Dumping: Radisson Rewards makes big changes to its program, moving to dynamic pricing

Last summer, Radisson Reward The loyalty program is divided into two separate programs: Radisson Rewards and Radisson Rewards Americas. Since then, both programs have remained mostly the same; you just need to switch points between programs to switch regions.

But that all changed this week.

Earlier this month, the international Radisson Rewards program announced some changes to its loyalty program were coming, but did not provide any specifics. Fast-forward to this week and the program has made major, unannounced changes to the elite status program and how you redeem your points. This includes completely revamping its elite status levels and removing award leaderboards entirely.

See what’s changed with Radisson Rewards and how you can still get value from your Radisson points.

Related: Which hotels count for an elite stay award?

New elite membership level

Previously, Radisson Rewards had four membership tiers: Club, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Now, there are only three tiers, with two of them being elite tier.

• Radisson Rewards Club: This is the entry level membership and members earn 9 points for every dollar. You receive this level when you become a member of Radisson Rewards.
• Radisson Rewards Premium (5 nights / 3 stays): This is the lower level of elite status and members earn 27 points for every dollar. You can get this tier after a five or three night stay. Other benefits include upgrading available rooms to the next room type, discounts of up to 20% on booking rewards and other small perks.
• Radisson VIP Rewards (39 nights / 20 stays): This is the highest level of elite status and members earn 36 points for every dollar. You can earn this tier after 39 nights or 20 stays. Other benefits include an upgrade to the best room available, free breakfast for two, and other small perks.

Previously, Radisson Club members earned 20 points for every dollar spent, so the drop to 9 points per dollar is a huge devaluation. Still, it’s interesting to see the point earnings rate triple after achieving Special status, requiring only five or three nights of stay to earn.

Related: The best hotel rewards programs in the world

But don’t like Marriott Bonvoy and other dynamically priced loyalty programs, Radisson Rewards nights are directly correlated with the cash cost of your stay. So the more expensive a vacation, the more points it gets. As you’ll see in our tests below, the value you get from each point is largely the same regardless of the hotel or date you book. This is similar to how JetBlue TrueBlue and Southwest’s Quick Reward prize ticket price.

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With Radisson’s new model, you can apply points on a sliding scale starting from 10 points until you have enough points to cover the entire cost of your stay. Previously, Radisson Rewards had a standard prize pool, with prizes starting at 15,000 points per night.

Unfortunately, this has significantly reduced the value of Radisson Rewards Points. For example, I tried to use my points at the Radisson Blu Park hotel in Athens. The total cost for a two-night stay is $304.30 after taxes and fees. Using exactly 6,089 points, the remaining cash balance drops to $292.87. This gives a point value of 0.19 cents per point.

If I move the points slider to use my entire Radisson Rewards balance (12,168 points), the cash price drops to $276.08. This makes points worth 0.23 cents each – slightly better, but still a poor value overall.

I also tried booking a two-night stay at the Park Inn by Radisson Central Tallinn in Estonia in January 2023 with a colleague’s account with 100,000 Radisson bonus points. The cash rate is $150.38 for the holiday. When using a minimum of 10 points, the cost is reduced by $0.02.

When using Radisson Rewards Points to cover 50% of the total points, the remaining cash balance drops to $91.12. This gives a point value of 0.22 cents per point.

I also tried using points to cover 100% of my stay. I used 53,165 points, including the full $150.38 cash price for the stay. This gives points a value of 0.28 cents each.

I got the same value for my stay at Radisson Blu Hotel Paris, Marne-La-Vallee in May 2023. Cash rate is $173.75. Again, I could use 10 points to get $0.02 off the cash price. We were also able to use the 30,716 Radisson bonus points to cover 50% of the total points, resulting in a $68.46 off the cash price. This resulted in a valuation of 0.22 cents/point.

In the end, I also managed to cover 100% of my stay using 61,421 points. This results in points worth 0.28 cents each.

Based on our tests, it seems that each point gets you somewhere between 0.15 and 0.28 cents towards the cost of your stay. You seem to get the most value when you redeem points for the full cost of your stay. However, this slightly overstates the value because you are using the points to offset tax costs, which were not normally charged when redeeming points in the past.

It is also important to note that we found many inconsistencies when looking at specific properties in the United Arab Emirates. For example, we reviewed the Radisson Blu Dubai Waterfront for a one-night stay. The cash rate is 386 dirhams or 105.14 dollars. Using 100,000 points saves us around 53 dirhams or $14.37. Yes, you read that correctly – that’s a valuation of less than 0.015 cents per point.

Related: 7 best hotel credit cards that come with a free night every year

How to get more value from your Radisson points

Last summer, Choice Hotels acquires Radisson Hotel Group Americas. While the Radisson Rewards program is separate from the Radisson Rewards program of the Americas, you can still transfer points between the two for free. Transfer points in 1:1 ratio.

You may want to consider transferring your points to Americas Radisson Rewards if you have upcoming travel plans in the United States. The Radisson Rewards Americas program, at least for now, retains its original award rankings and status levels. As a result, you may see better value redeeming your points in this program.

For example, you can use Radisson Americas rewards points at the Radisson hotel in New Rochelle, New York, for 45,000 points per night. The lowest members-only, same-day flexible sale rate is $155.40, giving you 0.34 cents per point of value. While it’s not the best bonus, it’s still better than what you can get with the new Radisson Rewards program.

Additionally, Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago charges $327.74 for a one-night stay at a members-only flexible sale next month. You can book the same room as a RewardSaver night for 50,000 points. This gives you a valuation of 0.65% per point, which is much better than the value you get from the Radisson Rewards international points redemption we reviewed.

So, transferring your Radisson Rewards points to the Americas Radisson Rewards can help you retain some value from your points for a short time. Just be aware that purchasing Choice may change the way this program works in the future. For example, we maybe see Americas Points Radisson Reward converted to Choice privileges point after the integration is complete, but that remains to be seen.

Also, note that you can convert Radisson Rewards Points to airline miles. You can convert Radisson points to Air France / KLM, British Airways Avios or SAS EuroBonus miles at different rates. In fact, I just converted 4,000 Radisson points into 400 Blue miles to draw out his remaining points balance.

Meanwhile, Radisson Rewards Americas Point Transfer for a handful of domestic and international airline loyalty programs at a 10:1 ratio. This includes Air Canada Aeroplan, Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus, among others. Of course, you should always run the numbers and see if it makes sense to redeem your Radisson points this way.

Related: It’s hard, but you can still use Radisson points to travel internationally – here’s how