I'm interested in the businesses behind loyalty programs, so I always wonder:

What did that credit card company pay that airline for its miles?
How much does American Airlines pay Qantas when an AAdvantage award includes a Qantas leg?
How much did that hotel loyalty program reimburse that specific hotel for the free stay I just took?

Well last month I stayed at the Radisson Martinique of Broadway (review here), and I know exactly how much Club Carlson rei

Having just landed at Newark after a First Class flight from Honolulu, I took the AirTrain to New York Penn Station, and walked the few blocks to the Radisson Martinique on Broadway.

I had two free one-night certificates at any Radisson in the United States, and I knew that a New York City hotel would probably be the most expensive place to use them.

Although we arrived at 1 PM, several hours before check in, my friend and I were quickly checked in and given the keys to a room with double beds.

How was the room?

Per this thread on Flyertalk, Club Carlson is running a very interesting first quarter promotion. The full terms and conditions, as well as registration, can be found here. If you stay three nights at Club Carlson hotels between January 6th and April 13th, you will earn 38,000 bonus points.

What will 38,000 Club Carlson points get you?

38,000 points is enough for four free nights at a category 1 or one night at a category 4. The full award chart is below.

2013 was a year of several major devaluation announcements including:

United (kicks in February 1, 2014)
Southwest (kicks in March 31, 2014)
Delta (already kicked in on current award bookings for travel that starts February 1, 2014 or later)
Hyatt (kicks in January 7, 2014)
Ultimate Rewards (with three major transfer partners devaluing--United, Southwest, and Hyatt--the program took a major hit through no fault of its own)

But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Disclosure: I am getting two one-night stay certificates at U.S. Radissons for hosting this giveaway. I’ll look into giving them away too.

This week I ran two posts as part of a giveaway to give each of two winners:

One $500 Visa Gift Card
Club Carlson Gold Elite Status through February 2014 (If you already have Club Carlson Gold Status, you will receive Concierge Status through February 2014.)

The prizes were generously donated by Club Carlson.

Update at 1:35 PM ET: I missed the sale, which it looks like sold out in mere seconds. The good news is throughout the week, Club Carlson is having flash sales for just a few hours that sell points for about 0.4 cents each.

Follow me on twitter to learn about the next one.

Glad to see some readers got in on the deal!

End of update.

Today might be the best Daily Getaways deal so far.

Club Carlson is selling points with a 50% bonus through November 10, 2012 bringing the cost down to 0.47 cents per point. Club Carlson hotels include Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, and Country Inns & Suites.

To purchase points from this non-targeted promotion, start on the promotion's home page. The promotion page lays out the rules. Every 1,000 points purchased costs $7 and earns a bonus 500 points.
The maximum Club Carlson points you can purchase in a given year are 40k, which would get you 60k total points under this promotion.

Recently I spent three nights in Krakow, Poland at two hotels. I'll be reviewing four hotels in Krakow, based on my stays and their location relative to where you want to spend time in the city.

Before I get to that, let me say that I highly recommend a trip to Krakow. First of all, it's in Poland which I found to be inexpensive, full of delicious food, and brimming with attractive people who spoke some English.

Of course, the English is not as strong as in western or northern Europe.