(EXPIRED) 2012 Big Night Giveaway Promos Master Thread
May 9, 2012, 12:22 pm
#1
Moderator: Mileage Run, InterContinental Hotels
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 5,916
(EXPIRED) 2012 Big Night Giveaway Promos Master Thread
== Welcome to the Club Carlson Summer 2012 Promos Master Thread! Please ask your questions in this thread. This first post will be updated periodically. All information is correct to the best of my knowledge, but no warranties. Read the T&Cs! ==
Club Carlson has four promotions this summer:
- Radisson 50k points for one stay -- CAUTION: Radisson has reached its registration cap and the bonus is now 15k.
- Country Inn 44k points for one stay -- CAUTION: Country Inn has reached its registration cap and the bonus is now 15k.
- Park Inn 44k points for one stay -- CAUTION: Park Inn has reached its registration cap and the bonus is now 15k.
- Park Plaza 50k for one stay -- CAUTION: Park Plaza has reached the cap and the bonus is now 15k
You may register for one, two, three, or all of these promotions, as long as the registration slots haven’t been taken up. The Radisson and Country Inn promo went live on 5/15, the Park Inn promo went active on 5/22, and the Park Plaza promo is now active as well (6/28).
This immensely generous promotion has gained a lot of attention from bloggers and been featured on the busy forums on FT, and many of you will likely want to earn your points and immediately transfer them to miles or redeem for premium rooms in expensive locations. Please consider sticking around! Club Carlson is working hard to attract customers to its program, and some of their hotels deserve a second look. At the same time, we are trying to grow the FT Club Carlson forum, and we would greatly appreciate if you’d give back to the community by contributing to this forum. FT is about more than just taking advantage of generous promotions … Come back, share your wisdom, write reports on the properties you redeemed your points at, etc. Enjoy the promo and have a great summer!
Do I have to register?
Yes, everybody should register, even though there were reports that members with Concierge status are enrolled automatically.
How many points can I earn per account?
You can only earn one bonus per brand per account, for a maximum of 138k if you participate in all three promos. If you have a dozen stays at Radisson during the promo period, only one will trigger the 50k bonus.
Is this promo open to all countries?
Yes. Last year’s promo was only valid for the US, but the current one is worldwide.
How do I know I’m properly registered?
You should receive a confirmation email. However, some FTers have reported receiving no confirmation. If you didn’t get an email, try to register again, and you will get a message “you are already registered.”
Will I get points for reservations booked before the promo went live?
Yes (this changed as of 5/19). The terms state that the promotion is not valid on existing reservations, but because Carlson posted on its Facebook site in advance of the promo that existing bookings would receive points, such bookings will now be honored.
Will I have to check in and out?
Yes. Club Carlson are aware that this is an immensely lucrative promo, and they have built in safeguards against abuse. Last year, FTers found one hotel that allowed phantom stays, and Club Carlson shut this down quickly.
Can I have multiple accounts?
The T&Cs don’t expressly prohibit having multiple accounts, but it may be covered by some of the fraud language in the T&Cs. It’s certainly not within the spirit of this promotion, and you should expect deletion of duplicate accounts. There’s nothing wrong, however, with having one account each for wife/husband/etc … if someone else travels with you, it shouldn’t be a problem to book one night under your account and the next under theirs.
Will Points+Cash bookings count? What about corporate rates or airport parking rates?
The promo terms state that the bonus will be given for a stay on any rate for which points are awarded. This includes Points+Cash, 2-for-1 (applicable to Gold members only), rates that include extras such as park-stay-fly, and most corporate rates. For the latter, make sure that your negotiated rate doesn’t specifically exclude points.
How can I use my free night?
Although Club Carlson markets this promotion as an opportunity to earn a free night, you will actually receive points credited to your account instead of a free night certificate. You may redeem the points in any way you see fit, including hotel stays (starting at 9k points per night), Points+Cash (starting at 5k points + a cash supplement determined by the hotel), airline miles (100k points = 18k miles, 50k points = 8k miles, 2k points = 250 miles), in-hotel rewards, gift cards, or even a paypal credit. You can also transfer points to other Club Carlson members.
Do Club Carlson Points expire?
No, but accounts with 24 months of inactivity may be closed.
How do I find a cheap rate?
