This is the first post in the series of trying to find the most rewarding loyalty program in sense of getting “free” nights.
What we first need to do, is to establish the number of points that you earn on average per dollar spend taking into account elite amenity points, elite bonuses, and possible credit card tie-up.
Here are the assumptions for stay length and revenue that I will use across the chains.
– ADR (Average Daily Rate) – $175 – Assuming major metropolitan cities.
– Full service properties.
– Top-tier with 60 nights (10 stays each 3/2/1 nights) & mid-tier with 30 nights (5 stays each 3/2/1 nights)
Club Carlson Elite Bonuses
Unlike Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott or Starwood, Club Carlson doesn’t have an elite amenity for their highest tier. They do, however have a scaling online booking bonus that is dependent of the status you have with the chain. Gold members get 2000 and Concierge members 3000 bonus points per online booking.
Club Carlson has a 50% point bonus for Gold and 75% bonus for Concierge level members.
Club Carlson Credit Card
You would earn an additional 10 points per dollar for using the Club Carlson affiliated credit card for settling the hotel bill.
Club Carlson Concierge
When you factor in the 20 points per dollar, elite bonus of 75% and the online booking bonus of 3000 points per booking, the number of points that you earn per dollar is 44. If you take the Club Carlson credit card into account, the number of points earned is 54.
Club Carlson Gold
The lower elite and online booking bonuses drop the number of points earned to 36 per dollar and 46 per dollar with Club Carlson credit card.
Conclusion
Club Carlson really showers you with the number of points that you earn from your stays. These calculations are without any global promotions that the chain is offering.
But the number of points that you earn is only half of the picture. You need to compare them to the number of points that you need for free stays and that article is coming next.
