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I would love for some reader input to tell me if I have made the right call here. In case you are not aware of this, hotels change all the time. Not just the name but the brand and the “flag”.
Flag being a term of the partnership they are with. The Radisson LAX was part of Club Carlson. Now, they are under a new name The Concourse Hotel and changed over to a Hyatt member hotel.
I had two nights booked on points with the Radisson for a night before my mileage run using my GU Delta certs on an NAI attack fare deal as well as the return before flying home. What were my choices now that it no longer is a Radisson?
First off, if you spend any time reading the consumer advocate Chris Ellott’s site you will hear about a plethora of nightmare stories of having booked, not with points but paid stays, and a hotel changes names and flag and the reservation is not honored or the traveler is charged much more than quoted under the confirmed reservation. Next, I called Club Carlson (CC) to inquire about my stay, on points, and was informed that CC points reservations would be honored by the manager of the new hotel, but no guarantees.
This really was less reassuring. So many things could happen to change this. Plus, CC could in NO WAY guarantee my reservation as they no longer were a partner with the hotel. Not to mention I would get NO CC GOLD perks (I got it and 85,000+ points from the CC card). Really the list of Ruh-Roh’s is too long to mention. I am one of those travelers who likes all his ducks in a row and everything as confirmed and set in stone as I can get it. This was just not going to work for me and the nearest other Radisson choice was 10 miles from the airport!
Now being a point enthusiast I did not just go online and click cancel and re-deposit my points. I asked the rep for some compensation, in the form of points, for this issue. She was happy to award me 5,000 points per night or 10,000 all-in (plus the re-deposit of the points from the booking). The rep also did say they were working to contact all those who have reservations but since mine was so late this fall they had not yet had time to contact me.
So now on to some input. Did I make the right call in choosing to cancel my rooms and choose another hotel option closer to LAX? Should I have just risked it and stayed with what I had? Was 10,000 points enough compensation for this issue? Any other thoughts? Let me know!- René
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10,000 Club Carlson points can probably be used better than say 10,000 Marriott points. I haven’t had good luck with the Radisson brand in the U.S. but Radisson Blue and Park Plaza in Europe are much better.
I just can’t believe you aren’t excited about it becominga Hyatt #DiamondStatus!
@Heather – I am SPG Platinum. Not going to help me one bit!
It all depends on how much of a jerk you can/want to be when/if things go wrong. You are obviously in the right IMO. You had a reservation, and they are obligated to honor that in my opinion (not sure about legally, probably not). It should be assumed when you take over a hotel that all existing reservations will be honored under the terms in which they were booked ($$ or points). I would think that’s just a fact of business and you account for it during the transition process. Sometimes I just want things to go smoothly, and sometime I just want to be a jerk out of principal. So really, there is no right answer here as long as you’re happy in the end.