in limbo (in terms of transferring points between them) because now we find out that both the ROW and Americas accounts (per the FAQs) need to have the same exact name and email to process point transfers. There's also no means I can identify to do the points transfers online.
So, when I called a CSR at the "new" Americas...
I am having a terrible time with this change.
My wife's accounts are in limbo (in terms of transferring points between them) because now we find out that both the ROW and Americas accounts (per the FAQs) need to have the same exact name and email to process point transfers. There's also no means I can identify to do the points transfers online.
So, when I called a CSR at the "new" Americas Member Services, he tells me that transfers can only be done by calling them, but he also says that the emails on the 2 accounts must be different. He then said that the transfer will be done by two Member Services reps (one from the Americas and one from ROW) in a conference call with the account owner.
Short story: he does not know what's going on. I'd HUCA, but right now confusion reigns (just as I'm trying to jump on available Stockholm and Copenhagen Radisson Blu award stays that weren't there as recently as yesterday).
Meanwhile, my Radisson ROW account has been drained of my 95k points, but there's no Americas account the CSR (or I) can find as to where they have been deposited. The CSR finally tells me that nothing can be done to sort this out today because the ROW Member Services desk is closed until midnight CST (and will only be available to take calls until noon CST each day).
This is not going well . . .
Update on my situation . . . got a great CSR today at Radisson Americas. He explained that some accounts which had overseas stays in them were incorrectly kept as ROW accounts and not converted (as they should have been) to an Americas account. I signed into my ROW account and presto, my points had been restored and still I have no Americas account - which is OK by me since I use Radisson points...
Update on my situation . . . got a great CSR today at Radisson Americas. He explained that some accounts which had overseas stays in them were incorrectly kept as ROW accounts and not converted (as they should have been) to an Americas account. I signed into my ROW account and presto, my points had been restored and still I have no Americas account - which is OK by me since I use Radisson points for northern Europe stays. In fact, I just made a points stay reservation in Stockholm for next June out of my ROW account. In terms of transferring points - on the Americas website, click redeem at upper right of home screen after logging in, then scroll down and in the lower right of the page will be the Global Transfer Program box - click on that and away you go to transferring points between Americas and ROW. My problem remains that my wife's accounts do not have the exact same email address (apparently the name on both accounts also must exactly match), so I still get an error message when trying to transfer her points back to the ROW account. Good news, however, is that she can call in and have a note included on her account with the CSRs at the Americas member services desk that I can in the future act on her behalf for her account. Now to get her to make that call (no small feat) to transfer points and get that award stay in Copenhagen for next June . . .
Second update to earlier post. My wife and I called the Radisson Americas Member Services desk and she had a note placed on the account that I could make changes to her account. I then changed the email address of her Americas account to coincide with her ROW account. I then used the Global transfer program (as described in my previous update) to transfer points from her Americas to ROW account. The email/message said it...
Second update to earlier post. My wife and I called the Radisson Americas Member Services desk and she had a note placed on the account that I could make changes to her account. I then changed the email address of her Americas account to coincide with her ROW account. I then used the Global transfer program (as described in my previous update) to transfer points from her Americas to ROW account. The email/message said it would take up to 24 hours for the points to transfer, but I found that they transferred immediately. I then used the points to reserve an award room at the Copenhagen Raddison Blu for next June. All worked fairly seamlessly once I corrected the email problem with the accounts. Now, on to the next thing . . .
all the marriott haters out there... this could have been SPG...
So, now that I'm in the Americas program, how do I create an account in the global program so I can transfer my points to it and book European hotels?
@Tony, the US govt doesn't own directly or indirectly any of those hotel chains.
The issue here wasn't a Chinese company owning Radisson. It was the Chinese govt indirectly owning Radisson.
Time to trash this dung heap. Radisson was a lackluster pile of crap loyalty program before these changes, but it had a few gems amongst turds. Now it’s all shit, no nuggets.
I exhausted my massive hoard of RR points a couple of years ago at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge property in London. I had a fantastic time in a wonderful location, so it was a fitting send of to a burdensome loyalty...
Time to trash this dung heap. Radisson was a lackluster pile of crap loyalty program before these changes, but it had a few gems amongst turds. Now it’s all shit, no nuggets.
