Goldpoints plus, the hotel loyalty program for the Carlson Hotels chain, has jumped on the free night promotion bandwagon for summer hotel stays from June 1 through August 31. Two hotel stays at any Carlson Hotels brand of Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn and Country Inn & Suites earns one free night for any of more than 1,000+ hotels in the worldwide Carlson Hotel network.

Goldpoints plus promotion registration is required.

In the USA there are 500 midscale hotels in the Country Inn and Suites and Park Inn hotels to earn free nights with two stays. Around the world there are hundreds more upper upscale Radisson, Radisson Blu and Park Plaza hotels to redeem free nights. Carlson’s Regent Hotels are not listed as a participating brand for this promotion. The luxury Regent brand was sold to Taiwan based Formosa International last month.

The difference in this promotion from the other free night promotions for summer 2010 is the redemption period for using free nights does not overlap with the earning period. You can earn up to seven (7) free nights with June to August hotel stays, but you can only redeem the free nights beginning July 15 with bookings for stays scheduled between September 1 and February 28, 2011.

The six month redemption period is a long window for using free nights. The earning limit of seven free nights may be an unwelcome restriction for some members, but should not affect most members who will not accrue 14 stays at Carlson Hotels over the summer to max out the offer.

Goldpoints plus is offering the easiest qualification for free nights along with Hyatt Gold Passport and the two promotions only overlap in the month of June. Hyatt’s free nights must be used by August 31, so there is no overlap in the free night redemption periods between Hyatt Gold Passport and Carlson goldpoints plus for these two promotions offering a free night after two hotel stays.

Starwood’s free night after three stays ends July 31 and redemption period goes to December 19, 2010.

Goldpoints plus allows free night credits to be earned for stays throughout the summer months. The August period for earning free nights should be a big draw for European travelers.

This hotel stay example shows the leverage opportunity of the two stays earns one free night promotion.

• Richmond, Virginia
• June 4, 2010
• Country Inn & Suites Richmond I-95 South
• $71.60 (AAA rate)

My checks around the country showed many Country Inn & Suites offer rates around $80 per night.

Radisson Hotels in Europe and other regions of the world tend to be more upscale than the typical US Radisson Hotel. One of the major efforts Carlson Hotels revealed in its five year plan at the global summit in March is a major investment to upgrade Radisson Hotels in the USA. The Radisson brand is one of the top brands for its market segment in European consumer ratings.

• London, UK –  The Mayfair Hotel
• September 6-10, four nights
• 234 £ per night = US$336/night x 4 nights = $1,344.

Stay eight times in Carlson brand hotels from June 1 to August 31 and you will earn four free nights. 

Assume $80 for a one night stay at a Country Inn & Suites. 8 x $80 = $640.

Hypothetically, you can spend $640 to $800 for 8 stays during summer and redeem your four free nights for a $1,344 hotel room in London.

 

Even if you average $150 per night and spend $1,200 for 8 stays, you can potentially redeem your four free nights for an equivalent value at an upper upscale hotel anytime during the six months from September 1, 2010 to February 28, 2011.

Heather Passe, Carlson’s VP directing goldpoints plus told me the loyalty program would launch some high value promotions in 2010. Goldpoints plus “This Way to a Free Stay” summer 2010 offer supports that declaration. 

This promotion is a 5-key offer (the highest Loyalty Traveler promotion rating).

Most hotel loyalty programs clearly state a member will only receive elite qualifying credit for one hotel room per hotel stay.

An interesting question on FlyerTalk asked: Is it possible to book two different Hyatt Hotels for the same day and receive hotel stay credit for both to qualify for a free night with the Big Welcome Back promotion?

My initial thought was this is not allowed, but I see nothing in Hyatt Gold Passport terms and conditions that state it is prohibited.  

Priority Club is one program that clearly has a clause limiting a member to one qualifying night credit per night for elite credit and promotions.

Only the member whose name is on the reservation record will be awarded points and will be awarded Qualifying Night credit toward achieving Elite-level status or other promotional goals. Only one Qualifying Night credit, per member, per night will be awarded regardless of the number of reservations booked and paid for by the member.

Earning Points for Multiple Rooms at a Hotel 

I want to focus on a more practical strategy with usefulness for many frequent guests. I don’t want to lose you here because I am now switching to the topic in the title of this thread. Hotel geeks wanting to milk Hyatt’s “free night with every two stays” promotion might consider booking two nearby Hyatt hotels for the same night, and I’ll let you know when I hear a definitive response on the two hotels in the same day question, but the rest of this article has nothing to do with the Hyatt promotion or that question.

Earning points for multiple rooms on a single stay at one hotel is a points strategy that you may have never considered and one that is useful to hotel travelers in a position to be the guest of record for multiple rooms at a hotel when meeting for business, family and social occasions.

Most hotel chains will credit your account with points for the charges in two or three rooms as long as you are the guest of record and the rooms are booked in your name. Priority Club will even let you earn points on nine rooms in the U.S. and Canada. You might as well get the points if you find yourself the group leader and unpaid travel agent.

Family or business hotel stays requiring multiple rooms can be a strategy for significantly boosting your account balance.

Has Aunt Betty ever heard of Hilton HHonors points?

Will Uncle Manny ever stay at a Westin again?

And if you have to tolerate traveling with the new Ivy League business school graduate poised to take your job next year, you can at least have the satisfaction of taking his or her hotel loyalty points for the present.  (That is what happens in Loyalty Traveler’s version of George Clooney’s character Ryan Bingham for “Up in the Air”.) 

Rules for earning points on multiple rooms for a single hotel stay.

Read the conditions carefully as each program has its subtle variations.

 

Best Western = 1 room (But ask at hotel, since hotel discretion to award points for multiple rooms.)

Members are eligible to receive points for staying at Best Western brand lodging establishments if (1) the room is reserved in the Member’s name, (2) the room is occupied by and paid for by the Member and (3) the Member has presented the Card or number at the time of check-in.

Carlson goldpoints plus = up to 3 rooms

You may earn Points on up to three rooms booked under the same reservation. Please be sure to make this request at or before the time of check-in.

 

Choice Privileges = up to 2 rooms

Earn points for up to 2 rooms* per night for qualifying stays at over 5,000
Choice Privileges locations in: United States (including Hawaii), Canada, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, Middle East, Europe**, Australasia***   

* Both rooms must be in your name and include your member number. You must stay in one of the rooms and pay for both of the rooms. You only receive any applicable bonus points on one room. Members only earn Elite status on one room per stay.

