I fully expect Radisson Hotels to be rebranded to something else (or merged into Clarion) within the next 18-36 months. There is very little brand worth here (compared to Radisson Blu in EMEA/APAC) and will only cause confusion, especially if Choice and Radisson non-Americas will not have fair value point transfer ability. Not sure about CI&S as there are a bunch in developing markets like India, but those could likely go into other Choice brands. Park Inns and the remaining brands could likely be folded into Cambria or other brands pretty easily.
Originally Posted by
centrifuge41
Interesting.
For those of us with a decent stash of Radisson America Rewards, this is probably bad news:
My guess: you can eventually choose to convert your points to Radisson Worldwide, or convert to Choice Privileges. Most likely, 2 Radisson points will become 1 Choice Privilege point.
The Cat1 Country Inns cost 15k points. The cheapest Choice properties cost 8k points.
The most expensive Radisson Americas properties cost 75k points. The most expensive Choice properties cost 35k points.
I would disfavor this conversion ratio: I think Radisson points are worth 0.3 cents, and there are routine opportunities to buy at 0.35c during a sale.
While some bloggers calculate Choice Privileges points to be worth 0.6-0.7c, I wouldn't value them higher than 0.5 due to the ability to convert Citi TYP to Choice 1:2 (when you have a Citi Premier).
When Choice Privileges points go on sale, usually it's around 0.7 cents/point.
I would be okay with 2:1, but if I get the option to transfer to Radisson Europe, I would likely move some to all at that ratio.
I'm not sure why you wouldn't value them higher than 0.5 cents from converting TYP to Choice. I would value 1 TYP as higher than 1 cent (e.g transferring to airline programs), Saying there is a "cash out" option of 1 cpp with TYPs to Citi ThankYou travel portal or GCs is the wrong way of thinking, as that should be the value floor rather than the ceiling.