Park Inn 1 + 1 Registration.

Most Park Inn properties are located in Europe which is why this promotion launched at 3:00pm Pacific time, 6:00pm Eastern on May 21. The time was midnight May 22 in France and Germany and other European cities where Park Inn is a more abundant hotel chain.

There are currently only ten Park Inn hotels in the U.S.

• Park Inn by Radisson Fresno, California
• Park Inn by Radisson Harrisburg West, Pennsylvania
• Park Inn by Radisson Dallas – Love Field
• Park Inn by Radisson Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan
• Park Inn by Radisson Tulsa Airport, Oklahoma
• Park Inn by Radisson Toledo, OH
• Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Water Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Park Inn by Radisson Sharon, Pennsylvania
• Park Inn by Radisson DFW Airport South, Irving, Texas
• Park Inn by Radisson Houston North Hotel & Conference Center, Houston, Texas.

Register now if you really think you will get to a Park Inn during this promotion. This is a great offer for the Europeans, so maybe don’t take up one of the 20,000 slots for 44,000 points if you have little hope of getting to a Park Inn by July 22.

Looks like I’ll be taking the wife to the Sierra Nevada mountains via Fresno in a few weeks. Time to see some big trees.

137 hotels going up in reward category.

• category 1 to 2 Americas = 8 hotels.
• category 1 to 2 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 3 hotels.
• category 1 to 3 Americas = 2 hotels.
• category 1 to 2 Asia Pacific = 1 hotel.
• category 1 to 3 Asia Pacific = 1 hotel at Park Plaza Beijing West.
• category 2 to 3 Americas = 44 hotels.
• category 2 to 4 Americas = 1 hotel at Radisson Hotel Antofagasta, Chile.
• category 2 to 3 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 8 hotels.
• category 2 to 3 Asia Pacific = 3 hotels.
• category 2 to 5 Asia Pacific = 1 hotel at Park Plaza Beijing Wangfujing.
• category 3 to 4 Americas = 17 hotels.
• category 3 to 4 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 15 hotels.
• category 3 to 4 Asia Pacific = 1 hotel.
• category 3 to 5 Asia Pacific = 1 hotel  at Radisson Blu Hotel Greater Noida, India.
• category 4 to 5 Americas = 5 hotels.
• category 4 to 5 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 12 hotels.
• category 4 to 5 Asia Pacific = 5 hotels.
• category 5 to 6 Americas = 0 hotels.
• category 5 to 6 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 8 hotels.
• category 5 to 6 Asia Pacific  = 1 hotel at Radisson Hotel and Suites Sydney.

Categories 2 and 3 hotels in the USA going up to category 3 and 4 hotel rewards account for nearly half of all the global increases. The hotels rising to the category 5 and 6 levels are primarily in Europe (20 hotels) and Asia Pacific (6 hotels).

127 hotels going down in Club Carlson Reward category.

• category 2 to 1 Americas = 11 hotels.
• category 2 to 1 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 0 hotels.
• category 2 to 1 Asia Pacific = 0 hotels.
• category 3 to 1 Americas =  3 hotels.
• category 3 to 1 Asia Pacific = 1 hotel.
• category 3 to 2 Americas = 44 hotels.
• category 3 to 2 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 4 hotels.
• category 3 to 2 Asia Pacific = 2 hotels.
• category 4 to 1 Americas = 1 hotel at Country Inn. Coon Rapids, MN.
• category 4 to 2 Americas = 1 hotel at Radisson Hotel Ontario Airport, California.
• category 4 to 2 Asia Pacific =  1 hotel at Park Plaza New Delhi Hari Nagar, India.
• category 4 to 2 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 1 hotel at Park Inn by Radisson, Vilnius North, Lithuania.
• category 4 to 3 Americas = 29 hotels.
• category 4 to 3 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 5 hotels.
• category 4 to 3 Asia Pacific = 2 hotels.
• category 5 to 4 Americas = 5 hotels.
• category 5 to 4 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 9 hotels.
• category 5 to 4 Asia Pacific = 3 hotels.
• category 6 to 4 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 2 hotels at Kuwait and Libya.
• category 6 to 5 Americas = 0 hotels.
• category 6 to 5 Europe, Middle East, Africa = 2 hotels in Dubai, UAE and Dusseldorf, Germany.
• category 6 to 5 Asia Pacific = 1 hotel at Radisson Blu Hotel New Delhi Paschim Vihar, India.

Hotels in the Americas dropping from category 3 and 4 to category 2 and 3 account for more than half of the global changes in hotels dropping in reward cost.

Kudos to Club Carlson for posting a complete list of changes at 264 hotels with a two-week opportunity for members to book hotels at the old reward rates before they go up. This is a consumer friendly action by Club Carlson.

Priority Club did not publish its hotels going up prior to the changes taking effect earlier this year in what was one of the most significant rises in hotel category assignment in several/ years.

Club Carlson Recent History

Club Carlson launched March 31, 2011 with one of the most radical hotel loyalty program adjustments in years. They actually lowered the cost of hotel reward nights in a revised hotel category reward system while increasing the rate points are earned for hotel stays to 20 points per $1 around the world.

Loyalty Traveler published a series of posts in April 2011 analyzing the Club Carlson changes for March 31, 2011 hotel reward assignments.

The changes made Club Carlson the hotel loyalty program with the fastest earning free nights based on the rate points are earned compared to the cost to redeem a free night.

A person without any status can earn 9,000 points with $450 in hotel spend or 50,000 points with $2,000 in hotel spend. The hotel spend is lowered more by 1,000 points online booking bonus per reservation. Elite status and hotel loyalty promotions reduce this spend rate even more.

There were few hotel reward category changes in the past year until the announcement last week. The changes have a minor effect in shifting hotels upward in reward category.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

These numbers create a classic bell curve weighted a little more to the lower half of the categories in the Club Carlson reward category distribution of 1,110 hotels.

This is a consumer friendly adjustment for Club Carlson hotels. What remains to be seen is 2013, by which time the Club Carlson credit card should have been out a few months. Hyatt Gold Passport made a significant adjustment upward to its hotel category reward assignment for hotels the year following the Hyatt credit card release. I am interested to see how a credit card impacts the distribution of hotels in reward categories for Club Carlson in 2013 and 2014.

