sillinoistraveler

My annual fee posted on my Club Carlson business card yesterday after the massive devaluation. I called to cancel and was directed to a supervisor and was offered 7500 points to keep the card. While that is not much they haven't been willing to give at all in the past. I think they must be losing alot of card members as the US Bank supervisor suggested. I have spent over 20k on the card last year and they said there was absolutely no way possible to credit the annual fee of $60 because Club Carlson does not allow it. I like most of you have been on the fence after the devaluation and loss of the second night free. However 7500 points is worth $52.50 if your buying the points from Club Carlson plus the 40k renewal bonus and the one free night certificate. I primarily use the card in the US which is kind of a toss up on finding a good hotel. That is another reason why I went back and forth on whether or not renewal was a good call. The last 3 CC hotels I stayed at (2 Country Inns and 1 Radisson) were very poor stays and my points were refunded. In the US it seems like their hotels are now mostly more on par with Wyndham rewards properties instead of Marriott or IHG. Either way though I plan on using my certificate for a high end Radisson like the one in Chicago or the one on the beach in Florida to get a good value out of the program and I have also determined that you have to stay in one of their hotels that is at least 28k for the most part to get a decent hotel. Even with the devaluation that is probably still about 3 to 4 nights for $60 so I am going to keep it for another year. In my opinion the gold has been mostly useless in my two years with the program as most full service hotels give no Gold benefits such as a free breakfast and it is hard to get an upgrade for most of their properties as well. I guess I will burn what points I didn't book before June 1st and re-evaluate the program next year.