Scandic cut the “rebate” value its most-frequent staying elites get from hotel stays, so by having a published higher level without obvious benefits advertised in advance was the company’s way of holding out a public carrot to try to incentivize more loyalty from customers who may have otherwise been turned off by the devaluation of benefits Scandic Friends elites got hit with this year.

Whether or not this approach with the Red level is bizarre or not, it’s definitely part of Scandic’s marketing gimmick: “it exists, you should dream of getting it, and then be surprised”. Being able to hand out Top level status and to have free breakfast seems to be what they want to be the “wow” factor for those invited upon hitting the unpublished qualification requirement.

Scandic has more properties (and probably even more rooms) than Nordic Choice hotels, but I do better as a Nordic Choice Platinum at Nordic Choice Hotels than my related Scandic Reds have done at Scandic hotels — how much of this is due to property mix, not sure.