But at least for 2012 the Club Carlson category changes are in line with what appears to me to be a very reasonable category adjustment with hotels being redistributed across the categories relative to each other.

The problem with only going up

For several years I have complained about the type of hotel category reassignment I think is the more typical adjustment for hotel loyalty programs to move hotels upward based on their annual revenue performance increases. That kind of adjustment tends to clear hotels from the bottom half of hotel categories within any single hotel loyalty program to the upper tiers of that loyalty program. Currency exchange fluctuations also play heavily into that kind of annual hotel reward category adjustment.

Starwood Preferred Guest and Hilton HHonors are examples of that kind of category redistribution where the trend has been to deplete the bottom half of the hotel reward categories with annual shifts towards the upper half of the hotel reward categories as far fewer hotels move down than up in category year after year. That type of hotel reward category reassignment creates a quicker devaluation of your hotel loyalty points.

Bottom line: These Club Carlson changes appear to be the most reasonable category reassignment among the hotel loyalty programs in 2012.

The hotel list below is organized by hotel category effective on May 31, 2012 after reassignment. The geographical list of changes is available on the Club Carlson website here.

A few minutes ago I received a call from Molly Biwer, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. The Club Carlson team have decided to change the promotion terms in light of the inaccurate information going out on Facebook and through my blog last week that existing reservations booked prior to May 15 would count for the current Club Carlson promotions.

The good news is that this change in the promotion terms applies to any existing reservations made prior to May 15. So even if you booked in January 2012 for a stay in the May 15-July 15 promotion period for Radisson and Country Inn or May 22-July 22 promotion period for Park Inn, you can register and earn bonus points for your hotel stay.

Club Carlson is a customer-centric hotel loyalty program and this is the kind of responsiveness I expected from the team running the program.

Radisson Big Night Giveaway 

Country Inn & Suites

Park Inn 

• Radisson and Radisson Blu is launching the Radisson Big Night Giveaway on May 15, where the first 100,000 people to register and stay at least one night at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort worldwide between May 15 and July 15, 2012, will earn 50,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a free stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort worldwide. After the 100,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points after completing a one-night stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort by July 15, 2012. Beginning on May 15, travelers can register at RadissonBigNightGiveaway.com. In addition, travelers who sign up for the Radisson Big Night Giveaway will have free Wi-Fi access for the duration of their airport visit at Chicago’s Midway and O’Hare airports; New York’s JFK airport and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport.
• Country Inns & Suites By Carlson also kicks off its SO GO! (Stay One, Get One) promotion on May 15, offering the first 35,000 guests to register and stay at least one night at any Country Inns & Suites hotel, through July 15, 2012, 44,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a one-night stay at any Country Inns & Suites property. After the 35,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion and complete a one-night stay at any Country Inns & Suites hotel by July 15, 2012, will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points, enough for a free night at select hotels. Beginning on May 15, travelers can register at SOGOCountry.com
• Park Inn by Radisson will launch the 1+1 Stay One, Get One offer a week later on May 22. The first 20,000 guests to register and stay at least one night at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel, from May 22 through July 22, 2012, will earn 44,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a one-night stay at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel. Once the 20,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion and complete a one-night stay at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel by July 22, 2012, will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points, enough for a free night at select hotels.Travelers can register at ParkInnOnePlusOne.com
• Guests who are not Club Carlson members can join for free during any stay at a Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group hotel or resort, or by visiting www.ClubCarlson.com.

Now back to concentrating on where I will book my hotel stays for these promotions.

My mother already completed her Radisson hotel stay last night.

She was excited about these Club Carlson promotions. I have turned my mom into a real Loyalty Traveler.

Update May 19, 12 noon California time: Club Carlson has decided to change the terms of the Radisson, Country Inn and Park Inn promotions to allow reservations booked prior to May 15 for stays within the respective promotion periods to count for the bonus points. There were communications errors made last week regarding this term of the promotion and Club Carlson has rectified the error by changing the promotion terms to count existing reservations. This is a fine resolution to the issue. Thanks Club Carlson.  

Let me say that over the past three years I have personally met and talked to dozens, if not hundreds of staff and management with the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. This seems to me to be a good company with a positive social image and conscience while operating a thriving hotel chain. The Carlson Rezidor folks have invited me to attend their Global Summit meetings the past three years and this has really helped advance my knowledge of the hotel industry.

Bottom line though is they are a corporate business seeking to maximize customer profit on hotel stays and I am a consumer analyst working social media for travelers to minimize consumer spending for hotel stays.

My positive social media buzz on the Club Carlson promotions:

Club Carlson currently offers three of the best hotel loyalty promotions we will likely see for 2012 taking place for the next two months.

• Radisson and Radisson Blu is launching the Radisson Big Night Giveaway on May 15, where the first 100,000 people to register and stay at least one night at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort worldwide between May 15 and July 15, 2012, will earn 50,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a free stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort worldwide. After the 100,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points after completing a one-night stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort by July 15, 2012. Beginning on May 15, travelers can register at RadissonBigNightGiveaway.com. In addition, travelers who sign up for the Radisson Big Night Giveaway will have free Wi-Fi access for the duration of their airport visit at Chicago’s Midway and O’Hare airports; New York’s JFK airport and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport.
• Country Inns & Suites By Carlsonalso kicks off its SO GO! (Stay One, Get One) promotion on May 15, offering the first 35,000 guests to register and stay at least one night at any Country Inns & Suites hotel, through July 15, 2012, 44,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a one-night stay at any Country Inns & Suites property. After the 35,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion and complete a one-night stay at any Country Inns & Suites hotel by July 15, 2012, will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points, enough for a free night at select hotels. Beginning on May 15, travelers can register at SOGOCountry.com
• Park Inn by Radisson will launch the 1+1 Stay One, Get One offer a week later on May 22. The first 20,000 guests to register and stay at least one night at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel, from May 22 through July 22, 2012, will earn 44,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a one-night stay at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel. Once the 20,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion and complete a one-night stay at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel by July 22, 2012, will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points, enough for a free night at select hotels.Travelers can register at ParkInnOnePlusOne.com

Now for the Social Media Stinger

This blog post is my stinger for smacking Loyalty Traveler and other Club Carlson members upside the head with inaccurate information last week.

