Capacity controls on Club Carlson awards?
Aug 21, 2013, 3:10 am
#1
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 120
Capacity controls on Club Carlson awards?
What is CC's policy on award capacity controls? The Radisson Martinique Broadway in Manhattan has very limited award availability for the next two months, but has plenty of "classic guest rooms" available for sale on the same dates. 
Aug 23, 2013, 10:11 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: New York
Programs: AA, WN, BA, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold, Club Carlson Gold, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 313
As you figured out, CC has solid capacity control on hotels that typically can sell out with paying guests.
Best bet is to keep checking for availability or call the property and see if they can tell you if there is anything available. I don't know about CC, but at SPG, if you ask nicely you can sometimes get the GM to open a room for C+P, so the GM might have some flexibility. I'm sure others can chime in about experiences with CC.
There have been numerous posts and the NY hotels being unavailable for points. If your question is on the Radisson Martinique Broadway specifically, then a search on FT will give you about 3 hours of posts to read through.
Best bet is to keep checking for availability or call the property and see if they can tell you if there is anything available. I don't know about CC, but at SPG, if you ask nicely you can sometimes get the GM to open a room for C+P, so the GM might have some flexibility. I'm sure others can chime in about experiences with CC.
There have been numerous posts and the NY hotels being unavailable for points. If your question is on the Radisson Martinique Broadway specifically, then a search on FT will give you about 3 hours of posts to read through.
Aug 24, 2013, 8:16 am
#3
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: IL
Posts: 270
Capacity controls on Club Carlson awards?
I have had luck several times calling or emailing the hotel and reminding them of the corporate club carlson no award blackout date policy (with corresponding link). Then either they open it up online or usually they will open one up for you but they can't book a points stay, so you need to call club carlson, then have then call the hotel to confirm they will open a spot for you then it's done. Not a smooth process but it works. Note that there needs to be standard room availability per the policy.
Aug 24, 2013, 8:59 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 400
I have had luck several times calling or emailing the hotel and reminding them of the corporate club carlson no award blackout date policy (with corresponding link). Then either they open it up online or usually they will open one up for you but they can't book a points stay, so you need to call club carlson, then have then call the hotel to confirm they will open a spot for you then it's done. Not a smooth process but it works. Note that there needs to be standard room availability per the policy.
Thanks for this tip. Gonna try this in Austin during ACLFest weekend
Sep 18, 2013, 9:54 am
#8
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,151
I have had luck several times calling or emailing the hotel and reminding them of the corporate club carlson no award blackout date policy (with corresponding link). Then either they open it up online or usually they will open one up for you but they can't book a points stay, so you need to call club carlson, then have then call the hotel to confirm they will open a spot for you then it's done. Not a smooth process but it works. Note that there needs to be standard room availability per the policy.
Had been monitoring availability at the Radisson Blu Chicago for a few weeks, but no award availability for this weekend.
Just called the property to see if anything had changed, and was told that they had no award availability, but offered to book me in at the rack rate. I thanked the rep, told her I'd be booking elsewhere with points, and was ready to hang up when she asked me to hold and see if there was anything she could do.
After two minutes on hold, award space for a king bed city view room magically opened up for both nights, and they were looking forward to welcoming us
Sep 18, 2013, 10:14 am
#9
Formerly known as iahsumr
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 520
I've seen some properties get better with this recently, but others still do seem to have issues with it from time to time. Sounds like reaching out to the hotel works more often than not. Currently trying to do that with the Champs Elysees property on a date where they show their base rooms for sale, but only biz rooms on points. Doesn't seem to be too widespread of an issue at that property, but still happening on our dates.
Sep 18, 2013, 11:45 am
#10
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: IHG Spire Ambassador, CC Gold, Marriott Gold, HH Gold, DL PM
Posts: 526
I've seen some properties get better with this recently, but others still do seem to have issues with it from time to time. Sounds like reaching out to the hotel works more often than not. Currently trying to do that with the Champs Elysees property on a date where they show their base rooms for sale, but only biz rooms on points. Doesn't seem to be too widespread of an issue at that property, but still happening on our dates.
They have 1 bedroom suite, at least 9 deluxe rooms and at least 9 Room w/ Arc de Triomphe view. This is a total of about 30 or more rooms available.
While there should be an award available if there is a classic room available, if the hotel only has one room available then they might not release award space.
Sep 19, 2013, 8:35 am
#11
Formerly known as iahsumr
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 520
Just an update on the Champs Elysees property in Paris. I emailed them with the email address on their website and explained the problem. Received an email back the same day stating that the availability is now there and open for me to book.
So, as usual, contacting the property directly worked in this situation. That said, 97% of Club Carlson members would probably just assume no availability means no availability, so it still is pretty crummy that you have to work with the property directly to book what you should just be able to book.
Glad they were responsive though.
So, as usual, contacting the property directly worked in this situation. That said, 97% of Club Carlson members would probably just assume no availability means no availability, so it still is pretty crummy that you have to work with the property directly to book what you should just be able to book.
Glad they were responsive though.
Jan 9, 2014, 2:16 pm
#14
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 3,693
I just got this squared away with Radisson Martinique. They had standard rooms for purchase but not redemption. I called, had to be transferred a few times, but eventually got to the right person (Andrew is who I spoke with, in lieu of Denise [Dir of Reservation]). He referred to capacity control for redemption. I reminded him of CC's policy of "no blackout dates." Eventually he agreed. He needed to call CC on my behalf to make the booking. Took about 30 minutes total.
They actually had availability the weekend before and the one after (by that I mean redeemable online), so the overall availability seems OK (based on limited data).
Thanks to Mommy Points and the information here.
They actually had availability the weekend before and the one after (by that I mean redeemable online), so the overall availability seems OK (based on limited data).
Thanks to Mommy Points and the information here.
Jan 9, 2014, 4:07 pm
#15
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Charleston, SC, USA
Programs: Avis Pref+, Hyatt Explorist, Marriott Life Gold, Honors Silver, IHG Plat via MC.
Posts: 6,786
The Radisson Blu of St. Martin has plenty of revenue availability for most dates this winter, but their system will allow us to book award nights only when a "Superior Room" (their lowest) is available at €301.60 per night Winter Sale Rate. The first step above is a "Deluxe Room" costing €368.80. I suspect that there's very little difference between the 2 rooms; it's a gimmick to circumvent CC's rules against blackouts & capacity controls!
The Rad. Blu of Aruba seems to be playing the same game by offering only the basic "Guest Rooms" for awards, while denying us the Garden/ Tower Rooms & above!
The Rad. Blu of Aruba seems to be playing the same game by offering only the basic "Guest Rooms" for awards, while denying us the Garden/ Tower Rooms & above!