Club Carlson Hotel Category Changes Effective June 1st (212 Up, 117 Down)

The bad news keeps coming from Club Carlson, they are changing the categories on a number of their properties effective June 1st. In total they are making changes to 329 properties, 212 properties are going up in price and 117 are going down in price. Some interesting little factoids:

  • There are now 78 category 7 properties (before this change there were only 11)
  • All USA Blu properties are now category 7
  • Properties that have jumped by two categories:
    • Radisson Blu Minneapolis
    • Radisson Blu Mall of America
    • Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Bozeman
    • Radisson Blu 1919 Hotel, Reykjavik
  • Properties that have jumped by three categories:
    • Radisson Blu Hotel, Kuwait
  • Properties that have gone down by two categories:
    • Park Inn by Radisson Hotel and Residence Duqm
    • Park Inn By Radisson Yaroslavl
    • Radisson Blu Hotel Chongqing Sha Ping Ba
    • Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Mysore
    • Radisson Blu Hotel Chennai City Centre

My Thoughts

It looks like properties in Europe mostly went up in price and properties in Asia mostly went down. There are now a whole bunch of new category 1 and 2 properties in Asia and some Blu properties that are only category three now. That being said, Club Carlson’s best properties are all in Europe so the fact that that region is going up in price will be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of U.S Bank Club Carlson credit card holders – especially since they recently lost their last free night benefit (this also goes into effect on June 1st).

I kind of wish these property changes were happening before June 1st, because that way if a hotel was going down in price it’d be possible to book and still get the last free night benefit. I don’t think the timing is a coincidence at all. If you haven’t already burned all of your Club Carlson points, now might be the time to do so.

Hat tip to dagaetch on reddit.com/r/churning

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jim
jim (@guest_114185)
May 4, 2015 21:54

I replied back on my BBB & CFPB complaints saying, they must remove the hard inquiry and refund my fee $75 or I will report you guys to states AG’s office for fraud, dishonest deceptive business practise. The rep called again saying they can’t remove the hard pull but they can refund me $75 fee and 25k points compensations and asked me if that is ok. I replied yes.

Michael B
Michael B (@guest_113958)
May 4, 2015 12:24

Just got this card 8 months ago to get a couple free 2-night stays at the Radisson Blue in Chicago. Now looks like this piece of junk won’t even make it to the one-year mark. God I hate US Bank and their constant devaluations (although this particular one is probably more Carlson’s fault).

atxtravel
atxtravel (@guest_113989)
May 4, 2015 13:30

The senior advisor whom I bitched to said everything has been entirely CC’s fault. US bank had nothing to do with either devaluation.

jim
jim (@guest_113917)
May 4, 2015 10:45

More reason for some of you to file BBB & Cfpb complaints to get $75 refund and 25k bonus then cancel the card during renewal.

Adam
Adam (@guest_113912)
May 4, 2015 10:33

This will be it for me… I was going to hang on to the card for the 40,000 annual points, but now will be cancelling before the annual fee hits. Now that every Radisson Blu in the USA is going up to 70,000, it’s not worth it. I would rather spend $10,000 on a different card for a free night or other more valuable points.

atxtravel
atxtravel (@guest_113867)
May 4, 2015 08:52

Wow, pretty much any place where you used to get excellent value, like UK and Scandinavia or Sydney, went up. Who do CC think they are….Hilton? They have neither the footprint nor quality to get a way with this.

Good thing the change is after 6/1, as Dubai is the only destination where I have specific plans to go to in the next year….and they’re mostly going to Cat 7.

mk712
mk712 (@guest_113712)
May 4, 2015 02:19

So booking two nights at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Kuwait currently costs 38k points. After June 1st, it’ll cost 140k points. Almost quadruple, how’s that for a devaluation?

Grant
Grant (@guest_113685)
May 4, 2015 01:16

June 1 – the day Club Carlson loyalty program committed suicide. It was nice while it lasted, better burn all my points before June 1 and not save any points for the future.