U.S. Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Cards Review (old review NOT updated)
Updated December 5, 2018. Please find our updated review here.
The Facts
There are four Radisson Rewards Visa cards offered by US Bank: Radisson Rewards Visa ($0), Radisson Rewards Visa Signature ($50), Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature ($75), and Radisson Rewards Business Visa ($60). We will compare the two personal Visa Signature cards and talk a little bit about the other two.
The Facts
There are four Radisson Rewards Visa cards offered by US Bank: Radisson Rewards Visa ($0), Radisson Rewards Visa Signature ($50), Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature ($75), and Radisson Rewards Business Visa ($60). We will compare the two personal Visa Signature cards and talk a little bit about the other two.
Radisson Rewards Visa Signature
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Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature
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- The Best Use of Radisson Rewards points: Radisson Rewards is the frequent guest program of Radisson Hotel Group whose global portfolio includes Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson Red, Park Plaza, Park Inn, and Country Inns and Suites. It is best to use the points toward award nights at their hotels.
- Radisson Rewards Visa is the non-fee personal card which offers 3x Radisson and 1x everywhere else for spending, and the same up to three anniversary free nights per year for up to $30,000 spending.
- Radisson Rewards Business Visa is the business card version of Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature, with the same great features and a smaller annual fee ($60). So if you need a business card, this is a no-brainer.
- History: when the cards were introduced, it quietly doubled the value of Club Carlson points for the cardholders due to the Second Reward Night Free feature. In June 2015, US Bank took away this most popular feature, which essentially cut our value of the Club Carlson points half. In mid 2017, with the rebranding of Club Carlson to Radisson Rewards, the Visa cards were also rebranded with one major enhancement - the annual fee night for $10K spending is increased from one to three per year which obviously make the cards much more competitive.
The Math
Set the business card aside, which personal version to get? First of all, the non-fee Visa's rewards are really unimpressive. For an extra $25 a year, Premier Visa Signature ($75) offers much much more than the regular Visa Signature ($50), including 25,000 more points at signup, 2 extra points in general spending and 4 extra points in Radisson portfolio hotels, 15,000 more points upon anniversary, and Gold status instead of Silver. So this really is an easy one. If you go with the Premier Visa Signature, the 40,000 anniversary points more than pay the $75, and you enjoy Gold status for free and up to three anniversary free nights based on spending. This is a card to keep after the first year.
Radisson Premier Visa vs. Citi Double Cash: Let us assume you don't have any paid nights at Radisson portfolio hotels (meaning you don't get 10x category bonus), your annual spending is $A and you value a Radisson point at y cents. Then to beat Citi Double Cash's 2% cash back, you need 5x y% x A + $y/100 x 40,000 - $75 = 2% x A, i.e., y = (2A+7500)/(5A+40000). If A=30K, then you will need to value Radisson points at 0.36 cent per point (cpp) to beat 2% cashback. Our current valuation of Radisson points is 0.25 cpp, which means you should use a 2% cashback card instead; however, considering that you will be getting three annual free nights, it actually make a lot of sense to use Radisson Premier Visa. To save you from doing math, if we use 0.25 cpp valuation, when you spend $30K on the card with no Radisson spending at all, you are essentially getting three annual free nights for merely $200 for using Radisson Premier Visa instead of a 2% cashback card. We say $67 per night for a Radisson portfolio hotel is a great deal, because even a budget hotel may cost more than $67 and Radisson Group's top-tier hotels such as The May Fair in London, Radisson Blu Edwardian Hampshire Hotel in London, Radisson Collection Hotel Royal Mile Edinburgh, Radisson Blu Hotel Edinburgh, Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees Paris, Radisson Blu 1835 Hotel & Thalasso in Cannes, Radisson Blu Hotel Lucerne, Radisson Collection Royal Hotel Copenhagen, Radisson Collection Strand Hotel Stockholm, Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel Oslo, Radisson Blu 1919 Hotel Reykjavik, Radisson Royal Hotel Moscow, Radisson Blu Martinique on Broadway in New York, Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago, Radisson Blu Plaza Sydney, Radisson Blu Resort & Spa Ajaccio Bay, Radisson Blu Beach Resort Milatos Crete, Radisson Blu Resort Gran Canaria, etc., require 70,000 points per night or easily retails for $300-$600.
The Conclusion
The Radisson Rewards Visa cards are great to keep after the first year. Among the four versions, the business card version is no doubt the best, but if you don't need a business card, go with Premier Visa Signature. If you can make use of the annual free nights, it is highly recommended to spend $10K to $30K per year on the card. Thanks to the potential to score three free nights with relatively little cost, the Radisson Premier Visa is rated as one of the Best Credit Cards for Perks.
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