I’m guessing this is a card that you’ll either get really excited about, or you’ll want to give it a pass in a second.  I’m actually one of the ones who is excited about the new Club Carlson Rewards Visa.  I’m just trying to figure out when I should apply.

To start with, I’ll give you all the raw details and I’ll give some commentary on how you can really maximize this offer.

Hotels part of the Club Carlson chain:

• Radisson Blue
• Radisson
• Park Plaza
• Park Inn
• Country Inns & Suites

The new card offering includes three types:

You can get an application link to all there cards here.

Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card

• 10 points per $1 spent on Carlson branded hotels
• 5 points per $1 everywhere else
• Up to 85,0000 bonus Gold Points.  50,000 after your first purchase.  Get an extra 35,000 after spending $2,500 in the first 90 days.
• Bonus award night.  When you use award nights to make a hotel booking, you get your last night free.
• Get Club Carlson Gold Status as long as you are a card member.
• 40,000 renewal points each year you keep the card

This card comes with a $75 annual fee that is not waived the first year.

Note: This card is issued by US Bank.  That can be good news, or it can be bad news.  The good news is that since you want to diversify your applications between issuing companies (i.e. Chase, American Express, Barclays, Citi, and Bank of America), this would be a good card to add to a next application churn.  The bad news is that US Bank has a bad habit of downgrading people to a card they didn’t apply for if their score isn’t what US Bank is looking for.

In this case, it specifically says, “If you do not qualify for the Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature card, you will automatically be considered for the Club Carlson Platinum Rewards Visa card.”

Club Carlson Rewards Visa Signature Card

• 6 points per $1 spent on Carlson branded hotels
• 3 points per $1 everywhere else
• Up to 60,0000 bonus Gold Points.  50,000 after your first purchase.  Get an extra 10,000 after spending $1,500 in the first 90 days.
• Bonus award night.  When you use award nights to make a hotel booking, you get your last night free.
• Get Club Carlson Silver Status as long as you are a card member.
• 25,000 bonus points each year you renew your card

This card comes with a $60 annual fee that is not waived for the first year.

Downgrade note: If you’re not approved for this card, you will be automatically considered for the Club Carlson Platinum Rewards card.

Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa Card

• 10 points per $1 spent on Carlson branded hotels
• 5 points per $1 everywhere else
• Up to 85,0000 bonus Gold Points.  50,000 after your first purchase.  Get an extra 35,000 after spending $2,500 in the first 90 days.
• Bonus award night.  When you use award nights to make a hotel booking, you get your last night free.
• Get Club Carlson Gold Status as long as you are a card member.
• 40,000 bonus points each year your renew your card

This card comes with a $60 annual fee that is not waived for the first year.

Again, you can get an application link to all their cards here.

The Bonus Award Night Benefit Explained

Here are some key points I want to point out from the terms and conditions regarding the bonus award night.

When you redeem Gold Points for Award Nights of two or more consecutive nights at the same participating Carlson Rezidor hotel property, you will receive the last of the Award Nights of that stay free without deduction of any Gold Points from your Club Carlson account

Translation: You can book two nights (or more) using your Gold Points, and you’ll receive the last night free (no points deducted).  This effectively means you can stay two nights for the price of one.

 The Bonus Award Night offer is available only on advance reservations for Award Nights paid in full with Gold Points and is not valid with standard paid reservations or Points + Cash redemption reservations.

Translation: You cannot use cash or Points + Cash.  This must be for an award points only reservation.

Only one Bonus Award Night will be available for a stay of two or more consecutive nights at the same hotel (early checkout with one night stay not eligible), regardless of the total length of stay, the total number of reservations or the number of check-in/check-outs, is subject to availability and all other terms and conditions and cancellation policies regarding Award Nights apply.

Translation: It doesn’t matter if you book four nights, but check out and back into the same hotel after two nights.  That’s not going to cut it.

 Maximum fifty (50) Bonus Award Nights per calendar year per member with an open Account (“Annual Maximum”).

Translation: Please don’t tell me that doesn’t make sense.  You can “only” up to get 50 free nights per year.

The Real Benefits and How to Maximize this Offer

The 85,000 Gold Points Rewards is really enough to justify applying for this card.  At some of their top locations, that’s not even two free nights.  For the bonus points, I’d choose almost any other hotel card than this one (including Hilton HHonors Reserve, Priority Club, Hyatt …).

The real benefit and what caused me to take a closer look is the bonus award night benefit.

If you were able to take advantage of any of the 50,000 Club Carlson bonus nights last summer, then this is a great benefit.  Between my wife and I, we were able to earn about 350,000 Club Carlson Gold Points.

The idea of being able to effectively double that with two night stays as half the points is very appealing.  Also, that essentially means when we travel as a family, we can get two rooms for the price of one.

Tips for Maximizing the Opportunity:

1. The business card looks like the best card of the mix.  Why?  Lowest annual fee and you avoid getting downgraded to a lower card.  With this card, you still get the 40,000 renewal points.  With the bonus nights, that could easily justify the $60 annual fee.
2. If both husband and wife get a card, they can double their free nights.  Let’s say a husband and wife were taking a four night getaway.  If they each had a card, they could each book a two night stay from their account.  This means the four nights would only cost two nights worth of points.  By the way, points can be transferred to anyone who has a Club Carlson account.  If your spouse doesn’t have any points, you can easily transfer some to them.
3. One key question – does the benefit apply to authorized card holders?  If that is the case, both members of a household wouldn’t need to each apply for the card, but just each have their own card.  I don’t know if this would work or not.
4. Stay two nights and then switch hotels.  If a person were taking a six night vacation, they could take 2 x 2 x 2 nights in different hotels and only end up using 3 nights worth of points.  Please don’t tell my wife I said that because she doesn’t like to switch hotels on vacation.

Any questions or thoughts regarding these cards?