Club Carlson Category 6 hotel rewards at 50,000 points per night includes 59 hotels, mostly in Europe and comprise the top level rewards.  Some of these hotels cost as much as 135,000 points in 2009 when the standard reward rate for category 6 hotels was 90,000 points and before goldpoints plus had no blackouts for reward nights and Flex night rewards required 50% more points.

Category 6 hotels require just $2,500 in hotel spend for a general member to earn 50,000 points. This is the fastest earning top level reward among all major hotel loyalty programs. In comparison, HHonors Points & Points members require $3,334 in spend to earn 50,000 points for a category-7 hotel reward night and HHonors Points & Miles earners require $5,000 in spend. Most hotel programs fall within this range with Priority Club (top-tier InterContinental Hotels) and Marriott Rewards (category-8 ) at $4,000 in spend to earn a 40,000 points reward night. Hyatt Gold Passport takes $4,400 in spend to earn 22,000 points for a category-6 reward night. Starwood Preferred Guest is otherworldly expensive with $15,000 in spend to earn a category-7 reward night, but even a category-5 in SPG at 12,000 points may take $6,000 in spend for a general member and $4,000 for SPG elites.

Club Carlson elite bonuses match or exceed other programs at the Gold (50% bonus) and Concierge (75% bonus) levels making the Club Carlson claim as the program for earning fastest free nights a legitimate consideration for the frequent guest wanting free nights with points.

USA Category-6 Hotels

• 3 hotels in 2 states (Boston 1, New York City 2).
• 3 Radisson Hotels.
• 1 hotel Radisson Boston formerly category-5 (50,000 points) is Club Carlson category-6 (50,000 points). Hotel reward cost is same.
• 2 hotels formerly category-6 (60,000 points) are now 50,000 points. Hotel reward cost 17% decrease.

Caribbean

• 1 Radisson Hotel (Aruba).
• 1 hotel (Aruba) formerly category-6 (60,000 points) is now 50,000 points. Hotel reward cost 17% decrease. Regent Hotel was not listed in February 2011 goldpoints plus hotel list.

Europe, Middle East and Africa

• 54 hotels in 21 countries in EMEA region.
• 46 hotels in 13 countries in Europe.
•  6 hotels in Middle East/Central Asia. Azerbaijan 1, Bahrain 1, Kazakhstan 1, Kuwait 1, Saudi Arabia 1, UAE 1.
• 2 hotels in Africa. Libya 1, South Africa 1.
• 7 Park Plaza hotels (Amsterdam 1, London 6).
• 2 Regent Hotels (Berlin, Bordeaux).
• 45 Radisson Hotels.
• 1 hotel, Radisson Astana Kazakhstan was formerly category-4 at 40,000 points increased to 50,000 points. Hotel reward cost increase of 25%.
• 18 hotels from goldpoints plus category-5 (50,000 points) remain the same reward price in Club Carlson category-6 (50,000 points). Hotel reward cost is unchanged.
• 34 hotels dropped from goldpoints plus category-6 (60,000 points) to Club Carlson category-6 (50,000 points). Hotel reward cost 17% decrease.

Asia-Pacific

• 1 hotel Radisson Blu Plaza Sydney, Australia was goldpoints plus category-5 (50,000 points) and remains at the same reward price in Club Carlson category-6 (50,000 points). Hotel reward cost is unchanged.

Link: Club Carlson Hotel Category 6

Club Carlson category-6 Hotels (March 31, 2011)

Related Posts:

Competitive Advantages of Club Carlson Hotel Rewards (April 10)

Club Carlson Hotel Rewards Category Reassignment Analysis – Overview and Category-1 (April 7)

Club Carlson Category 2 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 3 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 4 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 5 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 9)

Club Carlson Category 6 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 9)

There are 162 hotels in Club Carlson category 5 hotel rewards. This category is where the hotels in the USA dwindle to a handful and 9 of 10 hotels in category 5 in the USA increased in reward cost. The rest of the world, especially Europe, offer some of the finer hotels in the Carlson Hotels chain at reduced rates from the former goldpoints plus rewards.

USA

• 10 hotels in 7 states.
• 3 Country Inn & Suites Hotels.
• 7 Radisson Hotels.
• 2 hotels formerly category-3 (30,000 points) are Club Carlson category-5 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost increase of 47%.
• 7 hotels formerly category-4 (40,000 points) are now 44,000 points. Hotel reward cost increase of 10%.
• 1 hotel remains at category-5 dropped from 50,000 points to 44,000 points. Hotel reward cost decrease of 12%.

