Mar 9, 2014, 4:07 am
Last edit by: bhatnasx
The Friends and Family rate is intended to be offered to travellers who are "friend and family members" of a Carlson employee. That could be a hotel employee, a travel agent (Carlson Wagonlit) or restaurant employee (TGIF) (TGIF sold to Sentinel Capital Partners as of July 2014).
When you book the rate, you are supposed to have the basic data on your friend available at check-in for the hotel to verify that you are indeed authorized to use that rate. Generally, if they ask, they ask for:
1) Employee Name
2) Work location
Please consider that, as per T&C, only employee name and location can be requested only at the check in time.
The new code is RHGRFNF
NOTE:
Booking a rate that you're not entitled to book may result in rate adjustments and Club Carlson account freezing.
In general, the rate is €80 per night in Europe.
*These stays post as "Ineligible" - non-qualifying, non-stay, non-points earning ... so, in sum, don't associate a F&F reservation with your Gold Points account, unless elite perks you hope to enjoy are worth the risk.
When you book the rate, you are supposed to have the basic data on your friend available at check-in for the hotel to verify that you are indeed authorized to use that rate. Generally, if they ask, they ask for:
1) Employee Name
2) Work location
Please consider that, as per T&C, only employee name and location can be requested only at the check in time.
The new code is RHGRFNF
NOTE:
Booking a rate that you're not entitled to book may result in rate adjustments and Club Carlson account freezing.
In general, the rate is €80 per night in Europe.
*These stays post as "Ineligible" - non-qualifying, non-stay, non-points earning ... so, in sum, don't associate a F&F reservation with your Gold Points account, unless elite perks you hope to enjoy are worth the risk.
Carlson Hotels (Radisson) Family & Friends Rate - 2009 - 2017 Thread
Aug 26, 2014, 11:43 am
#1997
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Washington D.C. via Sao Paulo via Houston via Washington D.C. via Boston via New York
Posts: 1,172
Looking at booking the Raddison Blu in Kuwait for part of that that Emirates deal last month, I see the code and the rate is fabulous, anyone have experiences here?
Last edited by macdonaldj2; Aug 26, 2014 at 2:29 pm
Aug 28, 2014, 8:38 pm
#1998
Used to be highman123
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 3,541
Any city I'm trying gives me an error since today:
Unfortunately we are unable to complete the online reservation process at this time. Please contact Worldwide Reservations.
Unfortunately we are unable to complete the online reservation process at this time. Please contact Worldwide Reservations.
Aug 29, 2014, 1:24 am
#1999
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: London
Programs: SK Gold, ITA Executive, Sixt Diamond, Hertz PC, Avis PC, IHG Platinum
Posts: 5,164
Very nice hotel, great breakfast. They've also picked me up from and dropped me back to the airport [at no cost].
Aug 29, 2014, 3:17 am
#2000
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: LHR
Programs: M&M,HH Gold,Accor Plat.,Priority Club Plat. Ambassador,Club Carlson Gold,Marriott Gold,GHA Plat.
Posts: 1,627
IT system maintenance (they changed the password requirements).
Last edited by Paul4Travel; Aug 29, 2014 at 3:22 am
Aug 29, 2014, 6:03 am
#2001
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,898
Aug 29, 2014, 6:11 am
#2002
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Doubt I would have an issue, but are you sure you even want to use the FF rate in Krakow? Hotel rates in Poland often enough seem manageable for well under 80USD/EUR per night. Just have a name and location and that would settle it in the off-chance they even ask.
Aug 29, 2014, 6:36 am
#2003
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,042
The lowest other cancelable rate was about $165 US plus tax. I agree, no use using FF if another rate is comparable and if it should drop, I will change.
Aug 29, 2014, 7:36 am
#2004
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: LHR
Programs: M&M,HH Gold,Accor Plat.,Priority Club Plat. Ambassador,Club Carlson Gold,Marriott Gold,GHA Plat.
Posts: 1,627
Please consider that, if you're not entitled to use the FF rate, some hotels convert the FF rate in the official one, and since cancellation is possible usually till 4pm of the day of arrival, if you're checking in after that time, you can result as obliged to pay that rate (1st night) because the deadline terms of cancellation are expired. Please take note of this. Everyone should.
Aug 29, 2014, 9:45 am
#2005
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,898
Carlson has 88,000 employees.
Aug 29, 2014, 2:21 pm
#2006
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: ATL
Posts: 111
We stayed at the Krakow Blu for two nights in April 2013. No problems. I always carry a card or two from employees that I've met while traveling and use their name if the hotel ask. Mostly those hotels have been in Scandinavia. Never had a problem.
Aug 29, 2014, 3:41 pm
#2007
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,042
Thanks to everyone who had experience at the Radisson Blu Krakow and gave me a reply. A lot of people following this thread want to use the FF rate but don't really have a friend or family member at Carlson. Otherwise, nobody would be interested in reports on how properties treated people checking in on FF. I am using CC points for the first two nights. At check in, I can make sure to mention my third night and see if it triggers any questions about my "friend." I would have enough time in advance to cancel if there's an issue. There's also a Sheraton in Krakow which has good cash and points rates, so I might like to move over there anyway.
