The time has come to keep or cancel my Club Carlson cards. We know the glory days of these cards are over so it’s not worth discussing the past. (unless you want to torture yourself, see Where Did You Go? 6 Great Pre-Deval Redemptions) Now, it’s a numbers game. Is $60 for the business and $75 for the personal worth 80,000 Club Carlson points cumulatively? I have a current balance of 70,000 so I rationalized paying the annual fee one more time, something that I said last year.
Properties like the Radisson Blu Cape Town, the stellar Radisson Blu Chicago, the great Radisson 1919 Iceland, the ocean resort at of the Radisson Cartagena, or the most novel hotel in the world, the Radisson Sonya St. Petersburg (review coming) are great places to redeem Club Carlson points while enjoying gold elite status.
There are so many great Club Carlson hotels (full review list here) in remote locales that I will probably the keep vs. cancel debate again next year.
With a little work, you can get pretty good value out of the cards. $135 for 5 nights in Budapest? Yes, please. The last couple of times, free breakfast was included as well.
Free breakfast!! Yeah i agree if u piece it here and there it works out well. So much value in Russia
I stayed at some decent Radisson Blu properties: Plaza on the River (London), Radisson Blue Golden Sands and Radisson Blu St. Julian’s (Malta), Radisson Blu Beke (Budapest), Radisson Blu Polar Spotsbergen (Norway), Radisson Blu 1919 (Iceland), Radisson Melbourne (Florida),Radisson Blu Sobieski (Warsaw)….
After US. Bank Visa lost second night free I only stayed at 2 Radisson Blu and i used up my 2 free night certificates plus all the points i had (Spitsbergen). I do not see value in that card any more even with 40,000 annual bonus. I got rid of one card and i am keeping second card just for the status. I also stayed at some Country Inns (for example in Williamsburg (VA)) which are usually really not very attractive, but they are cheap and i got an upgrade every time.