FLASH SALE: Buy Radisson Rewards Points For 0.4 Cents Each

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Radisson Rewards is running a flash sale through Sunday 22 April in which members are being offered a bonus of 75% on all points purchases. Unlike many points promotions we see this promotion offers the same high bonus whether you buy the minimum or maximum number of points allowed…and that makes it interesting.

Radisson Rewards Flash Sale – Headline T&Cs

• The promotion is valid for points purchased by Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 11:59 pm EDT
• Participants will earn a bonus equal to 75% of points purchased during the Offer Period (e.g., 750 bonus points for each 1,000 points purchased).
• Bonus points will not count toward the annual 40,000 points purchase maximum.
• Bonus points and purchased points will be posted to the member’s Radisson Rewards account or the gift recipient’s Radisson Rewards account, as applicable, as one transaction within 24 hours of purchase.
• Radisson Rewards reserves the right to add, modify, or discontinue the Offer without notice
• Void where prohibited by law.
• By participating in this Offer, you agree and consent to these Terms and Conditions, the Points Purchase Terms and Conditions (except as modified above), and the Radisson Rewards Terms and Conditions.
• Price includes all applicable fees.
• GST/HST will be charged to Canadian residents.
• Points purchased using this option are non-refundable and will post within 24 hours.

Link to sale

The Math

The beauty of this promotion is twofold:

1. You can by as many or as few points as you feel like buying (up to 40,000 and in increments of 1,000) and you’ll always get a 75% bonus.
2. Irrespective of how many or how few points you buy the price per point remains the same – there’s no bonus for buying a lot of points and there’s no penalty for just buying a few.

Buying 1,000 points will see you net 1,750 points after the bonus has been applied and that will set you back a total of just $7.

1,750 points at a cost of $7 comes to 0.4 cents per point.

Similarly, if you were to buy the full 40,000 allowance it would net you 70,000 points at a total cost of $280:

70,000 points for $280 comes to 0.4 cents per point.

Should You Buy Points?

The first thing to point out is that isn’t quite as good as the Black Friday sale we saw in November last year where points were being sold for 0.35 cents each….but that doesn’t mean that you should dismiss this out of hand.

I happen to value Radisson Rewards points (formerly Club Carlson Gold points) at around 0.4 cents each so this isn’t a terrible price that Radisson is offering.

Buying the maximum number of points (40,000) would see you net enough points for a night at any Radisson property in the world (70,000) and, at a cost of $280, that can be a decent deal.

I don’t really like too many Radisson properties in the US (although the Aqua in Chicago is good) and I tend to find the best value proposition to be in Europe where Radisson has a good-size footprint.

Here’s an example of where you may be able to find some value if you’re thinking of buying points in this promotion:

For a random night in June this is what some of the London Radisson properties are charging for their “best members only rate”….

….but, on the same night, these properties can also be booked for 70,000 Radisson rewards points:

Buying points in this promotion and booking a room on this night would save you between $68 and $173 depending on which property you chose….and that’s pretty good.

It;’s not all that hard to replicate this elsewhere and, if I take a random night in Paris as an example, you’ll see the savings in action again:

There will be times when the savings don’t look all that impressive (especially when you consider that you’re forgoing points when you book an award night) but that doesn’t mean that you’re not getting a good deal.

Take a randomly selected night in Sydney as an example.

The cash rate is running at $292 for a single night…..

…and although there’s award availability…..

….a saving of just $15 isn’t exactly very tempting.

BUT there’s another thing to consider.

In this particular example the best cash rate is a “fully prepaid” rate which cannot be changed or cancelled while the point reservation would be fully flexible.

The best available flexible rate is over $330 for this particular night making the saving over $50 for the night.

Be Sensible!

While it’s easy to find ways that buying points in this promotion could provide a saving over the nightly cash rate it’s important to bear three things in mind:

1. You can only buy enough points for 1 night at a top Radisson property so, unless you’re not traveling too far from home, you’re probably going to have to pay out for more nights – this cost needs to be factored in to your calculations.
2. If you weren’t planning a trip then buying points and using them for a hotel stay isn’t actually saving you any money – don’t let this promotion tempt you into booking a stay you wouldn’t have otherwise made as it’s not that good a deal.
3. Although I’ve used the more expensive Radisson properties as examples in this post there’s also a lot of value to be had lower down the scale – don’t be afraid to explore the lower category properties which cost fewer points and, during the summer months, aren’t always all that cheap if you’re paying with cash.

Bottom Line

Here’s the best way forward:

• If you know which city (cities) you’d like to visit then go check out how much a room costs for your preferred dates and, more importantly, if award nights are available.
• Work out if buying points would save you cash on your reservation
• You should now have your answer if buying points is a good idea or not.

If you’re not sure where you’d like to visit or if you can’t see award availability for the dates you want to visit then don’t be tempted to buy points speculatively – who knows when Radisson will choose to devalue is program again?