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The Radisson Rewards loyalty program has gone through substantial changes over the past several years. First, the program rebranded. Then, it was split into two: Radisson Rewards Americas and plain ol' Radisson Rewards (sometimes referred to as Radisson Rewards international). The former includes properties in the Americas — North, Central, and South — while the latter is for the rest of the world. The two loyalty programs were extremely similar originally, but there are some key differences now.
To top things off, Radisson Rewards hit members with a gut punch: an unannounced change to completely dynamic award pricing. This removed much of the value the program previously held — but not all of it. In this guide, we'll walk through how to earn and redeem Radisson Rewards points, the perks you can enjoy as a Radisson elite, and how to maximize the program's remaining value.
Page Contents
Background
Radisson Hotels, which owns the Radisson Rewards program, is a collection of more than 600 hotels across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region. The Radisson Rewards Americas program has a similar number of properties. In June 2021, the programs split into two.
The good news is that you can have accounts in both programs and can transfer points between the two freely. Unfortunately, Radisson mixed devaluations into the program changes, with many properties increasing in price. In Late 2022, the Radisson Rewards international program switched to completely dynamic pricing. While both programs earn “Radisson Rewards” points, the redemption scheme changed drastically for the non-Americas program. This is one of the most brutal hotel loyalty program devaluations I've ever observed.
Additionally, Radisson Rewards elite program has diverged from the Americas program. There are now only three tiers: the base-level Club member and two elite tiers.
Finally, the Americas program was acquired by Choice Hotels International. Radisson Rewards Americas will cease to exist at some point in the future.
Radisson Rewards hotel brands
Radisson Hotels has 600+ hotels across its nine brands. The brands are:
- Country Inn & Suites: Mid-tier hotel brand with complimentary hot breakfast for all guests
- Park Inn: Mid-tier, modern hotel brand
- Park Plaza: Upscale hotel with designs tailored to the hotel location
- Prizeotel: Economy hotel brand with bold designs
- Radisson: Upscale hotel brand, which is the flagship hotel line and uses local influences in the hotel decorations
- Radisson Blu: Upscale brand with personalized service
- Radisson Collection: Unique, luxury hotels in the premium brand of the hotel group
- Radisson Individuals: Upscale, unique hotels in key destinations
- Radisson Red: Upscale hotel brand focusing on urban locations and informal services
How to Join Radisson Rewards
If you're not yet a Radisson Rewards member, head to radissonhotels.com and click the “Join – Sign In” link to the right in the header. A box will open with a “Join Us” button to the right at the bottom. You'll need to provide your name, email, country of residence, email, and phone number. You'll also set an account password. The process takes less than two minutes. Once enrolled, you can start earning and redeeming points.
U.S. residents who were part of the previous program (prior to the split) will already have a Radisson Rewards Americas account. If you're in this boat, you'll need to create a new Radisson Rewards account. Members in the region covered by the Radisson Rewards “international” program will have kept their accounts. If you don't have a Radisson Rewards account, make sure you create one. Thankfully, the program is free to join. Then, you can earn and redeem points. Remember, having both a Radisson Rewards and Radisson Rewards Americas account will also allow you to transfer the points between the two.
Add your Radisson Rewards account to AwardWallet
This is also the perfect time to add Radisson Rewards to your AwardWallet account. AwardWallet will track your reservations, points balance and expiration, elite status, and any credits or promos associated with your account.
If your points or elite status expires soon, we'll send you a series of reminders by email. You also can use AwardWallet to log into your Radisson Rewards account with one click. This takes the place of entering your membership number and password on the website.
AwardWallet Plus members also see their program earning and redemption history, plus their progress toward the next tier of elite status. To track your Radisson Rewards account information, just add your login using this link. You also can track accounts for friends and family with AwardWallet. To add a second account or a different program, log into AwardWallet through a web browser or the AwardWallet app (iOS, Android). Then, click the “Add Award Program to Track” button and type in the name of the program.
Value of Radisson Rewards Points
The value of Radisson Rewards points is around 0.2-0.3 cents per point. The new dynamic award pricing keeps the value in this range, sadly. Previously, AwardWallet users had redeemed Radisson points for an average value of 0.42 cents apiece, showing a loss of 25%–50% in value.
