And The Winner of My 9,000 Club Carlson Points Is...

First off, off I'd like to thank everyone who entered to win 9,000 of my Club Carlson points; I really enjoyed reading all of your best points-redemption stories!

Thanks to all who liked the Facebook fan page, tweeted at me, and subscribed - I'm grateful for all of your support.

Without further delay, let's get straight to the winner, shall we?

Using random.org, the lucky number that was generated was 3, making commenter Hans Mast the winner! Congratulations!

Hans, please send me a private email with your full name and Club Carlson number no later than Monday, February 6, 2012. As soon as I receive your account information, I'll go ahead and transfer your prize to you.

Thanks again to everyone who entered! Be sure to check back for more some more upcoming contests soon, as I plan on doing at least one reader contest per month. :)

Hotel Review: Country Inn & Suites Knoxville Cedar Bluff

En route back to NJ and after driving 15 hours straight with minimal stops from Houston, we finally arrived in Knoxville, TN at around 8:00 PM. We were utterly exhausted from driving, cranky, and felt like we were still moving even after getting out of the car. Ever feel like that? Anyway, you can bet that it felt incredible to finally arrive at the hotel.

As you see from the planning in progress page, we were originally set to stay at the Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Knoxville Airport, TN, a category 1 Club Carlson hotel. However, Club Carlson generously upgraded us and comped us into their brand-new Country Inn & Suites Knoxville Cedar Bluff property - very generous of them to do so, and we were excited to check it out (most importantly, sleep!).

Up on arrival, we were impressed with how new the hotel was, and it actually still smelled new. We later found out that it was only built a couple of years ago - no wonder why everything looked pristine in the lobby/common areas.

Check in was a breeze and Michael and Rachel at the front desk were courteous and entertaining to talk to. Rachel suggested a bunch of near-by restaurants for us to get a quick bite to eat (we were starving), and even offered to print out directions for us, which was very sweet of her.

Here's a shot of the hotel's lobby - very cozy and welcoming!

Another shot of the lobby/fireplace.

Michael and Rachel at the front desk were helpful and very fun to speak with (believe it or not, we talked about Jersey Shore, LOL please don't unsubscribe now!).

The hotel had a great heated indoor pool and jacuzzi, and I would have loved to relax in either one of these... too bad we had to hit the road again in less than 8 hours after check in :(

The fitness center was loaded with brand new equipment and weights - tempting, and such a tease... I was too tired to do anything but sleep!

After exploring the hotel a bit and grabbing a bite to eat at nearby Puelo's, it was time to go to our room and get settled in for the night. When we opened the door to our room on the 2nd floor, we were happy to see that we were upgraded into a gorgeous suite. It was so refreshing that the suite smelled like entering a brand new home, and the hardwood floors looked untouched and gorgeous.

On the counter I noticed a nice little goodie-bag welcome gift and card from the hotel's GM, Renie Carroll, that was a nice touch because it was filled with snacks that we could munch on during our drive back home to NJ the next day.

A peak inside the welcome gift that was left for us on the counter of our suite.

Inside the welcome goodie bag was a nice hand-written card from the hotel's GM.

Here's a portion of the living room area of the suite.

I loved the hardwood floors, new furniture, and brand new flat screen TV.

The corner nook had a coffee machine, a fridge, and a microwave.

The bathroom was beautiful, clean, and I loved the brand-new granite countertops. Amenities included Pantene shampoo and conditioner, Jergens bar soap, and Vaseline body lotion.

The shower was fantastic (partially due to the fact that I may or may not have been in dire need of one), clean, and refreshing.

Our bedroom area had a separate door for added privacy within the suite. We had two queen beds, and they were without a doubt, the most comfortable beds we've slept in out of all of the hotels so far on the trip. It was extremely hard for me to get out of bed the next morning.

Tiffany watched her non-sense reality TV shows on this TV (I believe we were "graced" with Teen Mom... ugh).

In conclusion, Tiffany and I can both agree that this was one of our favorite stays during our trip because it was brand new, felt homey, and the beds were heavenly. Too bad we only used Knoxville as a short layover as we made our way back home. I'd love to come back one day and explore the city a bit. Until next time. :)

Contest: I'm Giving Away 9,000 of My Club Carlson Points - Enough For a Free Night!

It's contest time! Yay for free points!

If you've been actively following the blog, you sure know that I have been blogging frequently about my Texas Road Trip made entirely possible by redeeming Club Carlson points (hopefully I'm not boring you to tears!).

What's a more appropriate prize than giving away 9,000 of my very own Club Carlson points to a lucky reader? Just so you know, 9,000 points are enough to redeem for a free night in a Category 1 Club Carlson hotel.

So how do you enter?

Entering is easy, and there are 3 ways to do so. All you have to do is one of the following (brownie points and a smile if you do all 3!)

• "Like" Just Another Points Traveler on Facebook 
• Follow me on Twitter & tweet at me saying Hi!
• Subscribe to the blog via email (you only get 1 email a day).

After you've done one (or 2, or all) of the above, then post a comment below sharing your best points-redemption story. I will randomly choose a winner using random.org from the comments on Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:00 AM EST.

Winner will be notified by email and must be able to provide me with their Club Carlson Gold Points account number so I could transfer the points in. If you don't have an account, you may register for one at http://www.clubcarlson.com.