I exhausted my massive hoard of RR points a couple of years ago at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge property in London. I had a fantastic time in a wonderful location, so it was a fitting send of to a burdensome loyalty program. It was 50K per night. Now, that same hotel is 75K per night. So, I only have 190K RR points and two free night certificates on the way. I think I’ll live it up at the Country Inns & Suites near me for a couple of nights. Maybe order in pizza and beer.
In the Americas some hotels category three went down to category two, however the points required are now 30,000 rather than 28000. Country inn suites Traverse City Michigan goes from 38,000 60,000 points for night. Not find the changes for the European hotels.
Hopefully, the Chinese government doesn't place the same requirement on Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, ... What a mess!
I don't understand how some of it will work. They should list every single changes so we know what exactly we are getting as customers.
I never stayed at any Radisson in US, as actual Radisson footprint in US is tiny (Radisson Blu). To me at least, Radisson is only worthwhile abroad. Getting status match and transfer to non US Radisson is a hurdle, but will it "fix" the problem created by the program...
I don't understand how some of it will work. They should list every single changes so we know what exactly we are getting as customers.
I never stayed at any Radisson in US, as actual Radisson footprint in US is tiny (Radisson Blu). To me at least, Radisson is only worthwhile abroad. Getting status match and transfer to non US Radisson is a hurdle, but will it "fix" the problem created by the program separation? I'm assuming that by status match and points transfer points you will have 2 separate accounts? One US and one junior type account for global? If so we can still get elite status and point on global account then transfer to US account? If so, this would create hurdles but will not block those that use Radisson mainly for their hotels abroad?
This is the worst. Their best hotels are in Europe, and having to transfer points and go through that hassle to redeem? Ugh.
Hopefully, the Chinese government doesn't buy other hotel reward programs. You may say it is a Chinese company; but under the Chinese's National Intelligence Law, Chinese companies have to submit all the required data to their govenment is the least. https://www.lawfareblog.com/beijings-new-national-intelligence-law-defense-offense
Being a Citizen of both the US and France with an address in both, I have changed my "official" address in my profile. Not sure whether it will be enough to be automatically transfered to the Non_US program. For the US, Days Inn and Holiday Inn Express are cheaper and not worse.
Time will tell.
@Gene - Radisson's US/American hotels are indeed crap, but the brand is very strong in Europe, particularly in Nordics, where they have a lot of very nice properties.
@Ben.
You are so wrong. I have had some amazing Radisson stays and I have not even been to the best ones. Not only are the European hotels pretty nice, the people there go out of their way.
some examples:
Paris - during the Tour de France, after asking nicely, I was given a room with a view of the race on my regular award points. The race is right there in front of...
@Ben.
You are so wrong. I have had some amazing Radisson stays and I have not even been to the best ones. Not only are the European hotels pretty nice, the people there go out of their way.
some examples:
Paris - during the Tour de France, after asking nicely, I was given a room with a view of the race on my regular award points. The race is right there in front of the hotel.
London Leicester Square - free upgrade, free breakfast and even making us sandwiches for a daylong bus tour at 6am (they open at 7am). Day of check out, we came back all sweaty and hot at 4pm and we looked like we were going to die. They offered us free cocktails and then the manager walked over and handed us a key to a room where we could shower and change before our flight.
Fiji - GM helped us plan trips to other islands and allowed us to remove some of the nights in the middle of the reservation when we were not there.
I have had really good stays at other hotels. But with the exception of a couple of Hyatts, only the Radissons stand out with personal service.
Or 270...
275 nights in advance...
Also max reservation period is 279 days so forget next summer at current prices. Also even now website is not friendly and easy to book awards (need to search for cash for city in order for it to show up on redeem points) minor league website
@ Ben -- Radisson hotels are crap, so this is practically irrelevant.
I stayed there 2 years ago. It’s a nice hotel but far from things. Athens is cheap and especially now. There are great options much closer to the attractions.
The area nearby is also sketchy, watch your stuff at the closest two subway stations.
View is from the deck on top. I not assume you will get a room with one.
