I recently wrote a post about manufactured spending your way to the best hotels in the world, a post that contained explanations for SPG, Hyatt, Hilton, IHG, and Marriott. I chose not to include Club Carlson on that list because the program doesn’t have properties that are generally considered to be “aspirational” or truly high-end. A commenter quickly and correctly pointed out that there’s still extreme value to the program, so this post will explain that value.
I’ll also point out that I was told by many people that the Beginner’s Guide to Club Carlson Rewards post was extremely helpful because few people had discussed this program. Again, hopefully this post will give a better idea of how the program works.
Strategy
Manufacturing Club Carlson Rewards points is extremely valuable because of two benefits of the Club Carlson Rewards Card:
- Earn 5x points on ALL spend.
- Your last reward night is free on reservations of 2 nights or more (thus always better to redeem for 2 nights to get the most value).
The high earning potential of the credit card combined with the essentially “half off” feature makes for a killer combo of benefits. I’ll point out here that you do not need to have enough Club Carlson points for the second night when redeeming that free night. Here’s an example of me booking a top tier, 70,000 point property.
First, notice I have only 93,000 points in my account but I’m trying to book 2 nights that would normally cost 140,000 total.
Once I click through to the next page, prior to confirmation, the discount is taken.
My confirmation shows that only 70,000 were debited from my account.
So even though I didn’t have enough Club Carlson points in my account for the second night, I was able to redeem for a two night stay because of the second night free benefit. Pretty cool!
Since the free night applies to the last night of a reservation, you’ll get the most value out of 2 night reservations (effectively 50% off). A 3 night reservation would effectively give you an effective 33% off, and so on. Can you game this and do back-to-back 2 night reservations? According to Club Carlson T&Cs, no. There might be ways around this but I haven’t tried personally.
Instead I would recommend booking the first two nights under your account, then the next two under a friend’s/spouse’s account. If needed you can book two more from your account after that. Yes your friend/spouse would need to have the credit card and enough points as well, but that’s the best we can do to legitimately take advantage of this. At the hotel just ask to combine the reservations so you don’t have to change rooms or check-in/out more than once.
Manufacturing Club Carlson Rewards Points
As I always do, I’ll break down some math to show how much the true cost of manufacturing nights at Club Carlson would be. I’ll calculate the cost using the standard gift cards I always do: $500 PIN-enabled cards for a $3 fee. Yes, there are better (and worse) ways to manufacture points so adjust these costs as necessary to your own MS habits.
Given the above information about the credit card, we know we need 70,000 Club Carlson points for 2 nights at a top tier hotel like the Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees, Paris. To earn 70,000 points, we’d need to buy 28 gift cards (at $503 each) for a total cost of $14,084 and total points of 70,420.
Assuming you liquidate them for free via Bluebird(s), the total cost of your fees would be just $84 for two nights. That’s a miniscule $42/night average for hotels that can normally cost over $500. Here’s proof:
This is the same hotel and the same dates I used in the points reservation earlier in this post. If you paid the cash rate, it would cost a ridiculous 420 Euros per night. For a two night stay, that comes to $1,066 USD at today’s rates, where the dollar happens to be getting stronger versus the Euro.
You effectively saved $982 on this reservation by manufacturing Club Carlson Rewards points. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal! The good news (if it wasn’t good enough yet) is that if the hotel you’re targeting is in a lower tier, it only gets cheaper and cheaper.
At a bottom-tier Category 1 hotel it would cost 9,000 points per night. To manufacture this amount using the same method above, you’d need to buy only 4 gift cards of $503 each. Total fees would come to $12 for a two night stay or just $6 per night!
There may not be many Category 1 hotels you want to stay at, but you simply can’t beat that value. Quite simply, you can’t beat the value of this program when compared to any other hotel program that I know of for manufacturing spend.
Why Doesn’t Everyone Do This?!
I just explained how amazing this program could be, so why doesn’t everyone talk about manufacturing Club Carlson points? I mentioned earlier how the program simply doesn’t have any “aspirational” properties. They have really nice ones in excellent locations (hard to beat Champs Elysees for your hotel location in Paris) but there’s no Maldives, Koh Samui, Maui, or any other exotic location of that kind.
That doesn’t mean it’s not useful, of course. Many people don’t care for those destinations and would be much happier traveling through Europe. If that’s you, then Club Carlson is perfect. They have a HUGE presence in Europe including many smaller cities that other programs don’t have hotels in. Some of the Radisson Blu properties are very nice. Not quite St. Regis/Conrad/Park Hyatt/InterContinental-nice, but still very nice.
To add some more hope to the program, Club Carlson has announced a new Quorvus Collection brand that is supposed to be their new top-end brand. They’re rolling out with only 3 locations (Edinburgh, London, Kuwait), but I’m sure they’ll add more over the next year. It’s a new concept for Club Carlson targeted toward millenials that are seeking luxury. Think W Hotels from SPG.
