George the Travel Monkey: Radisson Blu Champs Elysées Review

This is a review of the Radisson Blu Champs Elysées in Paris, France. I booked this through Club Carlson Gold Points that I earned through a transfer from American Express Membership Reward points. I recieved a complimentary room upgrade thanks to my Club Carlson Gold elite status. I traveled from London to Paris on Eurostar. I stayed one night and the whole cost from transport, room at the Business room at the Radisson Blu Champs Elysées cost a grand total of £60! How did I do it? I will explain…

Step One – Book Eurostar

I took advantage of the Eurostar sale to book a return trip (outbound Saturday morning, inbound Sunday evening) for £60. The first advantage of the Eurostar is quicker city centre-to-city centre travel. Getting through immigration control and security check is much quicker, as well as from the waiting area to train. I would estimate it took no more than 15 minutes, including wait time, from checking-in to sitting on the train. The second advantage is the central location of both Gare du Nord in Paris and St. Pancras in London. The journey from Gare du Nord to Radisson Blu Champs Elysées was around 20 minutes. We went to the nearby La Chapelle Metro stop and took line M2 to Charles De Gaulle then there is a short yet thoroughly pleasant walk in the shadows of the Arc De Triomphe. The Eurostar itself is relatively similar to an aeroplane for comfort with the obvious advantages of more walking space and a section to buy food and drink. One tip for new travelers, the Eurostar section of Gare Du Nord is surprising difficult to find. It is upstairs and can be found by following signs saying “hello London” which contain a Union Jack, and non-EU citizens should fill out a landing card but only when travelling to the United Kingdom (don’t ask me why).

Step Two – Book Hotel Room

American Express Membership Reward points can be transferred to a variety of different airline and hotel partners. One of those is Club Carlson, the frequent traveler reward scheme with brands such as Radisson Blu and Park Inn.

1 American Express Membership Reward = 3 Club Carlson Gold Points

Radisson Blu Champs Elysées is a top tier hotel and therefore a standard room (called Deluxe – again, don’t ask me why) costs 50,000 Club Carlson Gold points per night. I transferred 16,667 American Express Membership Reward points for 50,000 Club Carlson points and booked one night at the Radisson Blu Champs Elysées. The transfer took around 2 weeks as I first needed to register Club Carlson as a transfer partner with American Express. Any future transfers should be completed much quicker.

A deluxe room at the Radisson Blu Champs Elysées would have cost £240 for my night of travel. Therefore my American Express Membership Reward points were worth 1.4p each.

Step Three – Upgrade Room with Free Hotel Status

I am Gold Elite with Club Carlson but have not stayed even one in their property in the last 18 months. How have I done it? It’s a little complicated but bear with me and I’ll try to explain. First, I opened a Le Club Accor loyalty account via a Platinum status link. These links pop up every now and then. I recommend following LoyaltyLobby as that site is usually first with a new link and the links don’t last long due to overwhelming demand. Once I had Platinum status with Le Club I emailed Club Carlson with screenshots and asked for a status match. Within 48 hours they emailed back with the good news that I had been matched as a Gold Elite. There are four tiers to Club Carlson and Gold Elite is the second-highest. Two of the benefits of Gold Elite are room upgrades and early check-in with both being subject to availability . I was traveling during off-season so a quick email the night before resulted in an upgrade to a Room with a view of the Arc De Triomphe as well as early check-in, whether it would be this easy at the height of tourist season I doubt.

A Room with a view of the Arc De Triomphe would have cost £300 (minus the breakfast which is not included in a room upgrade but can be purchased at check-in) so my American Express Membership Reward points can be revalued to 1.8p. The details for my room are:

25 square metres
Bathrobe and slippers
Free broadband and in-room NESPRESSO coffee machine
View of the Arc De Triomphe

The room had two baloneys, a large one with two chairs and a table and a small one with enough room to stand. Both baloneys have a gorgeous view of the Arc De Triomphe as they are located on the seventh and top floor of the hotel. The room itself was a reasonable size, though nothing spectacular. The desk would be entirely inappropriate for business work due to its small size. I measured the wireless internet at over 10MB download speed, which was appropriate for my leisure purposes. Overall, I was not amazed by the room but the view was simply outstanding.