Buying Club Carlson Points?
Some of the last few Club Carlson promotions have been phenomenal. 50,000 points after one paid stay, triple points and the current [decent] promo of 10,000 points after two paid stays. If you average a $100 paid stay (or two for the current promo) you will earn points at the cost of .5 cents each. In other words, you would get 4 nights/stays and essentially buy points at .5 cents a piece. But it’s this low because the big 50,000 point bonus averages us down to less than 2 cents a piece. Which… is incredible.
But lets for a minute assume that the days of 50,000 bonus nights are gone. I have no reason to think it’s gone and surely hope not but lets just average the cost of Club Carlson points from paid stays with out it. Then you’re buying points at about 1 cent a piece but still getting stays from it.
Of course, you can find cheaper hotels and bring down the costs. But buying Club Carlson points via the Daily Getaway is about .3 cents per point (and is cheaper when using an Amex). This is a great value for two groups. 1) Those who have the credit card and get free nights. And 2) Those who are pessimists and don’t believe Club Carlson will ever run the 50,000 point promo again.
In the end it’s not a bad deal if you have use for the points.
Maybe it’s better to think about it in terms of what you get for $385 and 100,000 Club Carlson points:
- Category 1 properties – 11 nights at $35 a night
- Category 2 properties – 6 (6.6) nights at $64 a night
- Category 3 properties – 3 (3.5) nights at $128 a night
- Category 4 properties – 2 (2.6) nights at $192 a night
- Category 5 properties – 2 nights at $192 a night
- Category 6 properties – 2 nights at $192 a night
If you have the credit card all these values are doubled. You could get 22 nights at $17.50 a night. Even the high end hotels, like the Radisson Blu hotels in Paris are going to be $96 a night instead of $600 a night. When you think about it like that it’s a phenomenal deal, the only thing that makes me hesitate or keeps me from going all in, is the fact that there have been cheaper ways to earn Club Carlson points (while staying at hotels).
My conclusion – I’ll go halfway. I’ll buy some as I know I’ll use them at some point. I still have 270,000 Club Carlson points left and part of me assumes that I’ll be able to earn points cheaper before my points run out.
Buying Priority Club Points?
My argument against buying points with Priority Club has for years been that you can earn points via paid stays at a better rate. Priority Club was overly generous with how many promotions they let flood the market. I’ve written about how to earn Priority Club points before but the fact of the matter is that it used to be incredible and now the promotions are a little more normal. I’m lucky if I’m earning 5,000 points a stay. Buying points is an actual possibility for me.
Although when I think about spending 50,000 points on a top category hotel, like the InterContinental New York, $325 is hardly a deal. Sometimes the hotel is cheaper than that. When I think about using points at an InterContinental hotel on PointBreaks, it’s an obviously good deal. PointBreaks is when they put up a list of hotels for 5,000 points for about a two month period. The list changes every 2 months. It’s a pretty good deal for us, as we’re so flexible, but many people don’t take last minute trips and have their hotels booked more than two months in advance.
If I plan on using the 50,000 points for a nice hotel on PointBreaks, I’m essentially getting 10 nights for $32.50. Which, if you’re a commit-aphobe, there is another way to buy points- when you book using Cash & Points and then cancel. It will charge your credit card for the cash portion and refund all in points. Thus you get 10,000 points for $70. It shouldn’t be abused, but it’s possible. But I don’t prefer to use this, to each his own…
So buying 5,000 points for $30 is a pretty average deal and could mean scoring a last minute hotel for $30 with PointBreaks. Otherwise it’s not worth it. And it’s not AS good of a deal as the Club Carlson buy for those who have the credit card.