Club Carlson released their U.S. Bank issued Visa credit cards today. There are some high value hotel stay benefits of the three cards offered including bonus points for enrollment, bonus points for annual renewal, complimentary Gold elite and up to 50 free award nights annually as a cardmember.
Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card benefits
- 50,000 Gold Points after first purchase within 90 days.
- 35,000 Gold points after $2,500 in spend within 90 days.
- 40,000 Gold Points renewal bonus each year.
- 10 points per dollar at Carlson Rezidor hotels.
- 5 points per dollar for all other purchases.
- Redeem 2 or more award nights and your last night is free as a bonus award night. You only pay points for one award night on a 2-night award stay.
- Complimentary Gold Elite Status
- $75 annual fee
Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa Signature Card benefits
- All the same benefits shown above for a $60 annual fee.
Club Carlson Rewards Visa Signature Card benefits
- 50,000 Gold Points after first purchase within 90 days.
- 10,000 Gold points after $1,500 in spend within 90 days.
- 25,000 Gold Points renewal bonus each year.
- 6 points per dollar at Carlson Rezidor hotels.
- 3 points per dollar for all other purchases.
- Redeem 2 or more award nights and your last night is free as a bonus award night. You only pay points for one award night on a 2-night award stay.
- Complimentary Silver Elite Status
- $50 annual fee
Two data points to keep in mind when evaluating these card benefits:
- Club Carlson sells Gold Points at rate $7 per 1,000 points.
- 100,000 Gold points = 18,000 airline miles.
The free award night benefit is huge. I currently have access to over 400,000 Club Carlson points with the huge promotion bonuses of the past year.
As a Club Carlson Visa card member I can redeem 2 night award stays and receive 400,000 points worth of free nights if I set up all my redemption stays as redeem one night with points and get one night free.
Club Carlson Visa T&C
Bonus Award Night: When you redeem Gold Points for Award Nights of two or more consecutive nights at the same participating Carlson Rezidor hotel property, you will receive the last of the Award Nights of that stay free without deduction of any Gold Points from your Club Carlson account (“Bonus Award Night”). Your Account must be open and reservation must be in the Club Carlson member’s name and use the member number associated with your Account to be eligible for the Bonus Award Night.
The Bonus Award Night offer is available only on advance reservations for Award Nights paid in full with Gold Points and is not valid with standard paid reservations or Points + Cash redemption reservations.
Only one Bonus Award Night will be available for a stay of two or more consecutive nights at the same hotel (early checkout with one night stay not eligible), regardless of the total length of stay, the total number of reservations or the number of check-in/check-outs, is subject to availability and all other terms and conditions and cancellation policies regarding Award Nights apply. Does not apply to additional reservations booked as contiguous stays at the same hotel.
Only one room per reservation, per hotel for an Award Stay will be eligible to receive the Bonus Award Night offer.
Maximum fifty (50) Bonus Award Nights per calendar year per member with an open Account (“Annual Maximum”). If a reservation with a Bonus Award Night is subject to a cancellation penalty, the Bonus Award Night from that reservation will count against the Annual Maximum. A Bonus Award Night has no Gold Point or cash value and cancellations involving a Bonus Award Night will not result in the credit of any additional Gold Points in your Club Carlson account.
There are other card member benefits like car rental coverage and $1,000,000 travel accident coverage.
The free award night benefit is the offer that jumps out to me. This is potentially worth hundreds of thousands of points each year along with complimentary Gold elite status and associated benefits if you qualify for the higher earning cards.
Perhaps I will start pimping credit cards like other travel bloggers to really play this loyalty game to the extreme.
