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In 2016, HNA Group bought Carlson Rezidor, the consortium behind hotel brands like Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Plaza, etc. In order to boost brand visibility, the new owners have decided on a number of name changes. Carlson Rezidor is now known as the Radisson Hotel Group and Club Carlson, the loyalty scheme, will change its name to ‘Radisson Rewards‘ on 5 March 2018. The Club Carlson name and logo will disappear for good, but it will probably take individual properties some time to reflect the name change.
Radisson Hotel Group will also change the name of some of its brands. The core brands will retain their current names, which is little surprising given the overall effort to boost awareness of the Radisson name. But Country Inn & Suites by Carlson will be rebranded Country Inn & Suites by Radisson and Quorvus Collection will soon be known as Radisson Collection.
In addition to these two, the Radisson Hotel Group consists of the following brands, which will all be part of the Radisson Rewards scheme:
- Radisson
- Radisson Blu
- Radisson Red
- Park Plaza
- Park Inn by Radisson
Whilst these are generally mid-range hotels, some of the Radisson Blu hotels are high-end, 5-star properties.
No substantive changes to the loyalty scheme
Despite this comprehensive rebranding, no substantive changes have been announced to the loyalty scheme: elite status perks, elite status qualification criteria and the value of points remain unchanged. Remember that Club Carlson/Radisson Rewards has four elite tiers, but only top-tier Concierge Elite status (which requires 75 nights or 30 stays per year) offers serious guaranteed benefits like complimentary breakfast, etc. And although this has not happened to me, the t&c’s only entitle the elite member himself/herself to breakfast on the house, giving properties the option of charging the second person for breakfast.
Hilton and Marriott are more generous, extending the free breakfast benefit to both the status holder and his/her companion. So it will be interesting to see if in future we might actually see some substantive enhancements to the scheme.
Bottom line
The comprehensive rebranding to increase the visibility of the Radisson brand will not substantially impact the guest experience. Although the individual Radisson Hotel Group brands generally offer competitive room rates, it would be nice to actually see some enhancements to the loyalty scheme rather than just a new name.
They can change their name a hundred times but unless they provide meaningful benefits for Gold (like free breakfast) or bring back the 2-4-1 deals I won’t bite.
I rang the USELESS Platinum Member exclusive number this morning. I was trying to get availability for a date in May showing as unavailable on the Radisson Rewards website, but available on other sites. I was on the phone for 28 minutes and got nowhere. I sent a complaint by e-mail and was basically told to ring back the same number again. I have copied and pasted the communication below, judge for yourself.
Dear Radisson Rewards
I would just like to let you know how very disappointed I am with the service from Radisson Rewards Platinum
I have been trying to book a Hotel in Vienna for 28th May 2018. The Radisson Rewards website is not showing availability for 28th May. I rang the Radisson Rewards Platinum special line to try and get availability for 28th May as one of the benefits of Platinum membership is supposed to be 48 hour availability guarantee.
After 28 minutes on the phone and being placed on hold for long lengths of time, the agent told me he was still working on trying to get availability. While I was on hold, I checked on http://www.booking.com and could immediately get availability for 28th May. The Trivago website said that rooms were available on Expedia, ebookers and Travel Republic.
Dear XXXX,
I apologize for the inconvenience. What happens is third party sites buy rooms in bulk for their sites which the hotel is showing the rooms as being sold for the day. That is why third party sites have rooms sometimes and the hotel will show sold out. Also on third party sites CAN NOT guarantee you a room. As a Platinum member you do have room guarantee at A Rack Rate which means you have to pay the going rate for the date in questioned. If you call Radisson Rewards Customer service one of the agents can help set this up. Again I apologize for the inconvenience.
Thank you for being a Platinum Member!
I appreciate the opportunity to assist you. If I have not met all of your needs, please let me know.
Regards,