Yesterday, we reported on the unveiling of the new Radisson Hotels Americas program and award chart. My first reaction upon reading the details and skimming the award chart was downright negative (See: Bad news: Radisson devaluation announced and it stinks). But some readers took me to task in the comments arguing that the changes were a net win in their view. With the benefit of now having had a lot more time to examine the award chart, I went back for a second closer look at the award chart changes to see if I was too harsh or if the new program is as bad as I made it sound. In the end, I don’t think the program got much better for me, but a closer looks shows that it did get much better for those who prefer stretching their points at Category 1 and 2 properties.
The quick recap
Before I even get into category changes that are coming in June 2021, it’s worth a quick recap of the key changes:
- Radisson is splitting into two programs: Radisson Hotels Americas (for North/South America and the Caribbean) and Radisson Hotels (for the rest of the world). See more in yesterday’s post.
- Along with the split, Radisson announced a new simplified award chart coming in June 2021 that reduces the number of categories from 7 that span from 9K per night to 70K per night down to 5 categories that span from 15K to 75K (in even intervals of 15K from one category to the next.
For more detail, see the previous post. For more info from Radisson regarding the new program, see this page.
Radisson’s claims about the category changes
On the landing page announcing program changes, Radisson offers the following key bullet points:
– The number of Award Night categories will be reduced from seven to five
– All category point values will increase in increments of 15,000 points
– The number of hotels available at 15,000 points will double—more options, more value
– Over 30% of hotels will require fewer points to book an Award Night stay
If I’m to take their marketing copy to be the positives that they want to emphasize, they are trying to play up the fact that there are more hotels that cost 15K per night than before and that 30% will require fewer points to book.
Since the current award chart begins at Category 1 costing 9,000 points per night and has Category 2 priced at 15,000 points per night but the new award chart starts with Category 1 at 15,000 points per night, my first expectation was that they were drawing a chunk of the “new” 15K hotels from the previous Category 1 tier.
While I knew that these 9K properties hadn’t been common (if available at all anymore) in the United States, I expected there were more 9K properties throughout the rest of the Americas than there actually were. It turns out that there are only 6 properties in the 9K tier in all of the Americas under the current program / award chart.
Out of the 109 properties in the “new” Category 1 (15K per night) tier coming in June:
- 6 were previously Category 1 (9K per night) and increase to 15K
- 40 were previously Category 2 (15K per night and see no change
- 63 were previously higher categories and decrease to 15K per night
There is actually some potentially really good news here for those who prefer to stretch points further for more nights at low-category properties (more on this later).
However, if overall only 30% of properties will cost fewer points in the new program, and the 15K tier is the only tier that matches evenly from the old chart to the new, there is clearly a greater number of properties increasing in price than decreasing. That isn’t altogether surprising; when programs announce annual category changes, we frequently see more hotels increase than decrease.
In Radisson’s case, I thought that the way they chose to display category changes was highly misleading given that the chart on this page showing category changes makes it look like many properties are decreasing in category or staying in the same level category where prices are actually increasing because of the fact that theirs don’t map directly. That landing page makes the news look a light more rosy than it is.
However, did that page also paint an inaccurate first impression? Let’s look at category changes as a whole in the Americas and in Europe.
In the Americas, there are 611 hotels currently by my count (4 more are being added, but since those don’t currently have categories we won’t count them). Of those 611. Of those 615, under the new program which starts in June:
- 392 properties increase in award price (64.2%)
- 179 properties decrease in award price (29.3%)
- 40 properties require the same 15K points (6.5%)
By my math, that means that properties increasing out-number those decreasing by more than 2-to-1. That seems to support my initial negative conclusion.
However, that’s not the whole story.
