[Expired] $30 Amazon Gift Card, Free Friday night with 2 Club Carlson Promos

Club Carlson has a couple of good summer offers out – one to get a $30 Amazon Gift Card and another to earn your choice between a free Friday night or 10,000 points. Both promotions are very straightforward and they should be semi-stackable. The latter requires registration — see below for a registration link.

Promotion 1: $30 Amazon Gift Card

Through September 4th, you can earn a $30 Amazon gift card for booking two consecutive nights at a Country Inn & Suites at the “Stay 2” rate. No Registration is required for the this promotion – you just need to book a qualifying rate.

The Deal

• Book 2 consecutive nights at Country Inn & Suites in the US and Canada the Stay 2 rate, get a $30 Amazon gift card

Key Terms

• Valid for stays through September 4th, 2017
• Must book the “Stay 2” rate

Quick Thoughts

Since you need to book a specific rate in order to get the benefit, I would have guessed that the rate would simply be higher to compensate for the gift card. In my test searches, that wasn’t true. In fact, I found the members Stay 2 rate to be the cheapest refundable rate at each of the Country Inn & Suites locations I tried. For example, the only cheaper rate at the example shown below is a nonrefundable advance purchase rate. The Stay 2 rate is the cheapest with free cancellation.

If you value the gift card anywhere near face value, that’s a nice rebate on the stay. Don’t forget to click through a portal — at the time of writing, the best I see is 6.3% cash back.

H/T: Fishing4Deals

Promotion 2: Free Friday night or 10,000 points

The Deal

• Choose between a free Friday night or 10,000 points for every 2 stays (up to a max of 3 free Friday nights or 30,000 points)

Key Terms

• Register here
• Book and complete 2 stays between July 1, 2017 and September 30, 2017 (both check in and check out must be during the promotional period)
• Can earn this a maximum of three times (either 3 free Fridays or 30,000 bonus points)
• Points & cash bookings do not count
• Friday E-Certs are valid for reservations on a single Friday night at any Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu®, Radisson RED, Radisson®, Park Plaza®, Park Inn® by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By CarlsonSM hotels worldwide for stays between October 6, 2017 and January 26, 2018 and will be awarded according to the following schedule:  1) by Aug. 15 for E-Certs earned in July, 2) by Sep. 15 for E-Certs earned in August and 3) by Oct 15 for E-Certs earned in September.

Quick Thoughts

This promotion has some potential, though limitations might make it challenging to use the free Friday night. On the surface, free Fridays sound much better than 10,000 points as you could get much more value out of the free Friday night. That said, you may be limited by award stay availability and the free night certificate are only valid between October and January. There are 17 Fridays on which you can use your certificate, so the window of validity is a potential problem. Points don’t expire as long as you maintain activity in your account.

The good news is that this should “stack” with the Amazon gift card promotion in the sense that a 2-night stay that qualifies for the Amazon gift card should also count as one of the 2 required stays for the Free Fridays promotion. In three total nights (a 2-night stay at a Country Inn & Suites and a 1-night stay at another Club Carlson property) you should earn a $30 Amazon gift card and a free Friday night provided you book the proper rate for the gift card and register for free Fridays. That’s probably not enough to change any of my plans and it certainly isn’t enough for a mattress run, but if you can make good use of your free Friday it could work out very well. We have seen a Country Inn & Suites Amex Offer this year (already expired). If another one comes out during this promotion, it could get even better.

Whether you plan any Club Carlson stays or not, it makes sense to register now so you don’t forget. Keep in mind that you must choose between earning Free Friday nights and earning points when you register and you can not change your selection later.

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