Radisson Visa - discontinued April 2022

Old Jun 13, 2022, 7:24 am
  #61  
 
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Originally Posted by frmnj
Annual fee for my business visa posted 4/20. 40000 points posted 5/20. I called 6/7 to reverse fees, reversal posted 6/8. Now wondering what to do with the points. My redemptions are exclusively outside Americas
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.
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Old Jun 14, 2022, 9:30 pm
  #62  
 
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So do we think the Visa was discontinued because this Choice/Radisson change was coming?
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Old Jun 14, 2022, 9:54 pm
  #63  
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Originally Posted by wcj1
So do we think the Visa was discontinued because this Choice/Radisson change was coming?
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.
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Old Jun 15, 2022, 8:38 am
  #64  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
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.
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.
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Old Jun 15, 2022, 11:42 am
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Originally Posted by wcj1
So do we think the Visa was discontinued because this Choice/Radisson change was coming?
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.
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Old Jun 15, 2022, 7:36 pm
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Got new card today, but no prorated fee refund yet.
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Old Jun 16, 2022, 1:12 pm
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
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.
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.

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.
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Old Jun 16, 2022, 6:18 pm
  #68  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
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.
Perhaps US Bank was aware of the upcoming sale and didn’t want to renew just to then have to re-negotiate with the new owners? Or Radisson thought it was easier to sell the company without a long term credit card contract (not sure what typical cancellation clauses are).

In other news, no AF refund yet. My statement should close tomorrow or Saturday.
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Old Jun 16, 2022, 6:49 pm
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
Perhaps US Bank was aware of the upcoming sale and didn’t want to renew just to then have to re-negotiate with the new owners?
If that were the case, it would be anywhere from commercially risky/foolish to potentially legally risky/problematic for US Bank to act in that way.

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
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Old Jun 17, 2022, 4:18 am
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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?
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Old Jun 17, 2022, 4:54 am
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Originally Posted by happychic
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?
It is in the letter sent to card holders and posted in this thread.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/34130247-post11.html
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Old Jun 17, 2022, 10:59 pm
  #72  
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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.
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Old Jun 18, 2022, 11:25 am
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
The AF of $75 posted in January. The current statement should post in a day or two.
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...
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Old Jun 18, 2022, 11:54 am
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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.
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Old Jun 18, 2022, 12:22 pm
  #75  
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Originally Posted by u600213
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.
Barclay's is notorious for their atrocious customer service -- I know this from semi-personal experience with the JetBlue card (I don't have it but I know many people with it). I honestly want the AA card but I'm afraid to sign up because Barclays.

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.
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