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Club Carlson Hotels – The Loyalty Program That Makes Us Fall In Love!

By Lakshmi:

We’re in love!  Yes, we fell in love about a year ago in Sweden and then the romance was rekindled recently in London.  We can safely declare that for us, this romance is here to stay.  We are officially in a long-term relationship, with Club Carlson playing cupid in our romance with its hotels.

Ok, if you think we are going crazy, you are right.  Now let’s tell you why we are in this state of mind.

Last May we discovered and wrote about the 50,000 points giveaway from Radisson.  If you stayed a night at any Radisson property, you would be awarded with 50,000 points in Club Carlson’s program.  Siddhi and I were in Sweden, needed a couple of hotels and the bonus points steered us towards our maiden Radisson Blu experience.   We LOVED the service and better yet, loved the 100,000 bonus points we got.

Fast forward ten months later and we had a chance to use our points at the Plaza on the River in London.  This Carlson brand appealed to us for its picturesque location on the water and promising views of Big Ben.  Plus, we’d be lying if we did not admit that it was awesome to redeem our points for a pricey, waterfront property.

Now to the details on how this property made us fall in love with Club Carlson all over again.  First, we were “quadruple upgraded” to a two bedroom, two bathroom, waterfront facing suite with a living room and kitchen.  Take a look at the pictures at the end of this post and you’ll realize what a big deal that is.  We were provided late check out.  The people at the desk were incredibly friendly.  The concierge, incredibly efficient.  When we said that we were hoping to do laundry and noticed the machine in the room was not working, guess what they did?  Yes, they tried to fix the machine, but when they could not, our laundry was done free of charge and delivered overnight.

Let me not forget to mention that we had views of the Parliament and Big Ben and were within a few minutes walk of the Vauxhall tube stop.

Now to the grand finale – when we checked out, we discovered that we had stayed for FREE in a hotel that was going for 460 pounds per night that week.  And we had stayed without spending a dime for two nights.

We absolutely love the rewards offered by the Club Carlson program.  And more importantly we love how their hotels enable us as travelers.  That’s why this relationship will be forged forward.  And the next step in this romance? We are getting the Club Carlson Visa Card which will reward us nicely for signing up and for our many upcoming stays in Europe in the not too distant future.

Thank you Club Carlson for wooing us over.  We’re here to stay!

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Points, Miles And More For January 2013 And Beyond

By Lakshmi:

I have been a little lax in reporting the latest deals.  While there are plenty of points and miles bonanzas happening all the way around, here are a few that have caught our attention.

Club Carlson:

Club Carlson is offering triple points on hotel stays, food and beverages charged to your room between January 8 and March 15, 2013 at any of their more than 1,000 Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide.  To earn these bonus points, you need to register your Club Carlson account at

https://www.clubcarlson.com/secure/offers/5962135?hotelBrandCode=

The second offer that is very enticing is a $75 annual fee Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card.  Here are the key highlights which make the card well worth the annual fee.

  • Receive 50,000 Gold Points after your first purchase.  Plus 35,000 points once you spend $2,500 on your card within the first 90 days.  50,000 points is enough to snag a free room at many of the best Radisson Blues around the world which go at $300 plus a night.
  • Earn 10 points per $1 spent in eligible net purchases at participating Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide.
  • 5 points per $1 spent in eligible net purchases everywhere else.
  • Bonus Award Night - When you redeem Gold Points for 2 or more consecutive Award Nights, your last night is free when you are a cardmember! We love this one.
  • You get Club Carlson Gold Status after you activate and use your card.

To learn more about this offer, click here: http://bit.ly/XuJu8N

Marriott:  

Marriott Rewards MegaBonus 2013 is here.  Once you register your account, you need to

  • Stay twice at any participating hotel between February 1 and April 30, 2013
  • You will earn 1 free night after every second paid stay, up to 3 free nights
  • Your free nights can be redeemed at nearly 3,ooo category 1-4 hotels

To register, call 888-MARRIOTT (627-7468) by March 15, 2013 or register online at https://www.marriott.com/rewards/promotion.mi?promotion=MS13

In conjunction with United Airlines, Marriott Vacation Club International has a sweepstakes where you can enter once daily for the chance to win a trip to Australia, China, Hawaii or Italy.  The rewards include business class tickets, hotel, spending money are more.  The bummer for me?  It is not open to residents of New Jersey!  To register for this, click here:

https://www.marriottvacationclubsweepstakes.dja.com/

United:

If you have an upcoming trip to London from the US between now and January 31st, you can earn bonus miles. Here are the details for Promotion Code: TB4M63

  • Offer valid on paid qualifying roundtrips in United Global First, United BusinessFirst and full-fare Economy fares (F, A, J, C, D, Z, P, Y and B booking classes).
  • Offer valid on tickets purchased between October 4, 2012, and January 31, 2013, with travel completed between October 4, 2012, and January 31, 2013.
  • MileagePlus members can earn 15,000 bonus award miles for the first qualifying roundtrip, 35,000 bonus award miles for the second qualifying roundtrip and 50,000 bonus award miles for each additional roundtrip.

To register for this promotion, click here:

http://bit.ly/QixtzI

US Airways:  There is a targeted offer out from US Airways offering 15,000 bonus points if you spend over $750 each month each for Jan, Feb, March, 2013 on the US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard.  Watch out for credit card snail mail/email notifications from the US Airways Dividend Miles team to see if you are targeted.

Happy traveling:)

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Club Carlson’s Latest Promotion – Stay One Night, Get One Night

By Lakshmi:

Club Carlson is back at it again!  This time, the first 50,000 people to sign up for the Radisson “1 for 1 promotion” can get a free night after staying one night.  The beauty of this promotion is that you could stay at one of the cheaper Radisson properties and end up getting a free night to redeem at a pricey Radisson Blue.  And the Radisson Blue properties are simply gorgeous.

First, if you are not a Club Carlson member, please click here to sign up:

https://www.clubcarlson.com/profiles/secure/joinRouter.do

Once you are a member, you can register for this promotion by clicking here:

https://www.radisson.com/secure/offers/5654648?campaignUrl=1for1&hotelBrandCode=RAD

Remember, this is open only to the first 50,000, so if you are interested, sign up soon.

Once you sign up, you need to make a reservation by October 31st, 2012 for staying at any Radisson or Radisson Blue property in the US, Canada or the Caribbean for stays to be completed by December 31, 2012.

You can make your reservations at www.radisson.com or www.clubcarlson.com

Free award nights can be redeemed anytime by December, 2013 for stays at Radisson or Radisson Blue properties in the US, Canada or the Caribbean.