** Excluding Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.

*** Including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

Hilton HHonors = up to 2 rooms

1. No points, miles, or credit toward tier status will be awarded for “no show” situations when a member has made a reservation guaranteed with a credit card but then does not check in to the hotel–irrespective of whether or not the member’s credit card is charged for any portion of the reserved stay per the hotel’s “no show” policy.  

Loyalty traveler note: I placed this Hilton HHonors policy above since I saw Starwood Preferred Guest states  a paid “no show” is eligible for Starpoints, however, no stay credit for elite status or promotions is earned for a no show stay (see SPG section below in this post). 

Hilton’s multiple room night policy:

A Member may earn Base points for up to two rooms per stay, if all eligible charges for both rooms are paid on one folio. Base points will be earned for all eligible folio charges incurred on both rooms. The term “eligible folio charges” is defined below. Bonus points issued on Base points, including tier bonuses (15%, 25% or 50%, depending on member tier), bonus points earned through the HHonors Points and HHonors Points Earnings Style and double or triple Base point promotions, will apply to the total Base point credit earned for both rooms. For any other bonuses, including HHonors Marketing Partner bonus points and other promotional bonuses, bonus points will be awarded on one room only. For purposes of obtaining tier status, a member may receive one stay credit on one room only. For purposes of earning miles for stays, miles may only be earned on one room only.

Loyalty traveler note: When booking multiple rooms, the member needs to change earning preference to Points and Points since elite bonus and “Points and Points” 50% bonus will apply to two rooms, however, if earning Points & Miles, then miles are earned for just one room.

Hyatt Gold Passport = Up to 3 rooms

8. Hyatt Gold Passport members may receive Hyatt Gold Passport points for up to three rooms (member’s room and two additional rooms). Member must be a registered guest, occupy at least one of the rooms and pay for all three. Only the room occupied by the member will count toward tier status, benefits and current Hyatt Gold Passport promotions. The occupant of the second or third room may not receive Hyatt Gold Passport points, airline miles or Amtrak Guest Rewards points, either at time of stay or retroactively.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards = up to 9 rooms in US/Canada; 1 room elsewhere

Member may earn points for up to 9 roomsin U.S. and Canada, except InterContinental Hotels.

In other countries, only one room per night will receive points.  

1. You must have stayed in the room and paid for it in full to receive Priority Club points. Only one room will be credited per member per night; however, at U.S. and Canadian hotels (except InterContinental), you can collect points or miles on all Eligible Charges for multiple hotel rooms (less than 10), provided those rooms are used in conjunction with your stay at the same hotel, and your Priority Club Rewards member number is recorded on each reservation, or the charges from those multiple room reservations are referred to on the hotel room bill associated with your reservation. Only the member whose name is on the reservation record will be awarded points and will be awarded Qualifying Night credit toward achieving Elite-level status or other promotional goals. Only one Qualifying Night credit, per member, per night will be awarded regardless of the number of reservations booked and paid for by the member. Points and/or Qualifying Night credit are not awarded for “no shows” even if the room is paid for in full.  

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/c/2/content/dec/pc/0/en/ptc.html

 

Marriott Rewards = up to 3 rooms

Point Earning for up to three rooms.

A member is eligible to receive points/miles for staying at participating Marriott Rewards hotels for his/her guestroom and up to two additional rooms. At least one of the rooms must be reserved and registered in the member’s name and the member must pay for all rooms, which must be requested at time of hotel check-in. The member must also stay in one of the rooms. To ensure points are automatically posted to member’s account, the member’s Marriott Rewards number must be present on his/her guest room folio and up to two additional rooms, as applicable.

 

Starwood Preferred Guest = up to 3 rooms

5.4. You may earn Starpoints for Eligible Charges paid by you during your stay even if the room charge was not an Eligible Charge. However, if the room charges are not Eligible Charges, the stay will not count as an Eligible Stay or Eligible Night towards elite levels of Membership or for threshold bonuses and promotions.

(Loyalty Traveler note: You can receive points for incidental expenses like room service and restaurant charges when the room is booked through an online travel agency like Priceline or Expedia or an airport voucher stay.   

5.5. If you are a registered guest, you may receive Starpoints for Eligible Charges incurred and paid by you for up to three rooms during the same stay (your room plus two others) if all such rooms are registered in your name, you stay in one of the rooms, and you personally settle all room charges upon check-out. Multiple rooms on the same stay count as only one Eligible Stay or Eligible Night towards elite levels of Membership and for threshold bonuses and promotions.

5.6. Starpoints can be earned on charges for no-shows and early departure fees, less taxes and service charges; however, these earnings will not count as an Eligible Stay or Eligible Night towards elite levels of Membership or for threshold bonuses and promotions.

Loyalty Traveler note: Remember the Starwood clause if you ever find yourself missing a hotel stay due to a missed flight or you booked a prepaid room and you were a no show.

5.7. You may also earn Starpoints for food and beverage charges of US$10 or more in Participating Properties’ restaurants even if you are not a registered guest, when you present your Membership card; however, these earnings will not count as an Eligible Stay or Eligible Night towards elite levels of Membership or for threshold bonuses and promotions.

 

Wyndham Rewards = up to 3 rooms

3. A Member is eligible to earn Wyndham Rewards points or airline miles or rail points, as the case may be, for up to three rooms per night when he or she stays at one of the Participating Hotels or Participating WH&R Properties. The hotel should be notified of this request at the time of check-in. If two or more Wyndham Rewards Members share a guestroom, only the paying Member will be awarded Wyndham Rewards points, airline miles or rail points.

After updating the Loyalty Traveler Current Hotel Promotions page yesterday, I realized I hadn’t even discussed some of the major promotions ending this month since writing a summary of Q1 2010 hotel promotions back in December. I have put together a summary list by hotel chain of about 25 hotel loyalty promotions currently available to members. I plan to make the hotel loyalty promotions and special rates summary a weekly feature post for Loyalty Traveler blog.

April 14, Loyalty Traveler Current Hotel Loyalty Promotions Guide

The frequent guest has the choice of many hotel loyalty promotions with little guidance to their relative value. Loyalty Traveler’s summary of current hotel loyalty promotions and limited time offers for the frequent guest are shown below.

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 key rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more: 

• The opportunity for a significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of a hotel rebate in free nights and discounted  hotel nights. 
• Current loyalty program promotions and offers from other hotel chains.
• Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.
• Current economic conditions in the travel industry and hotel location.

Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of hotel loyalty promotions on a Five Key Scale.

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

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

Three Keys = good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

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

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

 

April 14 HELP Summary for Current Hotel Loyalty Promotions by Program 

Best Western Rewards 

3-key Promotion $50 gift card after two stays by May 30 (March 30, 2010)

Elite Status Match Offer (February 19, 2010) FlyerTalk members are stating there is an accompanying offer for 5,000 bonus points after first stay.

