Surprise From Club Carlson

A few months ago, we decided to downgrade our Club Carlson Visa when the first year was over and the $85 annual fee was about to hit. We discovered there was a "secret" no fee version of the card.

Since (a) we didn't really plan on earning points with this card after getting the 85,000 point sign up bonus and (b) didn't really find that many compelling Club Carlson hotels we wanted to stay at, we didn't think paying the fee for another year was worth it, even after the card would give us another 40,000 points.

We ended up just making some random hotel redemptions before the expiration of the Last Night Free benefit. One 2-night booking for my grandmother and aunt in Rome at the Radisson Blu and another 2-night booking at Niagara Falls for my parents and me over Labor Day weekend.

We thought we'd just sock-drawer the Club Carlson card and not really think about it again, but then yesterday, we received a surprise letter in the mail.

"U.S. Bank is committed to providing service excellence to our cardholders. In appreciation of your continued support and for being a loyal Club Carlson Visa cardholder, we are pleased to provide you with one E-Certificate for one night in a standard roomat any Carlson Rezidor hotel worldwide. Your E-Certificate will be delivered in an email from Club Carlson."

Wow, that's a very generous offer for doing absolutely nothing at all!  Where in the world should we use it?