Points valuations are made from comparing the number of points used to the cash price for the same redemption. For example, my most recent Radisson redemption required 154,151 points for two nights. The flexible nightly rate was ~$170 (after currency conversion) for the flexible rate, including taxes and fees. This yields a value of 0.22¢ per point ($340 USD divided by 154,151 points). This is right in the typical range post-devaluation.
Related: Details of the Massive Devaluation of Radisson Rewards Worldwide
Ways to Earn Radisson Rewards Points
Compared to other hotel loyalty programs, Radisson rewards its members with more points per dollar. Well, at least its elite members. However, Radisson also requires more points for redemptions than other programs, given its dynamic award redemption system and the low per-point value. There are several ways beyond hotel stays to earn points, though, so you can quickly rack up enough for a free stay. Let's walk through all the ways to earn Radisson Rewards points.
Hotel stays
You'll earn anywhere from eight to 36 Radisson points per $1 spent on Radisson room rates and food and beverages charges billed to your room. Elite members earn much more than Club members. Here are how many Radisson points you can earn during your stay, based on elite tier:
- Club member: Eight points per $1
- Premium member: 27 points per $1
- VIP member: 36 points per $1
Things really jump for Premium elite members. Assuming Radisson points are worth 0.25 cent on average, this is a bit below 8% back on every stay. At the VIP level, you'll get roughly a 9% return.
Earn points with partners
You can earn Radisson Rewards points with the following partners:
- Rent a car with Sixt: Earn 750 Radisson Rewards points per rental, plus save up to 15%.
- Shop at Bicester Village: Earn 10 points for every euro or pound spent at any of the nine Bicester Villages in Europe. There are two villages in China as well, where you can earn 10 points for every 10 yuan spent. Present your Radisson Rewards membership card and receipts at the Village Information Centre to receive points.
- Book a Radisson Rewards Experience: Book a tour, activity, or other experience through Radisson Rewards and earn 15 points per $1 spent.
- Host a meeting or event at a Radisson property: If you become a member of Radisson Rewards for Bookers & Planners, you'll earn 10 points per $1 spent on room bookings you make on behalf of others. You also can earn five points per $1 every time you book a meeting or event, up to a maximum of 250,000 points per booking. A single professional booking also upgrades you to Premium tier elite status.
Transferring points to Radisson Rewards
Radisson Rewards is not transfer partners with any major points program, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards.
Can you earn Radisson Points with a credit card?
Since you can earn ThankYou Points and Membership Rewards points through credit card spending, you can effectively earn Radisson points this way. There are even two new cards that earn Choice Privileges points directly. However, there are no longer any co-branded Radisson credit cards in the U.S.
Buying points
We don’t recommend buying Radisson points. However, it is possible. You can buy Radisson points at a rate of $7 per 1,000 points — 0.7 cents per point. This is terrible value, given the new dynamic award pricing and the value at which you'll redeem these points.
Even if there is a 100% bonus on purchased points, you're still paying 0.35 cents per point, which is likely more than you're receiving in redemption value. AwardWallet does keep track of bonuses on buying Radisson points, but we don't recommend purchasing.
Earning points through promotions
Radisson Hotels occasionally offers promotions where you can earn bonus points for nights or stays. For the latest, see our current Radisson Rewards promotions.
Redeeming Radisson Rewards Points
Hotel stays
Radisson Rewards switched from a fixed-category award chart to dynamic pricing in October 2022. This overnight change was intensely frustrating for me to digest, as I was sitting on over half a million Radisson Rewards points at the time. Changes like this are never good.
That being said, redeeming Radisson Rewards points for hotel stays is still likely the best value for your points. To redeem points for a stay, first search for the hotel you want. The points price is based on the cash price, so keep an eye on the rate. If you have some flexibility, try to find the lowest cash rate you can. Let's walk through a redemption to demonstrate how to redeem Radisson Rewards points using the new dynamic pricing.
Example hotel redemption
First, head to radissonhotels.com and choose your destination and dates. Here, we'll search for a hotel stay in Copenhagen — the place I most recently redeemed Radisson points. The Radisson website will present you with available hotels.
