When 138000 points is not enough

I’m excited about the Club Carlson “Big Night” promotions that will be available for registration May 15th.  The basic idea is that after registering you will get 50,000 bonus points for staying one night at a Radisson, 44,000 points for staying at a Park Inn, and another 44,000 points for staying at a Country Inn & Suites.  The total points you can earn is a ridiculously high 138,000!  For details, please see this post by Loyalty Traveler. 

If you’re like me, you’re thinking “yeah Club Carlson, that’s nice, but how can I get even more?”  So, here is Frequent Miler’s step by step guide to maximizing the Club Carlson “Big Night” promotions:

Step 1: Sign-up for a Club Carlson account

If you don’t already have a Club Carlson account, New Girl in the Air shows how you can get 4,500 free points just by signing up: 4,500 Free Club Carlson Points (500 Airline Miles) for New Members.  Make sure to sign up everyone in the family! 

NOTE: The 4500 point offer appears to be dead.  I’ll update here if anything changes.

Step 2: Status Match to Gold Status

Club Carlson will readily bump up your elite status to Gold if you can prove that you have high level status in another program.  I used my Priority Club Platinum status to get the match, but most other programs should work just as well.  If you don’t have high level status in any program, then you might want to take advantage of the current Hyatt promotion:

• Through May 11th, use any Visa Signature card to sign up for temporary Hyatt Platinum status for free: https://www.visasignature.hyatt.com/ 
  Note that it might take a few days for the Platinum status to show up on your account.

Once you’ve signed up for free Hyatt Platinum status (or have status with another program), make a screen capture of your account to prove your status and send the picture in an email to: goldpointsplus@carlson.com.  Ask for a status match.  Ideally you’ll be bumped up to Gold status. 

Club Carlson Gold status will give you extra points and some perks when staying at their hotels:

Gold status benefits:
50% Point Bonus
Late Check-out (based on availability)
Early Check-in (based on availability)
Best Available Room in the category booked
72- hour availability guarantee
Special points plus cash offers
Priority full-service Member Services telephone number

Additional benefits in Europe, the Middle East and Africa:
10% off weekend rates
Double occupancy for a single rate
Weekend Extend (2 for 1 and 4 for 2 Nights)

Step 3: Enroll in Club Carlson for Business

By registering your own business (if you have one) with Club Carlson, you can earn an extra 10 points per dollar for every reservation booked online and linked to your business account.  Here’s the sign-up link: https://www.clubcarlson.com/profiles/secure/business/joinRouter.do

Step 4: Book via TopCashBack

When booking hotel nights, get 5% cash back by starting at TopCashBack and clicking through to Radisson. If booking Country Inn & Suites or Park Inn, go to Radisson.com and then click the “All Carlson Rezidor hotels” radio button:

UPDATE: TopCashBack will now give 10% cash back!  See “Breaking News: TopCashBack to double Radisson rebate” for more details. 

Step 5: Qualify for the promotion

Stay at least one night in each hotel (Radisson, Park Inn, and Country Inn & Suites) between May 15 and July 15 to qualify.  Radisson ran a similar promotion this past winter and many people found ways to check into hotels without actually staying (I plead the fifth).  This time, Club Carlson plans to police things better.  They, quite reasonably, want people to actually stay in their hotels and get to know (and hopefully love) the brand.  I like the timing of this promotion since it should line up well with many people’s summer vacations.  Take advantage of these promos to take some time off and enjoy the summer!  In my opinion, the value of the points earned in this promo should easily make up for the cost of a night at almost any Club Carlson property.

Add it up

• Club Carlson Signup bonus: 4,500 points
• Stay one night in each: Radisson, Park Inn, and Country Inn & Suites.  Assume $100 per night average.  Earn 5% cash back from TopCashBack.  Total cost: $285
• Promotion points earned: 50K (Radisson) + 44K (Park Inn) + 44K (Country Inn & Suites) = 138,000 points
• Book online bonus (2000 points per booking for Silver and Gold members): 3 X 2000 = 6,000 points
• Points earned per dollar (Gold members with business accounts): 40.  $300 X 40 points per dollar = 12,000 points
• Total cost: $285
• Total points earned: 160,500
• Extra credit:
  • Use your prepaid Amex to pay for each night & earn 1500 Ultimate Rewards points!  See “One card to rule them all.”

Value of 160,500 points

The value of these points totally depends on how you use them.  I think the highest value is probably at the lowest and highest ends of their properties.  Category 1 property awards cost only 9000 points per night.  Top end category 6 hotels cost 50,000 points per night.

With 160,500 points you can:

• Stay 17 nights at category 1 properties: https://www.clubcarlson.com/category1
• Stay 3 nights at category 6 properties: https://www.clubcarlson.com/category6
• See the full list here: http://www.clubcarlson.com/freenights

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