Tried to use my points currently to go to Greece, now United has a direct flights with saver awards in biz and the Blu in Athens has direct views of the Acropolis and yes...the Radisson website barfs..
I am starting to feel, post COVID, points and miles are sheer liabilities...anyone else feeling the points game is over especially since swanky travel is no more? Time to cancel some credit cards me thinks..
@Blair - You can but you will have to create an account in the global program. Then you can transfer points from your Americas account to your global account and use them to book hotels in Europe.
So I cannot use my points for a stay outside of the US in the future? Was planning to use them for Greece and the UK next fall in 2022.
Follow-up to my April 6 comment - e-certs are now able to be used on the new RR Americas site.
In US, Radisson=Days Inn, period.
Nope that's Wyndham.
So they went from being a weak program to being a even weaker program I need to use up my points fast
I echo the multiple comments on e-certs. The have not extended the expiration date as well as Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton, and now we cannot use them.
Now that Greece is opening up to Americans, I wish their announced Radisson Blu Santorini would open. Presumably that would be at the new 75K level, but it would still be a nice addition.
Any chance you can do an investigation into the e-cert issue? I’ve tried to use mine (with intervention from their customer care center) multiple times at multiple locations over the last six weeks. And they expire this summer. One very nice overseas representative tried hard to help but evidently the IT solution provided to their staff is to try different browsers. It’s a known problem for them. I felt bad for the person trying to...
Any chance you can do an investigation into the e-cert issue? I’ve tried to use mine (with intervention from their customer care center) multiple times at multiple locations over the last six weeks. And they expire this summer. One very nice overseas representative tried hard to help but evidently the IT solution provided to their staff is to try different browsers. It’s a known problem for them. I felt bad for the person trying to help me. And no email response from the company. It’s actually sad - Kmart level service. I’m ready to walk away although I do like their overseas hotels
In 2019, I redeem points for Radisson in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. It was very wonderful and only 38K points per night, the hotel is right at the beach. Free buffet breakfast including Vietnamese food and Western food. I booked 5 rooms and since I am Gold member through credit card, my room got upgrade and it was a huge room with patio and Oceanview. I tried to save more points for next trip now I...
In 2019, I redeem points for Radisson in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. It was very wonderful and only 38K points per night, the hotel is right at the beach. Free buffet breakfast including Vietnamese food and Western food. I booked 5 rooms and since I am Gold member through credit card, my room got upgrade and it was a huge room with patio and Oceanview. I tried to save more points for next trip now I can't use it !!! They also offer free pickup at the airport and at night they took us to downtown. I may need to consolidate all credit US Bank credit to one and transfer to one account. I don't it is worth it if only redeem in US.
Beyond ridiculous. Surely there's a way to "separate" the programs that makes it seamless for the loyal traveler.
So confusing. Most loyalty programs it is based on where you reside and then you can earn and redeem around the world.
I guess its time to do an address change to an address outside of what will be Radisson America
You can still use points anywhere, but you will need to transfer them to the other programme in order to use them in another region.
This is a complete mess and will hurt the business. The obvious solutions would be to move all accounts outside of China (either into the US or EU) but apparantely the management is determined to keep as many accounts under Chinese jurisdiction as possible - which says a lot.
That...
You can still use points anywhere, but you will need to transfer them to the other programme in order to use them in another region.
This is a complete mess and will hurt the business. The obvious solutions would be to move all accounts outside of China (either into the US or EU) but apparantely the management is determined to keep as many accounts under Chinese jurisdiction as possible - which says a lot.
That being said, despite being Platinum with RR, I don't care too much as I wouldn't considered staying with them in (Northern) America anyway. European Radissons are great but US/Canadian properties are usually dumps.
There are some very nice international Radisson properties, but domestically they are a joke. Radisson’s average Radisson (the flagship full-service brand) in the United States is somewhere between a Ramada and Holiday Inn. It’s never even a consideration. Ever.BTW. This reminds me of Choice. Choice properties in the Nordic countries are 100% times better than Choice properties in North America. Many of the Choice promos are exempted from Europe or vice versa.
I'd like to participate
Radisson - the international hotel chain for frequent travellers who never cross an ocean.
