Radisson Visa - discontinued April 2022
 

Is there still a Radisson Visa? I can’t find the link to apply.

The page for application has been taken down days ago with no announcement or explanation. At this point nobody knows what the fate of the cobranded cards are.

I contacted USB and was told by the representative that they are no longer accepting new applications for the card, but it's business as usual for existing cardholders. The representative had no idea if the card is being refreshed, purchased by another bank, or being eventually discontinued.

Really makes you wonder what's going on with the Radisson Rewards program. It just feels like one negative change after another.

I almost wish the representative would’ve told me that they are discontinuing the card. Why I continue to rack up Radisson points is beyond me. I charge 30 K to the card annually in order to receive the three domestic nights, but those aren’t awarded until I pay the annual fee. Then I’m back into a new year and figure that I should charge 30 K again. I need to give it up.

And this would be good for people that have the card and points in the program? :rolleyes: Then people would be scrambling to figure out how to keep their accounts and points alive. If you want to give up the game you are playing with the card that you describe then that is fine but some of us have a ton of points in the program and the loss of the credit card would be a problem for.

Radisson rewards points don’t expire unless you don’t have any activity in the account within 24 months. Redeeming points counts as activity.

There was more than one Radisson Visa card until recently. I seem to remember there were at least two personal cards, and I have the business card, so that makes at a total of perhaps 3?

They do not seem to be taking applications for any of them.

One obvious problem: My card (any presumably all others?) says "Radisson Rewards", not "Radisson Rewards Americas", and now "Radisson Rewards" is the name of another program (the international one) different from "Radisson Rewards Americas". I bet this is causing a marketing mess for the bank.

I just realized: Banks and hotel companies typically have contracts which each other.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a many-month or many-year job for oodles of lawyers to determine if the contract they US Bank with pre-split Radisson Rewards is still valid and to what degree, given the upheaval of the hotel company the contract was with. Whatever problems we individual travelers may have with the bank or with the hotel company (companies) may be dwarfed by the mess made of any contracts between the two that people behind the scenes may be working 24/7 to figure out! :eek:

So front-line workers at the bank that you talk to may not have the latest information about what's going on behind the scenes with all the contract lawyers, until the contract is resolved one way or another. But the lawyers presumably told the bank not to take any more applications for any of these cards until the contract is all sorted out.

It wouldn't be a many-months thing to review and update these kind of contracts, especially if sticking to a law firm that has done this kind of thing before. If it takes that long to review and adjust, the lawyers don't know what they are doing and the client is paying for their education. If it goes into many months or years to review and revise, it's not because the legal side should require that much time; it would be because the business/negotiation side can't get the financials agreed upon.

It could be that Radisson is trying to renegotiate a new contract with this bank card issuer, to negotiate with another bank card issuer, and/or to negotiate with Visa/Mastercard/Amex in order to try to get better terms for Radisson; but in the meantime (and even perhaps beyond) it is stuck with the legacy customer card arrangements/installed card customer base for the current Radisson Visa card until the following conditions are met:

1) the original contracts are over; and/or
2) all involved counterparty/counterparties give the go-ahead to terminate the arrangement.

Maybe Radisson even wants to get closer to getting entirely out of the affinity card market business, but that would seem to have the potential to be one of those kind of "cut your nose to spite your face" moves. [Carlson/Radisson has a history of doing that to itself, so who knows with these folks.]

It's not all that unusual for some affinity bank card products to continue to be around with some legacy base customers even years after that very affinity product is shut down for new account holder openings.

The banks try to really tie down the airline/hotel loyalty program owners/operators for as long as possible when it comes to the airline/hotel affinity card products, and the contracts reflect both the power balance/imbalance between bank card issuer and their affinity card partners. Part of that is by putting in brake-stops to make the exit harder, slower and more costly for the card-issuer's affinity program partners.

I received a letter via US Mail today stating that
"The Radisson Rewards Visa Card Program will end and be transitioned to a new card in May 2022. Your Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Card will be automatically converted to the U.S. Bank Altitude Go Visa Signature Card, with valuable new benefits."
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1f42818852.jpg
mail from U.S. Bank about Radisson Visa Card

And here is the letter for holders of the $60/year Radisson Business visa:
Keeping it open until then and receiving a prorated AMF refund makes sense. The new card looks harmless enough, but not particularly beneficial either, as heavy users of these categories likely have other more rewarding cards.

(I'm not sure if auto-converting to Triple Cash can harm your chances at getting a new ESB of $500 for $4500 spend in 5 months, if you had plans to apply for the card directly.

Remember to generate activity in your Radisson Rewards account every 18 months to keep the accounts alive. No more auto-activity via anniversary 40k points.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d5c5fbf210.jpg

I just got this in the mail today too. Terribly disappointed since this is how I kept my status after all these years. At least this new card has no annual fee, but it'll probably just be another card that sits in my drawer.

Does anyone know if this new US Bank card will be worth using? Most of my eggs are in Chase's UR basket at the moment.

-J.

Got the business letter as well. A little sad since it was a good value at only a $60 annual fee, but even still, I had been considering canceling ever since the devaluation of the program.

I have several hundred thousand points that I just haven't been able to use in the last few years (even before the pandemic) and I was counting on having gold status when I did use them. Either I'm going on a big trip this year or I need to see what kind of card they come up with next.

-J.