I settled on the Radisson Blu. Clicking through to see rooms, you'll see the various rates you can book. Radisson usually offers non-refundable, semi-flex, and flexible rates. Note that all of these options have “Pay with Points” listed as an option.
Unless I'm dead certain on my plans (and even then I book using a card offering trip cancellation insurance), I always book flexible rates. After selecting this rate, I'm taken to the final booking screen. This is where you can choose to Pay with Radisson points. About halfway down the page, you'll see the option for “Redeem your point on this stay.”
Clicking “Use my points” will take you to a form where you can decide how many points to apply toward your stay. It's similar to how Hilton allows you to make partial redemptions with points + cash. In general, I've found that using 100% points yields a better value.
The total cost for the night is DKK 1,546.20 (~$223 USD). This means I'd be getting about 0.27 cents per point. For this particular redemption, redeeming ~50% points results in a lower value (0.22), so I'd prefer to book this as a 100% reward stay.
The downside of this system is that you can't compare award rates or value directly. Instead, you have to go off the cash rates, only seeing the value you're getting for your points just before you complete your booking.
Radisson transfer partners
You can transfer your Radisson Rewards points to several airlines at mostly a 10:1 ratio. We don't recommend doing so as you're giving up 20-50% of the value. Transfer to airline miles in one of three increments:
- 2,000 Radisson points for 200 miles (10:1 ratio)
- 50,000 Radisson points for 5,000 miles (10:1 ratio)
- 100,000 Radisson points for 10,000 miles (10:1 ratio)
- Exception: SAS EuroBonus points (redemption ratio of 7 Radisson Rewards points to 1 SAS EuroBonus point)
Participating airlines are:
- Air France / KLM
- British Airways
- SAS Airlines
Other redemption options
Here are more ways to redeem Radisson Rewards points:
- Redeem for a Priority Pass membership. Redeem 160,000 Radisson points for a one-year membership for one person. The membership includes 10 free visits. Each additional visit will cost $32. Since memberships start at $329, redeeming 160,000 points is a value of 0.21¢ per point. Not great, but not as terrible as I thought it would be. It's far better, though, to get Priority Pass access through a credit card.
- Donate points to First Climate, SOS Children's Villages, or to Ukrainian refugees. These are all charity options. Donate a minimum of 3,000 points; there is no maximum.
- Redeem points as a carbon offset for your stays. The cost is 325 points per night.
Elite Status
Radisson Rewards offers an elite status program that provides additional benefits the more you stay. In this section, we cover how to earn elite status, what it’s worth, and what it offers to you as a customer.
Radisson Rewards elite status tiers
- Club member: Join Radisson Rewards; no night or stay requirement.
- Premium member: Earned after five nights or three stays within a calendar year.
- VIP member: Earned after 30 nights or 20 stays within a calendar year.
Achieving Premium status is not all that difficult, and the benefits you receive are decent for what it takes to earn. Things get even better if you hit VIP member. Here are the perks you'll enjoy at each status level.
Club member
- Base level for program members.
- Earn eight points per $1 spent on eligible stays and food + beverage charges billed to your room.
- Save up to 10% through members-only rates.
- Priority check-in line at select hotels.
- Receive a 10% discount at participating hotel restaurants.
- Participate in members-only promotions.
Premium member
- All of the Club member benefits, plus these additions/replacements:
- Earn 27 points per $1 spent on eligible stays and food + beverage charges billed to your room (a massive increase over Club member!).
- Complimentary room upgrades, subject to availability.
- Free early check-in and late checkout on request, subject to availability.
- “Discount booster” to receive up to 20% off your bookings.
- Ability to receive exclusive benefits at a selected “favorite hotel” (includes priority room assignment and ability to request a “favorite room”).
- 24-hour exclusive Premium & VIP contact center lines.
VIP member
- All of the Premium member benefits, plus these additions/replacements:
- Earn 36 points per $1 spent on eligible stays and food + beverage charges billed to your room.
- Receive a 15% discount at participating hotel restaurants.
- Room upgrades may include suites.
- Free daily breakfast for two.
- Exclusive access to VIP areas at select hotels.
Lack of lifetime elite status
While other hotel programs like Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors offer the ability to earn lifetime status, Radisson Rewards does not. You must requalify for status each year.
