Park Inn by Radisson Budapest
Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
Brian Cohen·
Membership Programs
··4 Comments·3 min read

Despite Devaluation, Great Deals Can Still Be Found With Club Carlson

C lub Carlson is not my preferred frequent guest loyalty program — but that is not because I believe it is a bad program. Rather, it is simply because there are other frequent guest loyalty programs which I prefer to…er…frequent.

Yes, there are 212 of a total of 329 hotel and resort properties which will increase in award categories as of Monday, June 1, 2015. Yes, some of the hotel and resort properties will jump by greater than one award category. Yes, a new Category 7 had been added last year, which will cost you 70,000 Club Carlson Gold Points per night at hotel and resort properties — more of which will fall within that new award category. Yes, the increases in award categories will become effective less than a month after the announcement, which is not terrible but not much advance notice…

…but the news is not completely dismal, as there are 117 hotel and resort properties which will decrease in award categories — and these are not the only ones where great deals may still be found.

I used Club Carlson Gold Points to stay at the Park Inn by Radisson Budapest hotel property several months ago. The stay was both fine and unremarkable; but it only cost me 9,000 Club Carlson Gold Points — certainly a bargain when taking advantage of some of the generous promotions Club Carlson used to offer…

…but when I checked the lists of hotel and resort properties changing categories, I was curious as to whether or not the Park Inn by Radisson Budapest was affected. Not only will it still be a Category 1 hotel property; but the Park Inn By Radisson Sarvar Resort & Spa — the one hotel property on the list which is located in Hungary — has actually decreased by one award category, costing 15,000 Club Carlson Gold Points per night instead of 28,000 Club Carlson Gold Points per night.

A total of nine hotel and resort properties will no longer be classified within Category 1; but then again, a total of 22 hotel and resort properties will be designated as Category 1 — 17 of them in India and five of them in the United States — and six of those 17 hotel and resort properties in India are decreasing by two categories.

This means that the number of Category 1 hotel and resort properties will increase overall from 38 to 51 — which will require only 9,000 Club Carlson Gold Points per night.

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I really never expected the flow of generous promotions offered by Club Carlson within the past four years to last:

 

See also

There is a promotion in effect right now where you can earn 10,000 bonus Gold Points per night when you book the Mega Points rate. Just use the promotion code MEGAPTS when booking a stay at one of the participating hotel and resort properties found on the lists here.

For me, it is important to concentrate on the positive aspects of changes in frequent travel loyalty programs and use them to my advantage if they indeed are potentially beneficial to me…

…but then again, staying at aspirational hotel and resort properties are far more of an exception for me than the norm, as I do not need spas, butler service, unlimited complimentary alcoholic beverages, a private helipad, and 30,000 thread count sheets on a bed in a suite larger than most apartments for a satisfactory stay…

Photograph ©2014 by Brian Cohen.

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