A few months ago, Club Carlson got rid of the best benefit on their US Bank Visa card which gave the last night free on any award booking.  Many of us (me included) called in to complain and got 7500 points.  Now, they seem to have realized how much they have alienated their customers and out of the blue have emailed many of their customers (Club Carlson’s Twitter says it was targeted) a free eCert valid anywhere in the world!

People are reporting on Flyertalk and other blogs that they either got one for each Club Carlson credit card they have or were left out completely.  Luckily, I seemed to make the cut!  Clicking on the red Book Today button lead me to the booking page with my unique eCert code and general promo code pre-filled.

I wasted no time in redeeming it for 1 night in Port of Spain, Trinidad which will be convenient for an evening tour of Caroni Swamp, a top birding spot.

As you can see, I just saved $179 if I had been prepared to pay for this hotel or at least $120 for booking an independent hotel.  Trinidad is small enough that we can drive to all the birding hotspots such as Nariva Swamp, Aripo Savannah, Asa Wright Centre, Yerette and Caroni Swamp so this worked out very well indeed!