Comparing elite benefits to other programs
One of the wild features of the Radisson Rewards program is how poorly it rewards non-elite members. Earning just eight points per $1 USD is awful, especially when you consider points are worth 0.25 cents on average. This is a return of $2 per $100 spent. You can do better with pretty much any other program.
That being said, reaching the Premium member level is fairly easy. If you hope to get much value out of the program, you'll need to earn this status level at minimum. As a Premium member, you'll earn 27 points per dollar — roughly a 6.8% return. This still falls short of other programs, however, for mid-tier elite status. But other benefits kick in that could make this potentially worth it.
The points-earning gets even better at the top tier, VIP. Free breakfast kicks in, which is a valuable perk. But the program doesn't offer much else to top-tier elites. You're rewarded far better with chains like Hyatt and Hilton. Not to mention the global footprint of most other large chains is better than Radisson. Being loyal to a chain doesn't help when it doesn't have a presence where you want to travel.
Radisson Rewards Rules and Policies
Change and cancellation policies
The change and cancellation policy for your stay, including stays for which you redeem points, will be spelled out in the rate during the booking process. Some rates are non-refundable after booking or within a certain window of the stay. Make sure you read the change and cancellation terms carefully during booking. If you need to cancel a night where the free cancellation period has lapsed, you'll be charged and/or forfeit your points.
Points expiration
Radisson points will expire if there is no activity on your account for 24 months. During the pandemic, Radisson temporarily paused points expiration for both programs in 2020 and 2021. However, points expiration has resumed as of January 1, 2022.
Qualifying activity (to keep your points active) includes earning points from a hotel stay or a partner, as well as redeeming for a stay. Additionally, you can track your account with AwardWallet to keep an eye on both your points balance and upcoming expiration. This way, you shouldn’t ever lose any points.
Best online rates guarantee
If you book a stay directly through Radisson Hotels online and find a lower rate, Radisson will match it and give you an additional 25% off your stay. There are, of course, some qualifiers:
- The comparison rate must be found on a publicly available website other than Radissonhotels.com within 24 hours of booking your hotel room on Radissonhotels.com.
- You must find the comparison rate at least 48 hours prior to midnight hotel local time of your arrival date.
- The comparison rate must be for the same hotel, same reservation date(s), same room type (i.e., room size and amenities), same number of guests, and same currency as your confirmation email.
- The same advance payment and refund policies and restrictions must apply to the reservation.
- Customer Care must be able to find the rate at the time they validate the Best Online Rate Guarantee claim.
- The rates will be compared net of any taxes, gratuities, or any other fees associated with the room rate. Disparities solely attributable to rounding and/or difference in currency exchange rates are excluded.
To make a claim, visit the guarantee page and use the contact form plus instructions for submitting your claim.
Final Thoughts
With the change to dynamic award pricing, Radisson Rewards has stripped much of the value its program used to hold. Several years ago, there were a good number of mid-tier properties that offered quality value for redemptions. Also, Radisson previously had co-branded credit cards that provided enough points for at least one annual free night. You also earned points at a rate that offered a reasonable return.
All of that has gone by the wayside. There are other hotel loyalty programs that offer far more value — not to mention a much bigger global footprint. I wouldn't recommend focusing on Radisson Rewards unless you have specific travel plans that will take you to its hotels. In that case, get what you can out of the program. Qualify for Premium elite status and earn far more points for your stays.
If you're looking for a hotel program for long-term loyalty, I'd point you toward Hilton as the best global option, with Hyatt as the program with the best elite benefits. Marriott and IHG also provide better choices.
Are you a fan of Radisson Rewards? How have the program changes impacted your loyalty?
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Can I still redeem Radisson Rewards points with Qantas? That is, can I convert Rad Rew. points to Qantas Frequent Flyer points? When you try to “redeem” on the Radisson site, only 3 airlines comes up from which to choose – and Qantas is not one. Many thanks, Colin
Hi Colin, I don’t remember the exact date, but Qantas left the program.
Can I still redeem Radisson Rewards points with Qantas?
That is, can I convert Rad Rew. points to Qantas Frequent Flyer points?
When you try to “redeem” on the Radisson site, only 3 airlines comes up from which to choose – and Qantas is not one.
Many thanks,
Colin