Radisson Rewards Global points value drops precipitously

Value of Radisson Rewards points drops precipitously in international program for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific regions 

Radisson Rewards, the hotel loyalty program for Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East hotels, released a vastly restructured loyalty program this week eliminating fixed points reward charts, like 30,000 points for a category 2 hotel, to a redemption model using dynamic cash value of points to pay for a hotel stay at time of booking.

For example, in this article I show some redemption values for 50,000 points for hotel stay cash discounts on room reservations. In dozens of hotels I checked this week in Europe the redemption value of Radisson Rewards points never exceeded $3.00 per 1,000 points. My 50,000 points in Radisson Rewards are worth less than $150 in hotel stay credit now. 

I am sitting on 95,000 points with 50,000 points in Europe and 45,000 points in the Americas program. For the past few years I valued Radisson Rewards points at $3.50 per 1,000 points. My valuation is based on Radisson Rewards points sales with 100% bonus points when the price to buy dropped from $7.00 per 1,000 points to $3.50 per 1,000 points. Still, even buying points at $3.50 per 1,000 points, I found very limited use of Radisson Rewards points in Europe, except for a few locations.

This week Radisson Rewards Global changed its reward redemption process making 1,000 points worth only $2 to $3 per 1,000 points. I have checked points redemption values for dozens of hotels without finding a single one offering even $3.00 per 1,000 points redemption value savings. The highest redemption values I found were close to $2.90 per 1,000 points when points are used for cash credit on a hotel stay booking.

I valued 50,000 points at a minimum $175 in the old system. Now 50,000 points are only worth $125 to $145. In contrast, a couple of rate checks for random hotels in the USA quickly showed me hotels are available for Radisson Rewards points discount rates providing over $10 per 1,000 points redemption value.

50,000 points worth $125 to $145 outside of the Americas are still worth over $250 at many hotels in the USA. 

Stockholm, Sweden redemption value

Radisson Rewards points redemption value for this Park Inn hotel night in Stockholm :

• 1,485 SEK = $132.08 USD = 47,886 points.
• 1,000 Radisoon Rewards points are worth $2.76 per 1,000 points for this stay.

Last week I was aware of hotels in Europe, like Radisson Blu Ljubljana, Slovenia, where redemption values of $10 per 1,000 points were still available. That would have been $500 redemption value for 50,000 points. These new changes to Radisson Rewards Global devalued my plans to use Radisson Rewards points for some specific places around Europe.

Radisson Rewards Global changes are bad. But not all bad!  

The main difference with the new cash value of points syatem is the opportunity to book any room category and discount the nightly rate using points to pay all or part of the bill.

The Park Inn Stockholm Radisson Rewards points redemption value is based on a Superior Room booking at the hotel, which is a higher category room than the Standard Room that previously would have likely been the only room category offered as a standard reward fixed points redemption.

Different rooms at same hotel for same night may have different points redemption value rates

This is confounding to me to find 50,000 points redeemed at a specific hotel may have a different cash redemption values when redeemed for different room types. Examples below show how the value of 1,000 Radisson Rewards points redeemed for a rate discount changes depending on the type of room selected.

Radisson Hotel & Suites, Gdansk, Poland Nov 8-9, 2022

Standard Room = 315 PLN = $64.98 USD = 23,162 points.

• Radisson Rewards 1,000 points = $2.81 USD.

Superior Room River View = 700.20 PLN = $144.56 USD.

• 50,000 points = 669.61 PLN savings = $138.24 USD.
• Radisson Rewards 1,000 points = $2.76 USD.

Studio with Spa Access = 783.00 PLN = $161.53 USD. 

• 50,000 points = 635.03 PLN savings = $131.10 USD.
• Radisson Rewards 1,000 points = $2.62 USD.

Superior Room with Bay Window River View = 828.00 PLN = $170.94 USD.

• 50,000 points = 620.31 PLN savings = $128.07 USD.
• Radisson Rewards 1,000 points = $2.56 USD.

Presidential Suite = 1,903.50 PLN = $393 USD.

• 50,000 points = 505.17 PLN savings = $104.29.
• Radisson Rewards 1,000 points = $2.09 USD.

Five different room categories at Radisson Hotel & Suites Gdansk offer five different points redemption values. The  points redemption value decreases as the room category increases in room rate. 

Not only do different hotels in different places vary in Radisson Rewards points redemption value, albeit in a very small range of $2 to $3 per 1,000 points, but points redemption value even varies within any individual hotel for different rooms in the hotel.

Radisson Rewards Global is different program than Radisson Rewards Americas

Radisson Rewards America hotel loyalty progam is unaffected by these changes – for now.

Radisson Rewards split into two separate programs when Choice Hotels completed the $675 million acquisition of the Radisson Hotels Americas chain for U.S., Canada, Caribbean, Central and South America hotel franchise contracts and loyalty program in August 2022. Radisson Rewards Americas hotel loyalty program is currently operating unchanged. I expect Radisson Rewards Americas loyalty program to merge into Choice Privileges at some point over the next year or two.

Radisson Rewards Americas press statement

It will take us time to integrate the two companies, so for now it’s business as usual and the Radisson Rewards Americas and Choice Privileges loyalty programs will remain separate. As a Radisson Rewards Americas member, you will continue to earn and redeem Radisson Rewards Americas points the same as you do today. 

Radisson Rewards global program changes impacts the value of Radisson Rewards points for members redeeming points for hotel stays in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East properties. The value of Radisson Rewards points has dropped significantly due to the major hotel loyalty program structural change eliminating fixed value reward charts for dynamic cash value of points when redeeming for hotel stays. 

For now, you can still freely transfer Radisson points between the Americas and Global programs.

Global Points Transfer

Members can transfer points between the two programs by using Global Points Transfer. 

• To transfer points from Radisson Rewards Americas to Radisson Rewards visit: www.radissonhotelsamericas.com/en-us/rewards/redeem/global-points-transfer
• To transfer points from Radisson Rewards to Radisson Rewards Americas visit: www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/rewards/redeem/globalpointstransfer