Target ‘Park Plaza Bloomington’ (50,000 bonus Gold Points promotion)
I still have the confirmation e-mail* in my inbox and it bothers me that my options with regard to this promotion are very limited (almost non-existent). I mean I managed to get the other Club Carlson promotions (Mission Accomplished) but this one seems unreachable.
However, I have thought of something: my plan is to have someone else – I have a friend in Minneapolis – stay at Park Plaza Bloomington. As a matter of fact he doesn’t have to stay there just check in and after a few minutes he would check out.
I will reserve the room using my Club Carlson card and my credit card of course. However, at the check-in my friend’s CC will be used (I’ll reimburse him) and I will still get the points. I’ve confirmed with the hotel this is possible (they still sell a room that otherwise perhaps they would not fill, so they should not mind) but perhaps I am missing out on something.
Have you done this type of ‘maneuver’ before?
The deal is that I will get 50,000 points for $106 + tax. I could pay $90.10 + tax but this would be non-refundable, so I cannot take this risk (since my losses in stocks I have become very risk adverse :)).
I am planning on visiting Norway next year and one night at Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Oslo is … 50,000 points or $216.51 tax included refundable.
So even if the plan seems kind of convoluted – saving/making money is never easy 🙂 – I am thinking of going ahead with it as I would save around $100.
* THANK YOU for registering for the Park Plaza® Ultimate Night Giveaway. You are receiving this email to confirm that you have successfully registered and are eligible to earn 50,000 bonus Gold Points®.
Simply complete a qualifying one night stay at any Park Plaza hotel now through 28 August 2012 and earn enough bonus Gold Points® for a FREE night at any Park Plaza hotel worldwide.
Stay One Night, Get One Night with Park Plaza. Book your stay today
Cynical TG,
You are more than fine. I troubleshot a few things on this most recent promotion to see how CC handles this stuff internally for my own sake, and once I knew how they did it and that it worked, I came to the conclusion that:
All that matters is who’s CC number is on the reservation, that’s literally all you need, they could care less who pays for it because once it is paid and goes in the system, it’s going to be the CC# on that room that gets the points. I checked in, and told the front desk that I had 3 other “friend” traveling with me, lets call them FICTITIOUS PERSON A,B, and C, and that they each had their own rooms (and own reservations which I made for them online), but that they wouldnt be arriving until late at night so I wanted to go ahead and check them all in since “I was the one paying for the rooms.” So they just ran my credit card, did all 4 checkins and handed me the keys. When the points posted, they posted to each account individually and as you know, ahem, you can then move points around to one account thru CC.
Also, once you are checked in, they could care less about checking out. I know that was stated in the promotion but they really have no way and if you don’t “check out” physically, they just assume you have left and they automatically check you out.
So basically, all your friend needs to do is go there and check in under your name and pay for it and you are golden.
I have a similar situation in that I made a reservation under my husband’s Club Carlson number. Now he has a business trip and will not be able to stay. So I plan to check in by myself and stay. We live in the Twin Cities and I have already stayed under my own CC number. I hope it works like MW says!
The other thing we have in common is that I will be using my points next summer for a trip to Norway! The 30k CC points we have earned will help a LOT with expenses in Norway!
I have also made reservations using my husband’s Club Carlson account #, but under our sons name. My husband wasn’t in the same city at the time, so my son and I went to check in and I gave them my ID and my credit card… no problem, points posted to my husband’s account (44,000 pts for a Park Inn).
I made reservations under my boyfriend’s name/Club Carlson # using my credit card. Then I called and added my name to the reservation. I checked in, used my card, he got the points. (I had already stayed in all three hotels so we needed to use his CC#)
I actually did better , for Park Plaza i did actually stay, for Park Inn i was a no show and still got the points, though a fried of mine did not, guess was just lucky.