Of the properties increasing in price, here are the increases (with the percentage of increase in award cost in parenthesis):
- 9K to 15K (+67% increase): 6 properties
- 15K to 30K (+100% increase): 5
- 28K to 30K (+7% increase): 247
- 28K to 45K (+61% increase): 21
- 38K to 45K (+18% increase): 54
- 38K to 60K (+32% increase): 12
- 44K to 45K (+2% increase): 24
- 44K to 60K (+36% increase): 12 (Virginia Beach Oceanfront, JFK)
- 44K to 75K (+70% increase): 1 (Country Inn San Carlos)
- 50K to 60K (+20% increase): 4
- 50K to 75K (+50% increase): 1
- 70K to 75K (+7% increase): 5
The vast majority of properties increasing only go up 2,000 points per night. However, some have gone up a lot more. If I’ve done my math right, the average increase of the properties increasing is 4,550 points per night. Of course, that average won’t mean someone looking to bring their family to the Country Inn & Suites Virginia Beach, which increases from 44K per night to 60K per night.
It is further weird to see Country Inn & Suites properties in the top tier — including the property increasing from 44K to 75K. Would you have pictured a Country Inn & suites as a top tier hotel?
On the opposite side, here’s a look at the number of properties decreasing in price:
- 28K to 15K (46% decrease): 52
- 38K to 30K (21% decrease): 109
- 44K to 15K (66% decrease): 1
- 44K to 30K (32% decrease): 12 (Flagstsaff, Monterrey)
- 50K to 45K (10% decrease): 2
- 70K to 15K (79% decrease): 1
- 70K to 60K (14% decrease) = 1
While most of those decreases only involve a single hotel or two, the three that involve more hotels are all substantial decreases. Out of the hotels decreasing, the average decrease is 10,281 points per night.
Furthermore, reader BlackHill shares these numbers that appear correct:
Right now in Americas region
7 Hotels in 9,000 category
45 Hotels in 15,000 category
320 Hotels in 28,000 category
178 Hotels in 38,000 category
52 Hotels in 44,000 category
8 Hotels in 50,000 category
7 Hotels in 70,000 categoryAfter the devaluation, Americas region will have
101 Hotels in 15,000 category
374 Hotels in 30,000 category
101 Hotels in 45,000 category
29 Hotels in 60,000 category
10 Hotels in 75,000 category
As reader Hadley points out, that means particularly good news at lower tiers:
- The current award chart has 372 properties costing 30K per night or less
- The new award chart will have 475 properties costing 30K per night or less
And Tyler pointed this out (and his math checksout):
- The average cost per night of a hotel in the new program is 32,146 points per night (versus 31,831 points per night in the Americas currently)
Hadley considered all of the above to be a big win because of a preference for stretching points further at hotels costing fewer points per night. I have to agree that the number of properties costing 30K per night or fewer is a positive change.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how positive of a change that is from a credit card standpoint as well. The Radisson Rewards Premier Visa earns 5 points per dollar on all purchases (10x at Radisson properties). This means that with the new chart in June, just $6K spend will produce one or two two free nights at 475 of the 615 hotels in the Radisson Americas program. I have no doubt that some of those hotels are quite cheap, but consider potential cash back earnings on spend at the lower-tier categories:
- $3K spend (enough for a 15K free night) on a 2% back card = $60
- $3K spend on a 3% back card = $90
- $6K (enough for a 30K free night) on a 2% back card = $120
- $6K on a 3% back card = $180
Furthermore, since the Radisson card comes with 40,000 points each anniversary for paying the $75 annual fee, just $1,000 spend per year would give you the points equivalent of a mid-tier free night certificate with the flexibility of being enough points for 3 free nights at Category 1. At $75 per year, you get enough anniversary points without any spend for a free night at 2/3 of the properties in the Americas portfolio (with the flexibility of hanging on to the points for a higher redemption or stretching them for more nights at a lower tier hotel). That’s not bad.
There will surely be times where points will not buy you a room expensive enough to justify using points, but overall there is certainly the possibility to get enough value out of those lower-tier hotels to get better return for spend with the Radisson card. Keep in mind that:
- Spending on the Radisson card locks you into Radisson points, which could change in value at any time and are only useful if there is award availability
- Cash back gives you the ability to choose whatever hotel you want and earn hotel points, etc
- Spending toward new card bonuses will always yield better return than everyday spend on any card
- On the flip side, it’s worth remembering that $10K spend also gets you a free night certificate. This has so far only been valid at properties in the United States. I’ve not seen if there has been an indication that this would expand to the rest of the Americas, though I wouldn’t count on it.
