Club Carlson Rewards Credit Card

Club Carlson is a relatively small hotel group. Its more common brands include Radisson and Country Inn. This card is a co-branded card issued by US Bank, with a relatively low annual fee, and it also comes with Club Carlson elite status. There is also a premium version, the Club Carlson Premier Rewards, which offers better signup value than this card. In addition, lousy bank US Bank is notorious for using Visa Signature versus plain Visa to differentiate credit card benefits, and this card is no exception. The weaker version of this card is the Club Carlson Platinum Rewards Visa card, but interestingly, since this card’s benefits are already fairly weak, the plain Visa version has the same signup bonus and core benefits as this card (except for Visa Signature benefits). Fair warning: we do not recommend applying for this card directly. cc-club-carlson-rewards

[Application Link] Click here
[Minimum Spend Requirement] Make any one purchase after account opening to earn 50,000 Club Carlson Gold points. Spend $1,500 within 90 days of account opening to earn another 10,000, for a total of 60,000 Gold points.
[Annual Fee] $50, not waived for the first year.

Club Carlson Rewards Pros

  • Earn 6x Club Carlson points on purchases with Carlson Rezidor, and 3x points on all other purchases.
  • Holding this card automatically upgrades you to Club Carlson Silver, the lowest elite tier in Club Carlson. Key benefits include complimentary room upgrades, early check-in and late checkout, and a 15% points bonus. If you are already Silver or higher, you receive 10 Qualifying Nights to help you reach a higher tier faster.
  • Each year after the first, when you pay the annual fee, you receive 25,000 points. That is essentially buying 25,000 points for $50.
  • Each year after account opening, if you spend $10,000, you receive one free hotel night certificate, valid only in the US.

Club Carlson Rewards Cons

  • The signup bonus is 60,000 points. Given that Club Carlson Gold points are worth about 0.4 cent/point, this signup bonus is worth roughly $240. That is not particularly high, so it is not a great deal if you only want the signup bonus.
  • It has a 2-3% foreign transaction fee, so it is not a good card to use outside the US.

[Application Link] Click here

Should You Apply?

This is the lower-end Club Carlson credit card. Although the signup bonus is mediocre, the annual points bonus is still quite decent. However, we strongly do not recommend applying for this card directly. Instead, apply for the Club Carlson Premier Rewards credit card. Its annual fee is only $25 higher, but both the signup bonus and the annual points benefit are much better. Even if you later get downgraded, you still come out ahead compared with applying for this card in the first place. How did you end up with the Club Carlson Rewards card? Share your thoughts with everyone below.