 

Carlson Hotels – Goldpoints Plus

5-Key promotion: Award Nights On Sale through May 31: Radisson 50% off, Country Inn and Park Inn 25% off

4-Key promotion Country Inn & Suites Third Night Free is Truly a Free Night (March 18, 2010)

3-key promotion Up to Quadruple Points for stays through May 28, 2010 (March 31, 2010) This can be a 4-key or 5-key promotion if you have 4-night stays at a Radisson which combined with 50% free nights can be one or two free nights earned. 4x points is 80 points/$1. Top category hotel award at 50% discount is just 30,000 points. $800 on a 4-night stay will earn 65,000 points with online booking bonus.

 

Choice Hotels – Choice Privileges

3-key promotion Spring Promotion Stay Twice and Earn 8,000 points Feb 22-April 30

(good for free night at 1,500 hotels)

Hilton HHonors

4-key promotion Nine bonus airline miles promotions that may be combined with free night promotion (April 13, 2010)

4-key promotion Fast Ways to Free Stays (Earn a free night after every 4 stays or 10 nights through June 30) (April 7, 2010)

Hilton HHonors earn unlimited free nights through June 30 – Fast Ways to Free Stays promotion (April 4, 2010)

Hyatt Gold Passport

Limited Time Special Rate Sale US, Canada, and Caribbean (ends Wed. April 14, 11:59pm CST) Prepaid, nonrefundable rates for stays through July 5, 2010.

5-key promotion – Big Welcome Back promotion for one free night after every two stays March 26-June 30 (March 26, 2010)

5-key promotion – Hyatt Gold Passport Instant Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite Fast-track (Feb 21, 2010)

3-Key Limited Time Offer American Express Membership Rewards Hyatt $100 certificate for 2-night stay for 1,500 Membership Rewards points through May 31, 2010. Certificate valid in US, Canada, and Caribbean through December 30, 2010.

InterContinental Hotels Group – Priority Club

2-Key promotion Earn 200 miles or 1,000 points per night up to 20,000 points or 4,000 miles through April 30, 2010 (Dec 22, 2010)

Priority Club PointBreaks 5,000 points per night awards to June 30 (March 29, 2010)

IHG Friend & Family Hotel Rates (Dec 26, 2010)

Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) – Leaders Club Rewards 

3-key promotion – Earn 1 free night after every 5 hotel stays in 2010. Must stay in at least two different hotels. Bellagio in Las Vegas is LHW member. (April 13, 2010)

Marriott Rewards

5-Key promotion – May 1-July 31 New members of Marriott Rewards earn a free night after two stays  (April 5, 2010)

3-key promotion – $50 Gift card for weekend stays at Marriott to April 18 (Feb 24, 2010)

1-Key offer – Marriott Rewards Instant Redemption Awards (March 24, 2010)

Marriott Rewards Triple Airline Miles through April 30 (Feb 18, 2010)

Marriott Rewards 2010 MegaBonus Feb 1- April 30, 2010 (Dec 22, 2010)

Starwood Preferred Guest

4-key promotion $100 Amazon Gift Card for 2 Westin Stays in US/Canada by May 13 (Feb 20, 2010)

3-key promotion SPG link: Pay Your Birthyear Rate (This promotion can be an incredible savings or no savings depending on the hotel and your birthyear.) LT post 4/28/2009

3-key limited time offer Buy up to 20,000 Starpoints at 20% discount = $28/1,000 points. SPG link

2-key promotion SPG up to 4x points through April 15, 2010 (Dec 18, 2009)

1-key promotion Four Points Breakfast for a Buck (April 12, 2010)

Starpoints Airline Direct Deposit is Better for United, Continental, and Singapore miles (March 25, 2010)

Wyndham Rewards

2-key promotion Lufthansa Miles & More 1,000 miles per stay, up to 4,000 miles March 15-May 15.

Hotel Points-to-Miles Conversion Tables for 9 hotel programs and 7 U.S. airlines (March 30, 2010)

Other Offers:

5-key offer – Condé Nast/Competitours - Condé Nast/Competitours 250,000 miles giveaway for 200 words by April 30   (LT post April 9, 2010)

Frequentflyerbonuses.com – Five Years, Five Ways to Win (2005-2010)

Frequentflyerbonuses.com 5^th Anniversary Contest – Prize is $250 Marriott Gift card or 10,000 Spirit Airlines miles

Congratulations to Patrick Sojka of FFB for five years. Loyalty Traveler had its four year anniversary this month.

Goldpoints plus spring promotion for stays at Carlson Hotels brands of Radisson, Regent, Park Plaza, Park Inn, and Country Inn & Suites from April 5 to May 28 earns double points for two consecutive nights, triple points for 3 nights, and quadruple points for 4 night stays. The goldpoints plus promotion mirrors SPG’s promotion ending soon (April 15).

Goldpoints plus 4more promotion registration is required.

Radisson, Radisson Blu, Regent, and Park Plaza Hotels offer 20 base points per $1 in Americas and Asia/Pacific. Country Inn & Suites or Park Inn hotels earn 15 points per $1 in USA & Asia. Europe, Middle East and Africa earn the same 20 or 15 points base rate per Euro.

There are two differences for this promotion from the similarly crafted Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) promotion.

1. Carlson’s goldpoints plus bonus only kicks in with a minimum two night stay. SPG offers double base points for one night stays.
2. Goldpoints plus only offers the 4x bonus points on the first four nights of an extended stay. SPG offers 4x points for every night of an extended stay longer than four nights.

But, here is why I think the goldpoints plus promotion is better than SPG’s.

SPG 4x promotion by the numbers

Assume I spend $1,000 for a five night stay with Starwood Hotels and earn the 4x base points. I am SPG Platinum.

• 5-night hotel stay earns 4x points with SPG promotion.
• $1,000 x 2 base points/$1 = 2,000 base points
• 4x promotion bonus is an additional 6,000 points = 8,000 Starpoints total.
• Gold or Platinum member elite bonus = 2,000 elite points.
• Total = 10,000 Starpoints for a 5-night hotel stay with $1,000 in spend.

I can redeem for one category-4 hotel award night (10,000 points) or one category-7 (7,000 points) and one category-2 weekend night (3,000 points). This is potentially a $250 to $300 rebate at many properties.

Goldpoints plus 4x Promotion by the numbers

Assume I spend $1,000 for a five night stay with a Radisson Hotel ($200/night) and earn the 4x base points for the first four nights. I am Goldpoints Silver (which I received complimentary from this promotion).

