Berlin, Germany Country Inns & Suites Europe Hotel-Airline Loyalty Promotions 2015-Q1 Park Inn Park Plaza Radisson Blu Hotels Radisson Hotels Radisson Rewards

Club Carlson Berlin for 60,000 bonus points

by Ric Garrido
January 5, 2015
10 Comments
154 Views

Miles to Memories post about Club Carlson 30,000 bonus points for 3-night stays and $50 rates got me wondering about cheap rates at Club Carlson hotels. I found some Country Inn rates under $50 per night in Alabama. But, I don’t want to take a winter trip to Alabama.

Country Inns in Silicon Valley, California are under $100 per night on Friday and Saturday, but the rate typically doubles for Sunday to Thursday and that makes a 3-night stay prohibitive as a mattress run idea. There are no under-$50 per night hotel rates anywhere close to me. Fresno, California is a cheap place to bounce between three Club Carlson hotels, but I don’t want to spend a week in Fresno.

Winter in Europe makes Summer in Europe cheaper

Next summer Kelley and I fly to Copenhagen on WOW Air. Two weeks of hotels in peak season is a reason to travel to Europe this winter and earn cheap points.

Club Carlson’s offer got me looking at how I could use this promotion in combination with a cheap trip to Stockholm on Norwegian Air. The price for Norwegian Airlines Oakland – Stockholm round trip is $350 all-in for some dates over the next three months, if you can get by without a confirmed seat assignment, a checked bag or in-flight food. You can buy those other things for $89 more each way.

Or pay the Norwegian Air base rate and manage the 10-hour 787 flight with cash savings and free Wi-Fi. The seat issue is a tough one to bet on since a middle seat is a drag. Food can be brought on board.

I am planning to perfect my lightweight carry-on travel bag as I embrace being a low cost carrier frequent flyer in 2015. Carry-on bag limitations of 20” x 7” x 14” is tiny. That 7-inch depth is the toughest to manage.There is only about 15 pounds allowed for your stuff given the weight of most suitcases at 7 or 8 pounds use up one-third of your 10kg or 22 pounds bag limit on many low cost European carriers. My experiences with LCC flights in 2014 is a carry-on bag is viewed and not weighed.

Club Carlson Stockholm

Rates are under $100 per night at several Club Carlson hotels in Stockholm, Sweden for 3-night stays during February and March. $350 for a round trip plane ticket from California to Sweden and $600 in hotel nights can earn 80,000 Club Carlson points for a Club Carlson Visa card member with the Extend Your Stay 30,000 bonus points for 3-night stays. Club Carlson Jan 12 to March 29, 2015 stays earn 15K for 2 nights, 30K for 3 nights.

Stockholm as a destination beats the hell out of Fresno most any day.

Where are low Club Carlson rates to be found?

There are Club Carlson hotels with rates around $50 per night in places I would like to visit this winter. My first look is Berlin.

Berlin

Spending six nights near Alexanderplatz in Berlin sounds like great fun to me. I am thinking about the noodle bars around the city square and $6 meals and a liter of beer from the supermarket for $1.50. Two years ago I spent a week in Berlin for a conference. A week in Berlin for museum sightseeing and visiting different neighborhoods is a fun outing.

Berlin, Germany February 13-16 Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

art’otel berlin kudamm is $168 for three nights. Earn around 35,000 points as a Club Carlson Visa member. 35,000 points is the price for one night at any top category 7 hotel with a 2-night stay as a Club Carlson Visa member. A place like The Mayfair London or Radisson Blu Champs Elysees, Paris for free after a trip to Berlin.

Park Inn Berlin Alexanderplatz is a massive hotel built as a Cold War icon of East Berlin. The 37-floor hotel built in 1967-70 has 1,012 rooms. The subway is located right next to the hotel for easy access to any place in Berlin from the city center location. Museums are close by for walking and stores are all around Alexanderplatz. $220 for three nights earns the 30,000 bonus points for a 3-night stay. The rates drop $1 per night at Park Inn Alexanderplatz for Feb 16-19 stay dates.

Six nights in Berlin paying $400 at two Club Carlson hotels earns sufficient points for two nights at a category 7 hotel or three nights at a Category 5 or 6 hotel when points are redeemed for 2-night stays as a Club Carlson Visa member. Published room rates for some Radisson Blu hotels in summer 2015 top $500 per night.

Berlin is a city with several low cost Club Carlson hotels for taking advantage of Club Carlson’s Extend Your Stay, 30K bonus for hotel stays by March 29.

Where have you found low rates for Club Carlson hotels?

My focus has been Europe. I’d keep my eye out for low airfare to South or Central America or Asia if I knew I could combine the travel with a cheap Club Carlson hotel.