Most people will be constrained by which hotels they can conveniently get to, either near your domicile or in a destination you plan to travel to. (The promo isn’t generous enough to warrant flying halfway around the globe to check into the cheapest hotels). Check the Carlson site to find applicable properties. If your dates are completely flexible, you may want to look at the Travelocity flexible dates calendar, which allows searching for standard rates over a wide range of dates. Also consider applicable discount rates like AAA, senior citizen, etc. Finally, there will be plenty of discussion on this thread, so check back frequently!
Can I book on third party websites (such as Travelocity, Expedia, etc)?
No. You must book on a Club Carlson website, rates booked on third party websites do not earn points. Club Carlson has a Best Rate Guarantee that will match a competitor's lower rate and give a 25% discount. Note that only direct rate comparisons immediately viewable may be matched, so you will be out of luck if a lower rate on a competitor's website is due to using a coupon. If you consider a BRG claim, note the unusual terms of Club Carlson's guarantee (refundability terms may change and cancellations will attract, at minimum, a $25 penalty).
How much are Club Carlson points worth? Does it make sense for me to participate in this promo?
There's debate about the value of CC points (see this thread on valuation). If you redeem 50k points at a $500 property in Paris, your points can be worth 1cpp. More typical redemptions will yield values of perhaps .5-.8cpp, and exceptional values can be much higher. Now, is this worth going out of your way for? Diverting a business trip from another chain will probably be a no-brainer for most travelers (as this is a rather promo-poor summer), and if you're considering doing a mattress run you should do the math and figure out whether it's worth the investment.
Receive 10% cash back: TopCashBack offers 10% cash back for Radisson bookings (for a limited time). If you don't have a TopCashBack account, sign up via the Conga in S.P.A.M. ($10 new member signup bonus).
Club Carlson has four promotions this summer:
- Radisson 50k points for one stay -- CAUTION: Radisson has reached its registration cap and the bonus is now 15k.
- Country Inn 44k points for one stay -- CAUTION: Country Inn has reached its registration cap and the bonus is now 15k.
- Park Inn 44k points for one stay -- CAUTION: Park Inn has reached its registration cap and the bonus is now 15k.
- Park Plaza 50k for one stay -- CAUTION: Park Plaza has reached the cap and the bonus is now 15k
You may register for one, two, three, or all of these promotions, as long as the registration slots haven’t been taken up. The Radisson and Country Inn promo went live on 5/15, the Park Inn promo went active on 5/22, and the Park Plaza promo is now active as well (6/28).
This immensely generous promotion has gained a lot of attention from bloggers and been featured on the busy forums on FT, and many of you will likely want to earn your points and immediately transfer them to miles or redeem for premium rooms in expensive locations. Please consider sticking around! Club Carlson is working hard to attract customers to its program, and some of their hotels deserve a second look. At the same time, we are trying to grow the FT Club Carlson forum, and we would greatly appreciate if you’d give back to the community by contributing to this forum. FT is about more than just taking advantage of generous promotions … Come back, share your wisdom, write reports on the properties you redeemed your points at, etc. Enjoy the promo and have a great summer!
Do I have to register?
Yes, everybody should register, even though there were reports that members with Concierge status are enrolled automatically.
How many points can I earn per account?
You can only earn one bonus per brand per account, for a maximum of 138k if you participate in all three promos. If you have a dozen stays at Radisson during the promo period, only one will trigger the 50k bonus.
Is this promo open to all countries?
Yes. Last year’s promo was only valid for the US, but the current one is worldwide.
How do I know I’m properly registered?
You should receive a confirmation email. However, some FTers have reported receiving no confirmation. If you didn’t get an email, try to register again, and you will get a message “you are already registered.”
Will I get points for reservations booked before the promo went live?
Yes (this changed as of 5/19). The terms state that the promotion is not valid on existing reservations, but because Carlson posted on its Facebook site in advance of the promo that existing bookings would receive points, such bookings will now be honored.
Will I have to check in and out?
Yes. Club Carlson are aware that this is an immensely lucrative promo, and they have built in safeguards against abuse. Last year, FTers found one hotel that allowed phantom stays, and Club Carlson shut this down quickly.
Can I have multiple accounts?
The T&Cs don’t expressly prohibit having multiple accounts, but it may be covered by some of the fraud language in the T&Cs. It’s certainly not within the spirit of this promotion, and you should expect deletion of duplicate accounts. There’s nothing wrong, however, with having one account each for wife/husband/etc … if someone else travels with you, it shouldn’t be a problem to book one night under your account and the next under theirs.
Will Points+Cash bookings count? What about corporate rates or airport parking rates?
