I Received the 50,000 Radisson Big Night Giveaway Points…but almost didn’t

Last Tuesday I blogged about a $99 rate that was available at one of the Radisson properties here in NYC. It was a non refundable rate for a petite room but the rate and restrictions were of little concern to me as I had planned to walk over to the hotel later that night from my apartment, check in, “go up to my room”, and then collect my points. However, my day got crazy and I realized around 8pm that I wasn’t going to make it back to New York that night. I called the hotel and asked if they could continue holding my room until noon tomorrow as I’d be arriving late and just needed the room for a quick shower. They had no problem with this and I was told that the room would be left as is (not marked as a no show) and that it would be mine until noon the next day. I arrived at the hotel just before noon that next day and checked in. I was told that as a Gold Club Carlson member I had been previously upgraded to a corner suite but was asked if I would mind taking my original petite room so that they could extend my stay a few hours to give me time to shower and nap. I had no problem with this as I did not plan to actually shower or nap but the gesture was very much appreciated. In fact, the service at this Radisson was excellent. I normally allude to the US properties not coming close to the service quality found at Radisson Blu properties around the globe but I have noticed a very positive change, especially at this property. The aesthetics don’t yet come close to the trendy Radisson Blu hotels but I was very pleasantly surprised and from previous press releases, Radisson is working to upgrade their stateside hotels .

So for some of my new readers and those who haven’t yet heard of the Radisson 50k Big Night Giveaway, you may be wondering why I would spend $99 to book a hotel with no intention of actually staying there. Check out this entry for full details on this promotion as well as two sister promotions and the amazing value you can get from this $99 stay (cheaper in most other parts of the country). This one stay could earn you a free night at hotels valued over $500 per night all over the world including Europe in the prime summer tourist season.

What made this deal even better, I received 10% cash back on the pre-tax $99 rate using topcashback.com. TopCashBack.com allows you to shop with several merchants and earn cash back. You are still booking your reservation via the radisson site (topcashback sends you directly to it) so you earn both the online booking bonus and you are eligible for the big night giveaway points. Essentially, all you need to do is register at topcashback.com, search for radisson in the top right hand corner of the site, you’ll be directed to radisson.com, and then go ahead and book your reservation as you normally would. The cash back posted about 6 days after my stay as did my 50,000 Big Night Giveaway Points. Feel free to use my referral link for TopCashBack or sign up and start your own referral link conga line in the comment section.