Good morning everyone. A few years ago, Club Carlson / Radisson Rewards credit cards were awesome because you could redeem points and get your last night free. If you booked a 2 night stay, you got 50% off the total price. Well, it was too good to last, so Club Carlson / Radisson Rewards got rid of that benefit. A lot of people burned all their points and closed their credit cards, but I decided to keep my Club Carlson / Radisson Rewards credit cards. To make thing confusing, there are 4 US Bank issued Radisson Rewards credit cards (3 personal and 1 business).
For the longest time, I had the US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card ($75 annual fee) and the US Bank Radisson Rewards Business Visa Credit Card ($60 annual fee). Both of these credit cards offer 40,000 anniversary bonus points every year, just for paying the annual fees. For $135 in annual fees, I could get 80,000 Radisson Rewards points every year. Since I wanted more cheap Radisson Rewards points, I decided to apply for the US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card ($50 annual fee) and then upgrade to the US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card ($75 annual fee) in the future. As luck would have it, I wasn’t approved for the US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card ($50 annual fee), but instead, I was approved for the US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Credit Card (no annual fee).
Here is a quick glance at the various Radisson Rewards credit cards. The top tier US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card offers 40,000 anniversary bonus points and has a $75 annual fee. The mid tier US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card offers 25,000 anniversary bonus points and has a $50 annual fee.
The bottom tier US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Credit Card offers no anniversary bonus points and has no annual fee. Lastly, the US Bank Radisson Rewards Business Visa Credit Card offers 40,000 anniversary bonus points and has a $60 annual fee (arguably the best Radisson Rewards credit card).
As I mentioned earlier, here were the 3 Radisson Rewards credit cards I had open:
My plan was to upgrade / convert my US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Credit Card (no annual fee) to the US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card ($75 annual fee):
I was hoping to have these 3 Radisson Rewards credit cards:
Unfortunately, when I called US Bank to upgrade my US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Credit Card (no annual fee), I said I wanted to upgrade to the “Visa Signature version” I didn’t pay close enough attention, so the rep upgraded me to the US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card ($50 annual fee) instead. Here are the 3 Radisson Rewards credit cards I currently have:
By the time I realized my mistake (the following day), the conversion/upgrade process had been completed and I wouldn’t be able to convert/upgrade to another credit card for at least 1 billing cycle. The timing is really important because my cardmember anniversary is coming up in the next 1-2 months and the number of anniversary bonus points I will get is based on the credit card that I will have at the time of the annual fee. The second rep said that they can only upgrade to cards that show up in the system and the system will only allow 1 change per billing cycle. In mid April and early May, I will call US Bank and see if the upgrade option is available.
If you are trying to get lots of Radisson Rewards points just by keeping the credit cards and paying the annual fees (you can often get retention offers that will waive half the annual fee), don’t make the same mistake as me. Make sure you upgrade to the US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card ($75 annual fee). If you have any questions about Radisson Rewards credit cards, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Kind of a confusing post, but I like and appreciate your USBank coverage. Something most blogs don’t focus on and you have some quality information. Gratzi
I appreciate the feedback. I try to make the posts easy to read and understand, but sometimes they get a little out there. Glad you enjoyed the US Bank coverage.
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Having dipped my toes into the Radisson Rewards world, I was curious if you have only 1 rewards account with both personal and biz combined? Was a little bummed when I recently got the biz Radisson and had to create whole new login to view/pay it online.
I actually have 3 Radisson Rewards CCs and 3 Radisson Rewards accounts. You can call Radisson Rewards and move points into a single account (its free to do and the points are instantly available). I do that a few times a year right before I need to make an award booking.
Hi Grant, I’m thinking of applying for the $75 annual fee Radisson Premier Visa for a 120k bonus at http://www.radissonrewardsvisa.com/credit/offer.do?redirect=plat32172&lang=en. I assume this offer is still available. I still have the annual fee versions of Radisson’s biz and personal cards back from when Carlson offered the 2nd night free, but I keep them in my sock drawer. Is this Premier card a good deal? I have excellent credit, but wonder if not using their other cards will work against me. Any insight? Do u have your own link for application? Thanks!
Hi Rick, I think yuh should definitely go for the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card. The sign up bonus is great and the 40,000 anniversary points make it a keeper year after year. I don’t have a special link for that credit card, so use the link you found. Have a great weekend.
Fine print says you can’t get this if you’ve had any of these Radisson cards in last 12 months. Wonder if they hold to that because I was thinking about canceling and applying a month later?
I’m not sure, I doubt there are many people who close and reopen the Radisson Rewards CCs in that short of a time span. There should be 3 different personal Radisson Rewards CCs to apply for, you can probably apply for one if the other 2 CCs.