I heard this morning that Club Carlson is removing the most valuable part of their award program.. the last night free. I’ve pretty much got all my travel for the next year booked up already, but I decided to book a new vacation based on this news. I decided that Aruba sounded like a great property, and I’m pretty sure I’d be happy about going to Aruba in February… so I pulled the trigger on 4 nights, 2 on my account, and 2 on the better halfs.
This means that we get the following:
- Thursday 50K pts
- Friday Free
- Saturday 50K pts
- Sunday Free
As we are traveling as a family now the only precaution I took before booking was to confirm that there were a few different ways for me to get to Aruba nonstop from NY.. It seems that Delta and United fly the route. I didn’t both checking for award space because I don’t have the inclination. However I did decide that booking from a Thursday to a Monday might increase my chances of finding space. From experience, finding those sweet spot flights that depart on a Friday night and get you home on Sunday are always in highest demand, so by aiming around that I think I may have more luck.
Changing Awards Online
Despite my cunning plan to book Thurs/Sat, I messed up and booked Fri/Sun for the first award booking. The reservation confirmation had a link to ‘change reservation’ and I found it very easy to do so.
Wrong Reservation
Aruba Reservation – wrong dates selected.
Fixed Reservation
Aruba Reservation – corrected
This may create opportunities for people to book now and push the dates in the future.
Cancellation Policy
Though of course, rebooking like this brings in an element of risk that they will charge you for that second night should you attempt this after the cut of point. Greg mentions in his post that D Day is May 28th.
Remember, award space is finite, and you have people like me booking your rooms now, so I wouldn’t wait too long. My advice… Just book!
Combining Accounts
Club Carlson elites (elite Gold comes from holding the credit card) are allowed to combine accounts that have been:
- Open for 1 year
- Not had any address changes in 30 days
- Me 10K
- Wife 42K
Procrastination is the enemy here. If you have no upcoming trips I recommend just booking far enough out to be speculative, and ‘make it work’.
The post Club Carlson Carnage… Just book it. appeared first on Travel.
Continue reading...