The promo terms state that the bonus will be given for a stay on any rate for which points are awarded. This includes Points+Cash, 2-for-1 (applicable to Gold members only), rates that include extras such as park-stay-fly, and most corporate rates. For the latter, make sure that your negotiated rate doesn’t specifically exclude points.
How can I use my free night?
Although Club Carlson markets this promotion as an opportunity to earn a free night, you will actually receive points credited to your account instead of a free night certificate. You may redeem the points in any way you see fit, including hotel stays (starting at 9k points per night), Points+Cash (starting at 5k points + a cash supplement determined by the hotel), airline miles (100k points = 18k miles, 50k points = 8k miles, 2k points = 250 miles), in-hotel rewards, gift cards, or even a paypal credit. You can also transfer points to other Club Carlson members.
Do Club Carlson Points expire?
No, but accounts with 24 months of inactivity may be closed.
How do I find a cheap rate?
Most people will be constrained by which hotels they can conveniently get to, either near your domicile or in a destination you plan to travel to. (The promo isn’t generous enough to warrant flying halfway around the globe to check into the cheapest hotels). Check the Carlson site to find applicable properties. If your dates are completely flexible, you may want to look at the Travelocity flexible dates calendar, which allows searching for standard rates over a wide range of dates. Also consider applicable discount rates like AAA, senior citizen, etc. Finally, there will be plenty of discussion on this thread, so check back frequently!
Can I book on third party websites (such as Travelocity, Expedia, etc)?
No. You must book on a Club Carlson website, rates booked on third party websites do not earn points. Club Carlson has a Best Rate Guarantee that will match a competitor's lower rate and give a 25% discount. Note that only direct rate comparisons immediately viewable may be matched, so you will be out of luck if a lower rate on a competitor's website is due to using a coupon. If you consider a BRG claim, note the unusual terms of Club Carlson's guarantee (refundability terms may change and cancellations will attract, at minimum, a $25 penalty).
How much are Club Carlson points worth? Does it make sense for me to participate in this promo?
There's debate about the value of CC points (see this thread on valuation). If you redeem 50k points at a $500 property in Paris, your points can be worth 1cpp. More typical redemptions will yield values of perhaps .5-.8cpp, and exceptional values can be much higher. Now, is this worth going out of your way for? Diverting a business trip from another chain will probably be a no-brainer for most travelers (as this is a rather promo-poor summer), and if you're considering doing a mattress run you should do the math and figure out whether it's worth the investment.
Receive 10% cash back: TopCashBack offers 10% cash back for Radisson bookings (for a limited time). If you don't have a TopCashBack account, sign up via the Conga in S.P.A.M. ($10 new member signup bonus).
Last edited by jpdx; Jul 12, 2012 at 1:20 am
May 14, 2012, 11:04 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: DL DM, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 2,874
their servers must be getting flooded... sites are barely working. able to slowly get thru on the sogocountry.com site, but not the radisson one...
Edit... have to watch their video to get to the registration... oh man...
finally got registered but there was some pretty huge lag trying to get through. I bet it was a much bigger flood of people than they expected.
Edit... have to watch their video to get to the registration... oh man...
finally got registered but there was some pretty huge lag trying to get through. I bet it was a much bigger flood of people than they expected.
May 14, 2012, 11:09 pm
#9
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: DL DM, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 2,874
I got a confirmation screen on both of them that i printed and saved.
May 14, 2012, 11:10 pm
#11
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: DL DM, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 2,874
May 14, 2012, 11:11 pm
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,392
Well, it was as slow as molasses and lots of timeouts, but managed to register for the promos.
And since there's tens of thousands of spots instead of like 100 or 500 (*cough*DiscoverAmerica*cough*), the 100K/35K spots for the good deals in the promo should last for at LEAST 5 or 10 more minutes.
And since there's tens of thousands of spots instead of like 100 or 500 (*cough*DiscoverAmerica*cough*), the 100K/35K spots for the good deals in the promo should last for at LEAST 5 or 10 more minutes.
May 14, 2012, 11:12 pm
#13
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: EBG4Life, EBD, 1MM
Posts: 1,397
We were able to skip the video and register by refreshing our internet browser (video wasn't loading). Not a wise decision to add the video step!
Wife received registration emails immediately confirming the 50,000 and 44,000 pts.
Wife received registration emails immediately confirming the 50,000 and 44,000 pts.
May 14, 2012, 11:12 pm
#14
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: DEN
Programs: UA Gold-MM, AA Gold-MM, F9-Silver, Hyatt Something, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,393
The country inn version sends an email confirmation.