Yesterday, Club Carlson announced a significant change to the Club Carlson Visa credit card. Starting June 1, 2015 the lucrative Bonus Award Night benefit will be discontinued. For those who are unfamiliar with Bonus Award Nights, it’s a free night that is applied to award stays of 2 or more nights. In the past, people took advantage of this benefit by booking Club Carlson stays in 2-night increments to get one of the nights free. Instead of this benefit, cardholders will instead have the option to earn a free night valid at any Club Carlson hotel in the U.S. – if they manage to spend $10,000 on the card within a calendar year. This isn’t a sufficient substitute, but Club Carlson is attempting to balance out the downgrade.
In addition to the annual free night, the email announcing this change also mentioned an offer of 30,000 bonus Gold points for cardholders who charge their next stay to their Club Carlson credit card by August 31, 2015. Some folks have been tweeting questions @ClubCarlson about these changes and the 30,000 bonus point offer. Here are their responses to some of the most common questions…
Will the bonus award night benefit apply to stays after June 1, 2015?
According to Club Carlson, as long as your eligible award stay of 2+ nights is booked before June 1, the Bonus Award Night benefit will apply. So if you have a 3-night stay at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel Chicago booked during the weekend of the Chicago Seminars in October, you will still only be charged for two nights as long as booking is completed before the June 1 deadline:
@g_swedberg Thanks for reaching out. Yes, if the Bonus Award Night reservation was made before June 1, 2015 the stay will be honored.
— Club Carlson (@clubcarlson) April 3, 2015
Is the annual free night replacing the 25,000 – 40,000 point annual renewal bonus?
The annual free night issued to cardholder who spend $10,000 a year is only replacing the Bonus Award Night benefit. Club Carlson credit cardholders will continue to earn 25,000 – 40,000 annual renewal bonuses every year. All they have to do is renew their Club Carlson credit cards.
I didn’t get a 30,000 bonus point offer via email. Am I still eligible for it?
All Club Carlson credit cardholders are eligible for the 30,000 bonus point offer. Regardless of whether or not they received an email notifying them of this. Club Carlson credit cardholders who complete a paid stay by August 31, 2015 and charge it to their co-branded cards will receive 30,000 bonus Gold points. Points + Cash bookings are not eligible for this bonus.
@Alpen_Geoff Hi, Geoff. All cardholders are eligible for this offer through August 31, 2015. Thanks.
— Club Carlson (@clubcarlson) April 3, 2015
In addition to these questions, people were curious about a big reveal the Club Carlson twitter team had been tweeting about throughout the week. Thankfully, downgrading one of the most valuable hotel credit card perks was not the big reveal. Which means good news are hopefully on the way…
Good job in getting the clarifications. One Q:
On the 30K offer for stay until 8/31, will the additional card holder charges for a stay qualify for the main account holder 30K bonus?
As long as the reservation is under your Club Carlson account number, charges made by an authorized user will qualify for the 30k bonus.