Canada

• 7 hotels in 4 provinces.
• 1 Country Inn & Suites.
• 6 Radisson Hotels.
• 1 hotel formerly category-3 (30,000 points) at Club Carlson category-5 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost 47% increase.
• 4 hotels formerly category-4 (40,000 points) are now 44,000 points. Hotel reward cost 10% increase.
• 2 hotels remain at category-5 and dropped from 50,000 points to 44,000 points. Hotel reward cost 12% decrease.

Caribbean, Mexico and South & Central America

• 10 hotels in six countries.
• 10 Radisson Hotels.
• 1 hotel formerly category-3 (30,000 points) at Club Carlson category-5 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost increase of 47%.
• 3 hotels formerly category-4 (40,000 points) are now 44,000 points. Hotel reward cost 10% increase.
• 6 hotels remain at category-5 and dropped from 50,000 points to 44,000 points. Hotel reward cost 12% decrease.

Europe, Middle East and Africa

• 116 hotels in 34 countries in EMEA region.
• 103 hotels in 25 countries in Europe.
• 8 hotels in Middle East. Azerbaijan 1, Israel 1, Lebanon 1,  Oman 2, Saudi Arabia 1, UAE 2.
• 5 hotels in Africa. Mali 1, Senegal 1, and South Africa 3.
• 5 Park Plaza hotels.
• 15 Park Inn hotels.
• 95 Radisson Hotels.
• 1 Regent Hotel, Zagreb, Croatia.
• 2 hotels (Park Inns in Sweden) formerly goldpoints plus category-1 hotels (15,000 points) are Club Carlson category-5 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost increase of 193%.
• 1 hotel, Park Inn Muscat, Oman formerly goldpoints plus category-2 hotels (25,000 points) at Club Carlson category-4 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost increase of 76%.
• 18 hotels formerly category-4 hotels at 40,000 points increase to 44,000 points. Hotel reward cost increase of 10%.
• 76 hotels from goldpoints plus category-5 (50,000 points) remain in Club Carlson category-5 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost decrease of 12%.
• 16 hotels dropped from goldpoints plus category-6 (60,000 points) to Club Carlson category-5 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost decrease of 27%.

Asia-Pacific

• 19 hotels in seven countries.
• 1 Country Inn & Suites.
• 2 Park Plaza hotels.
• 14 Radisson Hotels.
• 2 Regent Hotels (Singapore and Taipei).
• 1 Country Inn & Suites Gurgaon, India was formerly category-2 (25,000 points). Hotel reward 76% increase.
• 6 hotels formerly category-4 hotels at 40,000 points increase to 44,000 points. Hotel reward cost increase of 10%.
• 6 hotels from goldpoints plus category-5 (50,000 points) remain in Club Carlson category-5 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost decrease of 12%.
• 3 hotels dropped from goldpoints plus category-6 (60,000 points) to Club Carlson category-5 (44,000 points). Hotel reward cost decrease of 27%.

Link: Club Carlson Hotel Category 5

Club Carlson Category 5 Hotels (March 31, 2011)

Related Posts:

Competitive Advantages of Club Carlson Hotel Rewards (April 10)

Club Carlson Hotel Rewards Category Reassignment Analysis – Overview and Category-1 (April 7)

Club Carlson Category 2 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 3 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 4 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 5 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 9)

Club Carlson Category 6 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 9)

Select Carlson Hotels are offering triple point rates through July 31 at about 30% of the global properties.

Radisson and Park Plaza brands normally earn 20 base points per US$1 in the Americas or Asia-Pacific regions or 20 base points per 1€ for EMEA region of Europe, Middle East and Africa. Country Inn & Suites or Park Inn stays earn 15 base points per US$1 or 1€ for these same regions. Triple points mean 60 points per $/€ for Radisson/Park Plaza stays and 45 points for other brands.

The luxury Regent Hotel brand was sold by Carlson Hotels and left the goldpoints plus loyalty program as of June 15, 2010.

Analysis:

Triple points is a special rate offer and results in a higher nightly room rate than some other rate options. The member will need to decide if the points differential is worth the extra cost.

