Carlson is unfortunaly not great on suite awards, but as mention you can get premium rooms at 50% higher point cost. These are rarely good value though.

This thread covers the premium awards:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/club-...um-awards.html

Some hotels (the only one I can confirm is Park Plaza Amsterdam at 12 500) offers upgrades for points at check in for 10 000+. This is called Express Awards.

If suites are important to you, I would recommend booking a standard room and email the hotel and ask if they are willing to upsell you to a suite based on the BAR difference.