Radisson Stay 1, Get 1 Promotion & Why It Is Awesome

Last week, I posted a quick blurb about Radisson’s Stay 1 Night, Get 1 Night Free promotion.

After reading the fine print and seeing that the Free Night Certificates could only be used in North America and not abroad, I decided not to take advantage of this promotion since it didn’t seen very valuable.

Unfortunately there are only 2 Radisson’s Blu Hotels in North America.

One is in Chicago, so I can’t imagine why I would ever stay there, and the other is in St. Maarten.

Although I live in Chicago, since I am going to the Chicago Seminars this weekend near O’Hare, I decided to look at how much the Radisson O’Hare is.

For Friday, after tax it is $134 a night, which is a little to rich for my blood given that I could just go back to my Apartment and stay for free.

However after reading the FAQs for the Radisson Stay 1 Night, Get 1 Night Free promotion, I saw this little tidbit.

This is significant because as you can see below, for only 5,000 Club Carlson Points, you can almost cut the nightly rate in half.

So instead of $134 after tax, it is now only $71.40 which is definetly in my price range!

It Gets Better

While $134 was a bit much, for $71 this quickly turned into a deal.

While not everyone will have the necessary 5,000 Points to do Cash & Points, if you did the Club Carlson 50,000 Point Giveaway a few months ago, you should have some.

What makes this better is that there are a few other stackable promotions you can also take advantage of. Daraius from Million Miles Secrets outlined them here.

The first one is the actual Stay 1 Night, Get 1 Night Free promotion. You can register here.

The second one is that you can earn 2,000 Bonus Points for your stay by registering here. Not sure if Cash & Points qualify, but worth a shot.

The third one is that you get bonus points for booking your stay at Radisson.com. No registration necessary.

If you are a regular member, you get 1,000 Points for booking at Radisson.com. If you are Silver or Gold (as I am), you get 2,000 Points.

This is on top of the 20 Points per $1 you earn as a Club Carlson Member, 30 Points per $1 if you are Gold.

So assuming that all these promotions hold true, on my 5,000 Points & $71.40 booking, I should earn:

• 1 Free Night Certificate (valued at $400 if I redeem in it NYC)
• 2,000 Points Online Booking Bonus
• 2,000 Points 1 Night Stay Bonus
• 2,142 Points = 30 Points Per $1 x $71.40 Rate

So basically for spending 5,000 Points, I should hopefully earn between 4,142 – 6,142 Points back…

It Gets Even Better

If the idea of spending 5,000 Points to earn the same amount or more back is astonishing, consider that via TopCashBack.com, you can also get 8% Cashback on your Radisson purchase.

So instead of $71.40 out of pocket, via TopCashBack, I should get a nice $5.70 back!

Certainly not anything to write home about but it is better than nothing.

Additionally if you have a Chase Freedom Card, in Quarter 4 you can get 5% Cashback on Hotels.

So simply by clicking thru TopCashBack and paying with your Chase Freedom Card, you can get 13% off your bill.

If You Really Want To Go Big

I’ve talked about Best Rate Guarantees before and how valuable they can be.

Marriott and Radisson both offer the highest rate in the industry at 25% off.

That means if you find a lower rate for the same hotel room on a different site, they will match that lower rate and then knock 25% off that price.

This can save you a ton of money because if a room on Marriott or Radisson is $300 and you can find a lower rate on Kayak.com for $225, the Hotel will match the $225 and take an additional 25% off, lowering the price to $168.

That is a a whopping 44% off!

Thankfully with the help of Kayak.com, it is extremely easy to find BRGs.

I searched Radisson O’Hare and found a BRG for this upcoming Sunday to Monday.

Radisson is showing $163 while Kayak is showing $102!

After the BRG, the rate would be $76.50!

Where To Use Your Free Night Certificates

As I stated earlier, I was turned off by this promotion because you can’t use the Free Night Certificates in Europe, like I just did with my 100,000 Points I earned via Big Night Giveaway.

That being said, there are some places to redeem your Free Nights that make this promotion is worthwhile.

Most of those happen to be big cities like New York, Chicago, etc.

A full map of Radisson locations can be found here.

In my case, I realized that Radisson has a couple properties in New York City.

I’ve been there before many times, and know first hand how impossible it is to find a decent hotel for less than $200 a night.

Since my Cousin lives in NYC, I know I will be visiting her again sometime in the next year, so I figure for $71.40, I should stock up on a couple free nights given how expensive NYC Hotels are.

Similarly if you ever want to visit Chicago, I’d recommend taking advantage of this promotion because the Radisson Blu Chicago is brand spanking new and is actually really nice (reminds me of a W Hotel).

Depending on the season, it can be upwards of $300 a night!

Currently it is only $259.

Recap

While this Radisson promotion is not for everyone, this Cash & Points development certainly makes this promotion extremely valuable.

If you have any upcoming trips planned and need a hotel stay, I’d recommend doing this promotion.

Similar to what I did with the targeted SPG Free Night promotion, basically with this promotion you are spending money up front on a throw away hotel so that you can get a free night at a more expensive hotel down the line.

This is called Mattress Running!

As with everything, it all comes down to Long Range Planning!

Would you prefer to spend $80 now so you can save $400 down the line, or do you prefer to wait until the last moment and pay the $400?

Remember that with this promotion, you only have to Register and book your Radisson Hotel stay by October 31st. You have until December 31st, 2012 to actually complete your stay.

So if you have to visit Grandma over Thanksgiving, see if there is a cheap Radisson along the way.

You can book it now and always cancel later for free.

As for the Free Night Certificates, they are valid until December 31st, 2013.

-Parag