mgn2000

I just got an email from Choice Hotels. Choice Hotels to acquire Radisson Americas.

Choice Hotels International to Acquire Radisson Hotel Group Americas - Jun 13, 2022

TTT103

While not surprising, what is perplexing is that there will still be two separate Radisson's. I thought for sure that if Radisson was going to be sold, the entire entity would be sold--not just the Americas. Now Choice will need to work with Radisson (The rest of the world) to market their brand.

I also wonder how Radisson Rewards will operate? I sure hope they don't combine with Choice, as I'm not a fan of Choice Privileges.

notquiteaff

So… move my remaining 400k to Rest-of-World Rad and work on using them up, or keep them in the US program? It seems unlikely that Choice would want to operate two programs for their Americas properties.

TTT103

I would hope that Choice gives us some notice if they plan to combine programs to give us an opportunity to transfer to Rest of the World. I truly do not want Choice points, as the 100 day booking window is a dealbreaker for me.

nwflyboy

Interesting plot twist.

As luck would have it, today was the day that I was going to try to make some sense of what to do about Radisson going forward. Between me and P2, we have about 600K Radisson Rewards points scattered across our multiple accounts (some got sorted into "Americas", some got sorted into "Rest of World"). We could burn them all on our next trip to southern Europe, but they do have some useful properties in northern Europe which we hope to be able to use in the next couple of years. And with the recent US Bank/Radisson split, I don't see any prospects ahead for ways to add points - I had been hoping that another bank might pick them up and we would be able to juice our points balance with some new card signups. But...now that "Choice" is sweeping up the Radisson Americas program (and we have zero interest in using points for any Radisson or Choice hotel domestically, we only redeem overseas), maybe that marks the end of the road for our participation in anything Radisson.

Of course, we could transfer points to an airline program at a horrible 10:1 ratio....(nah, I don't think so).

mile ho

Choice is better than the dumpster fire that Rad Americas has become. It's an upgrade, IMO, albeit a small one.

christianj

This likely is not a positive development and not what I was expecting! I have over 1.5 mio points in the US program since the programs were split. Most points earned via stays in Europe and via the now discontinued credit card. I have no desire to use these points for stays in the US or regions under Radisson Americas (and definitely not in any Choice properties in the Americas) so if the plan is that our RR points become Choice points I will need to move them out to the international Radisson program ASAP. I’m sure they are going to drag their feet telling us exactly what their plans are for the RR Americas program so I’ll likely wait a while and if I start feeling uncomfortable I’ll transfer to the International RR program. I guess there is some hope that Choice will work with Radisson International or even buy them as well but who knows if that will happen.

happychic

Luckily I transferred and took advantage of the 15% off award redemptions in EMEA few weeks back. I will be staying at Radisson Blu in Madrid, Spain. I only have about 13k what I consider to be orphaned points in the Americas program.

Looking back, the writing has been on the wall.

The domestic Choice program is just not a good fit for me. I do quite like the Nordic Choice program but I am not planning on going to Scandinavia anytime soon. I have a feeling my 13k points will likely be wasted away.

azepine00

the transfer to intl program is still working right?

to answer own question - yes - just moved all points

notquiteaff

If I had 13k left, and basically no plans to add more to get to a more useful account balance, I would probably just transfer them to an airline and be done with it.

Choice has a higher transfer ratio to airlines, but Frequent Miler values Choice points at double of Radisson points, so not clear to me that in a merger of loyalty programs they would transfer Rad points to Choice 1:1.

Happy

I tend to agree this. Some Choice properties in Europe aint bad. I vaguely recall there is a certain workaround on the 100 days restriction.

Been procrastinating in create the Rest of the World account to transfer pts because truly have no need to use any Radisson properties so far, now I wonder should I finally get the Rest of the World and move all the pts from me and my husband's account to there? Really the only usage we have had all these years were overseas redemption, from Cape Town to London and places in between - all international except the Chicago property.

Tennen

FTFY.

Seriously, though, I guess my future plans of keeping both accounts alive by transferring points back and forth will be moot. I'll just shift them over to World before the Choice acquisition. With so many other options, I don't think I've ever considered staying at a Radisson in the Americas...

notquiteaff

I did, recently, and regretted it. It was a tired CI&Suites, and I booked an award to reduce my points balance.

I have stayed at the Radisson at SEATAC a few times the night before or after a flight, and that wasn’t too bad. I liked that it was in walking distance to/from the terminal.

happychic

Thank you, you gave me something to think about it. Looking around the Radisson Rest of the World site, 13k points can get me one night using points and cash at a decent Radisson property in a smaller European city. I'm going to talk to the husband and see what our travel plans are for next year.

Fanjet

Unless I'm mistaken, the Choice program is universal (i.e. U.S. members can redeem points for their hotels in Scandinavia and Czech Republic). And from what I've glanced at from their less-than-impressive website, one earns 10 points per dollar versus 20 points in Radisson's program. So, I'm anticipating a 2-to-1 conversion ratio into the Choice program. I have to think about what I want to do with my points. Also, are the Radisson hotels and CI&S hotels in the Americas going to be rebranded? Otherwise, there will probably be confusion with the same brands in the rest of the world.