Orwaid

Hi -

I just got an email touting the use of C+P, and they said that some hotels needed 5K, while others needed 10K or 15K, with all in addition to a sliding co-pay.

Is this a change? I had always thought that the c+P was for 5K plus a sliding co-pay.

gotofly

No that is not true Carlson always charges different point levels based on the revenue rate and they do charge either 5k or 10k or 25k based on hotel categories

kauppias

I really dont get the points rates as a hotel in city X might cost 79€ or 9000 points and another one in the same city X costs 99€ or 44000points.... 20€ difference and 35000 point difference so how closely are redemption rates tied to revenue rates?

Orwaid

Hi -

I understand that different hotels have different categories that require differing point amounts for a free night.

I am talking about the cash and points rates, where you pay, say 5K points plus some cash for a night.

Are you saying that the the points component fluctuates also? I know that the $$ amount does based on the hotel.

Firewind

In my observation, the points requirement may be different from hotel to hotel, but I haven't seen the point requirement at a hotel vary. But the $$ part of the C + P varies at the same hotel, often between weekend and weekday, and maybe from day to day. The C + P rate also may disappear and then reappear for the same night. Finally, I'm with kauppias @3 above. The hotels may vary within a city according to quality or location, but the point redemption rates often don't seem to correlate with the revenue rates -- though Carlson isn't alone in this.

tsmith12

I found it interesting to see a Radisson charging 5,000pts+$7X, while a Country Inn & Suites a mile away charging 10,000pts+$7X for the same night. I was always under the impression that Radisson redemptions usually cost more (in the same area) than CI&S.

sdsearch

Yes, they can vary from day to day. (In fact, both the points and cash at the same hotel.)

Here's an example:

Radisson Blu Hotel & Conference Centre, Salzburg

8/24-8/25 (Fri night): 5,000 points + €107.40 EUR, or 28,000 points
9/1-9/2 (Sat night): 10,000 points + €150.00 EUR, or 44,000 points
9/2-9/3 (Sun night): 10,000 points + €72.00 EUR, or 44,000 points
9/3-9/4 (Mon night): 10,000 points + €60.00 EUR, or 44,000 points
9/8-9/9 (Sat night): 5,000 points + €71.40 EUR, or 28,000 points
9/9/-9/10 (Sun night): 10,000 points + €72.00 EUR, or 44,000 points

So as you can see, this one hotel bobs back and forth between 28,000 points (standard award) and 44,000 points (premium award), and when it's at 28,000 points the points + cash is 5,000 points plus varying cash, and when it's at 44,000 points the points + cash is 10,000 points plus varying cash.

(Of course, on the dates where 28,000 points is available for the standard room, usually there's also 44,000 points for a premium room possible.)

[EDITED TO RETRACT THE ABOVE. See post 13 below.]

You have to "View All Rates" to see whether the 10,000 points is for a Standard Room or a Premium Room. It could be that on a slow day both hotels are 5,000 points + $XX, but on the date you looked the CI&S had the Standard Rooms sold out and so it automatically showed the Premium Room rate as the "starting from" rate on the hotel search rate summary.

Firewind

Thank you very much, sdsearch!

As I've said, or meant to say, sdsearch for moderator of something in FlyerTalk. But for now, I'm just glad that we frequent the same companies and FT boards.

^ ^ ^

sdsearch

I don't know if I "frequent" this company. It all depends on if they keep 'frequenting" these gigantic one-night-stay promos.

I've never yet had a Club Carlson stay other than during these promos (3 so far, my 4th coming up this weekend.

Thought I am planning to be in Salzburg on an upcoming trip so was for now casually researching rates (in both cash, points, and combo) at different hotels in different hotel programs in the city (Salzburg has at least Club Carlson, Priority Club, SPG, and Best Western).

tsmith12

[QUOTE=sdsearch;18911531]Yes, they can vary from day to day. (In fact, both the points and cash at the same hotel.)

Here's an example:

Radisson Blu Hotel & Conference Centre, Salzburg

8/24-8/25 (Fri night): 5,000 points + €107.40 EUR, or 28,000 points
9/1-9/2 (Sat night): 10,000 points + €150.00 EUR, or 44,000 points
9/2-9/3 (Sun night): 10,000 points + €72.00 EUR, or 44,000 points
9/3-9/4 (Mon night): 10,000 points + €60.00 EUR, or 44,000 points
9/8-9/9 (Sat night): 5,000 points + €71.40 EUR, or 28,000 points
9/9/-9/10 (Sun night): 10,000 points + €72.00 EUR, or 44,000 points

So as you can see, this one hotel bobs back and forth between 28,000 points (standard award) and 44,000 points (premium award), and when it's at 28,000 points the points + cash is 5,000 points plus varying cash, and when it's at 44,000 points the points + cash is 10,000 points plus varying cash.

(Of course, on the dates where 28,000 points is available for the standard room, usually there's also 44,000 points for a premium room possible.)



You have to "View All Rates" to see whether the 10,000 points is for a Standard Room or a Premium Room. It could be that on a slow day both hotels are 5,000 points + $XX, but on the date you looked the CI&S had the Standard Rooms sold out and so it automatically showed the Premium Room rate as the "starting from" rate on the hotel search rate summary.[/QUOTE]

No, 10,000 points seem to be the standard rate..irrespective of the date. I checked for an entire month and random dates over the year and they are all 10,000 points. Plus, it has no mention of premium room..then again, premium in CI&S is not much to write about.

KathinJax

Category 1-3 is 5,000 points. Category 4-5 is 10,000 points and Category 6 is 15,000 points. http://www.clubcarlson.com/offers/3129203

Radisson Blu hotel & Conference Centre, Salzburg is a Category 3 hotel. Radisson Blu Alstadt, Salzburg is a Category 5 hotel. Is it possible that you mixed up the 2 on the Cash+Points example? When I ran the search on the days that you listed, the Conference Center hotel was at 5,000 + cash. (except the couple of days that it was sold out)

craz

also keep in mind the ca$h part is a % of the reg rate, so as that goes up so does the $ part of the C&P

sdsearch

Ah, I see what happened. There's a bug in the hotel search page of the Club Carlson website. I have it clearly set to Sort by Distance From Local Attraction Downtown, and yet it randomly returns the two hotels in a random order from one date to another. So I assumed I was getting it from the same hotel each time.

(Other hotel program websites that let me sort by distance don't change the order of the sort. The intermix the unavialable hotels with the available hotels, or else don't show the unavailable hotels, or else show a clear dividng line between the available ones and the unavailable ones. I didn't realize the Club Carlson site was changing the order without telling me it was changing the order, and didn't realize that one different nights these two different hotels were flip-flopping as to which one was sold out and which one wasn't.)

So what does happen when premium rooms are the only kind avialble? Does cash + points simply disappear then? (The cat 3 does have premium rooms that are extremely close in points-only price to the cat 5 standard points-only price. That, btw, threw me off too.)

KathinJax

When I did our summer trip, the hotels that had premium rooms only (Edinburgh during the Queen's Jubilee weekend, Dublin during the Eucharistic Congress) did not have cash+points available. It was very frustrating, because that was how we were stretching our stays. Prices were also through the roof, so we ended up in other hotels for those cities.

I have noticed that Cash+points is not always available when a standard rooms is available. Look at Paris Opera on 9/12-9/13, you can get a standard room for 50,000 points, but not cash+points. This leads me to think that there are some capacity controls in place.

holtju2

[QUOTE=tsmith12;18915025]It would have made sense to list the revenue rates as well. None of these redemption options make sense, if the rates are low.