When the Club Carlson program cut the “last night free” promotion for co-branded credit card holders that was a pretty big hit to the value proposition the hotel loyalty scheme offered. And redemption rate increases over the years didn’t help much. But there was one solid benefit that still made some stays a compelling choice. Now that’s gone, too.
The program offers a 2-for-1 and 4-for-2 promotion when booking weekend stays at many EMEA locations. It was not always available and not always the greatest rate but there were a number of instances where it worked really well. I know I got some value out of it and I imagine many who live and travel more in Europe did even better by it than I did. The company quietly pulled the promotion recently and it is not coming back.
@ukpoints This was a targeted offer for our Elite members only and not part of the benefits. 23
— Club Carlson (@clubcarlson) January 30, 2017
In a comment on Facebook the company explained that the promotion was dropped due to lack of use:
This was a targeted offer for our Elite members only and not part of the benefits. Club Carlson has many different member only promotions available at select participating hotels. As we endeavor to keep our offers simple and relevant, we noticed that these offers were underutilized.
Yes, it was limited only to elite members. No, it was not formally listed as a part of the program benefits. Yes, dropping it is completely reasonable for the company to do if it so chooses.
But it still stinks for elite members to have that go away.
I’ve never been a particularly strong fan of hotel loyalty programs for personal travel. This is all part of that reasoning.
Is there anything still worth collecting Club Carlson points for?
The post Club Carlson cuts arguably the last remaining valuable offer it had appeared first on Wandering Aramean.