Last year I was kind of turned off to Radisson after they took forever to create a Club Carlson account for me. I really wanted to partake in last years 50,000 point promotion after a single night stay. By the time I finally received my account number, I lost the gusto to make a reservation and follow through with the promotion.

Well this year things are going to change. I have my Club Carlson number all lined up and ready to go. Thankfully, Radisson has greatly stepped up the promotion this year, running three offers simultaneously at the same time! That means we have the potential to earn enough points for up to 17 free nights by paying and staying for three (3) nights. That is a BIG Save Money, Travel More!

If you are not yet a Club Carlson, I strongly encourage you to do so now. It could take up to a week to get your account number. After you finally get an account number, you then need to register it for online access. I am again baffled why Club Carlson makes it so difficult to create an account, but once you have it done, you will be good to go.

Since I will be partaking in each of the below promotion, I also decided it would be of some benefit to get a status match. We have Platinum status with Priority Club Rewards, so I took a screenshot of my status, and emailed it to goldpointsplus@carlson.com. By status matching, I expect Club Carlson to give us Gold status, which will give us 2,000 bonus points by booking online, plus a 50% bonus on points earned.

Once you have all of your Club Carlson account information lined up, now the fun part starts.

Radisson Big Night Getaway

Stay one night at any Radisson or Radisson Blu, and get enough points (50,000 points) to stay free. Registration begins at 12:01 AM CDT ON May 15, 2012. Last year this offer was open to the first 100,000 members to register. Everyone after that received a lesser amount of points (15,000). I registered last year months after the promotion started and still received the 100,000 point offer. Unfortunately, we are still unsure on the exact terms of the promotion, so be prepared to register to possibly register early.

Hotel stays at a Radisson or Radisson Blu property must be completed between May 15 and July 15, 2012.

Stay One, Get One Country Inns and Suites

Stay one night at a Country Inn & Suites location, and get enough points (44,000 points) to stay free. Registration again begins at 12:01 AM CDT ON May 15, 2012. Hotel stays through July 15, 2012 qualify for the promotion.

Park Inn One Plus One

Earn 44,000 points for a single night stay in a Park Inn property. Registration for this offer will start May 22nd and valid for stays through July 22nd, 2012.

Unfortunately, there are only a small handful of Park Inn properties within the United States.
– Albuquerque, NM
– Dallas, TX
– Fresno, CA
– Houston, TX
– Mechanicsburg, PA
– Sault Sainte Marie, MI
– Sharon, PA
– Toledo, OH
– Tulsa, OK

This makes our options very limited. It looks like we may need to make an overnight trip out to Toledo to partake.

The reason I am so excited about this promotion is that we will purchase a 1-night stays at three different properties for an estimated cost of $300. We should earn as a result:

50,000 + 44,000 + 44,000 points
6,000 points for booking online
9,000 points for ($300 spend * 30 points/$1); or earn 40 points/$1 with a business account with Club Carlson
——————
153,000-156,000 points

Why is this important? The idea behind the promotion is that you earn a free night at Club Carlson’s higher end properties. However, we have no interest in high end properties as all that is important to our family is a pool and a respectable, safe place to sleep. Therefore, the lower end of Club Carlson hotels go for 9,000 points per night. Therefore, at a minimum, we would earn 17 free reward nights! That is very valuable to our family. With that many points, there should even be enough room to use some points towards the US Airways Grand Slam promotion later in the year too.

It is promotions like these that we are thankful and fortunate that our family is able to stay in Hawaii for free with Priority Club this summer. Now if only Priority Club would bring back their Crack the Case promotion!

Save Money, Travel More!