Triple points rates appear to be combinable with the stay two and earn one free night promotion.

Radisson Suite Hotel, Huntsville, Alabama

• Saturday, June 19
• Triple Points Rate = $102.35 or $115.63 after tax.
• 3x points rate earns 6,141 points.
• AAA rate = $80.10 and $90.71 after tax.
• AAA rate earns 1,602 base points. 

Triple Points rate net gain is 4,539 points for $24.92.

(3x earn rate = $5.49 per 1,000 points)

Radisson Suite Hotel Huntsville is a category 2 goldpoints plus hotel redemption for 25,000 points per night. The extra points earned are equivalent to $137 cost for a free night at the Radisson Huntsville. This is not a good value for this hotel compared to the current prevailing rates, but the use of the extra points for a Points + Cash Award Night or another hotel might give a better value for points.

Country Inn & Suites, Sunnyvale, California

• Wednesday, July 7
• Triple Points rate = $174.80 Guest Room ($190.53 after tax)
• 7,866 points (3x rate)
• AAA rate = $136.80 ($149.11 after tax)
• 2,052 points (AAA rate)

5,814 additional points with Triple Points rate for $41.42.

(3x earn rate = $7.12 per 1,000 points)

Loyalty Traveler Triple Points Offer Conclusion: Triple points is a route to accelerated goldpoints earning, however, the higher rates for earning triple points mitigates the value of this offer. This is a good offer if the earning rate is less than $5.00 per 1,000 points when paying higher triple points rates. 

Overall, the triple points offer is not particularly lucrative unless you have an immediate specific plan for using points or you plan to hold points until the next offer for 50% off hotel awards which seems to be a regular periodic offer of goldpoints plus.  

Loyalty traveler key rank for goldpoints plus triple points = 2 of 5 keys.

Keep in mind the two stays for one free night promotion from June 1 – August 31 is a 5-key offer and one of the best opportunities available these next few months for frequent travelers in the hotel loyalty program world.

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.

Radisson showcase room design

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.

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.

Gold Points Plus Hotel Reward Categories

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.)

Radisson Hotel, Fisherman's Wharf San Francisco

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

Goldpoints Plus is offering unlimited double points with all Carlson Hotel stays through December 15, 2009. Goldpoints Plus regular earning rate is 20 points per $1 for Radisson, Regent, and Park Plaza brands; 15 points per $1 for Park Inn and Country Inns & Suites. Double points boosts these earning rates to 40 points per US$1 or 30 points per US$1. The high points earning ratio  is negated by the high points redemption cost for free hotel nights.

Promotion registration is required:  https://www.goldpointsplus.com/home.do 

[Sep 28 update: Looking back over this post I see I focused more on Goldpoints Plus Cash&Points. After taking another look at this promotion and checking some local hotels, I see room rates are significantly higher for the Double Goldpoints rate compared to the lowest available rate.

Here are two examples:

October 16-18 (Fri-Sun) two night stay at Radisson San Francisco Airport.

$115.50 per night Double Goldpoints rate

$84 per night same room and includes $10 breakfast credit (nonrefundable).

October 16-18 (Fri-Sun) two night stay at Country Inn & Suites, San Carlos (near SFO).

 $97.90 per night Double Goldpoints rate.

 $66.75 per night 25% off special offer rate for same room (nonrefundable).

Those are hefty premiums for earning Double Goldpoints and the significantly higher room rate being charged for Double Goldpoints effectively negates the value of the extra points.]

Loyalty Traveler hotel loyalty promotion key rating = 1.5 of 5 keys.

Radisson Hotels is Carlson Hotels’ flagship brand with over 400 hotels globally. Radisson Hotels are comprised of Radisson, Radisson Blu (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and Radisson Edwardian Hotels in the UK. Regent Hotels are the luxury brand of the Carlson portfolio with just a handful of hotels in destinations like Turks and Caicos, Maldives, Singapore, Bordeaux, Zagreb, Taipei, and Beijing.  Country Inn & Suites is a midscale hotel brand with about 480 hotels primarily located in the US. Park Plaza and Park Inn round out the Carlson Hotel portfolio.

Carlson Hotels is a slightly larger hotel chain than Starwood Hotels by number of properties with just over 1,000 hotels globally. Although Starwood Hotels has almost twice as many rooms globally.