I’m not advocating for the Radisson card to be a better option than cash back in most instances but rather I see the perspective that this award chart change has some decent news for those who find value in the first couple of Radisson tiers.
I’m still not excited about Radisson. And looking at specific properties at which I’ve stayed or in which I’ve been interested, almost all of those places have increased in price. And while there are some 15K and 30K properties in markets where they may be a decent deal, my experience with Country Inn & Suites (which seems to be the most largely-represented brand in the US and certainly so at the lower tiers) is that they tend to be located along highways on the outskirts of an area I’d like to visit. I’d expect to get a better deal in a situation like that if I’m giving up the convenience of being more centrally-located. Still, I bet I’ll find a scenario now and again where using 15K or 30K Radisson points will make sense.
And despite what I just said, there are at least a couple of properties in the current 44K category that are decreasing to 30K in areas where I’d be interested in visiting:
- Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Flagstaff Downtown, AZ
- Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Monterey Beachfront-Marina, CA
And even at 45K there are some properties I’ll keep in mind (though note that most of these are actually increasing from 44K, though they still warrant more investigation in the future when I’m back to traveling)
- Radisson Hotel Trinidad
- Radisson Blu Sao Paulo
- Sebastian Hotel, a member of Radisson Individuals (this is the boutique brand Greg had previously noted)
- Radisson Aquatica Resort Barbados
At the end of the day, I’ll find some places to use my points and free night certificates.
I’m still not thrilled with the changes and I am still particularly disappointed in how poorly Radisson framed the changes. If I had the data in advance and I were in the Radisson PR department, I’d have likely chosen to focus on some of the more positive aspects above like the number of Category 1 and Category 2 properties and the very modest overall average increase in cost of a night rather than creating a category changes chart that feels so deceiving.
What about the rest of the world?
I didn’t have a chance to dig into the rest of the world, but a couple of readers shared the link to a PDF file of category changes for properties in the rest of the world. Click here to see that PDF file of category changes for the rest of the world.
According to reader BlackHill (who got the numbers right on the Americas above and thus I expect has them correct here as well), these are the number of hotels in each category before June and after June:
Right now in Rest of the world region
42 Hotels in 9,000 category
62 Hotels in 15,000 category
94 Hotels in 28,000 category
123 Hotels in 38,000 category
143 Hotels in 44,000 category
46 Hotels in 50,000 category
68 Hotels in 70,000 categoryAfter the devaluation, Rest of the world region will have
158 Hotels in 15,000 category
131 Hotels in 30,000 category
195 Hotels in 45,000 category
53 Hotels in 60,000 category
40 Hotels in 75,000 categoryNumber of properties costing 44,000 or more went from 257 to 288
In the comments of yesterday’s post, readers pointed out specific properties of interest in Europe with positive changes. Hadley points to the Radisson Blu Ljubljana dropping from 28K to 15K and that sounds awesome. I visited Ljubljana long before discovering points and miles (a beautiful city that’s well worth a visit for a day or two). I’m pretty sure I stayed in a cheap hostel somewhere and that the Radisson Blu at 15K per night would be significantly better and not detract from my positive impression of the city.
Reader NK noted that both properties in Greece will decrease in price. That’s good news to me as I was disappointed not to make it to the Radisson Blu Crete when I visited the island a couple of years ago (though I certainly wasn’t disappointed in Domes of Elounda, a Marriott property).
The difficulty with the “rest of the world” PDF file above is that it doesn’t show current categories, so it is hard to immediately see the changes. There are obviously properties that cost 9K today that will be increasing substantially and based on the number of properties that will cost 44K or more in the new program versus the old it seems there must be some further upward shift.
