Get up to 54,500 Club Carlson Gold Points (up to 6 Free Nights) after a One-night Stay! (Now, 142,500 Points for Almost 16 Free Nights after 3 Stays)

I tweeted on Saturday about the possibly of the return of last November’s “Radisson Big Night Giveaway” promotion (thanks to this flyertalk thread).

The rumor seems to have been confirmed. You can follow the steps in the map below to participate.

Click on the map above to join Club Carlson for the 4,500 bonus points, or follow this link (hat tip to Frugal Travel Guy & The Points Guy).

[Update: 7:50pm PST, 05/07/2012: keep reading to learn how to earn up to 142,500 in this promotion, almost 16 free nights!]

According to comment #40 in the same flyertalk thread, there are three different versions of the giveaways. [Note: not all links below are currently working, but they should all start working at 12am CST on 05/15/2012 at the latest.]

1. http://www.radissonbignightgiveaway.com (1 stay at Radisson = 50,000 points)
2. http://www.sogocountry.com (1 stay at Country Inn & Suites = 44,000 points)
3. http://www.parkinnoneplusone.com (1 stay at Park Inn/Plaza = 44,000 points) [update: only about 10 Park Inns/Plaza in the US & 2 in Canada]

A few more key points about Club Carlson and this promotion:

1. Hotel Directory: Here is a link to the list of all Club Carlson hotels, so you can plan your stay and how and where to redeem those bonus points.
2. Award Chart: Redemption for free nights starts at 9,000 points (e.g. Radisson Orlando – International Drive at Disney World). You can use your bonus points for hotels in expensive European cities. You can also use Points + Cash to book your stays.
3. Multiple Promotions: I am not sure whether you can participate in only one of the three promotions, or all of them. Make sure you register for all of them just in case. [update: per Mommy Points' latest post, you CAN participate in ALL 3 promotions!]
4. Trip Ideas: Many of you might not have access to a Club Carlson hotel near your home. If you don’t have any vacation plans between 05/15/12 and 07/15/12 to take you to a participating hotel either, you might want to plan a road trip like we did last November (we don’t have any Club Carlson hotels here in Vegas).
5. Valuation of Club Carlson Gold Points: You can purchase up to 40,000 points per year at the cost of $280 (0.7 cent/point). However, this coming Thursday, you can buy up to 300,000 points at 50% off (~0.35 cent/point) during the Daily Getaways 2012 week 5 sale I wrote about. So, 50,000 points are worth at least $175 to you.
6. Transfer to Airline Miles: 20 Airlines with 3 transfer block options ONLY - 50,000 points = 8,000 miles (6.25 to 1), or 100,000 points = 18,000 miles (5.56 to 1), or 2,000 points = 250 miles (8 to 1). This is NOT a good use of your points, unless you have no choice and have only paid $80 or less for that one night (buying miles for 1 penny or less, assuming you convert 50,000 points to 8,000 miles).

Have fun exploring your options!

[Update (1:30pm PST, 05/21/2012): Mommy Points just pointed out that the Park Inn registration opens at 3pm PST today. Read Deals We Like's excellent FAQs post on this promotion.]

Let me know what you think! I respond to all comments.

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