The large amount of points required for a free room night reduces the value of Goldpoints Plus points and is Loyalty Traveler’s primary complaint about the program. The option for Points & Cash awards, periodic promotions like 50% off award nights, and brand-specific room rate discounts all combine to make Goldpoints Plus a competitive hotel loyalty program if you spend your points and cash wisely and take advantage of special offers.

Goldpoints Plus Free Hotel Nights

https://www.goldpointsplus.com/offers/displayDetail.do?offerId=1826172

Earning Goldpoints Plus

Hey Goldpoints Plus. You need to redesign this webpage to enhance consumer useability. See my comments below.

I have not spent much time on the Goldpoints Plus website this past year. My first critique of the website is the difficulty in locating information about the points earning rate per dollar for hotel stays. There is a tab for “Earn” but the webpage it links to turns out to be hit or miss with information about how a member earns points from hotel stays.

The page highlights several ways a member can earn points. Unfortunately, the link for earning points from hotel stays is just one of a list of rotating options. Chances are that some consumers will have the page load without the link showing how points are earned from hotel stays. This happened to me several times as shown below.

Goldpoints Plus Ways to Earn - No link showing how to earn points from hotel stays

You have to be lucky enough to have the Earn Points with Every Stay option be one of the choices loaded on the page to link to hotel stay earning rules. Several page loads did not show this link choice and I had almost given up before I noticed the link in an earlier screenshot I had saved. Refreshing the page several times eventually brought the “Earn points with every stay” link back.

Goldpoints Plus Ways to earn points option with hotel stays earning link

https://www.goldpointsplus.com/fgp/earn/home.do

Earn points with every stay link (if you are fortunate enough to have it appear when the page loads), shows most hotel stays earn 20 points per $1, except Country Inns & Suites and Park Inn earn 15 points per $1.

Sizing Up Points Redemption with Goldpoints Plus

There are three Radisson Hotels locally in my area of San Francisco Bay coastal California. Radisson San Jose Airport,  Radisson San Francisco airport and the Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco. These three locations allow a comparison of the redemption rate of the Radisson Hotel compared to the redemption rate at a hotel with another major hotel chain at these same locations.

Comparing hotels across chains is challenging. Different hotel design, location, and amenities make it difficult to compare redemption rates, but it is a valid comparison for the frequent guest looking to assign comparative value of points with different hotel loyalty programs.

San Francisco Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf vs. Starwood’s Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf

Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf is a Goldpoints Plus Category 5 redemption property at 60,000 points per night. The double points promotion allows a member to earn 40 points per US$1 at Radisson Hotels.You would need $1,500 in spending to earn 60,000 points for a free night. Without the double points promotion you would need $3,000 in hotel spending.

Assume as a Goldpoint Plus member you have 10 stays at $150 per night during double points. The member will earn 60,000 points + 5,000 points for online booking. 65,000 points earned for $1,500 in hotel spend.

Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf is across the street from the Radisson. With Starwood Preferred Guest you need 10,000 points for a Category 4 hotel free night. At 2 Starpoints per $1 that would require $5,000 in hotel spend.

Assume an SPG member has 10 stays at $150 per night over the next couple of months during the 1,000 points per stay bonus. This SPG member earns $1,500 x 2 starpoints = 3,000 points from hotel spend. SPG bonuses add another 10,000 points. 13,000 points earned for $1,500 in hotel spend with Starwood.

$1,500 in hotel spend with Radisson earns sufficient points for one free night at Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf. The same spend and stays with Starwood hotels also earns one free night at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf.

Goldpoints Plus and Starwood Preferred Guest tie for value with these two hotels in San Francisco. 

Goldpoints Points & Cash vs. SPG Cash & Points

Tuesday, October 20

10,000 points + $107.40. The lowest paid rate is $143.65.

Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf

No Cash & Points available for October 20. Paid room rate is $179

GoldPoints wins. 10,000 points saves $36.25 + tax on room rate, but I believe it is better to save points in this situation since $143 would earn 5,720 points for this stay during the double points promotion. 

These are roughly equivalent values for two hotels in different hotel loyalty programs in the same location.

In my opinion though, the Sheraton is a nicer property.

San Francisco Airport: Radisson SFO vs. Hilton’s Homewood Suites SFO

Radisson SFO actually shares a parking lot with Homewood Suites in a bayside business park a few miles north of the San Francisco Airport in Brisbane.

