Why I’m Excited To Stay At The Radisson LAX For A Girlfriend Getaway Weekend

I have stayed in some crazy hotels in my day.  Among the most unbelievable was a crumbling shell of a building in Busua, Ghana called Mother Mary’s.  Huge chunks of the roof and walls of the building were just gone.  It literally looked like a bomb had fallen on it.  There weren’t any private bathrooms.  In fact, the only place to use the restroom was a cavernous semi-private room (“privacy” meant that there was a partial, saloon-style door) with a toilet made from a dubious-looking wooden board balanced over a fairly deep cement well.  The room faced a large open courtyard, and you could see and hear people in the courtyard, and they could see and hear you.  In case you are wondering, I could not bring myself to risk my life or my modesty by going to the bathroom here.  I walked half a mile to the nearest “luxury” hotel instead.  I also peed in the ocean.  I dug up my journal from that time in my life, and here is what I wrote about our night at Mother Mary’s: the bed was uncomfortable, there was a loud mouse on the table and a glowing worm on the side of the bed.

So I’m no stranger to roughing it.

That being said, I do love a good luxury hotel.  I’ve got an upcoming weekend trip to Los Angeles planned with a girlfriend of mine – a golden opportunity for glamming it up.  There are a lot of high-end properties in the city, so we had our pick.  However, as I reviewed all of the options, I realized that I didn’t want to stay in any of them.  Instead, I wanted to stay at the Radisson LAX.

Why?

First of all, I realized that we weren’t really going to be in our room unless we were sleeping.  This wasn’t a hotel-centered trip.  We were going to be footloose and fancy free.  PARTYING!  (If you call boutique shopping and fine dining partying).

Second, while the Radisson LAX definitely is not a property that I would describe as a “luxury hotel,” it is clean and convenient.  It has bathrooms.  I also know that due to my Gold Elite status with Club Carlson, they will usually give me a very nice upgrade to a suite when I stay there.

However, the reason I decided to book that hotel is very simple: I’m doing it for the points.  With Club Carlson’s current triple points promo, I will earn 60 points/dollar on my stay.  We’ll be there three nights, which will net me around 25,000 points.  I plan to use these points in the future for a luxury vacation at one of Club Carlson’s high-end properties such as the Radisson Blu St. Martin or the Radisson Champs Elysees in Paris.  In other words, I would much rather earn points on this trip so I can burn them on the next.

The point is that not every vacation has to be a luxury vacation.  Points-earning trips are also an important part of the “points cycle.”

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