FlyingHigh20

I have to give it to Carlson; their "free night" and 50,000 point giveaways in years past have enticed me to try their hotels when I normally wouldnt. But with the lack of promotions (decent ones at that), and the loss of major properties in Orlando (International Drive), New York (The Lexington), and Paris (The Ambassador), I no longer have the motivation to stay at any of their hotels. There's still a huge lack of consistency and quality in their hotels, and with their price ranges comparable to Marriott or IHG hotels, I dont want to take the risk and instead have stayed at their competitors.

Anybody else feel this way or have seen their stays at Carlson hotels taper off due to the lack of promotions? I must have had about 50 days at Carlson hotels last year simply because the promotions boost of points caused me to want to earn and try out Carlson hotels.

Doc Savage

I routinely stay at a couple because they offer the best quality for price, especially with the F&F discount. The lack of competitive properties in a number of locations does limit it, though.

murilix

Just caught a great rate at the Warwick in Philadelphia, which was awesome. Would definitely stay again.

Also, I find the 2-4-1 and 4-4-2 EMEA rates excellent deals.

view

They have a lot of holes in their coverage, a Radisson in D.C. there ain't.

christianj

Everyone's answer to this is going to depend on a number of factors. For me, I still choose various Club Carlson properties in certain cities I travel to. (most in Europe) even though I'm a Starwood Platinum. Recently I split two one night stays in Vienna between the Radisson Blu Style and the LeMeridien. Sure promotions are great drivers of business but in the longterm companies cannot survive by just running promotions.

FlyingHigh20

Agreed - however, I dont believe a shoddy chain like Carlson can survive without some boost to their business. Carlson hasnt had a major promotion in over a year now (the one they ran in May was rather weak, as was their triple point promo).

Carlson is generally great in Europe (London and Scandinavian properties are easily the best in their respective regions), however, with so much competition and a rather haphazard/random portfolio of hotels in North America, I would've expected they would have ran a better promotion this year to drum up some business in that region specifically. Considering that most of these properties probably have quite a few empty rooms and lower occupancy rates than their counterparts at Marriott/IHG/Starwood/Hilton, a promotion here and there would only serve to help them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd love to be loyal to Carlson and try them out again, but with little incentive to stay at their properties through their "Club Carlson" program, the frustration of the quality of them, and the lack of major locations in NYC, Vegas, Key West (and the entire Florida Keys), Miami/Fort Lauderdale, etc, they sure are making it hard.

christianj

I don't know if it is fair to call them a shoddy chain. Outside of the US, I personally have stayed in some Club Carlson properties that have been much nicer than properties by other large chains in the same city. In the US, I have stayed in some properties that were definitely on par with other chains (a renovated CI&S isn't much different that a renovated Courtyard, Hampton Inn or a Holiday Inn) I do agree that they have a long way to go with the quality of most Radissons in the US but I think they are working on that if you look at the Radisson Blu in Chicago, Mall of America and the renovation of the Warwick in Philly. I also agree that they have a long way to go in expanding their property base in the US along with updating their hotels. NYC is a prime example of this with only one hotel....but think back a couple of years ago and there was only one Hyatt in NYC as well.

Promotions are meant to increase business, loyalty and to some degree to get the name out there and to get press and recognition. I think that was CC intent in running the strong promotions they had in the past and I think they were successful to some degree since the promo was widely talked about and I am sure it got them some name recognition here in the US which they were looking to get.

I am also sure that CC was not oblivious to the fact that some people only stayed at their properties for the huge bonuses offered. We had enough stories here on FT about people finding extremely low rates and then cashing in the free night (or several free nights) they got with the 50k promo for huge payouts. Can that be sustained long-term....NO and I wasn't expecting it to be. (Evidently you were)

Carlson probably achieved what they set out to do with travelers like myself, I had never stayed at a CC property before and now regularly choose them in some of my travel destinations when they had never gotten even a glance from me in the past. With other travelers like yourself, they evidently have not achieved what they set out to do because you seem to not want to book their hotels unless a large bonus is attached to the reservation. To each his own! Would I like to see the great promos return....YES I WOULD but as stated before I do not think they can be expected long-term. (Just think of all the great promos like Hyatt's free nights promo and Starwood's Free Weekend Nights promo that we all reeped the benefits of but I think we all agree are gone for good.)

ZBigFam

Just stayed at the RBlu MOA....it was great and used the FF rate. Am planning on staying at the RBlu in Chicago next week because I enjoyed the MOA hotel so much.

For people with large families...like myself the country inn and suites chain is also a good option (albeit you have to be selective).

daw4888

I am staying at the RBlu MoA in a few weeks. Are you Gold? If so what type of upgrade did you get if any?

spankytoes

I have stayed in a CIS in San Antonio and Austin on a family vacation and the Radisson Blu Aqua for a business trip to Chicago during their May promo. (Which ended up netting me a points night at the Radisson Blu in Salzburg next week from points earned on that stay) I redeemed points for the Park Plaza Prenlauer Berg Berlin and The Mayfair in London. I'm also using points for 1 night in Rome to be close to Termani for the Terravision back to FCO next May.

The only domestic brand that I will seriously consider is the CIS if I need to take my family out of town. They are adequate properties with lots of room to cram 5 people into and a decent breakfast. All the other U.S. brands don’t interest me one bit. I am Gold at Hilton and Platinum at Hyatt. At least my Elite status gives me SOMETHING when I stay there. Club Carlson Gold status is an absolute joke. The only reason that I even care about it is for staying in European properties and getting a room upgrade. Still don’t get breakfast and internet is free for everyone. I personally don’t see the value.

Having said this, I’d just as soon stay at a Hampton Inn or Hyatt Place instead because at least there would be an interest in redeeming points somewhere domestic. What good is 50,000 CC points if there’s nowhere worth redeeming them?

thegrailer

Crystal City is damn close and absent retrocession, it would still be part of DC.

Sweet Willie

Club Carlson moved up on my hotel list so yes they did get extra stays from me but now that IHG has the Big Win promo, all my stays are going to IHG.

Seeing as I have a choice, promos do matter to me (worthwhile promos that is)

BOShappyflyer

I have never stayed at a radisson before (or any of the Country Inn or Park Inn). Truthfully, I've never heard of those brands until Club Carlson came along. There were plenty of hotels to choose from.

With the intro of the club carlson, I have an upcoming stay booked using points next month. I want to try it out and see how it goes. If it goes well, I wouldn't be opposed at all to staying more at Radisson's if the price/location is right.

Without Club Carlson, I probably won't have bothered, so the club carlson card is a good marketing move.

mrsjon01

Yes! I try to earn in US to spend in EMEA, especially 4-for-2 as murilix pointed out. I've had great experiences as Gold and routinely get upgrades in US, but I'm not shy about asking. The F and F rate is often an excellent value and I get upgrades on that rate as well. I now use Carlson as primary, Hilton as secondary. The 9,000 point redemptions in Europe work well for me, so overall it's a very good fit.

Yul_voyager

It is obvious that the end of the very good promo was linked to the credit card. Now all the generosity of CC goes to credit card holder, especially with the last night free on redemption, and the non-CC holder (including all non-US residents) are left alone.
I am not waiting for great promo like last year but they basically went from the best chain for promo to one of the worst.
Also, the killing of the BRG (which is a joke now), the lose of significant properties (NY, Paris, Flagstaff) are not compensated by the opening of new one. MOA could be great but I don't understand the appeal for staying here, when there is so many good hotels in downtown Minneapolis.