Radisson Rewards Credit Cards
$75
85,000 Radisson Rewards points: 50,000 on first purchase, plus 35,000 more with $2,500 initial spend
($210 net value, .09/$)
Signup Bonus Chart10x Radisson Purchases (≈4%)
5x Everywhere Else (≈2%)
3% Foreign Transaction Fee
If you frequently travel in northern Europe or are otherwise able to take good advantage of Radisson Reward Group hotels, you should get the Radisson Premier or Business card. You'll get 40,000 points every year, automatic Gold status, and the opportunity to earn up to 3 additional free night certificate (good in the US only). This is a valuable set of benefits considering the annual fee. However, most people will find it is hard to take advantage of Radisson hotels frequently enough to make the card worthwhile.
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Radisson Rewards Credit Card Options
There are two Radisson Reward credit cards. In addition, you may still be able to apply for a business version of the Premier card at a U.S. Bank branch (no webpage for this card is still available). It should have the same signup bonus and benefits and a slightly lower annual fee ($60). Radisson Webpage.
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Premier. If you are interested in a Radisson reward card, you almost certainly want the Premier version. It has a much larger signup bonus, provides 40,000 points each year when you renew, earns a lot more points for your spending, and comes with automatic Gold status. $75 annual fee. Signup Bonus Chart. |
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No Annual Fee Version. The no-annual-fee version is primarily interesting for people who want an opportunity to earn up to an extra 3 free night certificates each year. Note that the Premier version is a better option for your first 3 certificates because it earns more points on the required spending. Signup Bonus Chart. |
Intro to Radisson Reward Points
- Radisson Reward points are worth about .4 cents each. A night at one of their nicer hotels might require 40-50,000 points. How Much are Hotel Points Worth?
- It is hard to take advantage of the Radisson Rewards program in the United States. They don’t have that many hotels and hardly any of those are really nice. However, if you frequently travel to Northern Europe, the they have a much more useful collection of hotels and the program is much more interesting..
Collecting the Signup Bonus
- This card is primarily interesting for its free night certificates, not for its signup bonus. The typical signup bonus is 85,000 Radisson points, valued at $340 (at .4 cents per point). }} That's good for about two nights at one of their nicer hotels or up to 9 nights at their least expensive hotels That's pretty good, but there are several more lucrative U.S. Bank signup offers available, and it can be hard to get approved for each U.S. Bank credit card.
- You may be able to earn the signup bonuses from both the personal and business version of the card. If you have any kind of side business, you are entitled to apply for business cards. If so, you can earn the signups from either or both versions. Unlock Extra Reward Points with Business Credit Cards.
- While you can earn the signup bonus multiple times, you may just be better off keeping the card. Every year you renew the card, you'll get 40,000 points (rather than the 85,000 points you would receive with a fresh sign up), without needing to spend another $2,500 or adding another inquiry or your credit report. Of course, if you are really hardcore, you could cancel after receiving the signup bonus, wait a few months, and try to reapply to start the process over again.
After subtracting the annual fee and the opportunity cost of using the card for $2,500 of spending, the calculated net value for the initial year is $210 (8 cents per dollar spent). Your value may be higher or lower, depending on how much you value Radisson points. How Much are Hotel Points Worth?
Free Night Certificates
- You receive 40,000 points every year you when you renew your Radisson Rewards credit card, enough for a free night in a mid-category hotel. That can be reason enough to get and hold onto the card.
- In addition, for every $10,000 you spend with the card each year, you'll get a free night certificate that you can use anywhere in the US (Up to 3 certificates per card per year). Spending is based on the first 12 months from your account opening date and every 12 months thereafter. Assuming you can get decent use from the Radisson Reward points you would earn, for every $10,000 you spend (by using the Radisson Reward card instead of a good general-purpose reward card), you'd miss out on about $50 per year in rewards. The 5x Radisson rewards you'd earn are valued at 2 cents per dollar, which is close to what you could get with another card. Earning the certificates on the "no annual fee" cards is much more expensive, because you only 1x points per dollar.
- Despite the low cost and the ability to easily earn multiple certificates, this is usually the least interesting credit card free night certificate. Certificates can only be redeemed within the United States, but Radisson Hotel Group is a European-centric hotel chain that has great options in Europe and a much weaker collection of hotels in the United States. Furthermore, most of the American hotels are concentrated in their less expensive brands. There are only a handful of high-end Radisson Reward Group hotels in the US, where you can maximize the value of this certificate and even those are sometimes considerably less nice than those from comparable brands.
However, if you travel enough or have specific travel plans, you can get value from this certificate. For example, the Radisson Blue Aqua Hotel Chicago is a great hotel. And Radisson recently opened two new Radisson Blu hotels in New York City and Anaheim. If you plan on visiting one of these locations every year, it can be worth the cost of earning one or more certificates. But if you aren’t, you should stick to other options. Radisson Rewards Free Night Certificates.
Other Notable Benefits
- Radisson Reward Gold elite status. This entitles you to a room upgrade (upon availability), late checkout or early check-in, a welcome gift, and 72 hour guaranteed room availability. If you already have Gold status, you'll receive an additional 15 qualifying night credits that you can use to obtain higher level status. Radisson Rewards Status Benefits.
- Access to the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection. As with all Visa Signature cards, you'll get access to Visa's luxury hotel program. Whenever you book one of the 900+ participating hotels, you'll receive a set of valuable benefits, including free breakfast, late check-out, and a $25 food and beverage credit. The Visa program has slightly weaker benefits than the other luxury hotel programs, but includes a larger number of more affordable hotel options and a best price guarantee. Take Advantage of Luxury Hotel Programs for Valuable Extra Perks.
- Access to Visa Signature Offers. Your card entitles you to a set of special offers available from Visa.
Bonus Categories
- You are better off making your Radisson purchases with a card that earns a high reward rate on all your hotel purchases. 10x Radisson points are valued at 4 cents per dollar. That's not as good as what you'd earn from a card that offers good bonus rewards on travel spending.Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
- 5x rewards on every purchase sounds good but it is only worth about 2 cents per dollar. Radisson Reward points are only valued at about .4 cents each, so this reward rate is about the same as a basic no-annual-fee general-purpose reward card. But Radisson Reward points are a lot less flexible than cash.
Getting Rid of the Card
- You can cancel without worrying about losing your Radisson points. Once you earn them, they are treated like any other points in your Radisson account.
- Rather than cancelling the Premier Card, you may want to downgrade it to the no-annual-fee version. It has no annual fee, preserves some minor benefits, and makes it easy to convert back to the more valuable version should you change your mind.
- You can wait to cancel or downgrade the card until after the annual fee shows up on your statement. As long as you cancel within 30 days of being charged the annual fee, U.S. Bank will refund it. After 30 days, we think you'll still be able to get a prorated refund if you convert to the no-annual-fee version. The business version can't be downgraded.
- You might be able to receive a retention offer to keep your card. It could be enough to make it worthwhile to keep the card.