I was contacted by a Club Carlson PR representative on May 9 with Club Carlson promotion details I had not previously seen anywhere on the web. And I was asked if if I would like to interview Heather Passe, VP Marketing, Loyalty and E-commerce for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group to have any promotion questions I wanted answered prior to the May 15 release.

In my head I thought that Heather Passe has better things to do than block out her time to answer my questions directly, so I just sent two questions I wanted answered regarding the loyalty promotion to the Club Carlson PR representative.

Here are the email responses I received on May 10 from the Club Carlson PR representative:

1. Points + Cash award nights do qualify for this promotion because the cash portion is point-eligible

2. Stays booked prior to the promotion launch are eligible as long as the stay lands within the promotion window. Member just needs to register for the promotion before check-out.

On May 10 I wrote this Loyalty Traveler post with what I assumed was accurate and company-provided information that had not previously been published on the three Club Carlson promotions.

Club Carlson gave this Loyalty Traveler a head blow May 15

I was shocked to see the official Club Carlson Radisson Big Night Giveaway promotion terms when released with the promotion launch May 15 at 12:01am Central time.

The Big Night Giveaway Promotion (“Promotion”) is available only to Club CarlsonSM members.

Promotion is not valid on existing reservationsand is subject to availability.

To be eligible for the Promotion, members must register online for the Promotion at http://www.radissonbignightgiveaway.com/ (“Promotion Registration”), provide their Club Carlson member number at the time of reservation or check-in of the Qualifying Stay, and then complete one Qualifying Stay at any Radisson® or Radisson Blu hotel worldwide (“Participating Hotels”). Guest must check in for the Qualifying Stay on or after May 15, 2012 and check out must be completed no later than July 15, 2012 (“Promotion Period”).

This post is where I deconstruct what happened this past week with the Club Carlson misinformation regarding existing reservations counting for the Radisson Big Night Giveaway promotion.

Sorry, your reservation was a pre-existing condition!

Are we talking hotel loyalty promotions or medical insurance loopholes? This is the analogy that comes to mind by denying existing reservations for these current Club Carlson promotions. This restriction seems designed to extract more money from consumers, many of whom purchased prepaid nonrefundable bookings prior to May 15 based on what seemed reliable information posted on Facebook and by Loyalty Traveler.

Not allowing reservations made prior to a hotel loyalty promotion is actually a common restriction for a hotel loyalty promotion. The purpose of most promotions is to drive new business with new hotel reservations.

What’s the Buzz, Tell Me What’s Happening?

This Club Carlson promotion term would be a non-issue if not for the fact that prior to the May 15 promotion launch a couple of supposedly official sources leaked the statement that existing reservations would count for the Club Carlson promotion bonuses on Facebook and to me for Loyalty Traveler blog.

The social media fallout on forum sites like FlyerTalk, MilePoint and blogs like Mommy Points and Deals We Like and Loyalty Traveler here are due to the fact that Club Carlson posted on its Facebook page that existing reservations would count and then later edited the Facebook post to remove that statement.

Club Carlson Facebook page comment from Thursday May 10.

This Facebook screenshot is from thehustleblog.com May 10. 

So on May 10 Facebook fans of Club Carlson receive the message that existing reservations will count for the Club Carlson promotions, less than five days before the official promotion launch on May 15.

Thursday, May 10 was also the same day I received an email reply from a Club Carlson PR firm representative stating existing reservations will count for the Radisson, Country Inn and Park Inn promotions. That is the information I posted on Loyalty Traveler blog. I assumed my questions had been directed from the PR rep to someone inside the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group for these responses.

My apologies to Loyalty Traveler readers and other social media bloggers and forums where this inaccurate information was disseminated.

I try to limit speculation on my blog since credibility is the primary quality a social media blogger needs to maintain.

I feel burned by Club Carlson.

Here was my reaction on the Club Carlson Facebook page today.

The Club Carlson comment shown above is the May 11 edited version of the original Facebook post indicating existing reservations would count. The original comment wording is circled in red in the previous screenshot from thehustleblog.com.

Sound Advice for hotel loyalty promotion staffers and PR firms

Hotel loyalty promotion staffers should heed some great advice from Tim Winship, one of the original loyalty program analysts for consumers.

When Should Hotels Announce Upcoming Promotions?

Tim Winship of FrequentFlier.com wrote “When Should Hotels Announce Upcoming Promotions?” (Feb 6, 2012), a piece I consider to be one of the best commentaries for the argument that hotel loyalty programs should release official promotion terms at least two weeks before a loyalty promotion begins.

My recommendation? Hotel promotions should be widely communicated at least two weeks in advance of a promotion’s start date. That means:

• Program members should be alerted at least two weeks prior to the promotion’s effect date via email.
• A landing page on the hotel’s website with complete promotion details should be live at least two weeks in advance.
• Registrations, either by phone or on the hotel’s website, should be accepted at least two weeks in advance.
• A news release with complete promotion details and a web link should be sent out to all legitimate media at least two weeks in advance.

There’s nothing magic about two weeks. It just seems to me that anything less is a disservice to the traveling public in general, to a hotel’s loyalty program members in particular, and to the media who cover the industry.

- Tim Winship (February 6, 2012) – FrequentFlier.com

The Solution: Club Carlson should rectify this situation by allowing members the opportunity to cancel  prepaid, nonrefundable reservations purchased last week, prior to the May 15 promotion launch, with no penalty and rebook their stays so as to qualify for these promotion bonuses.

The May 10 Club Carlson Facebook post indicated existing reservations would apply to the May 15 promotion and I was given the same misinformation that I published and disseminated from Loyalty Traveler on May 10.

This is an easy case-by-case solution that is in the best interest of the consumers who feel cheated after booking nonrefundable reservations when official Club Carlson representatives leaked information last week that existing reservations would count for these bonus points offers.