Terrible shame, but somebody at Radisson figured out how to read a spreadsheet and realized Americans were clobbering their Euro properties with reward redemptions and rarely using them in the states - as well they shouldn't. Only better place I ever discovered was the Chicago R-Blu.
Other places in US are often grim grim grim - the kind where "breakfast" is a toaster, a loaf of white bread, and a squeeze jar of grape...
Terrible shame, but somebody at Radisson figured out how to read a spreadsheet and realized Americans were clobbering their Euro properties with reward redemptions and rarely using them in the states - as well they shouldn't. Only better place I ever discovered was the Chicago R-Blu.
Other places in US are often grim grim grim - the kind where "breakfast" is a toaster, a loaf of white bread, and a squeeze jar of grape jelly (literally - the Tallahassee Country Inn and Suites).
Germany, Ireland, Denmark, etc ... all thumbs up.
I'll certainly be exploring the transfer to the "other" program (non-us).
BONVOYED.
The only reason I even bother with Radisson Rewards is to redeem my points at the expensive Scandinavian Radisson properties. Guess I'm going to burn my points ASAP and cancel my two Radisson cards. Now I just need to get to Radisson Blu Polar Hotel Spitsbergen
I mean, you can still book those properties, just with an extra step.
So both me and my wife have an option of living either in us or the eu. I have 2.3m points and yes they are used anywhere but the us.
Would you recommend changing our address to eu? Or splitting the points, I think they are free to move and then one person take the run address with half the points.
Not sure how to best play this.
I'm not Ben, but I will say most of Radisson's best hotels seem to be in Europe, and it sounds like that's where you're staying, so changing your address to the EU would probably be a good idea. At the very least, it's more convenient, you won't have to go through the hassle of transferring points every time you want to book something.
Who stays at Radisson anyways.
What about existing reservations when the split occurs?
I have 3 e-certs from the credit card, and I can't get them to work on the new site. Did they intentionally make them worthless or is this just a temporary glitch?
Radisson wins the 'loyalty screwup of the year' award.
Congrats!
@ Ben -- Radisson hotels suck anyway.
So all points earned based on stays in Europe but address in USA? What program will I fall under.
So if you previously hit an elite tier by staying in Asia/Europe sometime and in America the rest of time, you wouldn't hit that tier anymore by replicating the process right?
I don't think i've ever stayed at one of these, but this seems like a big devaluation.
This is straight-up value destruction.
They're still working out the kinks with this new program. I have 2 e-certs earned via cc spend and expiring this summer (rolled over from last year). Tried to use them on the new site and it doesn't work regardless of whether you're logged in or not. Agents are unable to apply e-certs for me. My stay is over a month away and they've opened a ticket for me so I'm crossing my fingers it'll...
They're still working out the kinks with this new program. I have 2 e-certs earned via cc spend and expiring this summer (rolled over from last year). Tried to use them on the new site and it doesn't work regardless of whether you're logged in or not. Agents are unable to apply e-certs for me. My stay is over a month away and they've opened a ticket for me so I'm crossing my fingers it'll get fixed in time. If not, the supervisor I spoke to indicated that they'd work with me to make my reservations.
Most likely to do with taxing arrangements, although politics and blaming the big rival a convenient cover.
Americans will have to hope that airlines don’t do this with US customers, as with your credit card base points and earning bonuses you often get far better offers and comparative awards than European consumers where fees are capped.
All the big corporations are doing this restructuring, as long as they don’t cut staff and service levels...
Most likely to do with taxing arrangements, although politics and blaming the big rival a convenient cover.
Americans will have to hope that airlines don’t do this with US customers, as with your credit card base points and earning bonuses you often get far better offers and comparative awards than European consumers where fees are capped.
All the big corporations are doing this restructuring, as long as they don’t cut staff and service levels and then pretend that it is based on ‘customer feedback’ mid pandemic, then I am happy.
So I am an American citizen living in USA. Have tons of points due to CC. Stayed in Europe and Asia but never in USA.
So am I not going to put in American program?
I too like using my points for Radisson hotels in Europe. My initial reaction when I saw the email?
ARRRRRRRRGH!!
“Confusion” definitely going forward, but that would be my least worry regarding this change.