Curiously, the new Radisson Blu Maldives doesn’t appear to be in the new category list. I’m not sure why that is.
RewardSavers could end up being good
I noted that Ed at Pizza in Motion trumpted the RewardSavers rates that I only briefly mentioned in yesterday’s post. While Radisson claims that these reduced-rate award nights will not be tied to predetermined “off-peak” dates but rather randomly available, the way they presented it leads me to believe (as I noted yesterday) that these will be last-minute deals. I imagine the hotels that will agree to accept reimbursement for fewer points per night at the last minute are those that don’t anticipate filling up at cash rates – in other words, I expect these to be available at times of low demand. While they may not be predetermined off-peak dates, I don’t imagine you’ll find one of these for New Year’s Eve or Superbowl weekend or other times of high demand.
Still, reduced-rate awards certainly might make for a solid deal on a road trip when you happen to need a night where a Radisson property fits and you get the pleasant surprise that it costs fewer points per night than expected. And if RewardSaver rates are more widely available than I expect, given the very modest overall increase in award cost per night in the Americas, the award chart changes might actually be a net win. I’m not counting on these being highly valuable, but recognizing that they might be.
Bottom line
My first impression of Radisson’s new program yesterday was very poor when I saw what looked like a pretty misleading chart showing the category changes for properties in the Americas. After digging into the numbers a bit, I see that the changes, while a net loss by some measures, are actually pretty positive for those who prefer to stretch points further at lower-category hotels. They also present more opportunities to earn free nights with relatively low spend for Radisson cardholders who are looking to earn free nights in the first couple of categories. Radisson probably won’t become the primary program for most readers any time soon, especially not given the program split and a lack of on-property perks for members with elite status, but it still does beat camping.
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Ok, third look….. Am planning some travel shortly, and was reminded of all this…. which prompts too questions:
Nice to see you had so many readers do some serious tabulations. Yet anybody post them in a user/traveler friendly format? Where’s Drew when ya need him? (I see traces of his footprints showing up at mms….. but who knows?)
typos & autocorrects “galore”…. 🙁 “two” q’s and “do the changes.”
About the start date, I get that Raddyshack itself is the source of the beef…. “in June.” Ok, so does that mean June 1st? (or whenever they feel like turning the switch on?) Anybody know fer sher? *tic
Did the properties in Africa increase, decrease, or stay the same? Radisson Blu is a great option in Africa.
As you say, it’s likely each person’s view of the changes depends on how you use the program. One of my favorite properties, the Radisson Blu on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, will drop from 70K to 60K. Not a huge drop but since I expected it to rise to 75K, a nice little drop. $4000 in spending on the card plus the 40K annual bonus will get a room there when cash prices, even tonight before the normal tourist season and with covid-19 restrictions barely lifted in Scotland, is nearly $180.
The big question will be how the new program makes rooms available. If it’s on a “room is available with cash, room is available with points” basis, then it’s great because that Radisson Blu in Edinburgh goes for closer to $600 per night during the International Arts Festival in August.
If Radisson plays hide-and-seek with award availability, different story.
I attended the Fringe Festival for 2 days 2 years ago and loved it! Was able to stay at the Hilton that was converted from a department store and the hotel was extremely well located and near the Radisson that you mention! I am glad that the price went down on that property and hope, like you, that it will be eligible for points redemption during major festivals, or Hogmany, but we will have to likely book far in advance and be quick about it!
@Nick Reyes I think you and the fanboys are getting scammed a little by the Not Applicables (N/A) in the award chart. Those are just lies. The Radisson Blus in Fargo/Toronto/Anaheim range from 33K to 50K and they are all going to 75K. It shouldn’t change your number-crunching by a ton… but still!
I will say as well that the RB in Anaheim represented the only hotel west of the Mississippi/Rockies that was a Radisson *not* because the owner was looking for the cheapest flag for a flaming hellscape garbage fire. (I think Anaheim has literally run out of other desirable flags. They have one of everything.)