And Club Carlson’s promotion objective to generate new bookings will be met by only allowing those nonrefundable reservations in the May 10-May 14 booking dates be eligible for the penalty free cancellation.

Links to my Loyalty Traveler posts provide more detail and promotion analysis for each offer.

Most hotel loyalty promotions are two to four months in duration.

The easiest way to quickly see a list of all hotel loyalty promotions discussed on Loyalty Traveler is to check my Loyalty Traveler Facebook page. All Loyalty Traveler post links feed into Twitter and all my tweets feed into Loyalty Traveler Facebook.

Summer 2012 hotel loyalty promotions

Le Club Accor - this Europe-based program officially changed its name from A|Club to Le Club Accor on March 28, 2012. Accor Hotels offers a variety of global regional bonusesand rate discounts. The program tends to have regionalized rate and bonus points promotions.

Until May 31, 2012 earn 1,000 miles per stay with Delta or Aeroplan.

Best Western Rewards – April 15 – June 3, 2012

Earn a $50 Best Western Travel Card after 3 stays. Elite members earn 1,000 bonus points for each stay, up to 3,000 bonus points.

Best Western FMJUMP12 promotion registration required.

• Best Western Jump Start to Summer Promotion 2012 FAQ.
• Best Western Jump Start to Summer Promotion 2012 T&C.
• Loyalty traveler post April 4, 2012.

Facebook Fans: Best Western runs weekly promotions on its Facebook page. Any Best Western frequent guest should check out Best Western Facebook.

Choice Privileges 

May 17 – August 15, 2012. Choice’s new offer is 2 stays for 8,000 points or a $50 gift card. Choice Privileges Summer Promotion registration link. There is no limit to the number of times this bonus can be earned. The value of this offer is dependent on where you can redeem points. This March 26, 2012 Loyalty Traveler post shows the value of 8,000 Choice privileges points in Paris can be quite the hotel savings.

Club Carlson

***** Club Carlson – Radisson Big Night Giveaway May 15-July 15, 2012. Club Carlson repeats the late-2011 promotion letting the first 100,000 members to register earn 50,000 bonus points after staying one night at a Radisson worldwide.

***** Club Carlson – Country Inns & Suites Big Night Giveaway May 15-July 15, 2012.First 35,000 members to register beginning May 15 earn 44,000 points after staying one night in a Country Inn & Suites.

***** Club Carlson – Park Inn Big Night Giveaway May 22-July 22, 2012.First 20,000 members to register beginning May 15 earn 44,000 points after staying one night in a Park Inn.

[Registration Links Note:the details for these three Club Carlson promotion will be available May 15. Registration for Radisson and Country Inn at 1am Tuesday May 15 eastern; 10pm Monday May 14 pacific time zones. Park Inn registration begins May 22.]

RadissonBigNightGiveaway.com

SOGOCountry.com

ParkInnOnePlusOne.com

Loyalty Traveler posts:

May 10 – Radisson, Country Inn and Park Inn brand promotions May to July.

May 8 –  Club Carlson Big Night Giveaway Summer Travel Promotions

Hilton HHonors

*** Hilton HHonors – April 1 – June 30, 2012 – Double Points or Double Miles. Registration required. Loyalty traveler post March 21, 2012.

Hyatt Gold Passport

**** Hyatt 3rd Night Free Rate is a rate discount for bookings through November 30, 2012 for stays by December 30, 2012. Rate includes breakfast for two and 2pm late checkout. My Loyalty Traveler rate analysis March 21showed this is a good value and usually lower than AAA rates.

Gold Passport Diamond Challenge- Most beneficial perhaps is to tie this offer into a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Challenge for 12 nights in 60 days (normally 25 stays or 50 nights in calendar year). As Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond for 2012 you also will receive 4 confirmed suite upgrades. Start the Gold Passport Diamond Challenge first and then get the credit card once you have Diamond status to get confirmed suite upgrades for your credit card free nights. FlyerTalk discussion threadon Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond challenge.

*** Hyatt bonus miles May 1 – August 31, 2012,

24,500 airline miles with 11 stays with choice of 11 airline partners.

• 500 miles is normal earning rate for first stay.
• 2,000 total miles (4x) for hotel stays 2 to 4.
• 2,500 total miles (5x) for hotel stays 5 to 11.
• Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2012

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Priority Club Rewards

*** IHG Priority Club 1,000 bonus points or 200 bonus miles per night May 14-Sep 3. Maximum 20,000 bonus points or 4,000 bonus miles after 20 nights. Loyalty Traveler post May 14.

**** IHG Priority Club 2012 Quarter 2 Stay promotions – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running April 1-June 30, 2012. You can only register for one offer, so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Loyalty Traveler post March 16, 2012.

• Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points.
• Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points.
• Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.

***** IHG Priority Club PointBreaks hotel rewards to May 31. These are hotels for 5,000 points. Priority Club points are only $30 through Daily Getaways sale April 9. Priority Club also has discount rates for buying points through April 30. Loyalty Traveler post March 30.

Marriott Rewards

***** Marriott Rewards – Summer Bonus 2012: June 1 – August 31, 2012. Earn one free night certificate at a category 1-4 hotel every two stays; maximum 3 free nights.  Free night certificate is valid for 12 months from issuance. Some members may have been targeted with a different bonus points offer. Loyalty Traveler post May 7, 2012.

Note to Marriott Rewards members: You must have your Marriott Rewards account earning preference set to miles in order to see Marriott Rewards miles promotions.

Starwood Preferred Guest

*** SPG Nice Choice (May 1 – Sep 30)

You choose the 3 month period you want and the offer you want from double points, triple points, free nights, discount rewards and more.

Loyalty Traveler post – SPG Nice Choice May 1, 2012.

*** Sheraton Club Lounge bookings earn 1,000 bonus points when paid with any American Express card for stays February 21 to May 31, 2012. LT post February 24, 2012.

Wyndham Rewards

*** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Double Points or double miles for first four stays and movie tickets. This offer is for members in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 1, 2012.

**** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Wyndham Rewards 10,000 points every 2 stays, up to 30,000 bonus points after 6 stays. This is a better promotion offer for members who do not reside in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 3, 2012.

