The Rezidor Hotel Group and Carlson have announced the launch of their new hotel loyalty programme, Club CarlsonSM, which will officially start on March 31, 2011.

Members of Club Carlson, formerly known as goldpoints plusSM, will benefit from an enriched array of first-class redemption opportunities, including Rezidor’s and Carlson’s global resorts. Members have the ability to earn points for every eligible stay at more than 1,000 hotels worldwide: Radisson, Country Inns & Suites, Park Inn and Park Plaza.

In 2010, Rezidor and Carlson announced a plan to double the size of their loyalty programme to 10 million members by 2013, and the membership grew by 24 percent to 6.3 million members during the last year. “We have now designed Club Carlson’s very attractive value proposition to help drive further growth and results”, commented Kurt Ritter, President & CEO of Rezidor.

The program’s key new features can be summarized as follows:

Redemption:
Members can redeem points across 1,071 hotels worldwide, including 42 stunning resorts in Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Customer Privileges and Benefits:
The new Concierge elite tier provides members with complimentary room upgrades and continental breakfast, early check in and late check out, a 75 percent point bonus on stays, and starting by mid-year, access to a special Concierge Service line for theatre and sports tickets, and reservations at top-rated restaurants anywhere in the world.

The program has no blackout dates.
Free Internet is provided at Radisson hotels worldwide and all Carlson brands in North America.
Rollover nights allow elite members to roll over extra nights to qualify toward their next year’s elite status.

Earning:
Club Carlson has been designed to be one of the most rewarding loyalty programs in travel and will enable members to enjoy a remarkably fast way to a free night stay. As an example, a member who stays five nights at the Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Westside can earn a free night at the Park Inn Prague.

Club Carlson App:
To expand and optimize its reach to the mobile audience, Rezidor and Carlson are launching Club Carlson as a new iPhone and Android mobile application on March 31, 2011, which will feature express booking for all hotels, personalization options, GPS mapping and the ability to redeem points. The app also links to “Explore Destinations,” a best-in-class feature, which stores more than 4.4 million points of interest from local restaurants to tourist attractions.
Benefit to Small to Medium-Sized Businesses:

A new extension of the loyalty program is specifically designed with small business owners in mind that allows both the individual traveller and business to earn points for stays. Business owners can use their points to reduce future travel expenses or offer them as employee rewards.

Benefit to Hotels:
While Club Carlson adds considerable value to consumers, the new program also greatly improves the economic value to the hotels on an overall cost – benefit basis.

The Club Carlson launch will be promoted with a US$ 10 million launch budget. See clubcarlson.com, the new loyalty program website beginning on March 31, 2011 for full program details.