This summer, Radisson Rewards was split two due to the Chinese government’s ownership of the former American and European groups.
Radisson Rewards Americas was launched in America’s region, while the Radisson Rewards stayed as the program for the rest of the world.
You can access Radisson Hotels here and Radisson Rewards Americas here.
Member accounts were assigned to one of these two regions. If you were a Radisson Rewards Americas member and planned to stay outside of the region, you needed to open a separate Radisson Rewards account for the rest of the world and vice versa. (Insanity in my opinion)
The status between these two programs doesn’t transfer automatically and only stays within the region count towards Silver, Gold, or Platinum tiers.
If you are a Radisson Rewards Americas member and open a Radisson Rewards account and stay in Europe, those stays won’t count towards your status at all. You can, however, transfer the points between accounts.
As I was Radisson Blu stay coming up in Europe and my account was assigned in the Americas, I decided to open an account for Europe (Radisson Rewards) and then match the Gold status.
You would think that the match between these two programs would have been automated, but alas, it is not. The website asks you to call (who places calls to loyalty programs nowadays?), but I decided to use a web form.
I merely stated that I would like to match my Radisson Rewards Americas status into the Radisson Rewards program. The form included the account numbers for both programs.
Radisson Rewards sent me the following message a day later:
Thank you for taking the time to write and for being a Radisson Rewards Member.
In order to assist you regarding the status match, we would request you to please share the below documents in PDF format with information like full name, membership number, and current tier level mentioned on it:-
Front and back picture Membership card via email.
Proof of your current membership.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
REMOVED, Global Customer Care Specialist
I replied:
Thanks for the prompt reply.
I thought that this would merely be a status transfer my from America’s account, but if it is not, you may as well match my Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status that should match to Radisson Rewards Platinum.
Please find attached the required information.
I attached the image of my current status with Marriott Bonvoy showing the number of nights in 2021 and the lifetime numbers.
Then I received the following reply:
Thank you for taking the time to write and for being a Radisson Rewards Member.
We would like to inform you that we match top level to Gold Elite and second level to Silver Elite. Our Platinum Elite level cannot be matched, it can only be earned.
We would like to please confirm whether you want to match status with Marriott Bonvoy Titanium or Radisson Rewards America.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards,
REMOVED, Global Customer Care Specialist
I sent the following email to statusmatch@radissonhotels.com
Dear Radisson Rewards,
Please match my Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status with Platinum in your program.
Please find enclosed a screenshot of my Marriott Bonvoy account
I filled the web form and sent the email above to the old status match email address within few minutes of each other.
And received the following reply:
Thank you for taking the time to write and being a Radisson Rewards Member.
We would like to inform you that your Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Status match to Radisson Rewards Member account is successfully done, and now you are a Gold Member. We wish to welcome you to one of our hotels very soon.
We appreciate the opportunity to assist you.
Radisson Rewards chart about the program split:
Radisson Rewards elite benefits matrix:
Here’s what took place earlier with the program split:
Conclusion
If you are matching from Radisson Rewards Americas or any other guest-loyalty program into Radisson Rewards, you probably save time by sending an email to statusmatch@radissonhotels.com with your:
- Name
- Account number with Radisson Rewards
- Proof of status with the competing program
I still believe that dividing Radisson Rewards into two, required by the US government, the way Radisson did it, makes absolutely no sense. They could have carved out their Chinese business to Radisson Rewards China and kept Radisson Rewards for the rest of the world.
The current setup is not competitive and is very burdensome. It makes very little sense to participate unless you exclusively stay in the Americas OR the rest of the world. You cannot combine the stays and nights from these two separate programs (you can move points between accounts).