Radisson SFO is a Category 3 redemption requiring 30,000 points per night. Assume the same $1,500 in hotel spend for 10 stays and the 65,000 points earned is sufficient for 2 free nights at Radisson SFO.

Homewood Suites SFO

HHonors Category 3 Hotel = 25,000 points for free night.

Hilton Points& Points preference earns 15 points per US$1 for non-elite members. Assume $1,500 in spend for 10 stays = 22,500 points earned.

Hilton currently has a promotion to earn 10,000 points after 5 stays. The frequent guest would earn 32,500 points after 10 stays with $1,500 in hotel spend.

The Goldpoints Plus member earns two free nights with equivalent spending while the Hilton member only earns one free night.

Radisson SFO Points & Cash rate for Tuesday, October 20

Rate is 5,000 points + $95.40. The lowest available paid rate for this night is $135.15. In this case 5,000 points is worth a $40 cash savings. The value of Goldpoints is double at the airport hotel compared to Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf Points & Cash example since 5,000 points for the SFO property is only 50% of the 10,000 points needed at Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf using Points & Cash to save $40.

Note to Carlson Hotels’ Goldpoints Plus and InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club on your Points & Cash bad and good points:

I had a boss once who repeatedly would say, “Don’t just tell me the problem. Give me a solution.” I have been on a Priority Club rant this week about the widespread promotion of Points & Cash option over the web without any substantial information on how this option works.

Looking over the Goldpoints Plus website I have to commend the designers for laying out an easy-to-follow page for points redemption choices. Under the Goldpoints homepage is a Redeem tab with a direct link to the Points & Cash option containing descriptive information.

This is a page IHG Priority Club could try to emulate in promoting their new Points & Cash hotel option.

The Priority Club and SPG models for Points & Cash are more consumer friendly with a defined Cash portion for this hotel payment option. Goldpoints Plus has the Points & Cash disadvantage of the member having to look up each hotel and a specific date to determine how much cash is required for a Points & Cash stay.

GoldPoints Plus has a Quarter 4 promotion for members who complete 3 stays at any Carlson hotel property worldwide between October 1 and December 31, 2008 to be eligible for one hotel stay up to 4 nights in 2009 at 1/2 points of the standard redemption level for any Carlson hotel worldwide.

Carlson Hotel brands include Radisson Hotels, Country Inn and Suites, Park Inn, Park Plaza, and Regent Hotels.

The promotional stay is not transferable.

Four Nights at Half Points promotion offer link.

Promotion terms and conditions.

Read Loyalty Traveler’s June 2008 post “Carlson Hotels Worlwide GoldPoints Plus” for an overview of the hotel chain and loyalty program.

Ric’s Note: The past week I have posted overviews of Wyndham Rewards, Choice Privileges, and Best Western Gold Crown Club (Randy Petersen reports the rumor that a name change to Best Western Rewards is in the works). I was actually writing these in the spirit of budget travel. Then, I come across a FlyerTalk thread mentioning hotels in Europe are available at 50% off standard redemption rates for Radisson. I’m reminded of a Radisson Gold Points advertisement I kept seeing in May on FlyerTalk making a claim to being the easiest hotel program to earn free nights or some such bold statement (sorry, I don’t remember the ad wording and I didn’t ever get a screen shot. Send me an email if you know the wording of the Radisson ad I am taking about).

These blog posts are not comprehensive analyses of the hotel loyalty programs. I have written quick basic informational overviews and report some of my findings as I navigated the hotel loyalty program and corporate websites for a particular chain. The primary issue for me as a hotel loyalty program analyst focused on the consumer is user-friendliness and function for both the frequent guest program and the loyalty program and reservations websites.

*****

Radisson Hotels – GoldPoints Plus

The Radisson Hotels and Resorts websites were terrific for ease of navigation and locating relevant information about the loyalty program, points required for a free night, and elite member benefits.

Carlson Hotel Family – 985 hotels worldwide in five hotel brands in 71 countries. The first Radisson hotel was opened in 1909 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Radisson Hotels and Resorts is one of the hotel brands of Carlson Hotels Worldwide. Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Radisson Hotels and Resorts (USA) – mid-scale to upscale lodging segment with about 400 full-service hotels in the flagship brand in 64 countries
Radisson SAS Hotels and Resorts (international) upscale lodging segment
Radisson Edwardian Hotels (UK and London) – 13 hotels in upscale lodging segment

Regent Hotels and Resorts (luxury lodging segment) – 9 hotels with several more in construction. These luxury hotels were part of Four Seasons when bought by Carlson in 1997.

