It appears that the get 4 nights for 2 paid nights and get 2 nights for 1 paid night benefit for Gold elite members is no longer listed. While this is not a surprise it is disappointing.

Very disappointed here.
No real new features - basically a copy from the Europe version and sadly also being a gold Europe elite never got any special treatment.
and for instance the Krakow SAS went from 30K/night to 45K/night.

I have to say, I'm not overly disappointed.

Some redemption rates seem to have increased, and there is a significant increase especially in Eastern Europe. Of course, many of these properties command a premium price, so perhaps an increase was appropriate.

On the other hand, I like the 50% reduction in Flex Rate pricing (who knows what they were thinking when they did that?), and I also like the points+cash offers, which seem to be very reasonable in some places (5000 points+$49.95).

The website functionality remains pretty limited, even though there may be some improvements planed. (For instance, the T&Cs suggest that GP --> miles transfers can be executed online; there's just no link for that function yet). I do like, however, that award searches are now possible for international locations!

"Elite" membership is a joke. So they increased the elite requirements by 1000% (from 3 stays to 35 stays), and the elite benefits are -- nothing. Major .

Finally, I haven't found any news about airline redemption (except that the 1m GP limit will remain in place). I assume, based on the earlier link, that there won't be a change to the 1:8 ratio, so the addition of new airlines would be a benefit. And the waiver of the "elite" requirement for incremental transfers makes GPs much more valuable.

We'll see, I guess...

Need to log in to see:

Redeem your Gold Points� for miles with over 20 airline partners. To redeem points for airline miles, select your airline program and frequent flyer number below and select the number of points you want to redeem.

Redeem points in 2,000, 50,000 or 100,000 increments.

Points Redeemed Miles Received
2,000 points 250 miles
50,000 points 8,000 miles
100,000 points 18,000 miles

It's actually a 25% reduction in FlexRate prices (e.g. from 30K to 22.5K). "What they were thinking" is probably a reduction in regular-priced redemptions.

I requested a 100K transfer to UA this evening. The 100K is already gone from my account.

To be fair, Elite (Silver) starts at 10 stays. Was it 3 stays for Gold or 3 stays for Silver before?

It's as low as 1:5.56 (if you transfer 100K). There's more info on known changes in the thread "New Website".

=aw

Sticking with the subject of this thread (devaluation) of course the biggest is the one we've always known about: the inability to rack up 1MM (or 4MM ) points without doing much of value to Carlson. Doubled points at Radisson isn't going to make it as easy to get free nights or airline miles as it was.

With the reasonable nature and flexibility of the new program, I can see myself getting sucked into leaving the last 800K with GP+ instead of transferring out another year from now.

=aw

Thanks for the info on the airline redemption! I swear that this link wasn't available when I logged in a few hours ago. Or maybe I need to get my eyes checked

The improved ratio is great news, as is the online transfer option. ^

Here's the new list of airlines -- which one is the best?

Aerom�xico�
Air Berlin
Air Canada�
American Airlines�
Asiana
British Airways�
Cathay Pacific�
Continental�
Czech Airlines
Delta Air Lines
Emirates�
Etihad Airways
Gulf Air
Icelandair
Japan Airlines
Air France/KLM
Lufthansa
Midwest Airlines�
Northwest Airlines�
SAS Airlines
SN Brussels
United�
US Airways�

Sad to see that BD and AS are missing.

Depends what airline you want. I agree that BD and AS were two good programs.

I believe there's a discount for transfers to SAS (1750->250)?

=aw

For conversions that is the sad truth. At least Radisson SAS & Radisson Edwardian stays are still being marketed by BD as earning miles but just not from conversion.