30% bonus when you buy Club Carlson points

Club Carlson, the loyalty scheme covering Radisson, Park Plaza and Park Inn amongst other brands, has launched a promotion for a 30% bonus when you purchase points.

This is not hugely exciting, to be honest, given that we have seen 50% and 75% bonuses over the past year or so.

However, as 30% is the only offer on the table, we should consider it on its own merits.

You need to buy at least 10,000 points to get the 30% bonus

The annual cap on purchases is 40,000 points

Points are sold at a flat rate of $7 per 1,000

On this basis, you are effectively paying $5.38 per 1,000 points.  That is roughly £3.33 per 1,000 points.

I tend to value my Carlson points at 0.5p each because I usually redeem them in London for expensive properties.  On this basis, it is possible that you could save some money by buying points instead of booking a room for cash.

The snag with Carlson is that their portfolio is quite varied.  You will find lots of Radisson properties in Scandinavia, for example.  London also has a number of impressive Radisson and upmarket Park Plaza hotels.  There are also quite a few budget Park Inn hotels in the UK.

A 5-star London property requiring 50,000 points would be £167 if you bought those points during this promotion.  That could represent a saving.  At the other end of the scale, some Park Inn hotels are only 9,000 points which would be £30.

Before you buy, though, remember that Club Carlson is also an American Express Membership Rewards partner.  As I wrote in this article, it is potentially their most generous partner at 3 Carlson points for every 1 Amex point you transfer.  Instead of paying £3.33 for 1,000 points, you could transfer 333 Amex points instead and effectively get 1p per Amex point of value.

The link to buy is here.

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.)