50% bonus when you buy Club Carlson points – is it a good deal?

Club Carlson has launched a promotion for buying their points, which is running for a surprisingly long time – up to 15th October.

The level of bonus increases with the amount you buy:

• Buy 5,000 – 10,000 points and receive a 20% Bonus
• Buy 11,000 – 30,000 points and receive a 30% bonus
• Buy 31,000 – 40,000 points and receive a 50% Bonus

There is an annual limit of 40,000 purchased points.  For the purposes of this promotion, they are not counting the bonus points towards the 40,000 point cap.

The price to buy points is a flat $7 per 1,000.  The most you can buy under this promotion would be 60,000 points for $280.

There may be times when this is a better deal than paying cash for a hotel, but it certainly isn’t a no-brainer.  You need to remember that Club Carlson has very generous earning rates.  When you pay cash, you are earning 20 points per $1, plus the online booking bonus, plus any status tier point bonus.  A Gold member earns a 50% points bonus and a 2,000 point per stay online booking bonus.

On this basis, a $200 stay would earn a Gold member 8,000 points – worth about £40 if you assume £5 / 1000 on a good redemption.  This is around 25% of the money you paid coming back to you in rewards.

If you need to top off your account to a suitable level for an award night (say, to 44,000 or 50,000 points, which are typical high-end reward levels) then this may be an option.  Don’t forget that you can also transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Carlson, though, which – given the 1:3 ratio – may be a better deal.

If you want to buy, the Club Carlson ‘buy points’ page is here (scroll down).

(PS.  Don’t forget that, two months ago, Club Carlson changed its ‘points to airline miles’ conversion rates overnight with no notice.  Bear that in mind before you stockpile Club Carlson points with no obvious redemption in mind.)

How to earn Radisson Rewards points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)

Radisson Rewards does not have a dedicated UK credit card. However, you can earn Radisson Rewards points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.  These include:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 60,000 Radisson Rewards points. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with two free airport lounge passes.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 90,000 Radisson Rewards points

• American Express Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 5,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 15,000 Radisson Rewards points. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:3 into Radisson Rewards points which is a very attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 3 Radisson Rewards points.

Even better, holders of The Platinum Card receive free Radisson Rewards Gold status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here.

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)