Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card Review

Full Review of Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card

Pros Explained

• Annual Renewal Bonus Valued at $204: You get 40,000 renewal points, worth about $200 when used for Radisson stays according to our valuations, on every account anniversary, provided you renew your account by paying next year’s fee. The value of this lucrative bonus is more than double the card’s $75 annual fee.
• Generous One-Time Offers for Modest Spending: Earning the one-time bonus with Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature is readily attainable for most consumers. You can earn up to 85,000 points simply: you get 50,000 after your first purchase, and the remaining 35,000 by spending $2,500 in card purchases within the first 90 days of account opening, an average of only $833 per month.
• Competitive Rewards on Purchases: This card’s rewards earnings rival those of other card alternatives, at least provided you use points for stays at Radisson properties. At 10 points per dollar spent, purchases from the Radisson Family of Hotels deliver 4.5 cents of rewards value when used for Radisson stays, a return that compares favorably with the best rate for travel purchases with other cards. The 5 points per dollar earned on all other purchases delivers 2.5 cents of value, which exceeds what you’d make by using a card that delivers a flat 1.5% or 2% cash back on everything you buy.
• Award Nights Boost the Card’s Value: This card rewards heavy spenders with annual award nights that boost the value of their earnings. You earn an electronic certificate (an “e-cert” in Radisson lingo) for every $10,000 you spend on your card, and you can redeem it (subject to availability) at U.S. locations of chains including the luxe Radisson Blu. Based on what a night’s stay typically costs at Radisson properties, we conservatively estimate that this bonus opportunity adds an additional cent in value per dollar spent to your rewards. 
• Complimentary Gold Elite Status: You receive complimentary Gold status in the Radisson Rewards program after making your first purchase with the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature. The status, which takes six to eight weeks from the date of your first purchase to be effective, grants such perks as room upgrades. If you already have Gold or higher elite status, you instead get a one-time offer of 15 elite night credits. That’s about a quarter of the nights required to reach the highest elite level of Platinum.

Cons Explained

• Confusing Application Process: When you apply for the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature card, you’re actually considered for two credit card products rather than just one. If you can’t get approved for the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature card, you’re then considered for the lower annual-fee—but also less attractive—Radisson Rewards Platinum Visa card which you may not be interested in.

The Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature best suits people prepared to pay an annual fee for a card that allows them to earn rewards worth several times as much when redeemed for stays at Radisson properties. Paying the $75 annual cost of the card entitles you to 40,000 bonus points a year that can be used for one or more award nights at select Radisson hotels. You also enjoy the modest perks that come with Gold status when you stay. It’s an especially good choice for those who want to turn spending, whether at Radisson or elsewhere, into additional rewards to earn stays at Radisson properties. For regular customers of the chain’s locations, the card’s 10-points-per-dollar-spent rewards rate for Radisson spending delivers very solid returns, as does the 5 points per dollar earned on all other purchases. Those willing to make the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature one of their most-used cards can get further value through the award-night certificates awarded for every $10,000 spent within a calendar year. 

Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card One-Time Offer

The Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature has a one-time offer. You can earn up to 85,000 bonus points: the first 50,000 after making your first purchase, plus 35,000 after spending $2,500 on the card within its first 90 days. We value the points you would earn from the bonus at $383, based on our valuation of 0.45 cents per point.

These bonus points take six to eight weeks to arrive in your Radisson Rewards account. Also, if you cancel the card within six months of receiving it, you may not be able to keep the points in the account.

Rewards Earning Details

The Radisson Rewards Premier Visa earns 10 points per dollar spent on participating Radisson Family of Hotels purchases worldwide. All other eligible purchases earn 5 points per dollar spent. We estimate that those rewards represent an estimated value of about 4.5 cents and 2.25 cents per dollar spent, respectively, when redeemed for stays at Radisson properties.

Points expire after 24 months with no activity, but even a single charge to the card qualifies as a use sufficient to preserve your rewards balance.

The card’s award night certificates provide an additional rewards opportunity for those prepared to charge five figures a year to the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa. Spending $10,000 entitles you to one certificate at the end of your anniversary year, provided you keep the card, and an additional $10,000 and $20,000 in spending earns you a second and third certificate, respectively. Assuming the easily available rooms are worth between $100 and $150 per night, every certificate earned essentially adds a cent to a cent-and-a-half in reward value to every dollar you spend. (The math: $100 in room value divided by $10,000 in spending yields an additional 1 cent in value, $150 divided by $10,000 in spending yields an additional 1.5 cents.)

Certificates can be redeemed for a standard room with double occupancy at Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, or Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels located in the United States.

Points earned take six to eight weeks after appearing on your billing statement to arrive in your Radisson Rewards account.

Rewards Redemption Details

You can redeem your Radisson Rewards points for award nights, of course. You can also donate points to certain causes or use them to purchase gift cards, prepaid cards, TSA PreCheck and Priority Pass membership, as well as for instant in-hotel awards at Radisson properties, such as payment for movies, dinner, laundry, and more. Most of these options can be completed online using your Radisson Rewards account.

