Radisson Visa - discontinued April 2022
#61
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,921
You might want to think about redeeming sooner than later, as it's uncertain what may come of the transfer ability between the two Radisson's, given the Choice Hotels acquisition.
#63
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,103
My thinking is that Radisson was in a cost-cutting mode to pretty itself up for a sale and didn’t find its affiliated bank card business something that helped for that purpose; and so it was already winding down the “costly” card business even before Choice came in making an acquisition offer for Radisson’s board to consider. In other words, I am guessing that maybe Radisson was looking for a buyer, and Radisson’s bankers shopped around for a potential suitor and found Choice to make an acceptable enough offer to be in range to make negotiations work and eventually reach a mutually acceptable price.
#64
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My thinking is that Radisson was in a cost-cutting mode to pretty itself up for a sale and didn’t find its affiliated bank card business something that helped for that purpose; and so it was already winding down the “costly” card business even before Choice came in making an acquisition offer for Radisson’s board to consider.
#65
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,546
It takes time to put together an acquisition like this so I assume they had been shopping for a buyer for a while. If the cobrand card agreement was coming up for renewal anyway it might not make sense to spend the time and effort hammering out a new contract. And, any potential buyer would likely already have a cobrand card from a different issuer (Choice cards are from Barclays). I’d say this was actually an example of good forward thinking.
#67
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Is there evidence that the card business was costly to Radisson? Most travel companies seem to make a ton of money (rev and profit) off their affiliate card programs. And with 2nd award night free benefit killed years ago, I don’t know why the card would have been unprofitable for Radisson. Seems like a lot of people here are sitting on a big pile of points from the card for an unspecified future stay. Certainly that was true for me.
I would be very surprised if customer acquisition costs for the cards were not considered a problem for those eager to up their cost-containment efforts at the company.
#68
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If the card business were still very lucrative to Radisson, they would have rushed to maintain and build the card business in the run-up to prepping themselves for the announced sale and/or to maximize their valuation (for sale or for acquisition purposes) instead of doing what they did with staffing decisions and the card business.
In other news, no AF refund yet. My statement should close tomorrow or Saturday.
#69
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Join Date: Jul 2001
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Tossing out an egg in hand just to hope to get a chance to possibly get two birds with the same egg down the road? Doesn’t sound like something I would expect from USB’s commercial or even retail lending operations.
USB willfully violating an NDA or otherwise acting on inside information for USB’s own short term financial benefit? Is USB less risk averse on average than other banks around its league or bigger when it comes to legal and regulatory risk?
If Radisson thought it was easier to sell the company without a bank card affiliation continuing, it would be because the affinity card relationship wasn’t accretive toward the company’s value for its sale and/or acquisition power. That speaks to the affinity card not being very lucrative for Radisson.
Last edited by GUWonder; Jun 16, 2022 at 6:55 pm
#70
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: Wyndham Diamond
Posts: 867
There's been lots of mention in this thread that a prorated AF refund is coming due to the involuntary product change. Has there been any communication from Radisson or US Bank about a prorated AF refund, or is this simply wishful thinking on our part?
#71
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: DL PM; IHG PlatAmb; Hilton Dia; Marriott Plat; Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,271
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/34130247-post11.html
#72
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Location: Pacific Northwest
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Posts: 16,625
My partial AF credit appears to have posted:
The AF of $75 posted in January. The current statement should post in a day or two.
The AF of $75 posted in January. The current statement should post in a day or two.
#73
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,256
Current statement for what? The old US Bank Radisson credit cards are closed. I'd love a refund of the three AFs me and P2 paid, but there's no longer any account at US Bank to receive any refund...
#74
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Springfield,MO,USA
Programs: UA 1K MM, HH Diamond, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,604
It looks like Choice Hotels co branded credit card is called Choice Privileges Visa and is issued by Barclays. 32,000 points signup bonus. Not an affiliate link below:
https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-...sa-credit-card
FT Thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/choi...edit-card.html
I have not signed up but will ponder it.
https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-...sa-credit-card
FT Thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/choi...edit-card.html
I have not signed up but will ponder it.
#75
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: NYC
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Posts: 16,568
It looks like Choice Hotels co branded credit card is called Choice Privileges Visa and is issued by Barclays. 32,000 points signup bonus. Not an affiliate link below:
https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-...sa-credit-card
FT Thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/choi...edit-card.html
I have not signed up but will ponder it.
https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-...sa-credit-card
FT Thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/choi...edit-card.html
I have not signed up but will ponder it.
I may have to swallow my pride and get it just for the status, especially since there's no annual fee, and hold onto it until I can use up my points. Then maybe I'll have them product change it to the AA card.
This sucks. US Bank wasn't anything special but at least they were decent and the card had killer benefits. Now I can make my Comfort Inn dreams come true
-J.