First, I would like to give a thanks to Angelina (Just Another Points Traveler) for kicking me in the butt this morning to get going on reserving our rooms for the giant summer Radisson promotion where you stay in 3 properties and earn enough points for 17 free nights.

This promotion gets me really excited when I can reserve three cheap hotel nights at three different properties (Radisson, Country Inn & Suites, and Park Inn) and earn the equivalent number of free nights to stay hotels for future vacations. It is the perfect example of spend a little to earn a lot.

I had budgeted around $100/night ($300 total) for our 3 nights. My real only intention was to find the cheapest rooms possible within a reasonable distance from home, and if we happen to make something fun out of it, great. I just had not gotten motivated enough to make the reservations and plans.

Then Angelina graciously pointed out (no pun intended) that she received emails with a 30% code at select properties. On top of it, all things appear to show that the rates will earn points and count towards the Big Night Giveaway. This is great news, and enough to get me to make a plan.

The toughest part was sorting through the lists of available properties, cross checking their available dates for the 30% off promotion, and making sure they still fit within the deadline for completing the Big Night Giveaway.

Park Inn List

Book by June 12, 2012 and get a 30% discount at select Park Inn by Radisson hotels when you stay during specific dates between June 22, 2012 and September 1, 2012. The Park Inn One Plus One promotion ends July 22, 2012.

Country Inn & Suites List

Book your stay by June 12, 2012 and get a 30% discount at select Country Inns & Suites hotels when you stay during specific dates listed between June 22, 2012 and September 1, 2012. The Country Inn & Suites Stay One, Get One promo ends July 15, 2012.

Radisson and Radisson Blu List

Book by May 30, 2012 and get a 30% discount at select Radisson hotels when you stay during specific dates between June 22, 2012 and September 01, 2012. The Radisson Big Night Giveaway ends July 15, 2012.

Note, per the Radisson offer, it states you need to book by tonight, so you might want to rush and make some reservations. The nice thing is they are fully cancellable.

For all 3 offers, the promo code 30PCTOFF should automatically populate in the forms.

What did we do?

Well I swayed a little bit from our original plan. My wife had the idea of driving to Indianapolis to meet up with a great college friend. So I ended up reserving a Country Inn & Suites property just outside of Indianapolis for $63/night. Since there was a little bit of a distance to travel, and to make it worth our time, I ended up getting two nights, bringing the total to $147.42. The good part though is that we will in return earn a 44,000 point bonus (plus 4,410 points for money spent). In addition, because I booked online, and had them match my Priority Club Platinum status to their Gold Status, we will earn an additional 2,000 points. I should walk away with 50,410 or $0.003/point.

Update 5:00 PM EST: Thanks to a JoshL’s suggestion in the comments, and a simpler process to create a new Club Carlson account, I broke our Country Inn & Suites reservation up into two (2) separate reservations, one under my wife’s name, and one under mine. I will earn the 44,000 bonus and my wife will earn 15,000 bonus points because unfortunately the promo met their limit of 35,000 people and now they give a reduced bonus. Regardless, we will still come out ahead in the end.

Next up, we made a quick night stay at a Radisson property in downtown Cleveland. There were limited options available at 30% off among the Radisson properties in Ohio, so I am spending a little more than I would like for this promotion. $121.55 spent ($104.30 nightly rate) will equal 2,000 points (for booking online) + 50,000 bonus points + 3,646 points (from spend) = 55,646 points or $0.002/point.

Update 4:00 PM EST
As for the Park Inn in Toledo, my wife and her friend chose a night that worked and I reserved a room at $82.60 ($96.44 total). Our point haul should equate to 2,000 points (for booking online) + 44,000 bonus points + 2893 (from spend) = 48,893 points or $0.002/point.

So the 154,949 points earned (at a cost of $365.41) from promos is enough nights for 17+ free nights in the future (at 9,000 points/night). Even factoring in the cost of gas, our family will still come out tremendously ahead in the end. That to me screams, Save Money, Travel More!