5-Star Promotion Scale

Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of some hotel loyalty promotions on a Five–Star Scale.

Five ***** = one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of the year.

Four ****= high value rebate on the cost of hotel stays.

Three ***= good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

Two **= a bonus value if you play, but not necessarily worth going out of your way.

One *= There is limited or no value. You are likely paying more than the bonus value.

Rate discounts and loyalty program bonuses are two types of hotel chain incentives to consider when booking travel.

Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you.

When assigning a rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more:

• The opportunity for significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of future hotel rebate in free nights and discounted hotel nights.
• Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.

Loyalty Traveler Update Note: the expanded promotions page April 2012 update will be updated later this week. Today I am busy with Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race Stage 2: San Francisco – Santa Cruz (Aptos).

Readers: Please leave a comment with any promotion links you think should be in the expanded hotel loyalty promotions guide for May to Summer 2012.

Update May 11: Turns out FrequentFlyerBonuses posted the Priority Club promotion last week so I am actually late with the Priority Club news.

Here are the promotion summaries I was provided:

• Radisson and Radisson Blu is launching the Radisson Big Night Giveaway on May 15, where the first 100,000 people to register and stay at least one night at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort worldwide between May 15 and July 15, 2012, will earn 50,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a free stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort worldwide. After the 100,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points after completing a one-night stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel or resort by July 15, 2012. Beginning on May 15, travelers can register at RadissonBigNightGiveaway.com. In addition, travelers who sign up for the Radisson Big Night Giveaway will have free Wi-Fi access for the duration of their airport visit at Chicago’s Midway and O’Hare airports; New York’s JFK airport and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport.
• Country Inns & Suites By Carlsonalso kicks off its SO GO! (Stay One, Get One) promotion on May 15, offering the first 35,000 guests to register and stay at least one night at any Country Inns & Suites hotel, through July 15, 2012, 44,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a one-night stay at any Country Inns & Suites property. After the 35,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion and complete a one-night stay at any Country Inns & Suites hotel by July 15, 2012, will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points, enough for a free night at select hotels. Beginning on May 15, travelers can register at SOGOCountry.com
• Park Inn by Radisson will launch the 1+1 Stay One, Get One offer a week later on May 22. The first 20,000 guests to register and stay at least one night at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel, from May 22 through July 22, 2012, will earn 44,000 bonus Gold Points – enough points for a one-night stay at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel. Once the 20,000 spots are filled, guests who register for the promotion and complete a one-night stay at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel by July 22, 2012, will earn 15,000 bonus Gold Points, enough for a free night at select hotels.Travelers can register at ParkInnOnePlusOne.com

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

Radisson Big Night Giveaway

• first 100,000 Club Carlson members to register can earn 50,000 bonus points after one hotel stay at a Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel worldwide.
• Stay May 15-July 15, 2012.
• additional registrants past 100,000 members will earn 15,000 bonus points.
• Promotion registration begins May 15 at RadissonBigNightGiveaway.com.

This offer is exactly as all the blogs and social media bulletin boards have presented the deal. This FlyerTalk thread indicates Radisson responded on its Facebook page that reservations made prior to May 15 will count for these promotions.

Country Inn & Suites

• first 35,000 Club Carlson members to register can earn 44,000 bonus points after one hotel stay at any Country Inn & Suites hotel worldwide.
• Stay May 15-July 15, 2012.
• additional registrants past 35,000 members will earn 15,000 bonus points.
• Promotion registration begins May 15 at SOGOCountry.com.

Park Inn

• first 20,000 Club Carlson members to register can earn 44,000 bonus points after one hotel stay at any Park Inn hotel worldwide.
• Stay May 22-July 22, 2012.
• additional registrants past 20,000 members will earn 15,000 bonus points.
• Promotion registration begins May 22 at ParkInnOnePlusOne.com.
• The Park Inn link is not active at this time.

Be ready May 15

The real new news here is the 44,000 bonus points for the Country Inn and Park Inn promotions are limited to the first 35,000 and 20,000 registrants. After that many registrants the bonus is only 15,000 points. Supposedly these offers are open to Club Carlson members worldwide. We will know soon enough when the full terms and conditions are released next week. Here are terms I have confirmed with Club Carlson.

• Club Carlson members can register for each brand promotion and earn all three bonuses.
• Reservations made prior to the promotion launch for stays during the May-July promotion period are eligible for the bonus points.   Update 5/18: Turns out that I was burned with this piece of information. Well actually, I should say some of my readers were screwed with this bad piece of information since I did not have an existing reservation prior to promotion registration. Let me explain that my contact was a PR person for the firm representing Club Carlson who I thought was giving me direct and accurate information from Heather Passe, VP of loyalty programs (or someone with direct knowledge of the promotion terms and conditions. I learned a lesson from this experience. The disappointing aspect of this is there was also a Facebook update from a Club Carlson representative stating pre-existing reservations would count for the Big Night Giveaway promotion. The Facebook data was later removed and there has been no official statement from Club Carlson pointing out their mistakes. This lack of a response is creating some bad press for Club Carlson:  Mommy Points – Club Carlson not honoring some information posted about “Big Night Giveaway” (May 17) and Deals We Like – Club Carlson Big Night Giveaway Promotion Updates (May 17)
• Points + Cash stays are eligible for promotion bonuses.

A good time to Visit Fresno, California

And a friendly reminder from my FlyerTalk friend JumpDogJump that Fresno, California has all three Carlson hotel brands with a Radisson, Country Inn and Park Inn.

Fresno may be one of the better spots for a “triple dip” for the upcoming promotion – The Radisson Downtown ($103) Park Inn – formerly Four Points – ($93) and aforementioned Country Inn ($54) are each just off Highway 41 and about 5 miles apart from one to the next.

Very convenient for visitors from So. Cal. on their way to Yosemite.

Looks like a good reason to head east for a summer road trip to Fresno and some Carlson Hotels while checking out Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Club Carlson sure beats those $500 room rates at Ahwahnee Lodge, Yosemite.

