Club Carlson has been one of the more liberal programs out there in terms of loyalty for hotels, however, one key feature that they have not introduced yet is to count award nights towards status for the year. That just changed. In a new communication from Club Carlson, new benefits are coming out as of March 15, 2014. However, there is a devaluation in the mix as well.

Here are the details:

• You can now use Gold Points^® to book premium rooms, including suites and more
• Our hotel categories will be updated and will include a new tier for our most luxurious hotels

• You can now earn Gold Points on food and beverages purchased during Award Nights
• Bonus for booking online will be offered on a promotional basis
• Eligible Stays and Award Nights will now both count toward Elite status
• Tier bonuses will move down from 50% for Gold Elites to 35% and 15% for Silver Elites instead of 25%.

The list of hotels moving categories in 2014 is not very long, but distinguished. A new category 7 is in play, and these hotels would cost 70,000 Club Carlson points to redeem. And here are the hotels moving into that category, all of them are in Europe:

• Radisson Royal Hotel, Dubai
• Radisson Blu Le Dokhan’s Hotel, Paris Trocadero
• Radisson Blu 1835 Hotel & Thalasso, Cannes
• Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan Hotel, Paris Eiffel
• Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees, Paris
• The May Fair
• Plaza on the River, London
• art’otel, Amsterdam
• Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow

In all fairness, there are hotels moving down a notch as well. A lot of the India properties have moved down one notch. Here are more details.

A more detailed analysis coming soon.

Join over 2900 people who check-in daily to find out about the best in travel.
Free emails (once-a-day) | RSS Feeds | Facebook Updates | Twitter | Instagram