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10 Comments

LarryInNYC January 5, 2015

Kind of new to the points thing, so I’m not sure I understand this post. Are you suggesting that you’re going to travel to Europe for a week and spend (well) north of $789 to earn enough points to exchange for two free hotel nights? How is that worth it?
AnonCHI January 5, 2015

Ric – could you publish some trip reports? I realize you are more about hotels but I appreciate that you are an economy class flier and it would be nice to see your experiences. BoardingArea needs some diversity.
Kim January 5, 2015

Friday, Sat and Sun at the Country Inn & Suites near IAD are $67.15 per night via advance purchase discount (15%), and the Radisson in Buena Park, CA, is $97.87 via Stay 3-Save 20%. Based on your experience, would you expect these rates to qualify for this promotion? If so, I would like to PM you with another question.
LarryInNYC January 5, 2015

PS: Budapest has three CC properties from $59 to $67 a night, including the excellent Art ‘Otel.
Kim January 5, 2015

I’m actually going to be in Berlin in Feb. And having been eyeing these hotels. Now, I’m sure I’m going to book them. But, I’m not sure the Art’otel qualifies? It says it’s by Park Plaza. But, the brand itself isn’t listed as qualifying.
DavidNJ January 5, 2015

San Jose, CR Country Inn looks promising if I were to partake in this offer. $69, near the airport, warm weather would fit my bill. However, why bother when you can MS for a fraction of $69 per night.
Carl January 5, 2015

You may want to leverage the Delta sale SFO-IST that was the rage today if it is still available, i see Radisson Istanbul Tuzla AAA rates at $72 net
Marek January 5, 2015

I spent two days in Park Inn Alexander Platz 1.5 year ago, renting three rooms on 2-4-1 rate (with two Gold memberships since you can book up to two rooms per Gold). The hotel was OK, the neighborhood also OK, a bit dirty and east-German-like. Overall I regretted not booking something within the former West Berlin.

If you are looking for ideas, Warsaw has two very good Radisson Blu properties and it is not too far from Berlin (five hour ride on a fast and overall very good train). I would grade both Warsaw hotels one step above Alexanderplatz Park Inn. They routinely offer spectacular free breakfast and upgrades for CC Gold. You can often find good 2-4-1 or 4-4-2 rates at Radisson Blu Sobieski (the best I found recently was about $30 a day!). Rates at Radisson Blu Centrum fluctuate weirdly. You can find prices in OTAs from $70-$200 for the same room but I stayed there last year’s summer on 2-4-1 paying about $80 (total). Both hotels are within walking distance from many attractions; Radisson Blu Centrum’s location is a bit better. If you decide to go there, I can tell you more what to do and where to eat. Warsaw is absurdly inexpensive these days. The only minus is that Warsaw is much nicer from May to October.
Ric Garrido January 6, 2015

@LarryinNewYork – travel to Europe is just that. Travel is the point of this whole blog lifestyle.

The Club Carlson promotion is simply the icing on the cake. Rather than spending hotel points for free stays in Europe, I can book inexpensive Club Carlson properties and earn points that will pay for hotel nights when we are in Europe this summer.

Plans changed in the 12 hours after writing this post. Delta/KLM had a sale for $410 tickets San Francisco-Dublin, Ireland and I purchased tickets to travel to Ireland in February.

I may still fly Norwegian in March, but that is now a secondary plan.

AnonCHI – I publish trip reports all the time. I do not write them in chronological linear fashion, “Then I went to the lounge, then I Ubered to the hotel, then I went to the lounge, then I Ubered to the airport.” I had great experiences flying Norwegian in Norway and RyanAir between Dublin and London in the past six months.

http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2014/09/12/oslo-sandefjord-torp-airport-low-cost-flights/

http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2014/09/19/pinned-to-my-seat-by-strongman-for-a-12-hour-fra-sfo-flight/

@Kim – those discounts should work. I think in Europe the Gold member 4-for-2 and 2-for 1 rates work too. I found rates under $40 per night at some hotels in eastern Europe.

@Kim – Art’otel should qualify. I have never heard the hotels not earning Club Carlson benefits.

@DavidNJ – Costa Rica is a good destination for some travelers. January is supposed to be peak season there.

@Carl – I almost pulled the trigger on KLM SFO-Istanbul for $482 last night as a solo trip. Wife refused to travel to Istanbul.
Radisson Istanbul Tuzla $51.19 on 4-for-2 stay for $205 total for 4 nights.

@Marek – Radisson Blu Sobieski at $31.15 per night Feb 19-23 on 4-for-2 Gold elite rate. $125 for four nights in Warsaw.
LarryInNYC January 6, 2015

Rick:

Well, if you’re going anyway choosing the hotels with the best earnings makes sense. And I can definitely see where it’s different since it’s your JOB to travel. It sounded like you were suggesting that the trip made sense as a business transaction for your readers (to collect the necessary points for two nights in the summer).

While I like to benefit from the kind offers made by our friends at the credit card companies I’m always a bit concerned that I may alter my behavior in non-beneficial ways for points-earning reasons.

Comments are closed.