Related Post:

Club Carlson Big Night Giveaway Summer Travel Promotions (Loyalty Traveler – May 8, 2012)

There are two Club Carlson points offers on sale Thursday, May 10 at 1:00pm Eastern. There is no noon presale for these offers.

Members can buy 2 sets of points from each offer for a total 300,000 points for $1,042.20. There are dozens of Radisson Blu hotels around the world where six hotel nights for $1,042 or less than $175 per night will be a substantial savings on the published rates.

Offer #1

50,000 Club Carlson points 

• $174.60 with American Express payment ($3.50 per 1,000 points).
• $194.00 without American Express payment ($3.88 per 1,000 points).
• 142 sets of points available.
• Maximum purchase = 2 sets.

Offer #2

100,000 Club Carlson points

• $346.50 with American Express payment ($3.47 per 1,000 points).
• $385.00 without American Express payment ($3.85 per 1,000 points).
• 71 sets of points available.
• Maximum purchase = 2 sets.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

This has got to be a quick analysis since the sale is in less than two hours after publishing this post.

While it is undeniable there are several Radisson Blu hotels where you can get a $300+ hotel night for 50,000 points costing $175, this loyalty traveler typically doesn’t even pay $175 per hotel night.

My interest is whether there is good value in 50,000 points for $175 for more than one room night. That means looking at hotels lower than the top tier category 6 reward nights for 50,000 points.

Club Carlson Award Night tiers:

In 2011 Club Carlson did a lot of hotel reassignments which had the effect of lifting hundreds of category 1 and category 2 hotels, mostly in the U.S., to higher categories.

50,000 points can be redeemed for 3 nights at a category 2 hotel or with a little more effort to reach 56,000 points you can redeem for two nights at category 3 hotels.

My rate check for Country Inn Fresno, California on Thursday May 24 shows a prepaid rate as low as $60 per night. This means three paid nights would cost $180 and earn points. Buying points is a savings, but not a big savings in this example where $175 in points buys three award nights for this category 2 hotel.

Radisson Hotel Madison, Wisconsin (Club Carlson category 2 hotel)

Radisson Madison is $90 for a prepaid rate. That is about $300 for three nights.

Points + Cash is only 5,000 points ($17.50 to buy in today’s sale) + $65.40 per night. That reduces the nightly cost to about $90 total after tax per room night using a Points + Cash reward, including the cost to buy 5,000 points in today’s Daily Getaways sale. 

The prepaid nonrefundable rate $89.38 would be over $100 after tax.

The lowest refundable rate (BAR) would be about $120 per room night after tax. 5,000 Club Carlson points saves $10 to $30 on one room night in this example.

Buying 50,000 points could save $100 to $300 more than the cost to buy points today over the course of ten Points + Cash nights at Carlson Hotels.

Points + Cash Awards and the Club Carlson Big Night Giveaway Promotions

Now here is another aspect to consider. Club Carlson has some bonus points promotions launching May 15 for stays from May 15-July 15.

The Radisson Madison example shows how Points + Cash is even cheaper than prepaid nonrefundable rates. The previous Big Night Getaway promotion in November-December 2011 allowed Points + Cash stays to count for promotion earning hotel stays.

If you plan to maximize the three promotions that might offer as many as 138,000 bonus points, and if Club Carlson allows Points + Cash stays to again count for promotion earning credit, then you might be able to get even cheaper rate stays using Points + Cash.

Buying 50,000 points for $175 is a decent deal that might reduce the nightly cost of staying at a Radisson and Country Inn and Park Inn during the next couple of months as you try to earn the next Big Night Giveaway bonuses with Club Carlson.

Club Carlson Category 3 Hotels at 28,000 points per night.

The Club Carlson hotel selection grows to include many more touristy and business area locations once you get to Category 3 hotels. Many of these hotels will cost far more than $88 per night which is the rate at which you can buy 50,000 Club Carlson points today.

In this example for the Radisson Hotel Salt Lake City, you will save about $35 after tax using Points + Cash to redeem 5,000 points and $95.40 compared to the prepaid nonrefundable rate of $127.20. You save over $60 on the BAR rate for this night. 5,000 points costs $17.50 to buy today.

Bottom line: Buying 50,000 points for $175 is a decent deal, even if the Club Carlson promotions next week allow members to earn nearly 150,000 points on as few as three hotel nights. You should easily be able to get $175 in hotel stay value from 50,000 points.

Related Posts:

Club Carlson Big Night Giveaway Summer Travel Promotions (May 8, 2012)

Boarding Area blogger Frequent Miler shows steps for maximizing points with 4,500 points Club Carlson new member enrollment bonus and other methods. (May 10, 2012)

The official promotion pages give no details about promotion offer specifics except to display a countdown clock to promotion registration.  The terms and conditions links on the new promotion pages are not active as of May 8.

I went into a bipolar rant last November when the initial Radisson Big Night Giveaway launched due to the confusing terms in the promotion rollout. I am feeling mellow today so I will not rant, but I do not like the fact that there are far more details posted in blogs and bulletin boards about the Club Carlson promotions than the company has officially released. I think this is poor way to launch hotel loyalty promotions. Just my opinion.

One clever FlyerTalker posted if you right click “View source” while on the Radisson page that the terms and conditions could be seen in the script. That was true yesterday, but I see the text has been removed today. This did not work for me trying the Country Inn and Park Inn promotion pages yesterday. There isn’t even an active link to the Park Inn promotion page when I tried.

Here was the text in Radisson Big Night Giveaway webpage from the “view source” that was visible online yesterday.

The Big Night Giveaway Promotion (“Promotion”) is available only to Club Carlsonmembers. To be eligible for the Promotion, members must register online for the Promotion at http://www.radissonbignightgiveaway.com(“Promotion Registration”), provide their Club Carlson member number at the time of reservation or check-in of the Qualifying Stay, and then complete one Qualifying Stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu hotel worldwide (“Participating Hotels”).

Guest must check in for the Qualifying Stay on or after May 15, 2012 and check out must be completed no later than July 15, 2012 (“Promotion Period”).

