One of the best hotel loyalty promotions so far in 2014 is Club Carlson’s Stay 3 nights and earn 38,000 bonus points. This offer runs January 6 through April 13, 2014. There is less than one week remaining to complete hotel stays for these nights. And unlike Hyatt or Marriott promotions ending April 30 that required registration by March 31, Club Carlson still allows member registration for this 3 nights, earn 38,000 points offer.
I completed my third night last week staying at the Country Inns & Suites Chicago O’Hare South. My original plan was to book the room, check-in and leave for a hotel in downtown Chicago. Then, disaster struck on the flight from Los Angeles to Chicago when I turned on my computer to see that I had a major startup glitch preventing Windows from loading correctly. I spent the evening working on my computer to make it semi-functional during a week when I was changing hotels every night.
Those are the kinds of issues that drive me crazy when I am on the road.
39,863 points earned from one night in Chicago O’Hare after my third night at Carlson brand hotels in the past month. The 2-night stay at the Radisson Santa Maria was booked for under $75 per night during one of the recurring 35% off sales from Radisson. The Radisson Santa Maria stay also earned 2,000 bonus points for online booking since the reservation was booked before the online booking bonus was eliminated in the March 15, 2014 changes to Club Carlson.
Total for 3 nights was $250 after tax and my account earned 45,212 points.
These points will likely be worth $400+ on Radisson Blu reward stays when I travel to Norway in September 2014. Club Carlson points have added value with the Club Carlson Visa card benefit of one free night on reward stays of two or more nights.
There is still plenty of good value with hotel loyalty programs. A few years ago, I felt that sticking with one hotel loyalty program and earning elite status paid the best return dividends. These days I tend to bounce around and grab the best promotional values for an overall reduction in the cost of hotel rooms throughout the year.
My week in Chicago earned both this Club Carlson 38,000 bonus points and a free night certificate (category 1-4) with Marriott Rewards with stays at Renaissance Blackstone and Chicago Downtown Hotel, Autograph Collection. Even though changing hotels every night was a PITA, the experience was not too bad. Each morning I simply left my luggage with the hotel for the day until my business activities were done and I could get to the new hotel in the evening. Basically I traded a little bit of additional clothes ironing time to earn free hotel nights for my future travels.
6 Comments
Comments are closed.