Park Plaza – (mid-scale to upscale lodging sector) about 40 hotels and many international locations

Country Inns and Suites – (mid-scale lodging sector) over 450 hotels in North America, Europe, Latin America and India

Park Inn – (mid-scale lodging sector) about 100 hotels worldwide

Earning GoldPoints

20 Gold Points per $1 US or Euro in eligible hotel spending at Radisson Hotels and Resorts, Regent Hotels, and Park Plaza hotels.

15 Gold Points per $1 US or Euro in eligible hotel spending at Country Inns and Suites and Park Inn hotels.

500 bonus points for booking online. (Most major hotel programs eliminated online booking bonuses years ago.)

The points earnings are biased against Euro currency. This is certainly not as good a deal for the hotel stay purchases made in Europe when the Euro is worth 50% more than the dollar. How are points calculated for a European member staying in the Middle East on a currency different from USD or EUR?

Redeeming Points for Free Nights

The GoldPoints website offers every hotel member redemption rate for a free night using GoldPoints on a single webpage.

There are 6 tiers of hotels for free night reward redemption starting at 15,000 GoldPoints for a Tier 1 free night and rising to 90,000 GoldPoints for a free night at a Tier 6 hotel (Gold Elite members earn 50% bonus points or 30 points/$1 so 90,000 points for a free night at a Tier 6 hotel is equivalent to $3,000 in eligible hotel spending).

While the points earning rate for GoldPoints is double the rate for Marriott or IHG Priority Club and even exceeds Hilton HHonors earnings using Points and Points preference (15 points per $1), the redemption level for a free night is more than double the number of points for any of the comparable major hotel loyalty programs of Marriott, Hilton, IHG, or Hyatt. Only SPG seems to look worse for earning redeemable nights (3 Starpoints/$1 earned for SPG Platinum compared to 30 GoldPoints/$1 earned) at the high end hotels (30,000 Starpoints per free night at Starwood Preferred Guest Category 7 hotel = $10,000 spending).

With hotel programs the mid-tier redemption category hotels tend to be better values as few lowest-tier hotels exist in most hotel loyalty programs. And high-tier properties are either resorts or extremely high demand locations where a member will often find better value by paying cash than redeeming points.

Free Nights Using GoldPoints

GoldPoints free night awards cost 10% less points for each additional night after the first night. (Except for Tier 4 hotels which are only a 9% discount on points due to rounding in GoldPoints favor rather than the frequent guest. )

Tier 1 hotels = 15,000 points for the first night, and 13,500 points for each additional night.
Tier 2 = 25,000 points for the first night, and 22,500 points for each additional night.
Tier 3 = 30,000 points for the first night, and 27,000 points for each additional night.
Tier 4 = 45,000 points for the first night, and 41,000 points for each additional night.
(Should be 40,500 points if the 10% reduction pattern were followed in all hotel tiers).
Tier 5 = 60,000 points for the first night, and 54,000 points for each additional night.
Tier 6 = 90,000 points for the first night, and 81,000 points for each additional night.

Flexible rewards are available for periods with no standard hotel free night award availability at a cost of 50% more for the first night.

The flex night discount for extended stays with additional nights using points is not a simple percentage reduction like standard awards.

Tier 1 = 22,500 points for the first night, and 19,500 points for each additional night.
(13% discount for additional nights.)
Tier 2 = 37,500 points for the first night, and 33,000 points for each additional night.
(12% discount for additional nights.)
Tier 3 = 45,000 points for the first night, and 39,000 points for each additional night.
(13% discount for additional nights.)
Tier 4 = 67,500 points for the first night, and 60,000 points for each additional night.
(11% discount for additional nights.)
Tier 5 = 90,000 points for the first night, and 78,750 points for each additional night.
(12.5% discount for additional nights.)
Tier 6 = 135,000 points for the first night, and 121,500 points for each additional night.
(10% discount for additional nights.)

