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The Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card offers a free night certificate after each $10K of annual spend, up to $30K. Each certificate can be used to stay at any Radisson hotel in the United States as long as standard rooms are available. Since the card also offers 5 points per dollar on all spend, each $10K of spend gets you a free night plus 50,000 points. That’s a great deal if you can spend those free nights somewhere great. The problem is that the list of “great” Radisson hotels in the United States is pretty short. I don’t recommend spending your way to free night certificates unless you know that you’ll use them somewhere desirable.
In this post, I’ve included all Radisson Blu, and Radisson RED hotels in the U.S. These are Radisson’s high-end brands. I’ve also included select Radisson, and Country Inn & Suites hotels that were recommended by readers or otherwise looked interesting to me. If you know of other gems, please let us know!
Radisson Blu
Radisson Blu is a high end, premium brand. It’s just one notch below their “Radisson Collection” brand (which doesn’t yet have any properties in the U.S.). Radisson describes the Blu brand as follows: “Radisson Blu creates memorable experiences in stylish spaces. By paying close attention to the small details that make a big difference, we inspire unforgettable experiences with every stay.”
Radisson Blu Anaheim, CA
New hotel near Disneyland. Early reviews are mostly very positive.
Radisson Blu Sandy – Salt Lake City, UT
I’d be excited about this hotel, but it hasn’t opened yet. Actually, it hasn’t even been built yet. They are expected to begin construction by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Radisson Blu Fargo, ND
This hotel was a regular Radisson and was just recently remodeled and rebranded as Radisson Blu. It’s possible that the photo, above, is from before the remodel (I’m not sure). I hope so.
Radisson Blu Mall of America
Our own Nick Reyes has stayed at this Radisson Blu. In 2018, he reported “I actually stayed at the Radisson Blu Mall of America last February and had a terrific stay. The hotel is clean and comfortable and a nice little respite from the hustle and bustle of the mall below. I imagine it is especially useful to have access to a room for a nap, shower, and relaxation if you have a partner who shops ’till you drop. I’d definitely stay there again.”
Radisson Blu Minneapolis Downtown
Anyone have a review to share?
Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, Chicago
I stayed at this Radisson Blu several years ago and liked it a lot! Rooms have balconies with amazing views. The building itself is like a work of art, but they also have a little art collection inside.
Radisson RED
RED is Radisson’s quirky-artsy brand which uses a lot of red in it’s decorations. They describe the RED band as follows: “Radisson RED presents a playful twist on conventional hotel stays, injecting new life into hotels through informal services where anything goes, a social scene that’s waiting to be shared and bold design.”
Radisson RED Portland Downtown
Radisson RED Minneapolis Downtown
Radisson RED Miami Airport
This is a new hotel which is taking reservations for stays beginning June 14th, 2021.
Radisson
This is Radisson’s old standby brand. Just “Radisson.” Here are a few Radissons that may be worth a look:
The Claridge – a Radisson Hotel – Atlantic City, NJ
Recommended by Michael (Via Frequent Miler Insiders on Facebook): “A very unique property. Oceanfront. Also has a great roof top lounge … I believe the room product was updated a few years ago when they took over the property from Bally’s/CZR.”
Radisson Hotel New York Wall Street
None of the Radisson brand hotels in New York City get particularly good reviews, but I figured that they were worth mentioning for use of free night certificates since New York can be a very expensive city.
Radisson Hotel New York Times Square
None of the Radisson brand hotels in New York City get particularly good reviews, but I figured that they were worth mentioning for use of free night certificates since New York can be a very expensive city.
Radisson Hotel New York Midtown-Fifth Avenue
None of the Radisson brand hotels in New York City get particularly good reviews, but I figured that they were worth mentioning for use of free night certificates since New York can be a very expensive city.
Radisson Hotel Sunnyvale – Silicon Valley
This one gets decent reviews.
Country Inn & Suites
Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Kalispell, MT – Glacier Lodge
Recommended by escot: “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).”
Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, St. Charles, MO
I added this one because it gets great reviews and looks cool (i.e. it doesn’t look like a Country Inn & Suites — at least from the outside).
Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Bozeman, MT
This hotel is near Yellowstone and gets great reviews.
Reader Suggestions Wanted!
