Kat007

As many of us, I am trying to find the best use of soon to be lost benefit of B1G1 night.

I`ve been looking for hours, yet none of the properties caught my attention with uniqueness, and I usually the one who has a list of hotels to visit because they excite me. None with CC-I just can`t find a nice property worth staying at.

What was your perfect CC hotel? I am most interested in Radisson Blue in Europe (possibly in Australia).

dc2447

Sydney

The thing is, you a never going to get a Radisson in Europe to the standard of a great Sheraton or Hilton.

Fly1By1Wire

The Gewandhaus in Dresden is not with CC anymore, so you could set your sights towards Cape Town. Because this is in the EMEA Region, you can also book 241/442 rates.

travelexpert

Madrid is excellent. Modern decor, fantastic service, excellent location with easy walking distance to center of city and Prado.

treppenlaeufer

Without long thinking, I think the Park Plaza London Westminster Bridge, PP London County Hall, London Plaza on the River, Radisson Edwardian Manchester and art'otel Amsterdam are all excellent properties, and value with the 2f1 points offer.

I also like the RB Hamburg (excellent views over the city) and RB Luebeck (the latter for the provincial feel of an old small hanseatic town ). The RB Wiesbaden is a very traditional hotel, with its own thermal spring, and offers an excellent base to explore the Rhine valley.

The departures of the RB Dresden Gewandhaus and the RB Fleesensee weigh heavy, however.

christianj

As a side note...where do Sheraton and Hilton have these "great" hotels in Europe? Sure there are nice and some aspirational properties but you make it sound like every Sheraton or Hilton in Europe is miles better than any Raddison! (And this comment is coming from. SPG Plat. Ambassador) Each chain has good and bad properties! For example, I assume you would rather stay at the Hilton Madrid Airport than the very nice Radisson Blu Madrid? Sorry don't mean to be argumentative but your comment was just too broad!

christianj

I do have to question why you got the credit card and accrued points in the program to begin with if you had no interest in staying in any of their hotels or if there aren't any "nice properties worth staying at?" Should that not have been something to consider before racking up points in the program?

There are some very nice properties to consider and most have been discussed in the numerous threads on the "best" or "aspirational" Radisson properties. If you personally don't find any of those are to your liking then there is nothing else anyone else can suggest. There's not going to be any new hotels to pick from before the cc benefits is dropped so your just going to have to pick the best of the worst if you want to take advantage of the benefit.

Hotels in London, Madrid, Dubrovnik, Amsterdam, Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Vienna, Istanbul, Gran Canaria, etc. are going to be the "best" of the bunch.

dc2447

It's a fair comment but I think in general Radisson properties in EU will never match Hilton / SPG round the world

The Hilton in Berlin is better than any RB I have stayed in Europe.

christianj

Just as an FYI (and I'm not saying Trip Advisor is the guide to the perfect hotel comparison) the Radisson Blu Berlin is ranked as the 28th highest rated hotel in Berlin while the Hilton is ranked 59th. As we always say on FT... YMMV and I think elite status also impacts our overall judgement of how good a hotel is...especially if we get a nice upgrade

dc2447

Well I have stopped staying in RB in Berlin because the staff are rude and surly every visit. My Gold status has never been recognised and I have never had an upgrade.

Hilton Berlin, is the entire opposite. Staff are amazing. 100% upgrade rate. Also the breakfast is so much better than RB.

It's a shame I can't he HH to work for me in any reasonable way so it's wasted points but apart from that it's a no brainier.

KiwiRob

Australia isn't in Europe, do you mean Austria?

The best Radisson in Europe is the Radisson Royal in Moscow, and they love Golds, I've always been upgraded.

metoo

I stayed at Radisson Blue in Berlin in the Summer 2014. Booked 4 nights, 2 back to back with bonus awards night. Gold status and was upgraded to biz room which included Breakfast for the two of us daily.

Loved the service.

factory81

For me, I struggle to find a place for Club Carlson, and their redemptions (at the moment). I say this because, I find great value at times in what are turning into crappy programs (IHG). Example, IC Monterey is a great hotel and second to none in that town.

Now I am sure Radisson has some hotels like the IC Monterey, where the Radisson will be second to none.

But my only successful redemption at the moment is 50k CC points for a $158 value. I checked out places like Rome and Switzerland, hoping for some above average coverage maybe, with CC being a Euro-brand. But was disappointed with the offerings.

I took my searches to mainland USA, Hawaii, and the Caribbean - and am finding some offerings that are enticing. But some times I try and book them on points, they are not available.

So in other words, in the world of devalued hotel currencies, I can find more ways to put my IHG points to work, than CC points.

I have not booked nordic specific vacations before, and I know CC is strong(er) in nordic countries, and I imagine that I might find their points more useful in a city like Copenhagen, Oslo, or Stockholm.

Between IHG/Marriott/SPG/Hyatt; I find that CC does bolster the amount of vacation destinations I can go to on points.

Guy Betsy

How about this one?

http://www.radissonblu-edwardian.com...en.r11of1.cta1

It costs over 300 quid a night, or 70K points. I had 71K points so you can guess what I did.

Wollstonecraft

I agree on everything, but will note that the decor, though modern, was pretty cheap. The closet door in our upgraded room was falling off. Ikea style and quality. But location is great! Just steps away from the famous La Ruta de la Tapa, and everything else!

We really enjoyed Radisson Blu Edinburgh and Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Helsinki. For the latter, we booked a business class room which was very much worth it for the spectacular and expensive breakfast buffet. Radisson Blu and Park Inn in Vienna are both great.

It really depends on what city you want to visit, more than the availability of Radissons. Yes, London is a "good deal" but you can only go to London so many times before it becomes marginally less exciting.