Club Carlson announced their Cyber Monday Deal on Twitter earlier today: Get a 100% bonus when you purchase Gold Points. Club Carlson limits point purchases to 40,000 per calendar year. However, I discovered upon that the 100% bonus applies to a maximum of 10,000 Gold Points:
Take advantage of the one day only Cyber Monday special and earn a 100% bonus when you purchase between 1,000 and 10,000 Gold Points to increase your Club Carlson account balance. Act fast because this special offer is only available today, December 1, from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. CST.
Club Carlson ran a 75% purchase bonus promotion earlier this year which didn’t have these added restrictions, so this Cyber Monday deal may be a bit disappointing for some. Personally, I think it’s a good thing since it means fewer Gold points will be sold. That decreases the likelihood of a devaluation.
The maximum 10,000 bonus points (which will equal 20,000 with the 100% bonus) will set you back $70. Club Carlson point purchases are processed by Points.com, so you will not earn a travel category bonus from it. However, if you have a Club Carlson credit card, you’ll be earning 3-5 per $1 on non-category purchases. That comes to just 210-350 Gold points, but it’s better than 70.
So are 20,000 Gold points worth purchasing for $70? Considering it gets you two nights at a Category 1 or one night at a Category 2 Radisson Rewards hotel , you can certainly get $70 worth of value out of it. If you’re a Club Carlson credit cardholder, you can double your nights by taking advantage of the credit card’s last night free benefit. All three of the Club Carlson credit cards provide this benefit. So really, those 20,000 Gold points can end up getting you four nights at a Category 1 hotel if you book in two night increments. Meaning your $70 are getting you 36,000 points worth of value. [EXPIRED]
Earning 20,000 through manufactured spending on the Club Carlson Premier Visa Signature card would require $6,667/$4,000 worth of spend. Depending on the card you have. Completed via Visa or Simon Mall gift cards in $500 increments, you would incur $55.30/%31.60 in card fees. Go the American Express gift card route and you’re looking at 1.5% cash back ($105 on $7,000 or $60 on $4,000). Cashed out via Amex for Target, the fees would be largely eliminated.
Earning 36,000 Gold points through the Club Carlson Premier Visa would require $12,000/$7,200 in spending. Buying 24 or 15 Visa/Simon Mall gift cards would incur $94.80 or $56.88 in fees. Purchasing American Express gift cards would earn you $180 or $108 cash back. That helps offset Amex for Target load fees ($3 per $1,000) and the cost of cashing them out in $400 increments at ATM’s.
Depending on how many points you buy and how you use them, as well as which Club Carlson card you have, manufactured spending could be cheaper than this Cyber Monday deal. Especially if you do it by purchasing Amex gift cards with your Club Carlson card. However, it’s also more time consuming. How you value your time should ultimately be the deciding factor in which option you choose.
If you’re going to take advantage of the Club Carlson Cyber Monday deal, keep in mind that it starts on December 1 at 12:01 AM (CT) and ends at 11:50 PM (CT). Points will post within 2-5 days of purchase.
The deal is okay, but nothing special considering the options. The new Amex / Target Redbird card gets you 25K points per month @ $0 cost which my Wife has. Amex for Target gets you 25K points per month and my cost is $50 having 2 cards loading & withdrawals. I pay no ATM fees except the Amex $3 for each $400. Buying Vanilla cards and loading Serve @ Family Dollar cost $50 total which gets you 25K points per month. You also get the free $1K load on Serve each month worth 5K points. I’ll be getting the Redbird this Tuesday once I land @ BWI after 10 nights in the Bonnaire Tower top floor corner suite @ the Radisson Aruba using points. My Wife and I both have the Club Carlson card so I book 2 nights, she books 2 nights, etc.. IMO, the Club Carlson card is by far the best CC available for hotel point accumulation. We rack up over 100K points per month. Signing off from Palm Beach, Aruba.
How many points does it take to book into the Bonnaire Tower suites ? I dont see it as an option when I look at Club Carlson. Thanks.
Are you referring to the Radisson Aruba? The Bonnaire Tower Suite isn’t bookable on points. You could ask the hotel about booking a standard or premium award and then upgrading with cash.
Yes the Radisson Aruba. I was referring to David’s post. He said he stayed on points and was hoping he could let me know how many points it took to stay in the suites . Thanks
I’m definitely looking forward to that card becoming available in California. Or I might make a virtual move…
Actually it’s 5x for spending on the CC Premier and Business cards (3x on the lesser card).
Fixed!
It seems a good deal. The time saved/convinience seems good (i.e. would you buy a box of 24 water bottles at $2.99 at Sams or would you fill-up water bottles, from home, everytime you go out for picnic/soccer game?) to generate 1pt for 0.17cents(2for1). I just wish they would allow more than 10K.
How is it you’re able to purchase Amex GC? I just tried and the purchase failed because they tried to process it as a CA…
Are you using a Citi card? They tend to get processed as cash advances. That shouldn’t be a problem with US Bank, though.
Nope. Not citi. It is my Club Carlson Premier Visa (personal). The payment wouldn’t process on the Amex website, so I called US bank and they told me it was being processed as a cash advance…
This FT thread talks about this happening with US Bank cards:
“Some issuers (Discover, US Bank, etc.) will decline the authorization if it exceeds your CA limit. This does NOT mean it will post as CA. It simply means you need to lower the purchase amount below your CA limit for authorization, but it ultimately posts as a purchase.”
Give that a try and see if it goes through.