If you’ve stayed at any of the hotels listed above, I’d love to hear from you. What did you think about it? Was it good or bad? Would you stay there again? Even better: do you know of any great Radisson hotels in the United States that I missed in the list above? Please comment below!
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Hey @greg any comment on Choice buying out Radisson and what It means for the loyalty program?
I haven’t gotten around to posting about this yet, but here are a few thoughts:
About 7-8 years ago I had considered going to the Berkshire Hathaway Annual meeting as a small shareholder. The Country Inn and Suites Omaha Council Bluffs is pretty close to Omaha and hotels are super expensive that week. You’d have to book well in advance.
While I certainly wouldn’t make a trip to Scranton just to visit this property, the Radisson Lackawanna Station is a restored railroad station that is a really beautiful and historic property. My high school prom was here 30 years ago, and now we stay when we are in town visiting family. The lobby is really amazing, and they have a great brunch.
Greg,
I’ve stayed at the old Fargo Radisson many times, including my wedding night (NDSU grad and got married in Fargo). It has always been an excellent business class hotel other than not having a full pool. I think the picture above is how the rooms have looked the last few times I’ve been there before the rebranding. I cannot be certain, but I think most of the work was done in the lobby area as that was under full construction last time I was there in 2018.
I also have stayed in the Radisson Blu downtown Minneapolis. Very nice business class property, and they had an executive lounge I was able to pay a fee and get access for free breakfast. That was easily worth it. Any downtown Minneapolis properties are great for walking to Twins or Vikings games. If folks have never been to Target Field, it is one of the nicest baseball stadiums in the country.
[…] like this series at Frequent Miler, here is the one on the Best Radisson Hotels in the US for free night certificates. Or to burn some of these points many of us still have from those old glorious get one award night […]
A word of caution on the Manhattan properties listed above. E cert availability can be tricky. Not impossible, but not easy. I needed a place in NYC for this upcoming Saturday, and a couple months ago I tried finding availability. All had paid rates that were not crazy high, some had availability using points, but no e-cert availability. From a Flyertalk Radisson thread it seems like this is common. Apparently the Wall Street location is most likely to have E cert availability. I think the Wall Street & Fifth Ave locations were converted from Club Quarters a couple years ago.
I ended up burning my certificate at the Radisson near PHX airport. It was better than my low expectations. Rooms were recently updated, so the rooms were pleasant, though the materials used seemed low quality (fine now but probably won’t hold up well after many guests go through). It was a fine place to stay, though just an ok use of a cert. Room rates were around $200 the night I stayed. Recently it got bumped down so it only costs 30K points per night, which I think is reasonable.
I stayed at Country Inn and Suites Salt Lake City South Towne about 10 years ago. We used it as the base to ski in Alta and Snowbird (about 30 min drive every morning). At the time it was one of the nicest reasonably priced hotels in that area.
I agree that the Chicago property is nice, but my room there definitely did not have a balcony. Looking at some photos online, I think it’s fair to say that many (if not most) rooms don’t have balconies.
I stayed at the Radisson Red in Minneapolis about a year ago. It was a perfectly acceptable limited service property with some bold design elements. Nothing too spacey/trendy like an Aloft, just more whimsical slogans. Bar was closed because COVID.
I’ve stayed at the Country Inn and Suites near the PDX Portland Airport a few times. Nothing fancy but they had a convenient airport shuttle and free breakfast.
Same for the Country Inn & Suites at Newark airport. Not the most exciting destination, but if you have to stay a night near EWR it’s a great choice.
Is there a guide to the basics of earning and using these certificates? For example – is the spending period based on your anniversary date or calendar year? When do the certificates post to your account? Any blackout dates? How long until they expire?
good questions. Yet go back to the first two sentences of the article here, then click on the link to the first write-up about the card, and one therefrom to a 2018 Nick overview. (wife & I have held on to business versions of the card, through thick and mostly thin in recent years…..) Spending year indeed keyed to your anniversary date with the card (and from past experience, get that exact date clear in writing)…. Radisson has been good about keeping old certificates alive (thru covid)…. yet will need to pay attention again to rules on expiration.
ps, again, from Greg’s overview above (which I echo): “I don’t recommend spending your way to free night certificates unless you know that you’ll use them somewhere desirable.”
That’s sadly a huge issue. Apart from the three wowser options in Montana (has me wondering if the same architect did all three), Club Carlson/Radisson has been deteriorating significantly in recent years in the US…. esp. with dwindling most wanted options….