At any rate, I’ll be redeeming my points before the devaluation kicks in and then kissing this program goodbye for good.
Hi Nick, I really appreciate the 2 opposing view points from these last 2 RR article. I checked on the current RRV for RR points (https://frequentmiler.com/reasonable-redemption-values-rrvs/#Hotel_Points) and the value is “0.38 – Pointimize Median Observed Value as of 11/14/2017”. Is that the latest number?
I also wish the US Bank RR CC would offer more benefits. Seems like they haven’t made any changes to the CC in a while since adding the $10K spend = free night in the US. I wish they would offer some type of rebate for redeemed points like IHG does, that might encourage card holders to redeem points for stays.
If possible, could you do a deep dive on RR properties in Europe? I’m glad to hear that the Radisson Blu Crete is going down in category. If anyone is considering Crete, check out the photos from my review from 2018: https://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2018/07/09/crete-trip-report-part-1-radisson-blu-beach-resort-nearby-milatos-fishing-village/
Great review of Crete! Last year Radisson announced a new property on Santorini, and I am looking forward to that. Supposedly it will open this year, but we will see. Hopefully it does not take as long as the Maldives property did.
Totally agree that the US Bank CC needs a refresh. At a minimum, it needs a new bonus category or two, and should get rid of the foreign transaction fee.
Apart from spending $10,000 a year for a dubious free night why would anyone spend anything on the card? We have 5 cards in our house and just pay the fee for the 40K points. Though I have done the MS thing for free nights in the past.
Thanks, Grant! I had linked to your post in this post because I had remembered your review.
Thanks Nick, sorry I didn’t see the link when I read the post in my email.
Frank, that is exactly what I do and I usually save up a few rounds of 40K points and use the points at nice Radisson Blu properties in Europe 🙂
They’re probably still making up for the time they had “last night free” on an award stay and we all stayed 2 nights for the price of one. 🙂
SF Bay Area places increased 60%, from 44k to 75k, including the depressing dumpy Country Inn and Suites SJ Airport. As noted the reviews for Marina/Monterey are just bad. I very much regret keeping the credit card to build to a 5 night stay, which will now be 3 nights, at very low value per point. With the split its not clear how easy it will be to use the points internationally. Note that there is a 24 month expiration…
It does seem like a treadmill. Pay $60 or $75 a year for the card and get 40,000 points seemed like a great deal in 2012. Today is very different.
Downgrade.
Could you please go into detail about the 24 month expiration? That part eluded me!
Oh, points expiration if no activity in the account. Again, do what I did, get or just downgrade your current credit card to the no fee one and spend $1.00/year, or every other year and you are fine.
Update: I finally got through to Radisson (after 40 minutes of waiting for an answer when requesting Customer Service) when I called and requested Reservations. After a shorter wait I got someone who could not reach the Rewards department nor the Customer Service himself.
My conclusion is that they need to rename the department as Customer non-service and close down their operation. It is fatally doomed as are my “free” nights and the value of my points have now plummetted. The first of 5 credit caards has come up for renewal this month and I have to say I will not be renewing – unless I cannot get hold of anyone who will transfer my points to a different account.
30 – 40 years ago a Radisson was an OK hotel chain. Today it’s like Holiday Inn Express but much harder to deal with.
Does anyone have a magic phone number to contact their Rewards Department (if there still is one)?
I definitely appreciate the re-examination. After seeing most of the major points/miles blogs talk about a major devaluation, it is refreshing to actually see a deeper dive into the numbers. A couple thoughts:
Thanks, NK3, did not know that about the Radisson — I just simply plugged in a date in July to see what the current rate was — no scientific exploration if during a normal summer it would be available.
Friend of mine stayed at the 4 Points at thought very highly of it, especially since he has Titanium status — I have Lifetime Platinum. However, I’ll see if I could use a credit card free night certificate at the Intercontinental as when I checked — again during an unusual summer season — it was only 30,000 points on a Saturday night — thus, have a 10,000 points cusion to use it when and if I ever travel to there.
