Extending My Radisson Platinum Status Another Year

In all the confusion surrounding Radisson Rewards division into Radisson Rewards Americas and Radisson Hotels, I somehow ended up with Radisson Rewards Americas Platinum status. I can’t recall how. It just happened. Platinum status isn’t especially valuable if you don’t often stay with the chain, which is where I’m at. Never mind that I have 500K Radisson Rewards points. I’ve had only a handful of stays the past few years. But this didn’t keep me from choosing to extend my Radisson Platinum status through 2023.

Radisson’s Easy Status Extension Offer

Radisson emailed me back in the summer with an easy offer to extend my Platinum status. All I had to do was have one paid stay before October 31, 2022. I know we’re past the date now, so this is water under the bridge if you are hoping for an offer. I’m also curious how widely targeted this status extension offer was.

With one airport overnight to plan during September, I managed to eke out the necessary stay for less than $100 a few miles from IAH. Thanks, Country Inn & Suites.

This extends status through the 2023 elite year, which technically ends in February 2024. Was this worth $81.38? We shall see.

The primary useful benefits of Radisson Americas Platinum status are 35 points per dollar spent and free breakfast. Radisson isn’t my primary or secondary hotel chain of choice, though, so I expect to use these benefits only a handful of times. But even over 2-3 multi-night stays over the year, the benefits could be well worth it.

What Does 2023 Hold for Radisson Rewards Americas?

This is the real question. Radisson Hotels Americas has been acquired by Choice Hotels, adding the 600 properties across the U.S., Canada, Caribbean, and Latin America to their portfolio. No details have been released as of yet regarding combining the programs, but we know this must eventually happen.

My hope is that I can burn through my stash of Radisson points in 2023 while I was able to extend Radisson Platinum status. This would be most ideal, as I could take advantage of the benefits. Plus, it would avoid the coming changes sure to be rolled out with the merger. I’m not sure if I want all my Radisson points converted to Choice. It all depends on the conversion ratio, though.

On the other side of things, Radisson Hotels massively devalued their loyalty program, switching entirely to a dynamic pricing system where points are worth between 0.15 and 0.28 cents. Although I’ve normally only pegged points at 0.3 cents each, this is still approximately a 50% devaluation. More so if you have routinely used your points for higher value redemptions.

In any case, I want to get rid of them. And this is the year.