I winced when I saw a recent glitzy Radisson facebook photo meme promo…. along the lines of the proverbial blonde on a beach sippin’ a mai tai, with the come on to get your beach groove back on, at Radisson beach front hotels…. (etc. etc….. which had me wondering, pray tell, which one? Any left?) The once glorious Radisson at Melbourne, Florida has been literally falling apart for a decade and more…. (truly wonderful design, delightful floor to ceil glass….. but oh my….. read the reviews at TripAdvisor, not the filtered few that make it to the Radishack web site…. I’d really like somebody to tell me they’ve actually for real fixed up the Melbourne place…. but til they do, hesitate for cause….)
Same thing with the Radishack at the otherwise pristine sunset facing location on Panama Beach, Florida….. Yah, they’re singin’ a new tune about a pending major re-opening….. (but read the old reviews, all now blocked at R…. ) Waiting for new reviews…. not trusting Radisson pr.
And then there’s Virginia Beach Country Inn & Suites…. (all three of these locations have all rooms fronting and close to the ocean — which is nice….) Va Beach locations (like NYCity) can get super expensive in peak summer season, so there are times…..
So, did I, are we, missing any other Radisson beach-front options?
quick self-correction….. the new option at Atlantic City (as per above)…. bucket list, yes.
Thanks escot. Once you spend the $10k, do you get the certificate quickly or do you have to wait until the next anniversary? E.g. if my anniversary was in April and I spent $10k in May, would I have to wait until April 2022 until I would receive the certificate? That’s what it sounds like from the terms, but I don’t have any first-hand experience.
another good question, and if memory serves, your interpretation of the terms matches what we last experienced…. (that the free night — and you can earn up to 3 of them per year — doesn’t post until after end of that member year) Others with their records in front of them can correct if I recall wrong.
Oh, I forgot to mention the Radisson John Deere Commons in Moline, Illinois. This is a very nice property and close to dining, events, etc.
I used to live near the St. Charles Missouri location it is in a historic riverfront area where Lewis & Clark crossed the Missouri River. There are a lot of restaurants and shopping in this old historic downtown area. It’s also within a short walking distance to the nearby Ameristar Casino and it’s on the Katy Trail (rail to trail) bike trail so it is located well. It’s actually not far from the St. Louis airport and just off I-70 for cross country road trippers. It is a unique property I’d say.
I’m old enough to remember when the name Radisson really meant something. As a kid, if my parents went out of town and were staying at a Radisson Hotel, I knew it was a big deal. The Radisson Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City was an elegant and impressive grand old luxury hotel built in 1915 by the Muehlebach Brewery family. Everyone famous stayed there when in KC. The building facade is now part of a much larger modern Marriott Hotel. Fast forward many years and the Radisson name only evokes thoughts of popularly priced, convenient and uninspiring Country Inns and Suites. Nothing wrong with them, it’s just a fall from grace for a once prominent hospitality brand name.
There are some very nice international Radisson Hotels but the value proposition for points isn’t particularly good anymore. I burned my massive stash a couple years ago at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London. An impressive hotel with views across the River Thames to Westminster Abby and Big Ben from my suite, it was a fitting farewell to my Radisson infatuation. 50K points per night then, 70K now.
But I digress. Domestically, my only Radisson experience in the last many years was the tired and well worn Radisson Hotel Corpus Christi Beach in Texas. It was under renovation at the time, but really more of a cosmetic face lift. I don’t mind shabby, if shabby is on the beach. Any beach. That being said, this property oozed differed maintenance. The pool was closed due to resurfacing and the lobby felt very 80’s. The general area around the hotel seemed to suffer from urban blight. We ate at a rather sketchy seafood place a short walk from the front doors and were glad it wasn’t after dark. At 44,000 Radisson points, which it still is, it looked like a credible place to use my soon to expire certificates when I viewed it online. Needless to say, I wouldn’t put $10,000 on my Radisson credit card to revisit, but it was convenient to a lot that Corpus Christi has to offer.
We stayed in this hotel 2 years ago, sounds like nothing has changed. It was on the beach but non-guests were constantly in the pool area. The area really had very little to offer for more than 24 hours.
I think these types of articles are great. Any chance of doing them on Choice, Wyndham, and Best Western?