• 5-night Radisson stay ($200/night) earns 4x points for the first four nights.
• $1,000 x 20 base points/$1 = 20,000 points
• Earn 4x promotion bonus for four nights. $800 x 60 = 48,000 points.
• Silver elite = 25% bonus on 20,000 base points = 5,000 points.
• Online booking bonus = 1,000 points for elite members; 500 points for other members.
• Total = 74,000 points for a 5-night hotel stay with $1,000 in spend. 

Goldpoints Plus 50% off Radisson Hotels award sale through May 31, 2010.

Redeem for two nights in the top tier award level of category-6 hotels for 30,000 points per night at a Regent Hotel or Radisson Blu through May 31. A category-2 hotel award is just 12,500 points during the award sale. Estimated promotion value with three free nights could be around $500. The 50% off awards has been a periodic goldpoints plus promotion these past two years.

Even after the promotion ends, you would still have sufficient points for one free night at a high level category-6 hotel.

At the more basic level of hotel stays in the U.S.A.

Country Inn & Suites are the predominant Carlson Hotels brand in the U.S.A. with over 400 hotels. These midscale hotels will generally be under $100 per night. Assume you stay four times at Country Inn & Suites on two 2-night stays and two 3-night stays.

• $85 x 2-night = $170 x 15 base points = 2,550 base points
• 2x promotion = 2,550 bonus points
• Silver elite = 637 elite bonus points
• Online booking bonus for elite members = 1,000 bonus points
• $170 for 2-night Country Inn & Suites hotel stay earns 6,737 points
• Total points earned = 6,737 points.

Triple Points for 3-night stays

• $85 x 3-night stay = $255 x 15 base points = 3,825 base points
• 3x promotion = 7,650 bonus points
• Silver elite = 956 bonus points
• Online booking bonus for elite members = 1,000 bonus points
• $255 for 3-night Country Inn & Suites hotel stay earns 13,431 points.
• Total points earned = 13,431 points.

Four stays (10 nights) with $850 hotel spend at Country Inn earns 40,336 points.

This is sufficient for a 25,000 point half-off award night at a category-5 hotel like the Radisson Hotel Boston or two nights at a discounted category-4 hotel like the Radisson Plaza Warwick Hotel Philadelphia for 40,000 points. 

While Hyatt Gold Passport is arguably the best hotel loyalty promotion currently running through June 30 with a free night at any Hyatt Hotel after two stays at any Hyatt Hotels, the Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus spring 2010 promotion is one to keep in mind when your travels take you to the parts of the country where no Hyatt brand hotels are around. Keep this promotion in mind when Country Inn & Suites comes up on the hotel search results. 

Free elite status at goldpoints plus, 1,000 points online booking bonus, and 40 points per dollar for a two-night Radisson hotel stay or up to 80 points per $1 on a four night stay are good offers from Carlson Hotels’ goldpoints plus loyalty program.

[July 1, 2010 update: Marriott Rewards and American Airlines AAdvantage ended their relationship as of June 30, 2010. Marriott Rewards members can no longer earn AAdvantage miles through the program.]

After giving the points-to-miles exchange some more thought since my post on Sunday, I have created simplified points-to-miles conversion tables. Here are tables showing hotel points to airline miles conversions for nine major hotel loyalty programs including Best Western Rewards, Carlson goldpoints plus, Choice Privileges, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards, Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Wyndham Rewards.

In my prior post on this topic I made elite status rate adjustments and correlated points earned to hotel spend levels. I tossed all that for these tables due to the highly variable rates of earning hotel points dependent on elite status, promotions, credit card activity, and partner activity.

For example, the Hilton HHonors blue member earning Points & Miles at 10 points per $1 compared to the Diamond member with a Surpass card earning Points & Points for 29 points per $1 in hotel spend makes it difficult to correlate points earned to hotel spend across a single program, let alone nine programs.

The tables below are only adjusted for Carlson goldpoints, Hyatt Gold Passport, and Starwood Preferred Guest to compensate for variations in base points and provide a similar points comparison to the 10 points per $1 of other programs. The tables use comparable point level column headers allowing a comparison of points-to-miles exchange across programs. The rate a member earns points is not factored into these tables.

The table for Hilton HHonors reveals the poor points-to-miles exchange rate of this program. In hotel travel the HHonors member would earn far more points with Points & Miles earning, but that is really a separate process to the points-to-miles exchange conversion comparison.

Hotel Loyalty Program Ranking for Points-to-Miles Exchange

Marriott Rewards, Carlson goldpoints plus, and Wyndham Rewards are the five star programs for points- to-miles exchanges. Choice is 5-star for Southwest Airlines exchange.

Hyatt Gold Passport and Starwood Preferred Guest (AA, AS, DL, US) are four star programs.

Best Western Rewards, IHG Priority Club Rewards, and Choice Privileges are three star programs.

Hilton HHonors and Starwood Preferred Guest (CO, UA) are two star programs.

 

There was a reason I had to ambush Heather Passe in the conference hall. At lunch time the day before, the media conference for press Q&A at the Carlson Hotels Global Summit in Orlando brought together top executives like Hubert Joly, Carlson Hotels President and CEO. Nothing even remotely related to the goldpoints plus loyalty program was discussed. The press conference did not seem like the forum for me to ask what this loyalty traveler desired to know,

“What were the reasons goldpoints plus recently reduced their category 6 hotel award level from 90,000 points to 60,000 points?”

Would the senior executives behind a billion dollar company even know the details of goldpoints plus?

My fear came true in a one-on-one interview with an executive VP who repeatedly mentioned the name Heather Passe as the brain behind goldpoints plus. I needed to meet this person who could answer my loyalty program questions.

Heather Passe, the visionary for goldpoints plus

Heather Passe, VP Marketing, Revenue Management, and E-Commerce at Carlson Hotels, didn’t have the luxury of relaxation at the end of the Carlson Global Summit sessions and photo ops since I grabbed her off the floor to talk about goldpoints plus shortly after she stepped off the stage. Before we even reached the media room I learned she spent nearly twelve years with Northwest Airlines, most recently as managing director of passenger marketing until 2008 when she started with Carlson Hotels as Vice President of Customer Relationship Marketing. Heather brings her WorldPerks frequent flier program background to the hotel biz.

Inside the goldpoints plus vault

Doubling the number of goldpoints plus members as a component of Carlson Hotels strategic five year plan was the only loyalty program reference made in the first day of the two day Carlson Hotels sessions.

I wanted details.

Winning the Revenue Battle

The second day focused on “Winning the Revenue Battle” and it was this topic where goldpoints plus was finally presented to the audience.

