Club Carlson compared to Marriott?
 

I'm a Marriott Platinum Elite, and have been dedicated to Marriott for a long time. I've decided to diversify my hotel portfolio, and have opened the Club Carlson US Bank visa.

Can anyone enlighten me a bit how Club Carlson works/is compared to Marriott?

read the sticky

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/club-...-me-first.html

I am a Marriott lifetime Platinum who diversified with HH for over a decade as a Road Warriorr. Following HH's MEGA-UBER-SUPER-devaluation earlier this year, I abandoned that ship and switched to CC.

Status match to top tier CC (Concierge level) was refused, so I am a Gold. Stays at two different Radisson's (4 stays at SFO airport and 1 in Madrid) have not gotten any upgrade. Former has added free breakfast. Latter is a Radisson Blu--and it shows. Much better service and infrastructure (spiffier). For my stay in Madrid--Radisson Blu was by far the best choice compared to any Marriott or Hilton option since latter two are quite deficient in that city.

Main drawback to CC is far more limited hotels especially within the US. Marriott and Hilton have properties everywhere--at every price point.

Too early for me to compare MR versus CC for redemption. I have a forthcoming three night stay in Helsinki that used a combination of 2:1 BOGO and last night on cash and points. Both are excellent features that MR does not offer. Another unique feature is "last award night is free" if you have a Club Carlson credit card.

Rads are really bad here in the US, I think they become a Rad after either being deflaged by their previous affiliation for not keeping the hotel in tip top shape, or that they need to do a renov and simply dont want to invest the $$$

That said I prefer the Country Inn & Suites over a Fairfield Inn or Hampton Inn. But havent stayed at a Rad that I would return to, except for LAX but street parking is much better by the 4P/Ren, so i only stay at Rad LAX if I wont be having a car to deal with ( there are tons of Rads I havent stayed at so Im sure there are more out there that are more then just passable). and most of the worst ones I stayed at no longer area part of CC :D

CC is easy to get a status match to gold so you 30 points for $ + 2000 online booking bonus, in some cases 3 stays can get you a reward night.

You are going to really appreciate Marriott after a few Club Carlson stays. The US properties are a mixed bag, with some diamonds hidden an overall average property portfolio. The main issue that I have with Club Carlson is consistency. The Raddison's are very hit or miss, and the Country Inn and Suites has potential. I like the CI&S brand and hope it succeeds, but I end up having to read Tripadvisor prior to any Club Carlson stay. Depending on where you travel, Marriott/SPG may be a better focus.

Marriott, unlike Club Carlson, would never devalue their points/miles without advance notice to its members.

I think that's fair. The bottom of Club Carlson properties is scary; Radisson brands have been very good for me.

Hopefully Club Carlson repeats their promos like last summer's Big Night promo.

FWIW I find that CC is excellent for EMEA and not so excellent in the US. Agree with previous posters that Rads are hit or miss, but definitely prefer CI&S over anything from IGH. I'm not a Marriott person so I can't comment on that aspect of the question. If you're looking to redeem points in EMEA there are lots of Cat 1 and Cat 2 options that will get you a week for 100K points, not including the CC benefits or the 4-for-2 promos. Good luck.

CC endorsement
 

In terms of the reward programme and the effort expended by frontline staff, I vote CC over MR.

If I had been asked this one or two years ago I suspect I would have had them the other way around.

I agree completely. There has been a significant improvement in CC's systems; they used to run promos and not inform their CSR's about them.it took a while, but they have their act together now.