Your best option is usually redeeming your points for award nights, which you can do online when you’re logged into your Radisson Rewards account. We estimate points used for these redemptions are worth an average of 0.45 cents each. There are seven categories of hotels. The points requirements range from 9,000 to 70,000 points per night for a standard room, or 13,500 to 105,000 points per night for premium rooms. You can also combine points and cash to pay for rooms.

When using points for award nights, there aren’t blackout dates, technically speaking. However, redemptions are subject to availability.

Transferring Points

Radisson Rewards points can be transferred to airline frequent-flyer programs, including those of United, Delta, and British Airways. But as with many such programs, the typical redemption rate is fairly dismal. For most carriers, every 10 Radisson points you transfer earn you only a single airline mile. That rate translates into these transfer totals:

• 2,000 Radisson Rewards points for 200 airline miles
• 50,000 Radisson Rewards points for 5,000 airline miles
• 100,000 Radisson Rewards points for 10,000 airline miles

You can also choose to earn rewards in your Radisson rewards account in air miles or points, rather than as points. But the transfer ratio is the same meager 10 Radisson points to 1 airline mile (with the exception of one partner, SAS, for which 7 Radisson points are required to earn a single SAS EuroBonus point).

When you choose the airline miles option, points will be automatically transferred to an airline program once you reach 10,000 Radisson Rewards points. 

Miles may take four to six weeks to post to your account. Once points are transferred to an airline, they cannot be transferred back to Radisson Rewards. Participating airlines include:

• Aeroflot
• Aeromexico
• Aeroplan
• AirAstana
• AirBaltic
• Asiana Airlines
• Avianca
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Czech Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• Emirates Skywards
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Etihad
• Finnair
• Frontier
• Gulf Air
• Hainan Airlines
• InterMiles
• Japan Airlines
• KLM Air France
• Kuwait Airlines
• LATAM
• Malaysia Airlines
• Oman Air
• Pegasus Airline
• Philippine Airlines
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• SAS
• Saudi Arabian Airlines
• Singapore
• South African Airways
• Southwest Airlines
• Turkish Airways
• United Airlines

How to Maximize Your Rewards

Getting the most value from the Radisson Rewards Premier Signature Visa begins with the relatively manageable task of spending at least $2,500 with the card within your first three months after opening the account. That will allow you to earn the 85,000-point one-time offer in exchange for the required spending.

After that, consider spending at least $850 or so a month on the card to enjoy its best rewards. That spending level will allow you to earn a night at the end of the year, an extra that should add at least a cent in value to each dollar you spend to reach that level. 

Finally, while our estimated value per point is low, even when rewards are redeemed for Radisson stays, you may find better values if you shop around, especially if you’re flexible about where and when you stay. Hotel nightly cash rates can vary depending on property and date .As examples, take two locations of the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson for which we checked prices, in dollars and points, for a standard room for mid-April 2020. In both cases, the cash price was the same: $123.75, including taxes and fees. But the required points to book the room varied by threefold. At the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, the room could be booked as an award night for 28,000 points. That redemption would result in a value of about 0.44 cents per point—which is almost precisely the average value we calculate for Radisson points. At the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, The Woodlands in Shenandoah, Texas, on the other hand, the “cost” was only 9,000 points. The resulting value per point for this redemption would be about 1.37 cents.

Since the awards night certificates you can earn with this card apply to a swath of different Radisson chains, from basic (like the Country Inn & Suites) to luxury (like Radisson Blu), check availability at all Radisson properties where you are hoping to stay. Pick a fancier chain if it’s available. But act as early as you can to grab one of those rooms, since award nights stays on any one date are limited.

Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Outstanding Benefits

• Earn up to three award-night certificates annually, at a rate of one certificate per $10,000 in spending on the card within 12 months
• Earn 40,000 annual renewal points each year when you renew your card
• Lost-luggage reimbursement

Standard Benefits

• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• 24/7 concierge
• Purchase security
• Travel accident coverage
• Travel and emergency assistance services
• Warranty manager service

Cardholder Experience

U.S. Bank, the issuer of the Radisson Rewards Visa card, received a score of 785 on J.D. Power’s 2019 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. This score places the bank low in the rankings—and 21 points below the national issuer average of 806. If you have questions about your account, you can reach cardmember service 24 hours per day at 800-236-4012.

Security Features

The security features for this card are standard for the industry.

Fees to Watch Out For

This card doesn’t waive its $75 annual fee in the first year as some other credit cards do. Additionally, this travel-focused card charges foreign transaction fees of 2% to 3% depending on which currency your foreign transaction processes in.

Our Verdict

Despite its $75 annual fee, the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature offers ample value to those who stay at Radisson hotels even occasionally—or who aspire to do so, using the card’s many bonuses to pay for their stays. While the card has the highest annual fee of the three Radisson cards on the market, it’s also the best value. The Radisson Rewards Visa has no annual fee, and offers some of the same bonuses. But it lacks the ongoing bonus of 40,000 anniversary points, and its rewards are a fraction as generous as those of the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature. The Radisson Rewards Platinum Visa’s lower annual fee—$25 less than that of the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature—doesn’t compensate for its lesser rewards and lower points bonuses.