Fredrik Korallus, Executive Vice President, Global Revenue Generation, Carlson Hotels provided details on several aspects of the goldpoints plus loyalty program.

goldpoints plus loyalty program evolution on the timeline

Here is the goldpoints plus loyalty program timeline presented at the Carlson Hotels conference.

• Improved and personalized member communication (initiated).
• Enriched member redemptions (the points required for hotel awards in category 4, 5, and 6 were significantly reduced in price on February 1, 2010).
• Launch hotel incentives for enrolling new members (Q2, 2010)
• Launch a small to medium size business loyalty program (Q3, 2010)
• Define next generation program evolution (Q4, 2010)

Carlson Hotels is launching a hotel level incentive program April 1, 2010 to pay hotels for new member enrollments. Actively engaging the hotel site to enroll new members should mean a higher awareness of member benefits at hotels. At least that is what I hope is an effect.

While we as frequent guests look at loyalty from the points for free nights and miles and hotel stay benefits perspective, the hoteliers are focused on the revenue aspect.

The last bullet is particularly exciting to see. Carlson Hotels is strategically committed to altering goldpoints plus. Changes will likely continue to roll out in 2010, but 2011 looks to be a pivotal year in the goldpoints plus loyalty program.

Growth Spurt Objective from 5 to 10 million by 2013

A graph showed goldpoints plus growing over the past decade from around 1,000,000 members in the year 2000 to 5,000,000 members in 2009. The strategic plan is to have 10,000,000 members by 2013. Another slide stated the 2010 goal as 1,000,000 new members. That leaves one to two million members for 2011 and another 2 million in 2012 to make the goal.

I’m thinking loyalty promotions.

10,000,000 members is about the size of Hyatt Gold Passport, Choice Privileges, and Best Western Rewards according to WebFlyer 2009 numbers.  Starwood Preferred Guest, Hilton HHonors, and Marriott Rewards are in the 25 to 30 million member range.

Optimizing Room Rates

One of the more interesting aspects of revenue management to me is the complex algorithms hotels use to establish rates. This seems to be one of the benefits of belonging to a major chain and paying the fees as a hotel owner. Carlson Hotels has the software to analyze room rate data and provide its hotel members with optimized room rates to maximize hotel revenue.

What does this mean for the frequent guest? Teams of analysts input data, jiggle the numbers, and come up with hotel rates for the next 90 days. Another day passes and rates may adjust again. At least hotel rates do not seem to fluctuate as rapidly as airfares.

I tend to be pretty good at snagging low hotel rates, but it takes observation, persistence and patience. We are alone as consumers trying to outsmart the teams of hotel pricing analysts whose job is outsmarting the guest to get the most money possible for a hotel room.

The value of loyalty

Goldpoints plus members were shown to pay an average daily rate of $127 compared to $111 paid by other guests at Carlson brands. The room rate paid by goldpoints plus members only declined 8% year-over-year compared to a 14% room rate decline paid by other guests.

Hotel owners and managers love to see this statistic.

Now as a loyalty member you may wonder – How is this good news if loyalty members are paying more than other guests in 2009?

Here is my Loyalty Traveler answer applicable to a member in any hotel loyalty program – goldpoints plus members are earning points and elite members receive additional benefits with each hotel stay. The question for the program member should be, “Am I getting $16 in extra value from Carlson Hotel stays?”

I’d argue yes in many cases. Do the Math (pun intended).

$127 ADR earns 2,540 goldpoints for the loyalty member.

Goldpoints has ongoing promotions for more points. Let’s throw another 1,000 points for any old promotion that is around. Goldpoints has had several promotions more lucrative than 1,000 points per stay in the past year.

Earning goldpoints plus Silver elite is not too difficult. In fact, I just received goldpoints plus Silver elite instantly for free last week through a link I found on FlyerTalk. Silver adds 25% to the 2,540 base points.

Loyalty member earns 4,175 goldpoints for a $127 rate.

15 room nights and you have 60,000 points for a free night at the best Radisson and Regent hotels in the system.

The guest paying $111 ADR over 15 nights saved $240. The goldpoints plus guest may have paid $240 more, an extra $16 per night, but also received enough points for four free nights at a low category hotel (likely to cost over $60 per night), or two free nights at a mid-category hotel (finding one priced over $120 per night should be easy), or one free night at the top of the chain category 6 hotels ($240 per night? Likely.)

Goldpoints plus free nights make up the difference in higher room rates a loyalty member may ultimately pay rather than using Expedia or another online travel agency or going the Priceline/Hotwire route.

Other goldpoints plus member benefits during hotel stays are all bonus and for some elite members can easily exceed a value of $240 over 15 nights in Carlson Hotels.

 

Heather Passe

Heather Passe presented in a Carlson Hotels conference session on the last day for “Winning the Revenue Battle.” She highlighted the role of goldpoints plus for full service Carlson Hotels.

Here are some highlights from her official presentation:

Loyalty Program customer goals:

• Faster track to redemption
• Improved elite treatments
• Develop richer, more relevant marketing promotions

An example of one change is goldpoints plus enhanced email communication with items like hotel award suggestions based on your account activity. The customer profiling in email content might suggest hotels you have been to or previously searched and list the award levels. An example is shown in the photo below.

Small to Medium Size Business Loyalty Program

One of the new concepts discussed is a loyalty program for small businesses where the business earns loyalty credit along with the individual employees staying in Carlson Hotels on business. This concept is used in the airline industry with small business loyalty programs like American Airlines Business ExtrAA and Continental Airlines RewardOne, but this is the first small business loyalty program I have learned about for the hotel industry.

Evaluating ALL aspects of the global customer value proposition this year

Heather Passe’s goldpoints plus message to members is a plan to deliver value to the customer and keep the program simple.

I discussed with Heather some of the confusing aspects for me in trying to evaluate goldpoints plus loyalty program.

First, the loyalty program has different earning rates for points depending on the geographic location of the hotel. In the Americas and Asia/Pacific region points are earned per U.S. Dollar  at the rate of 20 points per $1 for Country Inn and Park Inn or 20 points per USD at Radisson, Regent, and Park Plaza.

But for hotel stays in Europe, Middle East, and Africa goldpoints are earned per Euro. A $200 hotel rate in the U.S. earns the same number of points as a €200 rate in Europe with no regard to the currency exchange difference.

Heather says the Euro currency was maintained for consistency when goldpoints plus relaunched in late 2007 as a global program. This is one aspect of the goldpoints plus program Carlson will be looking at later this year.

Second, the Points + Cash award from goldpoints plus has always confused me. Priority Club and SPG have fixed rates of points and cash for their awards, but goldpoints plus is variable. The cash portion of Points+ Cash is a system based on the hotel’s best available rate, but I still don’t quite get it. Basically I have found you need to check the Cash + Points rate against other low rates available for the hotel.

