Choice Hotels to acquire Radisson Hotels Americas.
 

I Just got an email from Choice Hotels. Choice Hotels to acquire Radisson Hotels Americas.


Choice Hotels International to Acquire Radisson Hotel Group Americas - Jun 13, 2022

Interesting. With the demise of the US Bank Radisson credit card, I was trying to figure out a plan for my points in that program. At least one option will be allowing the conversion to Choice points. BTW, I suspect that the decision to end the Radisson card was directly related to industry rumors that Radisson Americas was looking to sell, even if Choice wasn't known as the likely buyer.

Given the spread of Country Inn and Suites properties along with a few decent properties in major cities, I think this is a good move by Choice, both for its business and for its customers.

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.

Also, you need one activity per 18 months with Choice, while it's one per 24 months with Radisson. And you can only book awards 100 days out with Choice.

The conversion rate will determine my approach. I could cash some in for a stay at the Radisson Blu on a trip to Edinburgh this August, and I could just choose to move all of mine to the Radisson Worldwide program as there are good uses in several other places around the EU and UK. I could also keep them in the Radisson Americas program and allow a conversion if the ratio was closer to 1:1. I think it's possible that this might turn out to be the final ratio. Although FTers might have some high balances, I don't think many do (if this subforum doesn't see much action, there seems even less at the Radisson subforum), and I don't think that Radisson has made much of an impression on the general public over the last 5-6 years--thus their very generous promotions and earning opportunities through their CC.

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.

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.

Very fair point. In my case, I have a Citi Premier, but I'll probably change it to Custom Cash when the AMF hits. Between Citi TYP and Capital One Venture, I have plenty of points that transfer to a similar-ish set of transfer partners. If there's no worthy bonus (e.g. 25% conversion bonus to Lifemiles), I'll be good with cashing out my TYP at 1.0. I don't plan to proactively transfer any TYP to Choice Privileges, even though it's a good conversion to make on-the-fly to book some cheap properties. For me, that'd be the biggest loss of not having a Citi Premier, because most other transfers overlap a lot with Capital One. My Venture X card is a keeper card.

I think 1:1 is just a pipe dream. 1.5:1 would be great. 2:1 is probably right. I have way too many Rad points (2M, which can also stand for too many) and find very little use for them domestically, which is almost all of my travel currently. I'm hoping for the 1.5 ratio.

I am just glad I hopefully will never have to deal with Rad America's CS ever again.

One more possibility has occurred to me: Choice decides to approach this as they have Woodspring and keeps Radisson as a separate brand umbrella with no integration with Choice Rewards.

Seems an unlikely scenario, especially given the need to maintain a separate management structure, but Choice has taken no steps to integrate Woodspring into CR, including the exclusion of Woodspring properties when doing a search for cash reservations, suggesting that they've seen benefits from this approach.

Woodspring also has no loyalty program (at least that I can see) and is heavily focused on the extended-stay segment, so much so that, at least on a cursory search, most of their hotels won't sell rooms for shorter than a week's stay. That's far different from even an Econo Lodge or Rodeway Inn which is still marketed as a standard low-end hotel/motel. Radisson's properties are almost all similarly standard hotels, and I'd be surprised if they keep two separate booking systems and reward programs long-term.

I do think either the brands will stay or some new brands will be developed to put some of the brands that don't cleanly fit into one of the others. Some thoughts:

• Radisson Individuals and Radisson Red could probably fit well in Ascend.
• Radisson Blu might fit under Cambria, but I think Choice wants to keep Cambria as a very standardized experience. Maybe it'll go under Ascend.
• Park Inn and Radisson probably will go under Clarion. Maybe a few nicer ones will upgrade to a Cambria experience, or Choice will build some sort of upscale Clarion sub-brand (which could also work for the smattering of Radisson Blu's.)
• Country Inn & Suites fits pretty well into Comfort Inn & Suites, and the one Park Plaza that's basically part of a Country Inn and Suites would probably follow suit.

