Today’s deal on the Daily Getaway list is for Club Carlson points. There are two packages available and, unlike with yesterday’s IHG points (which are still available), there are not that many of each available. With options to purchase either 50,000 or 100,000 points, there is not a lot of decision making on the amount – just whether or not it is worth it.
Daily Getaway Deal: Buying Club Carlson Points
The normal cost to purchase Club Carlson points is at .7 cents each. There are special deals throughout the year where you can purchase them for as low as .35 cents each, but that normally comes with a capped amount.
Deal goes live today at 1:00PM ET – Link Here
With this deal today, you can purchase in bundles of 50,000 points or 100,000 points at the price of .45 cents each. While that is a good discount from the normal .7 cents per point, that is not the best way to judge if it is a good deal as it is (almost) never a good idea to buy points at full price!
[table “” not found /]Good Deal?
While I am sure there are some people with specific redemption opportunities in mind where it would make sense to buy these packages, for most people, it is not a good deal.
If you buy points to stay at this hotel for night, you would be LOSING money!
The only way to really stretch this into being a great deal is to do 2 night stays to take advantage of the last night free on the award stay (for Club Carlson credit cardholders only). The more nights you stay, the less the points are worth as the 2 night stay essentially is giving a buy-one-get-one-free proposition.
While looking at several properties in the Category 5 range (44,000 points per night), I was seeing several hotels with a value of around .45 – .5 cents in value on redemption (some, like the Radisson Blu Rome above, is only .39 cents for a night – cheaper than buying points!). That is about how much it costs to purchase these points! But, if used as a 2 night stay, it increases your redemption value by double – because of the last night free.
So, I would say that, for most people, the only way buying these points make sense is if you have a particular redemption in mind and you are going to only stay there for 2 nights at a time. Or, if the property you have in mind charges quite a bit for your stay. Still, without staying more than one night, this is not the best deal.
Using Family
If you did want to use it in such a way for 2 night stays, but you really wanted to stay at a particular property for longer, you could have someone in your family purchase the points package as well (or just transfer the points after purchasing the block yourself as they are free to transfer). Since booking separate 2 night stays in succession at the same property from the same account is not allowed for the purpose of taking advantage of the last night option, booking separate 2 night stays out of different accounts would work. But, that family member must be accompanying you on the trip and must hold the Club Carlson credit card at the time of the award booking (not at the time of the points purchase) to take advantage of the last night free.