Points + Cash Award Value Example in Amsterdam

Two Amsterdam hotels show different levels of savings with goldpoints plus Points + Cash. I know without looking that if I get a Cash & Points award at Starwood’s Amsterdam Pulitzer the rate is going to be USD$90 + 4,800 Starpoints.

I don’t know what to expect with goldpoints Points + Cash? I have to calculate the different options to see the best value. Free nights with points-only awards are reduced by 10% for additional nights. A category 6 award at 60,000 points is 54,000 points for the second and third nights. The discount does not apply for Points + Cash awards.

Amsterdam Park Plaza Victoria, April 5-8, 2010

• Room rate €376.20 Superior (Special Rate) or
  • 168,000 points points-only award.  Award value = $504/168 = $3.00 per 1,000 points
  • Points + Cash Award = 45,000 points + €250.80. The room rate savings is US$168 in exchange for 45,000 points. $168/45 = $3.73 per 1,000 points.
  • €418.00 Superior Room (Best Available Rate)
  • €523.00 Executive Room (BAR) or 252,000 points for Premium Award
    • Award Value = $701/252 = $2.78 per 1,000 points

Points + Cash saves $168 on the otherwise lowest rate, but costs 45,000 points and makes the stay ineligible for earning points. The redemption value is average value, not great value.

Another interesting thing about goldpoints plus awards is the option of Premium awards offering the opportunity to book an upgraded room with points.

Amsterdam Radisson Blu, April 5-8, 2010

• Room rate €429.30 Superior (Special Rate) or
  • 168,000 points Award value = $576/168 = $3.43 per 1,000 points
  • Points + Cash = 45,000 points + €286.20 = US$192/45 = $4.26 per 1,000 points.
  • €477.00 Superior Room (Best Available Rate)
  • €591.30 Business Room (Special rate) or 252,000 points
    • Award Value = $793/252 = $3.15 per 1,000 points

Points + Cash gives 24% more value for points than points-only  in both of these examples

Both of these examples reveal the Points + Cash rate is about 24% better value than the straight points redemption. Points + Cash are a better value, however, I would like to see the Points portion increase while the Cash portion decreases for this goldpoints option. The cash portion of the Points+Cash award is about 67% of the otherwise lowest rate and the points portion is just 25% of the normal points-only award night.

Contrast SPG Cash & Points to Carlson goldpoints Points + Cash

Starwood Preferred Guest Cash & Points awards require 40% of the points relative to a points-only award night.  The Amsterdam Pulitzer would be $90 + 4,800 points per night for SPG Cash & Points. The Pulitzer hotel was not available for the same dates as used in the examples above as a Cash & Points award, even though it is available as a SPG points-only award for 12,000 points per night.

Goldpoints plus Points+ Cash wins out here since SPG does not offer Cash & Points for the same dates.

But, if the SPG Cash & Points award were available based on the current rate €229/night the comparison of goldpoints plus Points + Cash and SPG Cash & Points would look like this:

Starwood Hotels Luxury Collection,The Pulitzer, Amsterdam

• Room rate €687 Classic or
  • 36,000 points Award value = $922/36 = $25.61 per 1,000 points
  • Adjust SPG and Carlson to similar scale and this is equivalent award value around $2.56/1,000 points and lower than the goldpoints plus award value. (SPG earn 2 base points/$1; goldpoints plus earn 20 base points/$1).
  • Points + Cash = 14,400 points + $270. US$652/14.4 = $45.27 per 1,000 points. Adjusted to the same scale as goldpoints plus and the SPG award value is slightly better.

 

The key points to note in the comparison of goldpoints Points+Cash to SPG Cash & Points awards

1. SPG Cash & Points rate gives 76% better value than SPG points-only.  Goldpoints plus Points + Cash award is 24% better value than points-only award.
2. goldpoints plus Points + Cash requires a cash portion about 67% of the otherwise lowest available room rate. SPG cash portion is only about 30% of the otherwise lowest available rate. SPG will certainly not always have a cash portion as low as 30%, but this is typical for high category, high priced hotels. My searches of goldpoints Points + Cash awards indicate the cash portion is generally well above 50% the otherwise lowest available cash rate.

Important to remember: SPG Cash & Points awards are not as widely available as goldpoints plus Points +Cash awards, but  the cash savings can be huge when they are available.

Keep your eye on Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus. Changes are on the horizon.

P.S. - thank you from Loyalty Traveler to Carlson Hotels, Randy Petersen, and Inside Flyer who made this trip to the Carlson Hotels Global Summit possible.

Yours truly is cited as a “loyalty expert” at the Carlson conference.

My question though, “What happened to the … “loyalty love”?

Country Inn & Suites is running a Spring Vacation Get-away promotion for a third night free when you pay for two nights at participating hotels in the US and Canada between March 1 and May 15. In addition to the free night, each hotel stay is eligible for a Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus bonus of 3,000 points. This is one of the best third night free offers I have seen and definitely worth looking into if you need a 3-night hotel stay and a Country Inn & Suites is an option for your location and hotel market segment. Country Inn & Suites Third Night Free promotion link.

A Typical Third Night Free Offer and Why Country Inn & Suites Offer is Atypical

Starwood Hotels and several other hotel chains regularly offer third night free promotions. Third night free promotions generally imply a rate reduction of 33% on a three night stay. The problem is the rate used for the third night free offer often results in a discount much less than 33%.

Here is an example of the typical offer:

Hotel Gotcha offers a third night free rate.

The rate is $150 per night for the 3^rd night free promotion. You pay for two nights and the cost for three nights is $300. You get the third night free. The 3^rd night free rate is usually a prepaid, nonrefundable rate.

But, when you go and check other rates for Hotel Gotcha you find the AAA rate is only $109 per night. Three nights is regularly $327 and you can cancel up to the day of arrival in case your plans change. So while you are saving 33% on a $450 hotel stay with the third night free promotional rate, the actual room rate you could have otherwise booked was really only $327. Your actual savings is only $27 and not the $150. The 33% discount turns out to be an overall 8% discount rate.

Country Inn & Suites Third Night Free Offer

My searches of Country Inn & Suites hotel rates revealed some interesting features of this promotion.

First, the 3^rd night free is truly the 3^rd night free. Typically for promotions of this type the rates for the three nights are averaged and 33% is taken off the three night average rate. And typically the room rate is quite a bit higher than the otherwise lowest available rate so the 33% discount is much less as shown for Hotel Gotcha above.

