Club Carlson is offering Cyber Week promotions all week, whereby they have a different promotion every day. Frankly I’ve been somewhat underwhelmed by them. They’re better than nothing, though I haven’t considered any of the deals to be that incredible.
On Monday Club Carlson had a promotion offering 30% off at select hotels, which I didn’t write about given how often Club Carlson seems to offer discounts. On Tuesday they offered 20,000 bonus Gold Points when booking a stay of two or more nights at a Radisson property.
Club Carlson has a promotion today which I suspect will interest some. Today only, Club Carlson is offering 5,000 bonus Gold Points per night when you book a stay at a Country Inn & Suites. The promotion is valid for stays in the US, Canada, and Latin America through January 31, 2016.
The promotion is valid for bookings made through 11:59PM CST tonight, and you have to use promotion code CTTHURSD when booking.
For all the hotels I looked at, the promotional rate seems to match the best available flexible rate, meaning you can’t use this promotion on a pre-paid rate, AAA rate, etc.
For example, at one of the Country Inn & Suites properties in Montgomery, Alabama, the pre-paid rate is $67.15, and the AAA rate is $71.10:
Meanwhile the flexible rate, which is eligible for the 5,000 point bonus, is $79:
To compare apples-to-apples (in terms of the stay being refundable), you’re really paying a premium of ~$8 for the extra 5,000 points, since you should compare the $79 rate to the $71 AAA rate.
Assuming you value Club Carlson points at ~0.4 cents each, 5,000 bonus points is like a return of $20 per night on a Club Carlson stay, which is quite good given how inexpensive many of their properties are. So you have to crunch the numbers for yourself. It can make sense to moderately overpay to earn bonus points, like an extra $8 for 5,000 bonus points, in my opinion.
The full terms of the promotion are as follows:
You must be an existing Club CarlsonSM member to participate in the Cybertastic Thursday 5,000 Bonus Point Promotion (“Promotion”). To be eligible to earn 5,000 points (“Bonus Points”) you must book the Cybertastic Thursday rate using Promotion Code CTTHURSD between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. CST on December 3, 2015 and complete and pay for the stay between December 3, 2015 and January 31, 2016 (“Promotional Period”). Promotion available at Country Inns & Suites By CarlsonSM hotels in the U.S., Canada and Latin America only. You must provide your Club Carlson member number at the time of reservation to participate in this Promotion.
Promotion subject to availability. Blackout dates and room type exclusions may apply. Services and amenities may vary by hotel. Stays paid for using Points + Cash and other point redemption rates are not eligible for this Promotion and the Promotion cannot be combined with any other special rates, discounts, coupons, sales promotion, or other offers. Both the check-in and checkout dates of the stay must take place within the Promotional Period. Bonus Points will be credited to your account when the standard Gold Points®are credited for the Eligible Stay and will usually be posted to a member’s account within 8 to 10 days after the activity through which they were earned.
Bottom line
While Club Carlson significantly devalued their loyalty program earlier in the year by eliminating the second night free award benefit on their co-branded credit card and significantly increasing the cost of redemptions at many of their top hotels, the reality is that it’s still extremely easy to earn Club Carlson points, so there’s lots of value to be had in the program.
While I’m not personally loyal to Club Carlson (aside from having their co-branded Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature® Card, which pays for itself year after year with the anniversary bonus), I see why so many people like the program.
Do you plan on taking advantage of the promotion for 5K bonus points per night at Country Inn & Suites properties?
The post Today Only: 5,000 Bonus Points Per Night At Country Inn & Suites appeared first on One Mile at a Time.