Reasons Club Carlson is Awesome

MarcusBWI

Level 2 Member
Just to kickstart this discussion, I have recently started shifting my loyalty to Club Carlson after getting their credit card. I have stayed in a number of their hotels recently, and I have to say that this is my favorite chain right now.

1. The credit card signup bonus is great: 85,000 points is enough for 2 nights at their ultra-luxury properties (with 15,000 points left over), or almost 20 nights at their most basic properties, if you include the next benefit:
2. The last-night-free bonus is also incredible. If you want to stay at a Club Carlson property for a weekend, you only pay for the first night. So you can basically double your redemption values.
3. I have had 100% luck on free room upgrades with Club Carlson gold status. I know others haven't had such great luck, though.
4. I get the feeling that they are really trying to grow their hotel chain. There aren't nearly as many Club Carlson hotels as chains like Hilton or Hyatt. But it seems like they are throwing benefits at people in order to obtain customers, so we're in a good place to get in on the ground floor of that.

So, yes, I'm a fanboy. Unashamedly so. What does everybody else think?
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
I think you are awesome for starting the first thread here, thank you!

I agree, I love Club Carlson, and if you have a significant other with a card you can swap back to back 2 nights, 2 nights (for quite some time..) which is amazing.

For me, Club Carlson is my favorite chain for those shorter trips for value, they seem to better in EU than North America in terms of coverage compared to many brands.
 

MarcusBWI

Level 2 Member
Agreed! My wife just signed up for a Club Carlson card, and it makes our longer stays so much cheaper. I book Monday-Tuesday (and only pay for Monday), she books Wednesday-Thursday (and only pays for Wednesday), etc.

But it's true, Carlson hotels are not as widespread around North America. I'm hoping that will change in the coming years.
 

lfas25

Level 2 Member
I agree, I love Club Carlson, and if you have a significant other with a card you can swap back to back 2 nights, 2 nights (for quite some time..) which is amazing.
Do they make you switch rooms, or are they don't care to let you stay in the same room?
 

projectx

Level 2 Member
I've been keeping an eye on the Club Carlson card. The sign up bonus is great, and what I initially overlooked is that it only takes $3k (instead of $2,500) worth of spend on the card in the first few months to get 3 free nights at even at luxury properties. This way you get 100k points (two free nights), then the third night is free after using gold points to redeem the first two nights.
 

lfas25

Level 2 Member
I've been keeping an eye on the Club Carlson card. The sign up bonus is great, and what I initially overlooked is that it only takes $3k (instead of $2,500) worth of spend on the card in the first few months to get 3 free nights at even at luxury properties. This way you get 100k points (two free nights), then the third night is free after using gold points to redeem the first two nights.
How do you get to 100k? The offers I saw are $2.5k spend for 85k points.
 

glader

Level 2 Member
Do they make you switch rooms, or are they don't care to let you stay in the same room?
I've only had one experience so far the Radisson Blu Cape Town and we had them link the reservation. No need to change rooms. Will be in London and Paris in a few months, so will find out there at that time.
 

projectx

Level 2 Member
LFAS25 said:
How do you get to 100k? The offers I saw are $2.5k spend for 85k points.
Remember... 85k points is the bonus. You still get 5 points for every dollar you spend. So spend $3k, you get 15k points, plus the 85k bonus for reaching the $2,500k threshold.
 

MarcusBWI

Level 2 Member
Do they make you switch rooms, or are they don't care to let you stay in the same room?
Technically you have to check out and check back in under the new name. So it will be up to the hotel to make the decision. But you can request it from the front desk.
 

Tyler2

Level 2 Member
I recently completed a Florida trip staying at two hotels, four nights each using both my and my wife's points. At each hotel I reserved a room for two night myself, and the next two nights for my wife. I had no issue staying in the same room between our two reservations at each hotel. To smooth it over ahead of time (which I doubt really mattered in hindsight), I called the hotel prior to the trip and simply explained that I didn't have enough points for the stay so would be using two reservations for the same stay, they made sure everything worked out.

The second night free is such a great benefit that I planned my upcoming summer trip around hotel stays of two night increments.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
It's always a little YMMV with these, I am always willing to swap rooms if necessary but tend to just ask on the day of checkin for room 1 and if it fails and that person isn't around I'll ask in the morning I'm due to check out.

More often than not if you are polite they hook you up.
 

Voyaging Doc

Level 2 Member
Had my eye on this for a while but seeing that i've been hitting the AORs hard for the past year I've had to place this one on the backburner since I hear U S B a n k is a little less lenient on approving apps from those with many open credit lines
 

Deltahater

Tequila, Miles and Suites
Also, don't abuse it, but carlsonf is the code for the €80 rate in Europe. This is for friends and family. So go to the local TGIF, tip your bartender or (even better) manager well and ask them if you can use their name. They have no clue what you want and don't care. When you check in, the clerk may ask for a name and city and you are good to go.
 

Tyler2

Level 2 Member
Had my eye on this for a while but seeing that i've been hitting the AORs hard for the past year I've had to place this one on the backburner since I hear U S B a n k is a little less lenient on approving apps from those with many open credit lines
Voyaging Doc, you may want to look into a post Amol wrote about IDA and ARS and this card/issuer. It worked in my case, but I may have been approved without using it.
 