A few participating Country Inn & Suites hotels are specifically listed as offering 33% off each night of a three night stay. This type of 3^rd night free discount only applies to ten hotels of 500 Country Inn & Suites properties.

Here is how the Country Inn & Suites third night free works at most hotels.

There are two Country Inn & Suites in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area of California. Hotels in Silicon Valley typically run high rates from Sunday through Thursday nights, often more than double the room rates available for a Friday or Saturday night weekend.

Country Inn & Suites, Sunnyvale, CA

One bedroom Junior Suite, 3-night stay, Friday, March 26 – Monday, March 29

• Friday, March 26 = $119
• Saturday, March 27 = $106
• Sunday, Sunday March 28 = $170  (free)

Despite the third night rate being $170 and $64 higher than the previous night, the three night rate is not a discount on the three night average rate. 

Instead, it is truly the third night free.

The three night rate is reduced from the regular total rate of $395 to just $225 for the two paid nights. An average room rate of $75 for three nights is a 43% discount on the regular nightly rate and exceeds the 33% discount implied in a third night free offer.

Checking other rates shows this $75 per night average rate with the 3^rd night free offer is a huge discount for a junior suite compared to the otherwise lowest rate using AAA at $120.90 per night. 

The flip side of the third night free offer is a Thursday, Friday, Saturday night stay (March 25-28) at this hotel results in paying the high priced Thursday room rate and receiving the lowest priced Saturday night free.

• Thursday, March 25 = $173
• Friday, March 26 = $119
• Saturday, March 27 = $106  (free)

Average nightly rate is $97.33.  The discount on the regular rate of $398 for three nights is now only a 27% savings.

The Country Inn & Suites third night free promotional rate can be leveraged to your advantage to maximize the discount by choosing your three night stay to coincide with the third night being the highest rate night. 

Two other two interesting points about this offer:

Suites and specialty rooms are available at some Country Inns & Suites hotels using this offer.

Hotels I checked showed a cancellation policy up to date of arrival. This is a no-brainer consumer friendly cancellation policy since the typical third night free offer is a prepaid nonrefundable rate.

Check this Country Inn & Suites offer out. You may find your extended hotel stays over the next two months are quite a bit cheaper than you had anticipated.

As you rack up those 15 points per dollar spent at Country Inns, along with an online booking bonus, and the 3,000 points per 3-night stay bonus, you may find yourself in the market for a 25% or 50% discount on award nights through goldpoints plus from April 1 through May 31, 2010. Save 25% on award nights at Country Inn & Suites or Park Inn hotels worldwide. Save 50% on award nights at Radisson, Radisson Blu, Regent, and Park Plaza hotels worldwide.

The $1.0 to $1.5 billion hotel investment pledge by Carlson Hotels is one of the news items hitting the hotel industry press over the past few days. The plan is to establish flagship Radisson Hotels in about five key U.S. cities and revitalize the brand image in the Americas by upgrading or shedding existing Radisson hotels in the U.S.

I attended the Carlson Hotels Global Business conference in Orlando this week titled 2010NE. You may wonder, like I did, what NE stands for? Actually the title design is meant to invoke the theme of ONE company moving forward together.

The conference opened with a couple of fast-paced video slideshows displaying Carlson brand hotels around the world set to the music of the U2 songs “One”, “Beautiful Day”, and “Elevation”.  The conference at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando (not a Carlson hotel) was attended by 1,200 or so Carlson Hotels management personnel, hotel general managers, hotel owners, investors, and 25 or so media persons. It was a truly global audience.

Carlson Hotels unveiled a grand initiative to put money into a comprehensive development and expansion of the individual hotel brands of Radisson, Park Inn, and Country Inn & Suites and make a concerted effort to garner the recognition a hotel company of this size should have in the U.S., although the Americas is just one aspect of the global development project. Carlson Hotels has over 1,000 hotels and is slightly larger than Starwood Hotels globally.

There is a focus on development in India, China, Russia, Mexico, and Brazil as markets for prime growth potential.

Park Inn, launched in 2003 and primarily in Europe, is a mid-scale hotel brand with around 100 hotels at this point. Park Inn hotels are being promoted as a trendy, vibrant value brand. I saw some model rooms and the design concept reminds me a bit of Starwood’s aloft hotel brand.

Country Inn & Suites is the largest brand by number of hotels in the Carlson Hotels chain. The 500^th hotel will open next month in Texas. The five year plan is to have 750 to 1000 hotels in the Country Inn brand. Average daily rate for Country Inn is estimated at $85 in 2012.

Radisson Hotels are currently at 422 open properties with 90 additional hotels in the development pipeline. The stated five-year plan is to have between 600 and 800 hotels by 2015. There are some impressive looking Radisson Hotels around the world. Radisson Blu Frankfurt is one iconic piece of architecture featured in most of the promotion materials. And the Radisson Blu Berlin has the largest cylindrical aquarium in the world according to the website. The idea is to have Radisson Blu hotels (with lounges) fill the upper-upscale market segment, while Radisson (green) will be an upscale brand. The name will not actually be Radisson “green”, however, that moniker was used during the conference to distinguish the two different tiers for the Radisson brand that are envisioned.

I sure would like to see a world class Blu property in San Francisco. The Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf pales in comparison to Radisson Hotels I have seen in Europe and hotels featured at the conference.  Sorry Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf, you have a great location (some rooms have close-up views of the Bay across the street), but externally you look like a tourist motel to me.

The other Radisson Hotel in the San Francisco area is the San Francisco Airport Radisson, next to Hilton’s Homewood Suites, a few miles north of the airport.  This is a newer hotel (six years old?) with a more upscale appearance than the city hotel.

The financials show Radisson is an underperforming brand in the US compared to Europe where it has a solid reputation. The message from the conference is Carlson Hotels seeks to address the inconsistent standard of Radisson Hotels in the U.S. and improve the brand’s image.

One of my favorite statements from the conference was,

“The guest takes nothing away from the hotel except memories and emotions.”

A couple of statistical items I found interesting.

-  only 10% of bookings are made through Carlson hotel brand websites and the goal is to reach 30% by 2015. That is a lot of loyalty points being left on the table by hotel guests.

- The company currently has around 5 million members in goldpoints plus and has a stated target to enroll 1 million additional members in 2010 and a goal to reach 10 million members by 2015. In comparison, I recently saw some numbers showing HHonors has around 25 million members and Priority Club 47 million.

Sounds like more promotions will come our way as frequent guests.  And competition is always good.  Another big loyalty program player on the hotel scene will mean opportunities for the frequent guest.

My interest remained focused on the goldpoints plus loyalty program. I had the opportunity to speak for about an hour with Heather Passe, the management leader behind the analytics of goldpoints plus and instrumental in getting the recent reduction in points required for the high end hotel category awards. I will talk about goldpoints plus in a later post.