A “Qualifying Stay” is defined as a stay of one or more consecutive nights in the same room at a Participating Hotel regardless of the number of check-ins or check-outs on a rate for which Gold Points are awarded in accordance with the Club Carlson Program Terms and Conditions.

Guest must be present at the Participating Hotel at both the time of check-in and check-out, enrolled in Club Carlson at or before the time of check-in, and registered in the Promotion no later than the time of check-out (to enroll in Club Carlson, visit www.clubcarlson.com).

The first 100,000 guests who complete the Promotion Registration will receive 50,000 Bonus Gold Points after the completion of their Qualifying Stay.

After the first 100,000 Promotion Registrations, every guest who completes the Promotion Registration will receive 15,000 Bonus Gold Points after the completion of his/her Qualifying Stay.

These Bonus Gold Points are in addition to the standard Gold Points awarded for a stay. Only one Club Carlson account per Qualifying Stay will be credited with the Bonus Gold Points.

Maximum of one Bonus Gold Point award will be credited to a member with a Qualifying Stay under the Promotion regardless of the number of Qualifying Stays completed by the member during the Promotion Period.

Allow 6-8 weeks for the Bonus Gold Points to post to the member’s account.

The Promotion and Gold Points are subject to all Club Carlson Program Terms and Conditions.

Rates for each night of a Qualifying Stay may vary. Promotion is not valid on existing reservations and is subject to availability.

• Promotion May 15-July 15.
• 50,000 bonus points for one paid night (stay) at Radisson.
• Limited to first 100,000 members to register.
• 15,000 bonus points for one paid night at a Radisson Hotel for guests who are not in first 100,000 members to register.
• Maximum one bonus points award per member for this promotion.

Basically the rules might change between now and next week, but this is what has been posted on FlyerTalk, MilePoint and blogs like Mommy Points and Indulge the Wanderlust. Looks like Club Carlson is using the SPG teaser rollout model by asking members to follow them on Facebook and Twitter to get more information on the summer offers.

Radisson Facebook is where the only verifiable information is located at this time from a company person named Dana who yesterday posted a response to Big Night Giveaway promotion questions.

• Register for each promotion separately for each brand promotion.
• Registration opens at 12:01am CDT May 15, 2012.
• Stay between May 15-July 15, 2012.
• Promotion available to non-US members.

Today Dana followed up with this Facebook response:

These are the company facts I have seen to this point in all the web discussion. Everything else here is a composite of other information swirling around the promotions from various sources.

Summer Offers (These are the Club Carlson promotion offers posted on WebFlyer.com which usually gets the real deals sent to them by the companies.)

• 50,000 Club Carlson points for one night at a Radisson Hotel.

• 44,000 Club Carlson bonus points for one night at a Park Inn. The link given on FlyerTalk does not work for me at this time.
• 44,000 Club Carlson points for one night at a Country Inn & Suites.

Potential 138,000 points with 3 paid hotel nights?

The Facebook Radisson response from Dana indicates Club Carlson members may be allowed to register for all three offers with Radisson (50,000 points), Country Inn (44,000 points) and Park Inn (44,000 points).  There are only 10 Park Inns in the US and about 140 worldwide which makes that offer harder to earn for many people. There are nearly 500 Country Inns in the U.S. and there are over 400 Radisson hotels worldwide.

More details will leak out over the next week. Main thing is be ready May 15 to register for these offers and get in the running for a good summer travel bonus from Club Carlson.

And lets hope all these rumors are true.

Summer 2012 offers great free night earning opportunities between Marriott Rewards and now Club Carlson promotions.

• Le Club Accor
• Club Carlson*
• Hilton HHonors
• Hyatt Gold Passport*
• InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
• Marriott Rewards*
• Shangri-La Golden Circle
• Starwood Preferred Guest*

* I placed an asterisk next to the four programs I think are the only hotel programs worth using for this bonus offer.

Best exchange rates for hotel points to British Airways Avios points including the 25% bonus:

1. Marriott Rewards (at 125,000 points = 62,500 Avios points)
2. Club Carlson (at 100,000 points = 22,500 Avios Points)
3. SPG (at 20,000 points = 31,250 Avios points)
4. Hyatt Gold Passport (at 50,000 points = 31,250 Avios points)

The exchange rate is lower for each of these programs at other transfer amounts.

Marriott Rewards Hotel + Air Package can improve the exchange rate for Marriott Rewards points to 1 Marriott point = 1.25 Avios points for up to 150,000 Avios points + 7 hotel nights starting at 270,000 Marriott Rewards points.

Transferring Hotel Points between Hotel Loyalty Member Accounts

Combining hotel points from different member accounts is a good strategy for reaching the high balance needed to maximize hotel points to airline miles exchange rates.

Club Carlson members can combine points from different accounts at no charge. Club Carlson has the most lenient points transfer rules between member accounts.

Marriott Rewards allows points to be transferred between the accounts of spouses and domestic partners.

SPG requires members to be in same household to transfer points between member accounts.

Hyatt Gold Passport allows two members to combine points when redeeming points for a hotel award. I don’t think you can combine points from different member accounts to redeem for airline miles. Please leave a comment if you think you can combine points for hotel points to airline miles redemption.

Leroy Buffington of Minneapolis designed the first metal cage skyscraper in 1880, but failed to secure financing for the project. He was eventually given the patent for the skyscraper in 1888 after several skyscrapers had already been built. The first skyscraper in New York, The Tacoma Building, was completed in 1889.

Chicago’s First Lady

In November 2011 I attended a press media tour of Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago. The Chicago Tourism Board provided some sightseeing excursions for the press. The Chicago Architecture River Cruise on the boat First Lady was a relaxing activity to rest for 90 minutes as the boat motors along the Chicago River and a docent sped through the history of so many skyscrapers along the waterfront that my head was spinning trying to figure out at times which building was being discussed. The tour was quite informative.

Now nearly six months have passed and I look at the photos taken from the First Lady and wonder what I see. The beauty of the internet is I can  spend a few hours doing some internet research and document the details from my photos. I love living with an internet library at my fingertips.

The Chicago River architecture tour covers an area known as the Michigan-Wacker Historic District. The area is known for eleven skyscrapers built in the 1920s.