Summary
This little-discussed program could be the highest-valued program for people who manufacture spend and want to travel through Europe. At an effective price of $42/night (or less if you’re an MS expert), you simply cannot go wrong with manufacturing Club Carlson Rewards points. I think the credit card is one that’s worth getting and keeping because of it’s benefits, and if you haven’t looked at the hotel portfolio yet, I recommend you do so to see if you can make use of any of them.
Thank you for the post.
Does the visa gift card sold in Kroger still work to load bluebird in Walmart? I am not sure whether it is the vanilla card, but the cover is a purple gift box.
I’ve found the ones from grocery stores work. Again, just make sure it doesn’t say Vanilla on it when you buy.
Thank you so much.
Which $500 cards for Bluebird are you getting for $3.00?
Email privately if you wish.
Thanks.
Email sent.
I have the same question as John about gift card for $3 fee and would like to hear your advice. Thank you.
Check your email!
Radisson resort in the Maldives is ‘coming soon’ – http://www.radissonblu.com/upcoming-hotels
Good to know! There are some other great locations on that list too. Looks Maldives is 2+ years away (at least) though…
I have the same question as John regarding the $3 fee $500 gift card. Please send advice via email. Thank you.
Email sent.
I have the same question. Could you send me an email as well? Thanks.
I have looked all.over and can not,find $3.00 purchase gift cards
Would love help
Email sent.
Okay seriously though, you guys all need to read my blog more often. I’ve explicitly mentioned it in previous posts!
There’s a Radisson on the main island of Tahiti — possibly useful if in transit to Bora Bora or Moorea, or if one wanted to spend time exploring Tahiti.
Good tip – thanks!
I’d like to hear which GC you are using too via email. Thanks!
Email sent.
I know where to find the VGC with pins that you are describing. My question is how do I load them onto my BB card. Can I do this online? My Walmart is a city version (pared down) and doesn’t have a the BB kiosk.
You can’t do it online, at least not in a sustainable or useful way. Even if your walmart doesn’t have a kiosk, can’t you load them at the registers? It’s more annoying and maybe decreases the amount you can do, but it’s better than nothing.
Regarding the $3 fee $500 gift card. Where to buy? Thank you much.
Check your email.
appreciate if you could email me the $3 fee $500 gift card too. Thanks.
The same GC Walmart question. Thank you.
I’m also interested in receiving info on $3 fee $500 gift cards. Thanks!
Looking for that magical card you speak of in this very helpful post.
I have used club carlson twice this year, once before the deval at the Radisson Blu you mention near Champs Elysee, and it is worth it even at new point level. And the Radisson “near” CDG which was not.
Would appreciate an email on that very much, thanks.
Please e-mail me the info on the $500 card for $3. I use the Radisson program some and find it has good value, even in the USA.
Could I jump on the ban wagon and be emailed about $3 fee for 500 gift cards as well? Now that that AmEx cash-back is working again couldn’t you buy Amex gift cards with your Carlson card, then buy 500 gift cards then liquidate?
Please tell me where to find that “$3” fee for the card.
Where do I find $3 card?
Please forward me the info for the $3.00 gift card. Thank You
I’ve responded to everyone via email. If anyone else has questions, please send me an email.
Sorry, I did not receive your email regarding the info for the $3.00 gift card. could you email me again?
same question 3.00 gift cards ?
Don’t forget that award stays are credited to elite status. So if you were to use all 50 “last night frees” available to you in a year, you’d have at least 100 nights toward elite status…all on points.
Thank You for the information about where to buy the $3.00 fee gift card. However, which card should I buy? Keep up the good work.
The Visa card. Buy one in a small amount first to test it out and make sure it works.
That was surely a prompt response! Thank You
Appreciate if you could email me the $3 fee $500 gift card too. Thanks.
is it possible to get info on 3.00 gift cards ?
Could you also email where to find $500 gift cards for a $3 purchase fee? Thanks.
If you’ve “explicitly mentioned it in previous posts” why not do it again rather than emailing everybody?
Are you new to BA. This is the first time I think I’ve seen your blog.
I got a lot of negative feedback for posting it the last time, so this time I decided to make people work for it a bit more. If they want it, I’ll gladly still provide it and many have taken me up on the offer.
I was an independent blogger for 2+ years and decided to join BA earlier this year, but as part of the Prior2Boarding project they recently launched. This week I’m a “featured” blogger which means all my posts this week get on the main page. I hope my content can convince you to seek out my blog in the future!
I guess there are two schools of thought about bloggers caving to negative feed-backers. Most of those giving the FB probably easily got their info and then want to close the door to others..
Can I get in on the $3 GCs info too please?
Can I get the $3 GC info too?
Great article. I like Carlson, snagged two nights recently in Munich during Oktoberfest for only 38,000 points. Can you safely ramp up Carlson cc spending on Amex for Target?
As far as I know, US bank doesn’t really care how much you spend or what you spend it on.
I would greatly appreciate if you would please email the info about …
1-where to buy the $3.00 fee gift card
2- which card should I buy?
Thanks for all your great info!