The Four Points Ljubljana is a nice building. My only complaint was the weak AC (but it was unusually hot when we were there). It was a category 2 hotel when we went but has since gone to category 3. Even with peak pricing we got decent value for our Bonvoy points (1.1 cent/point). The problem is entirely the location. Its several miles from the Old Town area, which is also where the main bus terminal was (for going to Lake Bled, etc). Even the closest mass transit stop is a 20+ mile walk. There is no Uber or Uber-like app (at least not when I went 2 years ago). We had to call every time we needed a taxi, and hope that the agent spoke English (they did, to varying degrees). Once the taxi arrives you have to negotiate before getting in the car. After an exhausting travel day to LJU, we got in the first taxi that was there and paid about 65 euros for the 20 minute ride to the Four Points. The ride back (negotiated) was 25 euros. If you are renting a car, the Four Points may be great, since it is out of the downtown. But if you are not renting a car, the Intercontinental is probably in a much, much better location compared to both Four Points and Radisson.
Thanks, for the updated information. My friend had a car and I don’t think he was caught in the heat wave two summers that you (and I) experienced in 2019 (luckily for me I knew it was coming and chose a Hampton in Berlin whose summer reviews raved about its AC!). So, he thoroughly enjoyed his stay at the 4 Points and used it to travel to Lake Bled. Not sure if I will have a car or not, but now I know the strengths and weaknesses of all 3! Many thanks!
My problem with Radisson is that I have 4 “free night” certificates expiring at the end of June. I have oodles of points too but that is fine as long as I can travel out the country. I had planned to use my 4 nights in NYC at the Martinique as usual, but that hotel is now a Hilton. I know of no decent Radisson on the west coast.
As for points,I have had the best value in Norway. The Radisson Blu in Athens was a major disappointment.
Argh, I have a reservation at the Radisson Blu Athens in June. Can you give some details? I want to use the points, but I’d rather have a good stay in Athens.
Well, it was in 2015. The hotel is not central so you will probably need to take a bus, taxi or underground to the city center or Acropolis, etc. You’re in a more residential neighborhood, which I didn’t mind. I thought the hotel felt a bit unclean.
And I can stay anywhere, even pretty cheap places. I just would not consider this in the same league as other Radisson Blu hotels I have frequented.
Thanks.
I have been a RR member for years, but trying to use the USBANK Ecerts has been a nightmare.
If you ever catch me staying at a Radisson place in North America, please take away my car keys (and the car).
Well Billy Bob….. if you e’r do find yerself out in the great ole’ west, say by the few remaining Glaciers near Kalispell, Mont’anna do set a spell at the Country Inn & Suites there…. (yah, I say’d Country Inn & Suites, noo foolin’…. simply one of the nicest places I e’r did hang my hat….. few Augusts ago when the Glacier Park was on fire and smoked in…. but I digress)
As I heard the story while there, the owner of that property simply ignored supposed guidelines from the Club Carlson and built the Kalispell place as she wanted it done, like a place where she’d want to stay, a place where she could host soirees with the high society folks out yonder. (think deep rich woods everywhere, including Walnut, none of the Marriott class composite veneer)
But do hurry…. for this one property, it actually does deserve the higher status… (even as I’ll aim to book a few more nights at 44k)
Great article – thanks! I’m wondering if anyone has a better idea for searching award availability with Radisson than I do. Specifically, I’m interested in the Maldives for 5 nights, and I have complete flexibility on dates from now until the end of the schedule. Availability in the past has always been for single isolated nights and of course if 1 of the 5 nights isn’t available, a search returns a “not available”. The only way I can find to do this search is to check each night individually, then click the “more rates” button at the bottom of each page for award rates. I wish there was a way to do flexible date searches, or to even pay for a hotel search engine like Juicy Miles is for air awards. Any ideas?
Its available from May 26th to June 18th every day of the week. Available for both 5 nights or even 10 nights stay
None of the property went from category 7 to category 1.
