About two and a half years ago, Club Carlson came out with a co-branded credit. The announcement of their credit card was quite exciting, especially since one of the perks of the card was a free night with every single stay where you use points for 2 or more nights. This was definitely one of those “two good to be true” perks and to no surprise it is ending May 31, 2015. That means you have a little over 48 hours to book an award reservation at a Club Carlson hotel and still get the benefit. It does not matter when the stay takes place, you just need to book by Sunday. Related post.
Yesterday I wrote a post titled “Book Club Carlson Reservations Now!” due to this free night benefit going away and many hotels going up a category, but I wanted to dedicate this post listing out the various ways to fully maximize the free nights.
As previously mentioned, you’ll get your last night free on all reservations booked with points. It must be two or more nights and back to back reservations on the same account will not work. So, here are some ideas on how to get the most out of your points:
- Back to back reservations using two different accounts: If you are traveling with someone else that has the Club Carlson credit card, make separate two night reservations swapping off between accounts. For example, both my husband and I have the card, so on a 6-night stay, I can make the following reservations and only use points for three nights:
- Reservation #1: Booked under first account; night 1 = Points, night 2 = FREE!
- Reservation #2: Booked under second account; night 3 = Points, night 4 = FREE!
- Reservation #3: Booked under first account; night 5 = Points, night 6 = FREE!
- Point reservation, plus paid stay, then point reservation: If you are not able to utilize two different accounts like I described above, or have an odd number of nights in the reservation, you can slip up the reservation by adding in a paid stay smack in the middle. Let’s say you have a 5-night stay, for example, you can make the following reservation to use points for only two of the nights and then paying for one night:
- Reservation #1: Night 1 = Points, Night 2 = FREE
- Reservation #1: Night 3 = Paid rate
- Reservation #3: Night 4 = Points, Night 5 = FREE
- Switching hotels: If you are in an area that has many Club Carlson hotel options, you can swap hotels every 2 nights. If you have a 6-night stay, for example, you can make the following reservations to use points for only three of the nights:
- Reservation #1: Booked at Hotel A; night 1 = Points, night 2 = FREE
- Reservation #2: Booked at Hotel B; night 3 = Points, night 4 = FREE
- Reservation #3: Booked at Hotel A, night 5 = Points, night 6 = FREE
Of course the above are just examples and can work no matter how many nights you are staying at a property. For example, I have a 9-night stay booked later this year and am just making back-to-back reservations between mine and my husbands account.
The only issue with booking separate reservations for a single stay is that you always risk the chance that you will need to check in and check out for each reservation and possibly change rooms. That can be quite annoying, but if you contact the hotel in advance and request them to link the reservations so you do not need to change rooms you shouldn’t have an issue. Just make sure to book the exact same room type. I’ve done this before and have never had an issue.
Enjoy the last few days of making your Club Carlson reservations utilizing the last free night benefit. Let me know if you have any questions!
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Finally made the call to cancel the card and get my fee paid 11 months ago back.
Bonus award night taking away was horrible. Got some points and kept the card for the moment. Than they announced another major devaluation that require more points at over 300 of their properties. That was the last nail in the coffin for me. The 40K bonus for $75 is pathetic since the program is basically destroyed by them & the so called GOLD BENEFIT is pathetic as well.
Is it possible to book award stays for relatives or significant others?
@mike – Typically if you contact the hotel and let them know that another member will be checking it there is no problem. You cannot actually book an award in another persons name utilizing the free night benefit.
Just got off the phone with a Club Carlson center in Australia (the only one open at 11:00pm EST on 5/31). She said that the benefit and program changeover won’t occur until 11:00pm Central Time on 6/1/2015 meaning that we’ve got one more day to book BOGO.