The lowest discount on points needed for additional free hotel nights is on the highest tier hotels. In contrast, Marriott Rewards offers their greatest free nights discount on top-tier, multi-night stays and it amount to about 40% savings in points for a 7-night stay in a Category 7 hotel using points.

Sample Hotels in each free night using points redemption tier:
Tier 1:
Knoxville, Tennessee – Country Inn and Suites, Knoxville East;
Park Inn, Milpitas, California;
Park Plaza, Toronto Airport;
Radisson Hotel and Suites, Guatemala City, Guatemala ( I stayed at this hotel during the LatinPass mileage run back in 2000 and the hotel guest services representative picked me up at the airport and rode the taxi back to the hotel with me. He was a young man who grew up in the Mission District of San Francisco. The hotel was large and seemed rather luxurious to me for the price I paid.)

Tier 2:
Park Inn, Mainz, Germany
Park Inn, Greenmarket Square, Cape Town, South Africa

Tier 3:
Radisson Hotel, LAX, Los Angeles, California
Country Inn and Suites, Holyoke, Massachusetts

Tier 4:
Radisson SAS Seaside Hotel, Helsinki, Finland
Radisson Ambassador Plaza Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Tier 5:
Radisson SAS Marina, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Radisson Plaza Resort, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt Hotel, London, UK

Tier 6:
Radisson Lexington Hotel, New York, New York
Radisson Edwardian Mountbatten Hotel, London, UK
Regent Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

GoldPoints Plus Elite Membership:

Silver elite for 15 nights or 10 stays in a calendar year.
Benefits include:
25% points bonus (25 points per $1 at Radisson, Park Plaza, and Regent)
Late check-out
Best available room in category booked
10% off weekend rates in Europe, Asia, and Middle East

Gold elite for 35 nights or 20 stays in a calendar year.
Benefits include:
50% points bonus (30 points per $1 at Radisson, Park Plaza, and Regent)
Early check-in and Late check-out
Best available room in category booked
10% off weekend rates in Europe, Asia, and Middle East
Flex night redemption at base award night rate.
Weekend Extend – get 2-for-1 nights or 4-for-2 nights on weekends

The flex night redemption at base award rate actually sounds like the member has the ability to use points essentially without blackouts. This is a huge benefit of top elite status with GoldPoints Plus. The qualification standard of 35 nights or 20 stays for top elite status is a lower standard than the other major upscale programs of Hyatt (25 stays/50 nights), Starwood (25 stays/50 nights), Hilton (28 stays/60 nights), IHG Priority Club (50 nights), and Marriott (75 nights).

Overall: GoldPoints Plus has made great strides in developing a traveler-friendly hotel loyalty program that rewards frequent guests with the opportunity for free hotel nights comparably with the other major hotel loyalty programs.

Current GoldPoints Promotion for 100,000 Bonus Points

Summer 2008 Radisson Hotels and Resorts Points To Go Promotion, June 1- August 31, 2008
Earn up to 100,000 GoldPoints this summer with stays at any of the five Carlson Hotel brands of Radisson, Regent, Park Plaza, Park Inn, and Country Inn and Suites.

5 nights = 5,000 bonus GoldPoints
10 nights = 10,000 bonus GoldPoints
15 nights = 25,000 bonus GoldPoints
20 nights = 50,000 bonus GoldPoints
25 nights = 100,000 bonus GoldPoints

Nights do not need to be consecutive. Nights, not stays, are counted for promotion.

By the numbers:
Park Inn, Milpitas, California room rate check for Sat., June 7 shows $65/night. Assume I could find rates throughout the summer in similar range at various hotels.
Extrapolate to 25 nights over summer = $1,625 for 25 hotel nights.

A frequent guest GoldPoints Plus member earns 15 points per $1 (Park Inn) for 15 nights and 18.75 points per $1 for 10 nights after earning Silver elite membership. (15 points x $65 x 15 nights + 18.75 points x $65 x 10 nights) = 14,625 + 12,187 = 26,812 points.

100,000 points bonus + 26, 812 points as a new member completing promotion over summer 2008 = 126,812 points and possibly Gold elite status if stays are planned to earn elite status along with bonus points for Points to Go promotion. Additional points (500 points per reservation) can be earned through online booking of hotel nights. Points earned are enough for 8 free nights at a Tier 1 hotel ($500-800 value at many locations) or for two free nights using points at a Category 4 hotel (potentially a $400 to $600 value at many locations).