What an experience for me to have a glimpse of the hotel industry from the other side of the desk!

I live in the bubble of loyalty programs, social media, and the guest rooms where I sleep. My perspective has always been as a guest. There are so many aspects to a hotel company that I never considered and it was an eye-opener to talk with hotel owners, general managers, and Carlson Hotels management personnel.

During my time at the conference I kept thinking of this dialogue scene from the Cameron Crowe movie, “Almost Famous”.

More to come…

Link: Carlson Hotels Unveils Ambition 2015 Strategy

Radisson Showcase Model Room

Disclosure Notice: My standard room at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center Orlando (not a Carlson Hotels property) was paid by Carlson Hotels for March 3-6, 2010 as a press media attendee of the Carlson Hotels global conference.

Gold Points Plus loyalty program for Carlson Hotels made major consumer-friendly points reductions to high-end hotel rewards this week. The cost for a free night reward in the top three categories of their six hotel reward tiers has dropped. Over 300 hotels at the top of the Carlson hotel chain require fewer points for free night rewards.

The highest Gold Points Plus category-6 rewards were 90,000 points for a free night and are now only 60,000 points. In addition to lowering points at the high end categories, the program has eliminated FlexNights which were a 50% premium for peak demand rewards.

To repeat: Top tier hotels have dropped from as high as 135,000 points for one free night to 60,000 points for a free night. This is certainly a move in the right direction for loyalty travelers. All you Hilton HHonors people looking for loyalty love may want to check out what Carlson Hotels and Gold Points Plus offer.

If you are a frequent traveler in the US and Europe and Carlson Hotels are not on your radar, Gold Points Plus warrants another look for hotel loyalty value.

Carlson Hotels and Gold Points Plus Primer

Carlson Hotels consist of the Radisson hotel brands, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Country Inn & Suites, and Regent Hotels & Resorts. Carlson Hotels has over 1,000 hotels, slightly more than Starwood Hotels. There are over 400 hotels internationally outside of USA and Canada, comparable to Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood. Carlson Hotels’ coverage exceeds most major hotel chains for several countries in Europe. India also has a number of properties.

Earning Points with Gold Points Plus:

• Earn 20 points per US$1/Euro at Regent, Radisson, and Park Plaza brands.
• Earn 15 points per US$1/Euro at Country Inns & Suites or Park Inn

The earning differential is definitely biased towards the US$1.

Members earn 500 points for every hotel stay booked online.

 

Redeeming Points and hotel geographic distribution

1,060 Carlson brand hotels = 612 US; 39 Canada; 409 international

Reward nights for multi-night stays are reduced by 10% for every night after the first night.

Click on the category level below to link to hotel list for each category.

Category 1 = 15,000 points (114 hotels US; 2 Canada; 25 international) 

Category 2 = 25,000 points (365 hotels US; 16 Canada; 33 international)

Category 3 = 30,000 points (114 US; 10 Canada; 80 international)

Category 4* = 40,000 points (16 US; 9 Canada; 89 international)

Category 5* = 50,000 points (1 US; 2 Canada; 125 international)

Category 6* = 60,000 points (2 US; 57 international)

*Prior to February 1, 2010 reward levels were:

• Category-4 = 45,000 points
• Category-5 = 60,000 points
• Category 6 = 90,000 points 

Carlson Hotels and goldpoints plus has certainly become a value player in the hotel loyalty game after these changes.

Links:

Carlson Hotels – http://www.carlsonhotels.com/

Gold Points Plus – https://www.goldpointsplus.com/home.do

Redeem Points – https://www.goldpointsplus.com/fgp/redeem/home.do

Earn Points – https://www.goldpointsplus.com/fgp/earn/home.do

Can you name 3 hotel brands of Carlson Hotels?

Carlson Hotels Worldwide is headquartered in Minneapolis and the company is reported to have a focus on brand identity development for 2010. The Carlson hotel chain is similar in size to Starwood Hotels with over 1,000 hotels globally, yet the Gold Points Plus hotel loyalty program lacks the stature of a much smaller hotel chain like Hyatt Hotels with only 40% of the hotel properties of Carlson Hotels.

Hotels Magazine published a profile of the Carlson Hotel chain two weeks ago. Radisson Hotels is the upscale brand of the Carlson Hotels chain. Radisson and Radisson Blu (upper-upscale) are more than 400 hotels worldwide and are better known brands in Europe than the USA. The company has plans for another 89 Radisson hotels outside the USA. The 5-year plan for Radisson Hotels is to make the brand appear competitive in North America and comparable to Starwood’s Sheraton and Westin brands. The bulk of the Carlson Hotel chain properties are the midscale Country Inn & Suites (about 500 hotels) and Park Inn (about 100 hotels) brands. Country Inn & Suites is one of the largest mid-market brands in the USA.

Carlson Hotels unveils one of the first winter 2010 promotions and this looks like a respectable bonus offer for Gold Points. Each stay beginning with the second stay earns cumulative points bonuses.

2^nd stay = Earn 5,000 bonus points

3^rd stay = Earn 7,500 more bonus points.

4^th stay = Earn 12,500 more bonus points.

5^th stay = Earn 25,000 more bonus points.

50,000 total bonus points after 5 stays.

50,000 Gold Points Bonus Points Promotion registration is required.

The hotel loyalty program winter offers should be rolling out over the next couple of weeks across a variety of hotel chains.

Gold Points Plus hotel loyalty program Links:

Gold Points Plus Earn Points

Gold Points Plus Redeem points Hotel Award tables

Gold Points Plus Member Benefits

Discount award nights through January 31, up to 50% off

Sample hotels at 50% off discount for 30,000 points a free night:

• Radisson Boston, 30,000 points

• Radisson Plaza Minneapolis

• Radisson SAS Hotel Altstadt Salzburg, Austria

• Radisson SAS Royal Hotel Copenhagen, Denmark

• Radisson Blu Hotel at Disneyland Paris, France

• Radisson Blu Hotel, Capetown, South Africa

• Radisson Hotel, Sydney, Australia

Loyalty Traveler post on Gold Points Plus

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/09/18/carlson-hotels-goldpoints-plus-double-points-to-dec-15/ (This September 18, 2009 post offered some analysis on the Gold Points Plus hotel loyalty program. My September criticism of the website seems to have been addressed. Information looked easy to locate on the website today.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rated Best Kid-Friendly Hotel in San Francisco by Oyster.com. I prefer the Sheraton across the street myself.

 

Loyalty Traveler Hotel Loyalty Promotion Key rating = 3 keys