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Very tempted by the Club Carlson Business Visa 85k offer
This isn’t a new offer, but I’m always looking to maximize my everyday spend, and new card signups are an outstanding way to do this. I recently posted that I matched to Club Carlson, now the match wasn’t really THAT great as it only gave me their mid-tier status, Gold. This is the same status that is offered by the Club Carlson Premier and the Club Carlson Business Visa. Both of these cards are currently offering an 85k bonus after $2500 spend in 90 days. The offer is tiered, with 50k being earned after first purchase, the rest after you hit $2500 spend after 90 days. I’ve only spent one night at a Radisson Blu, but with more potential stays coming up I’m really peeping the Club Carlson Business Visa the most.
The Club Carlson Business Visa doesn’t affect your 5/24
5/24 is always on my radar. I love Chase cards and want to be able to take advantage of a great offer when it comes around. Yes…I’m still sore that I couldn’t get the 100k Chase Reserve offer. There are also rumors that Chase could introduce a business version of this card, and I’d like to be well positioned to get it.
Club Carlson is the rewards program for the Carlson Rezidor hotel group.
Their biggest footprint in the States is the Radisson brand. If you look at Europe, you’ll see a lot more of their top tier, Radisson Blu, chain. These are the hotels I’m most interested in checking out.
I’ve considered getting the Club Carlson Premier card from US Bank, but have never pulled the trigger. Now, with Chase’s 5/24 restrictions…I lean more heavily towards the Business Version now. Why?
- An easy 50k bonus after first purchase
- bonus 35k after $2500 spend
- 40k EVERY YEAR you keep the card
- Free Gold Status
- Low $60 annual fee
The 40k bonus points every year you keep the card is worth $160 in travel. Club Carlson rarely sells points, but when they do it’s at 4/10 of one cent.
I’d like to check out the Radisson Blu Strand…looks epic.
Rates are close to $350 a night…or 70k points.
I’m also considering doing New Years in Helsinki…The Radisson Blu Plaza looks pretty nice!
50k points gets me a room at $250/night spot…
Still on the fence…but I don’t really see a reason not to do it.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.