One thing that surprised me was that the only brands with more than 10 properties were Radisson and Country Inn & Suites, and there's only 82 standard Radissons. I would be surprised if they'd try to keep any of those brands long-term - maybe they keep the Radisson name but I'm not sure how strongly they'll try to keep it if it becomes an issue with the non-Americas Radisson properties. The Country Inn & Suites may stay, but even then is it worth trying to keep it distinct from Comfort Inn & Suites long-term?

This could easily be an "own your competition" deal, thus encouraging continued separation of brands. Here are three markets where Choice probably already has too many properties but where Radisson, especially in the form of Country Inn and Suites, offers some differentiation: my home territory of Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Williamsburg; Myrtle Beach; and Orlando. Another Comfort Inn and Suites, Clarion, or Quality Inn? Not needed while the existing CI&S locations offer variety for Choice in each of those markets. I'm sure there are comparable situations in many other places.

In addition, Country Inn and Suites has developed a consistent brand identity and standard compared with many Choice properties. The Country Inn and Suites lobby experience is almost iconic and repeated across multiple locations, even when circumstances require differentiation from the normal look of a three-story property with an exterior that reflects homey touches.

The Radisson name and brand doesn't register much in the US because of the wide variety of properties that carry the name. And outside CI&S, none of the other brands have enough locations to matter. I agree that Radissons might get folded into Ascend or Cambria or retain their branding while becoming a new brand within Choice that aims around the Cambria mark, especially given their presence in the central cities of major markets, a Choice weakness that it appears Cambria was developed to address.

The remaining properties could be rebranded into existing Choice branches, but I think Radisson and especially CS&I were the reasons this deal made sense for Choice.

Aren’t there rumors that Choice might purchase the other Radisson Worldwide portfolio as well in a separate transaction? To me that is the only thing that makes sense long-term. I’m holding on to a ton of Radisson Rewards points in the US program after the split. (All Radisson stays have been in Europe.) No interest in staying in Radisson Americas properties and even less so in any Choice properties. Just looked at the Choice hotels in Europe and they aren’t exactly appealing and there certainly aren’t many in the countries I travel to.

It would not make sense for Choice long-term, even if it might make sense for you. The majority of Radisson Americas properties fit very well with Choice's portfolio. The worldwide do not.
A little confused as to how/why you have a ton of points the Americas program if your only stays are in Europe. Either you earned them before the split - which is several years at this point, or you transferred them to the Americas program. But if neither Radisson Americas nor Choice properties are appealing to you, you can just transfer your points from the US program to the world program.

I would be very surprised if Radisson or Country Inn went away.
If Choice wants to expand the milennial/upscale market, they could use the Radisson Red brand as a launching pad, though only 2 properties left in the US means little. Park Inn and Park Plaza, though, dont have much name recognition in the US and with 4 properties between them, might not be worth keeping around.
It is notable that 1 of 2 Radisson Reds and the only Park Plaza are in Greater Minneapolis, though, where there is a greater affinity to Radisson. They lost the flagship Radisson Blu to Sonesta a few years ago. I dont see that Park Plaza becoming in Country Inn if it stays round; perhaps some consolidation of Radisson/Radisson Blu/Radisson Red/Park Plaza.

Not sure why you feel the need to be confrontational in your reply. If Choice wants a broader worldwide presence then it would make sense for them but honestly I could care less. And as for the points I have, they were accumulated prior to the split of the program via stays in Europe and via the credit card but since I’m US based they were put into the US program….and I likely will transfer them to the International program which I also have points in that were acculturated via stays in Europe after the program split.

I'm sorry you found my response to your speculation as to what would make sense for Choice confrontational.
Choice, however, has not said it's goal is for a "broader worldwide presence." Rather, it has a "strategy to expand its growth opportunities by bringing the company's best-in-class franchising platform to adjacent hotel segments and to a new set of hotel owners." Moreover, there is no indication that Radisson's other properties are for sale.

Seems like this merger will have no impact on you since you do not stay in Radisson Americas or Choice properties.