Red Roof Inn RediCard+ Credit Card Review: Free Night As Sign Up Bonus

This card has been discontinued.

Card Basics

Red Roof Inn is a basic hotel chain (think Day Inn, Motel 6) with over 400 properties in the United States. They recently launched their own credit card, issued by Comenity Bank. Here are the basics of that card:

  • Sign up bonus of 6,000 points after your first purchase at a Red Roof Inn
  • No annual fee
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 5x additional points per dollar on Red Roof Inn Purchases
    • 2x points per dollar on all gas and fast food purchases
    • 1x points on all other purchase

If you’re part of the Red Roof Inn loyalty program, you earn a base of 10x points on Red Roof Inn purchases so this would bump you up to 15x per dollar spent.

Red Roof Inn Points Overview

Points can only be redeemed for free hotel nights, one night at any Red Roof Inn will set you back 6,000 points.

Free Night Certificates

  • Once you have 6,000 points accumulated, they will automatically be turned into a free night certificate (automatically e-mailed to you)
  • Certificates are 365 days following the date of issuance
  • Some properties may limit the number of Certificate rooms available for special event periods
  • Reservations for redemption of Certificates cannot be booked more than six (6) months before the arrival date
  • A Certificate is good for one (1) night, up to four (4) people per standard room, tax included; charges for upgraded rooms may apply
  • Certificates are valid only for the individual noted on the Certificate and are not transferable
  • No more than seven (7) Certificates may be used by one member at a single hotel during any thirty (30) day period

Points Value

Like all loyalty programs, the value you get for redeeming your points is really dependent on what you redeem those points for. I had a look at properties in the California area and most of them were going for $50-$75 per night, the highest I saw was $88.99 per night and that was an airport hotel. Those prices assume that only one person is staying in the room though and these free night certificates are good for up to 4 people. When I changed my search to four people, the highest was $118.99 and most of the properties were in the $75+ range.

Basically the lowest value you’ll get per point is 0.83¢ per point (single occupancy at cheapest hotel) and the highest value I saw was 1.98 per point (four person occupancy at most expensive hotel).

red roof inn room rate

How To Get The Card

This card is issued by Comenity Bank, this means we can use the shopping cart trick to get this card, unfortunately they will still do a hard pull on your credit. Here is what you need to do:

  • Create a Red Roof Inn loyalty account (making sure you use information that matches your credit report)
  • Log into your account and wait for the following pop up to appear

People are reporting that the pop up almost always appears, so it looks like it might be one of the easier cards to get with this trick.

Photo via ddemari

Photo via ddemari

Pre Approval

On the application page, there is an area where you can enter your pre-approval ID. There is no way to check if you’re pre-approved, you just have to receive one of their mail outs. This doesn’t guarantee approval, you can read more on this subject in the following post: What Does It Mean When You’re “Pre-Approved”, “Pre-Qualified” Or “Pre-Screened” For A Credit Card?

You can view pre-approvals from other card issuers by going here.

Our Verdict

Some people might be tempted to grab the card and sign up bonus just for the free night if they don’t have great credit due to the shopping cart trick, but you need to remember that you need to make a purchase at a Red Roof Inn property to get the 6,000 point sign up bonus. This card really only makes sense if you actually stay at Red Roof Inn properties on a somewhat regular basis. You can basically generate a free night with every $400 in Red Roof Inn spend, which sounds incredibly low but remember how cheap these properties are it’s basically 4-8 paid nights.

Personally I’ll be giving this card a miss, I have good credit history so can get approved for prime hotel credit cards with a much better sign up bonus. It’s a shame that you need that Red Roof Inn purchase to get the sign up bonus, otherwise I’d probably recommend this card trying to rebuild their credit.

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15 Comments
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M
M (@guest_216264)
January 11, 2016 10:32

I see you get some of your info from “MYFICO.COM” and yes there is a popup when signing up for their Redicard+; however, the popup does ask for the last 4 digits of your SS# and they did HP my EQ

Chao
Chao (@guest_217337)
January 14, 2016 01:22
  M

Really? I just applied and get instant approved. only ask for last 4 digits. if this end up with a hp, i will hate myself!!!!!!

chao
chao (@guest_217349)
January 14, 2016 01:57
  M

how do you check if you get the HP. no action on CK.

Chucks
Chucks (@guest_215709)
January 9, 2016 03:49

I appreciate you covering these cards just for the sake of completeness, but wow what an awful card.

Nate
Nate (@guest_215338)
January 7, 2016 21:16

I just applied, my parents stay here when they visit. It only asked for the last 4 and i’ll hear back in 7-10 days. Thanks!

The Value Traveler (@ValueTravelerOz)
The Value Traveler (@ValueTravelerOz) (@guest_215268)
January 7, 2016 17:41

hmm these 6,000 points would only be handy for a one night stand hehe

al613
al613 (@guest_215237)
January 7, 2016 15:54

Try Downtown Chicago in the summer

JohnnyAppleSale
JohnnyAppleSale (@guest_215170)
January 7, 2016 12:55

Although I’m not an advocate of red roof and its sister hotels, I wonder if buying water/snack would constitute as a charge for the bonus.