When Club Carlson announced that their co-brand Visa will stop giving second night free on award stays, they offered something of a sweetener to make the news go down more easily.

They announced 30,000 bonus points on your next stay paid with the card by August 31.

It turns out that any room charge even on an award stay is enough to trigger this bonus.

Now Club Carlson is changing the points prices of a number of their hotels, and net net not for the better, I suppose it should be seen as part and parcel of their approach that they are offering elites 5000 bonus points per stay in June and July that’s booked this month. (HT: Flyertalk)

I do expect the changes and this promotion are related — to get elites to continue to book stays even while they may be mad, by softening the blow for their frequent customers at least for their near-term redemptions by providing more points.

All co-brand Club Carlson credit card holders are of course (Gold) elites.

The 5K Elite Summer Bonus Point Promotion (“Promotion”) is valid for 5,000 bonus Gold Points® (“Bonus Points”) on each Eligible Stay booked between May 4, 2015 and May 31, 2015 and completed between June 1, 2015 and July 31, 2015. You must be a Club CarlsonSM Elite member at the time of reservation to participate in the Promotion. “Eligible Stay” is defined in the Club Carlson Terms and Conditions. Stays paid for using Points + Cash are not eligible for this Promotion.

Another plausible explanation for this promotion is that the timing is mere coincidence — it’s actually similar to one they offered for stays mid-April through late June except with more hotels participating but fewer (elites only) members eligible.