Aug 30, 2014, 3:04 am
#2008
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Paris, France
Programs: IHG, CC, HH, AF, AA, UA
Posts: 830
Aug 31, 2014, 6:38 am
#2009
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,543
Thanks to everyone who had experience at the Radisson Blu Krakow and gave me a reply. A lot of people following this thread want to use the FF rate but don't really have a friend or family member at Carlson. Otherwise, nobody would be interested in reports on how properties treated people checking in on FF.
Not only that, but for a long period of time, this ease of booking was followed by a complete lack of checks at hotels once customers arrived. One merely had to provide an employee's name and location at check in for it to be written in some file and forgotten if one was asked at all.
In more recent months, while the booking process has not changed, the attitude of Radisson hotels as a whole has changed and the relatively casual attitude of systematically accepting any name - real or invented - and throwing the information in virtual bins has been replaced by occasionally thorough checks on a proportion of bookings. I think that this change is precisely the reason why as you mention, many people are interested in others' experiences.
What I think is wrong in your logic, though, is the assumption that those shared experiences inform us about individual hotels, with the implication that some would still be casual and others would systematically probe credentials. I thoroughly disagree with this interpretation and as mentioned, I have had no question asked at all in recent stays in hotels where others have reported the most thorough checks, while by contrast, I have been asked insistent questions in other hotels where other FTers had reported not to be asked anything.
I think this is just like any other control. There is no 'magic trick' that would make you exempt in place A and likely to be controlled in place B, or exempt if you friend is type A but likely to be controlled if your friend is type B, etc. There is an element of randomness and thus risk, and one more positive or negative experience in a specific hotel won't really change the odds for someone else to have credentials probed there.
Aug 31, 2014, 8:21 am
#2010
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: LHR
Programs: M&M,HH Gold,Accor Plat.,Priority Club Plat. Ambassador,Club Carlson Gold,Marriott Gold,GHA Plat.
Posts: 1,627
Let's be a bit historical here. The thing is that unlike most F&F rates on many hotel companies, Carlson have generated one that is unusually easy to book. You needn't provide a friend's name in the booking process let alone have your friend book directly for you or give a secret code.
Not only that, but for a long period of time, this ease of booking was followed by a complete lack of checks at hotels once customers arrived. One merely had to provide an employee's name and location at check in for it to be written in some file and forgotten if one was asked at all.
In more recent months, while the booking process has not changed, the attitude of Radisson hotels as a whole has changed and the relatively casual attitude of systematically accepting any name - real or invented - and throwing the information in virtual bins has been replaced by occasionally thorough checks on a proportion of bookings. I think that this change is precisely the reason why as you mention, many people are interested in others' experiences.
What I think is wrong in your logic, though, is the assumption that those shared experiences inform us about individual hotels, with the implication that some would still be casual and others would systematically probe credentials. I thoroughly disagree with this interpretation and as mentioned, I have had no question asked at all in recent stays in hotels where others have reported the most thorough checks, while by contrast, I have been asked insistent questions in other hotels where other FTers had reported not to be asked anything.
I think this is just like any other control. There is no 'magic trick' that would make you exempt in place A and likely to be controlled in place B, or exempt if you friend is type A but likely to be controlled if your friend is type B, etc. There is an element of randomness and thus risk, and one more positive or negative experience in a specific hotel won't really change the odds for someone else to have credentials probed there.
Not only that, but for a long period of time, this ease of booking was followed by a complete lack of checks at hotels once customers arrived. One merely had to provide an employee's name and location at check in for it to be written in some file and forgotten if one was asked at all.
In more recent months, while the booking process has not changed, the attitude of Radisson hotels as a whole has changed and the relatively casual attitude of systematically accepting any name - real or invented - and throwing the information in virtual bins has been replaced by occasionally thorough checks on a proportion of bookings. I think that this change is precisely the reason why as you mention, many people are interested in others' experiences.
What I think is wrong in your logic, though, is the assumption that those shared experiences inform us about individual hotels, with the implication that some would still be casual and others would systematically probe credentials. I thoroughly disagree with this interpretation and as mentioned, I have had no question asked at all in recent stays in hotels where others have reported the most thorough checks, while by contrast, I have been asked insistent questions in other hotels where other FTers had reported not to be asked anything.
I think this is just like any other control. There is no 'magic trick' that would make you exempt in place A and likely to be controlled in place B, or exempt if you friend is type A but likely to be controlled if your friend is type B, etc. There is an element of randomness and thus risk, and one more positive or negative experience in a specific hotel won't really change the odds for someone else to have credentials probed there.
Let me add that several people made reservations through a rate they were not entitled for, and after that, they ran here on FT asking if they would have been asked for the name or not.
The rule is always the same: some people are trying to trick the game, but miserably, they pretend not to be discovered and be punished in some way.
Well,that's fine.
But You can't pretend someone who's able to give you certainty for this, simply asking if you'll be checked out or not.
It's how to rob the bank hoping that, when the policemen come to arrest you, they do it as a joke!
If You feel scared about this, simply don't book a rate you're not entitled for.