I’m not sure why but many assume Park Inn by Radisson Barrancabermeja to be a category 7 property. Which is not true(might have been in the past). At present its available for booking with 9000 points.
Nick, you nailed it. Spot on and kudos to you!
One bit of caution, though. I researched that Monterrey property on TripAdvisor as the drop in points seemed too good to be true — and it is!
Although the hotel, itself seems middling and perhaps worthwhile given the points cost, a current stay there does not seem worth the trouble, as TripAdivsor reveiws appear to accurately note that this hotel currently has many security hotel on premises, as it appears to have been converted into a hotel primarily catering to the homeless.
Given the Bay Area”s notorious reputation, I’m not sure that this situation will be rectified by any changes post-pandemic.
On the other hand, the Flaggstaff location appears to be solid from recent reviews, although there are 2 Country Inns in the immediate vicinity and this appears to be the less newly renovated property.
Concur Hadley, I too much appreciate Nick’s write-up(s) — both of them. I shared his (deserved) sarcastic revulsion to the initial, exceptionally misleading PR spin… at one point I was thinking just as Marriott earned the sobriquet, “Bonvoyed!” – so too we could tag the once beloved Club Carlson chain as having been “Shangai’d!”
Yet Nick here nicely responds to and builds upon constructive feedback and observations from multiple readers…. (ty, I laughed at bit though at even seeing the old 9k category mentioned…. Not that long ago, Club Carlson was playing “Highlander,” e.g., “there can be only 1,” and had just ONE (sic) remaining Cat 1 property left. (Kentucky as I recall, as I commented about in multiple blogger forums — particularly those mindlessly repeating the oh so misleading credit card schtick…. ahem, old habits die hard)
Yah, nice to see the drilling down into the details, and Nick’s appropriate emphasis on more options in the lowest categories… Yet I remain much in the “sour grapes” crowd, as several of my remaining favorites — Va Beach (aging, dour spot as it is), the gorgeous newer CI&S (sic) @ Kalispell, Montana & the once superb, but now inexcusably dilapidated Raddyshack @ Melbourne, FL — have all gone from 44k to 60k.
PS: thanks too for the alert about the “tender” reviews of the Monterey location. (At least with that property, afaict, they haven’t been blocking the many negative tripadvisor reviews from be viewable via the Radisson web site. Contrast that with the MISLEADING — and oh so pattern fitting — practice with the Radisson @ Melbourne…. a year’s worth and more of blistering reviews at Tripadvisor mysteriously are simply not viewable via the supposed partner posting at Radisson…. (all you’ll see there is misleading — ahem — pie in the sky about how wonderful the setting is… Have stayed there a dozen times — and I’m beyond irritated at how the owners have gotten away with promising major renovations, but never delivering….)
before blackhill fact checks me, 😉 I was referring to there having been just ONE Cat 1 chain property left in the US. (not the globe)…. (as I lamented via “loyaltylobby” just over 3 years ago: https://loyaltylobby.com/2018/02/03/club-carlson-award-category-changes-march-1-2018/
Agree. Of the lot mentioned and I have scanned, it is a loss for the points jump on the property in Kalispell, not only because it seemed nice in it’s own right, but also because there are not many other chains that I subscribe to in the immediate vicinity.
That is what IHG and Radisson always functioned for me — stop gaps in coverage that the other major chains don’t have product.
In an aside, I was reviewing your rereview and found something interesting to me. You mentioned Greg’s mention of the Sebastian Hotel and I mistakenly thought this was a property in San Sebastián, France instead of St. Augustine, FL. However, it turns out there is a Radisson Blu hotel there, which I’d never run across in my searches of the area and it’s only 50,000 points, with cash rates of around $145 in October, which is the only month I found availability for points. This may seem like a poor return on points investment overall, and that’s because it is, but at least I’ve found a place I really want to go where I can offload 200,000 Radisson Rewards points before I take my membership behind the barn and shoot it.
Yes, that hotel seems to be Radisson’s answer to Marriott’s Autograph collection and Hilton’s Curio collection. Looking forward to your review!