The architecture attracts me to downtown Chicago. I don’t know much about the culture of Chicago as a tourist who has been twice in the past 18 months for a total of about one week in downtown Chicago.

The river boat architecture tour is one of the top activities for a Chicago visit. You get to see how the city kissed the sky.

The Tribune Tower at 435 North Michigan on the right, home to the Chicago Tribune newspaper, was another skyscraper design winner completed in 1925.

The Wrigley Building, two white buildings on left in above photo was built in 1920-24 and was the first skyscraper in Chicago to have air conditioning.

The Tribune Building features neo-Gothic design with flying buttresses at the top. There are apparently rocks from famous sites around the world, and even a moon rock, in this building.

The clock tower of the Wrigley Building is 425 feet.  The building is illuminated at night, as it has been since 1921, and offers viewers one of the landmark sights of Chicago.

There is a 14th floor walkway between the Wrigley towers. A courtyard passage takes you to McDonald’s, a small store, grassy space and Trump Tower. Thiese close-up photos of Wrigley are from my 2010 trip and these features are not seen from the boat.

Terra cotta detail of Wrigley Building. The white terra cotta cladding gives the building vibrant exterior walls in daylight.

Trump Tower Chicago

This building has 98 stories and its rooftop at 1,170 feet is the second tallest building in Chicago and the United States. The spire rises to 1,389 feet.

The lower floors of the building are the Trump Hotel. I toured the hotel rooms in October 2010 and published a Loyalty Traveler review of Trump International Hotel Chicago.

London Guarantee Building built in in 1923, now known as Crain Communications, is the curved building on the left.

London Guarantee Building at 360 North Michigan on the riverfront.

Mather Tower at 75 East Wacker in the background at 521 feet high has an octagonal tower on top of a traditional building. It was Chicago’s tallest building when completed in 1928. Apparently the Mather Tower building was in disrepair with terra cotta falling off to the street below in the 1990s and there was discussion of dismantling the top section. It is a skinny skyscraper. The octagonal top was rebuilt only a decade ago. The building now functions as the River Hotel Chicago and the octagonal top floors as Club Quarters corporate hotel rooms.

Hotels are a major aspect of the Chicago skyline along with corporate office buildings. One of the largest hotels in the city, and I read somewhere one of the hotels most used by U.S. Presidents for Chicago visits due to its secure accessibility, is the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers .

Sheraton Chicago Hotels & Towers.

35 East Wacker, also known as the Jewelers Building, was built from 1925-27 and originally designed as commercial offices for diamond jewelers with 22 floors of parking and car elevators as a security measure. At 522 feet the dome at top was originally the Stratosphere Restaurant. Chicago lore says Al Capone had a speakeasy in the dome during Prohibition.

35 East Wacker Drive, Jewelers Building (1927)

Hotel 71, independent luxury boutique in Chicago with rates under $150. Obviously Hotel 71 is not a discussion part of the architecture tour, but I spy a hotel beside the Mather Tower in my photo from the boat.

Hotel 71, Chicago and the Mather Building.

While not historically significant from the 1920s, all eyes marvel at the cylindrical towers of Marina City. House of Blues Chicago, Sax Chicago Hotel (a Thompson Hotel) and Westin Chicago River North hotel are located right around the towers.

Marina City towers, Chicago (1964)

The lower floors are parking levels. I recall hearing comments from other passengers on the First Lady boat referencing the car through the window scene of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and imagining this as a good movie scene location. It has probably already been done.

Another view of Trump International Tower and Wrigley Building.

Victim of the Recession

Could have been Shangri-La Chicago Hotel?

This building shell at 111 West Wacker was supposed to be a 90 story skyscraper and the first hotel in the US for the Hong Kong-based luxury hotel brand. The builder ran out of money in 2009, work ceased and Shangri-La Hotels contractually exited the project. Plans are now to build a 65-story apartment building.

View east from Chicago River.

For some reason this next building at 333 West Wacker is a favorite of Chicagoans. It is at the confluence of the river where it changes from east-west to north and south in the city.

333 West Wacker Drive (1983)

This is where Ferris Bueller’s dad worked in the movie. The building reflection in late afternoon is cool.

The massive building on the other side of the river is the one that held my attention.

The Merchandise Mart (1930)

Marshall Field & Co. opened the largest building in the world with 4 million square feet of floor space as The Merchandise Mart in 1930 to bring wholesale goods vendors and buyers together. The Pentagon captured the biggest building in the world title when it opened in 1943. Today The Merchandise Mart  Chicago offers trade shows, design rooms and fairs.

The boat heads north to Goose Island, then south past the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and then back out to the lake and Navy Pier.

Willis Tower (Sears Tower) is tallest building in the Americas at 110 stories and still the third eighth tallest building in the world at 1,450 feet, but losing height ranking fast. There is a 103rd floor Skydeck with a glass ledge extending four feet out from the building at 1,353 feet over the ground that is a major tourist attraction.

The building is more interesting to see from a distance than close up. The architecture tour boat passes by the Willis Tower twice.

Willis Tower Chicago.

The Chicago River Architecture boat tour was 90 minutes long and the time passed quickly. The boat had a bar, but nobody among 100 or so passengers was drinking on a chillish November afternoon and the bar was beneath the deck. The wind in the shade was a bit chilly and the tour ended near Lake Michigan with the fading rays of sun on our faces and the skyscraper buildings of downtown mostly in backlit shadow.

This Chicago Architecture Tour on the Cruise Chicago First Lady river boat was a freebie sponsored by the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau and Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago as part of a media tour I attended in November 2011 for the grand opening of the hotel.

Radisson Blu Aqua Tower Chicago, in center, has a wavy appearance due to the alignment of balconies and glass. The hotel was honored with an award from PETA for its bird-friendly design. Apparently many birds die every year flying into skyscraper glass and the Aqua Tower design is more visible to birds.

Related posts:

Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago (Nov 18) – this post has links to a few other articles I wrote about the Radisson Blu hotel stay in Chicago. I never finished the series to tell about the restaurants. Perhaps one of these days I’ll post the food photos.