Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, whose family of hotels includes Radisson and Country Inns & Suites, together with its long-time partner U.S. Bank, recently launched a set of new co-branded credit cards. The Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card, Club Carlson Rewards Visa Signature Card, Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa Card and Club Carlson Rewards Visa Card all offer bonus Gold Points for new cardmembers, as well as a new, exclusive cardmember benefit–when you redeem Gold Points for 2 or more consecutive Award Nights, your last night is free. This benefit alone effectively halves the redemption cost on all 2 night award stays, making the cards very valuable to anyone who regularly frequents Club Carlson hotels.

In addition, each card has the following additional features:

• Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card
  • Annual fee: $70
  • Bonus Gold Points: Up to 85,000 (Earn 50,000 after first purchase, plus another 35,000 after spending $2,500 within 90 days)
  • 10 points per $1 spent at participating Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide
  • 5 points per $1 spent everywhere else
  • Automatic Club Carlson Gold status
  • 40,000 bonus points every year on your card anniversary
• Club Carlson Rewards Visa Signature Card
  • Annual fee: $50
  • Bonus Gold Points: Up to 60,000 (Earn 50,000 after first purchase, plus another 10,000 after spending $1,500 within 90 days)
  • 6 points per $1 spent at participating Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide
  • 3 points per $1 spent everywhere else
  • Automatic Club Carlson Silver status
  • 25,000 bonus points every year on your card anniversary
• Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa Signature Card
  • Annual fee: $60
  • Bonus Gold Points: Up to 85,000 (Earn 50,000 after first purchase, plus another 35,000 after spending $2,500 within 90 days)
  • 10 points per $1 spent at participating Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide
  • 5 points per $1 spent everywhere else
  • Automatic Club Carlson Gold status
  • 40,000 bonus points every year on your card anniversary
• Club Carlson Rewards Visa Card
  • Annual fee: None
  • Bonus Gold Points: Up to 30,000 (Earn 30,000 after spending $1,000 within the first 90 days)
  • 3 points per $1 spent at participating Carlson Rezidor hotels worldwide
  • 1 point per $1 spent everywhere else

What are points worth?
Points can be redeemed for cash, gift cards or converted into frequent flyer miles, but the best redemption value is for hotel stays. Hotel awards cost between 9,000 and 50,000 points per night, depending upon the hotel category. That means that 85,000 Gold Points are worth up to 9 nights. Those points can be stretched even further if you take advantage of the last night of award stays being free.

Watch out for foreign transaction fees
Unfortunately, these are not the credit cards you’ll want to use when traveling overseas. Unlike many competing premium travel credit cards, the Carlson Club Visas incur a 3% fee on foreign purchase transactions and even a 2% fee on foreign purchases made in US dollars.

A no-brainer for Club Carlson regulars
Overall, the Carlson Club Visas offer a compelling value for those who regularly stay at Carlson Club hotels. The bonus free night on award stays of 2 nights or more alone is a particularly valuable benefit, especially since it’s also available on the no annual fee version of the card. The Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card, which earns at least 5 points on all spend, also offers a good value proposition, as it requires only a minimum of $10,000 in spending to earn a free night at hotels in the most expensive category (5 * 10,000 = 50,000 points).

For more info about the annual fee cards, see this link. For the no annual fee version, see this link.