Radisson: the Best Use of Frontier Miles?

I had never heard of this redemption until the other day when researching a [failed] post on using miles for hotels. I’ve never even considered getting Frontier Miles, because I don’t actually want to fly Frontier. But my tune might be changing.

Oddly enough, I’ve decided that Radisson hotels are the best use of Frontier miles, and that the Frontier credit card could get you at least 1 night in the top Radisson hotels. And there are a ton of other details to sweeten the deal.

Frontier Miles Redemption Rate for Club Carlson

Frontier has one real hotel partner listed under “use miles” and that’s Club Carlson. The rate is incredibly straight forward, though let me clarify that you use these miles for a certificate, then use the certificate for the hotel. We’ll discuss how the certificate system works more later.

• Radisson hotels in US, Mexico and Canada = 25,000 Miles
• Radisson hotels worldwide = 40,000 Miles

There are a lot of details that go a long with this so I’ll do my best summarizing.

Yes, these are flat rates. All hotels in the US/Canada/Mexico, good or bad, are 25,000 miles. All other hotels are 40,000 miles. This is great for high end hotels like the Radisson in New York, Chicago, or Philly.

In fact if you’re just comparing Club Carlson to this rate, these rates are actually cheaper. The Radisson hotels in NYC, Chicago and Philly are 70,000 Club Carlson points, but you have the option to redeem the same hotels for 25,000 Frontier Miles.

However, this is a terrible rate for a really cheap Radisson in Dallas that would otherwise be 15,000 Club Carlson points. Although I’ll go more into comparing the two in a sec.

Only “Radisson” and “Radisson Blu” hotels

The Frontier website gives little information but I had one of these certs earlier, and called to double check that these indeed do work at both Radisson and Radisson Blu hotels.

The agent (and his manager) did say that the certs do not work at non-Radisson branded hotels, like Park Inns, Park Plazas and Country Inn & Suites. This isn’t really a big deal as the nicest hotels in the chain are Radisson Blu hotels with very few exceptions.

This is an actual paper certificate

According to Frontier it could take “2 to 4 weeks” to actually get this thing. That is the downside. Also, I assume that you are supposed to have award availability. In terms of fine print that is probably true, however, I wonder if the agent doesn’t just book you the cheapest room available. I’m not sure how it works, but I used mine for a nice Radisson in the US and I got a few points after the expensive rate, plus bonuses. Very interesting.

These are actual separate certificates for the US and global ones, don’t get the US one and expect to go to Paris.

Certs are valid for 1 year.

Is this a good deal?

Like everything, it depends.

There are a lot of plus sides. First, there is a 40,000 Miles Frontier card. This is enough for 1.5 stays in the US or 1 stay internationally.

Best hotel credit card for aspirational stays? No.

The Hyatt, and Fairmont card give 2 nights free for signing up. Plus, Hyatt and Fairmont hotels are in an entirely different world of quality. I’d rather stay at a Hyatt 9 times out of 10.

But, the Frontier card is a Barclay card. For some reason Barclay loves some people and will give them anything and everything, and others don’t have that luck. Still good news. Unlike the Hyatt card, your Frontier app isn’t competing for space with other great Chase cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Plus, and United card. As I said recently, I don’t want to get a dozen Chase cards, because I don’t want to be seen as a “gamer’ by them, I want to be a good customer who really likes their products.

On the other hand, what Barclay cards am I really worried about getting?

The downside of the 40,000 Frontier mile card is that it has a $69 annual fee not waived for the first year. This is indeed a bummer, but still a good deal.

For 25,000 miles (62% of the miles you’d get for $69) I can stay at a hotel on Broadway in New York that would otherwise be $300+ a night. Plus, you’d have enough miles for a flight (or a head start on another stay). And plus you might earn points for the stay.

Or take a hotel in London. The Radisson Blus there easily go for 300+ GBP which is $470 USD. $69 is a lot better than $470.

Another benefit is that the card has a $500 spend requirement… which is nothing. A very easy add.

Are Citi TY points worth it?

NO! Please don’t.

Even with the absolute best examples it’s not worth it! Citi points do transfer to Frontier but it’s a bad idea.

40,000 Citi TY points can book a $480 hotel on Citi’s website. Yet, that’s an example of one of the absolute best hotels. It can only get worse really! I can’t think of a situation where it would be worth it.

Why not use Frontier Miles for a flight?

Honestly, I don’t want to fly Frontier and I already have Southwest miles and a companion pass.

The thing is that Frontier charges for bags. They have this nickel and dime business model which I don’t enjoy. Plus, for two of us, that can add up to $100 easily… which is like the price of a Frontier flight.

If I’m going for flights, Frontier miles aren’t the best and therefore why pay the annual fee for the card?

Tons of cards offer at least 40,000 miles, don’t have fees for the first year, and don’t have fees for bags. But there aren’t a lot of non-Chase hotel cards. Club Carlson visa is one option and still a good one, but you’d get nearly two stays at the Radisson Blu Chicago with this card, and barely one with the Club Carlson card which has a higher annual fee.

I’m not saying this is the best card, and it’s certainly not the best card for me (someone who has a ton of hotel points). But for those with more miles than hotel points, it could be a good add, depending on the redemption.

I hope this post is helpful for at least 1 person who has Frontier miles (or was going to get the card) and needing a hotel stay. If you have any other tips for earning Frontier Miles, let me know.