Radisson Rewards Extends Elite Status & Halts Points Expirations

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Up until recently, IHG Rewards has been the only big hotel loyalty program to make any global changes to elite status or status earnings in light of the current crisis but now Radisson has also joined in with a very positive change of its own.

Radisson Elite Status Extensions

Under normal conditions, all current Radisson Rewards elite status holders would see their elite benefits expire at the end of February 2021 and would have until the end of December 2020 to earn enough elite status credits to extend that status for a further year. Not any longer.

Radisson Rewards has announced that all of its elite members will now have their status honored through February 2022 so even if members don’t stay another night at a Radisson property this year, their status is safe for a further 21 months.

That’s a very generous move by Radisson and one I doubt we’ll see any other major hotel loyalty program match while they think there’s a chance of getting people back into their properties in significant numbers in 2020.

Radisson Freezes Points Expirations

Radisson Rewards points usually expire in accounts that have had no activity passing through them but with hardly anyone traveling right now Radisson has taken the decision to freeze points expirations for a period of 6 months (though 31 August 2020).

It’s worth remembering that  you don’t actually need to book any kind of travel to keep Radisson Rewards points alive. Doing any of the following will see an accounts points expiry date reset for a further 24 months:

  • Put some spend on any of the Radisson Rewards credit cards
  • Buy the minimum number of Radisson Rewards points
  • Redeem a minimal number of points for airline miles (link)
  • Transfer points within a household or from a member with elite status to a non-elite member (both parties will see their points expiration dates reset).

All in all, there’s no excuse for having a Radisson Rewards points balance expire because it’s incredibly easy to keep an account active at least once every 24 months.

Radisson E-Cert Expiration Dates Extended (For Some)

Both the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Card and the no-annual-fee Radisson Rewards Visa Card offer cardholders certificates for free nights at Radisson properties in the US when they hit set spending targets and renew their card for a further year.

Ordinarily, these “e-certs” expire 12 months from the date they were issued but, in light of the current issues, Radisson has said that e-certs scheduled to expire between 1 March and 30 June 2020 can now be redeemed through 30 June 2021.

Bottom Line

Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton have all recently made some positive moves with regards to various benefits they offer, but all three are still saying that they’re considering their options with regards to elite staus earning…so it’s good to see Radisson Rewards stepping up and taking action.

Up until now, IHG has been leading the pack with its decision to lower its elite status thresholds for 2020 but Radisson has now trumped that by saying that it is extending all elite statuses through 2022.

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