Deltahater

Tequila, Miles and Suites
Had my eye on this for a while but seeing that i've been hitting the AORs hard for the past year I've had to place this one on the backburner since I hear U S B a n k is a little less lenient on approving apps from those with many open credit lines
The easiest way to fix that is the freeze your credit reports from the bureaus that USBank is pulling the reports from. They are two small ones. Forget which ones and don't have my notes handy. Takes 2-3 weeks and you are good to go
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Agree about the card application - if you are churning you need to freeze your reports. IDA and ARS are akin to the FICA reporting firms but are privately held and retained by US bank. Personally I was rejected the first time around due to too many AORs, but was approved the second time around when I held off apps and applied for the CC card standalone - once I got the greenlight I continued that AOR. Saved a bit of paperwork with freezing IDA/ARS (basically an opt out)

I'd highly recommend the stuff that Amol and Bengali Miles Guru write about MS in general, they are actually doing this stuff rather than copying/pasting from forums for clicks. And they are nice guys too.
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
I waited about 5-6 months as I wasn't AORing at the time. Might be possible to do in less.
 

Mingy

Level 2 Member
I have never had to switch rooms when alternating two nights between two of us. I have had to get a key card reactivated though, but that was easily resolved.
I always email in advance to let them know and kindly ask if they could keep us in one room.
 

myhotrs

Level 2 Member
So the terms on the second free night state that the account-holder has to be the one staying. I've used this at a local Radisson for visiting family but I've always been the one to check in. Does anyone have experience whether the hotels know of this or care?
 

Mingy

Level 2 Member
I know people who have successfully told the hotel that someone will be arriving before the account holder and they should be allowed to check in. I have personally never tried that though with Club Carlson.

Edit: I have only heard of it working domestically. Never heard of anyone trying elsewhere.
 

Naina

Level 2 Member
My husband applied for the 85K card, but was approved for the 60K bonus. Any suggestions on upgrading to the other? It has a slightly higher annual fee, but comes with Gold Status, which is way better than Silver.
 

DRSP

Level 2 Member
We circumnavigated the country in our truck last summer and burned through 300K Club Carlson points. The last night free deal with the credit card really stretched our points. I also noticed they really stepped up in their recognition of gold status last summer; we always had snacks or some other nicety, such as handmade soap, in our room at check-in.
 

lad

Level 2 Member
We circumnavigated the country in our truck last summer and burned through 300K Club Carlson points. The last night free deal with the credit card really stretched our points. I also noticed they really stepped up in their recognition of gold status last summer; we always had snacks or some other nicety, such as handmade soap, in our room at check-in.
Nice, I'm adding this card on my and SO next AOR.
 

flyingcturtle

Level 2 Member
I love Club Carlson. Using the points from the CC bonus and some MS to pay for most of my 3 weeks of stays in Thailand (Phuket and Bangkok)
 

PointsMahalo

Level 2 Member
The Club Carlson program is really awesome and I've gotten some great stays internationally. Unfortunately the locations where my regular travel tends to take me have very poor Carlson coverage. I would be super excited to find news about planned hotels in regions like Japan, Hawaii, and Washington state - I want to be a loyal Club Carlson customer! :)
 

Mingy

Level 2 Member
The biggest negative about Club Carlson is definitely its lack of global coverage. But if you are planning to go where they are located (Europe, particularly Northern Europe), then you can't go wrong.
 

Manspender

Level 2 Member
Club Carlson has been my favorite hotel chain ever since their deals 2 yrs ago. Between the wife and I we made over 400,000 CC points. And then they came out with the per and bus CC! What a great deal. The only problem I have had is when I first applied I got rejected. Waited 6 mths, did not freeze anything, and reapplied and got both. The business card was a pain in the a$$ with the website. I could never wrap my head around the way it worked and just closed the card after 3 months. I still have the pers card and will keep that until my points die or the devalue the hell out of the program.
I have stayed at Rad Blu in ORD and Rome and have not been let down. Have used it them at others too like Park Inn, Rad and Country Inn and it has been hit and miss but worth the points.
 

cz606

Level 2 Member
Also worth noting that for paid stays there are frequently bonus point opportunity. I received something like 30k extra points for a three night stay a few months back. Probably not worth planning a trip around the bonuses, but if you are traveling anyway, the extra points are a welcome addition.
 

Kellyl

Level 2 Member
I've benefited from using points in Berlin and London and the second night free bonus was great, thanks to the credit card.
I stayed at the end of last year at a Radisson in Ontario, Ca. Using a free night certificate and I received an upgraded room plus free breakfast (buffet) I thought that was awesome, definitely not expected :) as I was only Silver level member.
 

mrsjon01

Level 2 Member
Charity Forum Mod
I love Carlson. We've had some financial problems in the past (former homeowners in FL when the market collapsed) and didn't get approved for the card. Despite that setback, we still accumulated a bunch of points and burned them at the level 1 and 2 properties in Europe on our last trip. I was quite pleased that we had 10 free nights without the card - not bad at all.
 

Chum

Level 2 Member
We stayed at the Mayfair in. London last Feb. we did not switch rooms but they asked us to go to the front desk to check out and check in on the second night. The Mayfair is in a very good location! Walking distance to Buckingham palace.
 

manicsocks

Level 2 Member
I stayed in the Radisson Blu Bangkok for for nights in mid may using my and my SO club Carlson card and was underwhelmed. The property had a neat vibe but the rooms are rather boring. Reminded me of stating in a holiday in express or Hampton inn with a little but nicer decorations.

The lounge and executive floor weren't open yet when i stayed so unless those are really nice, I probably wouldn't stay again.

t
I love Club Carlson. Using the points from the CC bonus and some MS to pay for most of my 3 weeks of stays in Thailand (Phuket and Bangkok)
I love Club Carlson. Using the points from the CC bonus and some MS to pay for most of my 3 weeks of stays in Thailand (Phuket and Bangkok)
I
 
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