Good luck!

Hotel Review: Park Inn Houston North Hotel & Conference Center, TX

After saying farewell to Austin, the next stop on our Texas Road Trip was Houston. Upon arriving downtown, we spent some time at the Houston Aquarium and then grabbed a quick lunch at Bayou Place, Houston's entertainment hub located in the heart of downtown's theater district.

The Houston Aquarium

Tiffany and I

After lunch, we thought it would be best to call it a day, hang low, and head straight to the hotel because we would be driving 15 hours the next day to Knoxville, TN. The Park Inn Houston North Hotel is conveniently located about 15 miles from downtown Houston (via I-45) and only a few miles away from Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).

When we arrived at the hotel, I was impressed with the fresh, welcoming scent that filled the lobby, and we were instantaneously greeted by Derek at the front desk who had already checked us in and had our room keys ready. The Park Inn Houston North Hotel is a Category 1 Club Carlson property (reward nights are 9,000 points), and I booked it during Club Carlson's "Redeem Points. Earn Points" promotion, making this stay completely free for us.

The lobby was spacious with high ceilings and a cozy fireplace.

Derek and Shana at the front desk were two super helpful, warm, and welcoming individuals!

Having elite status with Club Carlson, I was happy to know that we were upgraded to a HUGE townhouse suite. While walking to our room, I had a moment to chat with the hotel's GM, Victor, who gave us a warm welcome and informed us of some of the exciting upcoming renovations that are in store for the property.

When we opened our door to our room, we were incredibly impressed with the size of our suite. No wonder why they call this the townhouse suite - it was definitely designed to be a nice home away from home, with separate rooms and lots of living space. Our suite included a huge king sized bed, 2 desks (one equip with a desktop computer), a dining room, a full-sized living room with a flat screen TV, a bar/kitchen area, two full bathrooms and plenty of closet space.

Below is a photo tour of our room:

The spacious bedroom area of the suite (king bed, desk, flat screen TV, and sliding doors leading to the hotel's courtyard).

Bathroom #1:located in bedroom and stocked with plenty of towels, toiletries, cotton balls/swabs, and Park Inn's signature rubber ducky!

A close up of the toiletries - Vaseline body lotion, Pantene shampoo and conditioner, Jergens bar soaps, make-up remover wipes, a shower cap, and small sewing kit.

The very large and spacious bedroom work desk

There were plenty of snacks for us scattered throughout the room.

In the next room over, we had a huge full-sized living room furnished with leather couches.

Adjacent to the living room was another work area with a ready-to-use desktop computer.

The next room featured a complete dining area with a full-sized dining room table.

The kitchenette/bar area was pretty basic, but a nice touch to the dining area. Too bad it wasn't a fully-loaded bar LOL.

Bathroom #2 was nicely decorated and also fully stocked with toiletries. I really loved the colorful flower accents!

While exploring our room, we received a phone call from Shana at the front desk and Elizabeth of management asking how we liked our room; the customer service we've experienced so far has been outstanding.

Shortly after, there was a knock on the door, and to our surprise, we were handed a gorgeous platter compliments of the executive chef along with a hand-written card from the management team. This was incredibly generous of the staff!

Executive chef, Richard Roane, prepared a beautiful welcome platter for us complete with a cheese assortment, crackers, fruit, chocolate-covered strawberries and Voss water.

A beautiful hand-written card from Victor and Elizabeth of the hotel's management!

After settling in a bit, we decided to explore the hotel a bit and squeeze in our very first workout of the trip. I was relieved to be able to get some fitness in knowing that we'd be driving for 15 hours starting promptly at 4 am the next day.

The fitness room was larger than other hotel fitness centers of its class, featuring plenty of cardio equipment, exercise machines, free weights and fitness mats.

After a brief workout, we set to explore some of the hotel amenities including the outdoor pool, the bar, and very large restaurant (Sam Houston's) before showering and getting ready to have dinner and drinks on site at the hotel.

The interior of the hotel's restaurant, Sam Houston's.

Another shot of Sam Houston's restaurant.

A snap shot of Sam Houston's hotel bar (photo was taken during non-operational hours).

This outside courtyard was accessible from our suite via our in-room sliding doors.

Here's a shot of the outdoor pool. If Mr. Sunshine was out, I'd be tempted to tan poolside - it was a nice warm day!

We started off our evening by visiting the Sam Houston's bar to grab a drink. Alma, our bartender, made Tiffany and I amaretto sours (we're such girls, I know). We then went to visit our new friend, chef Richard, by grabbing dinner at Sam Houston's. The service was great and the food was very good!

Here's Tiffany pretending not to pose while looking at the menu.

Tiffany ordered the pecan-encrusted grouper filet with home-style mashed potatoes and string beans. Yummy!

I opted for the Sam Houston's salad which included pecans, cranberries, and goat cheese.

From the bottom of my heart, I'd like to thank the entire staff of Park Inn Houston North for their tremendous hospitality. Never in my life have I received such over-the-top treatment during a single hotel stay. My stay here certainly puts the icing on the cake for customer service. I look forward to sending a personalized note to Park Inn and Club Carlson letting them know of my wonderful experience here. In this day and age, excellent customer service should never go unnoticed. Thanks again for a great stay!

Hotel Review: Radisson Hotel & Suites Downtown Austin

I'll admit that I originally booked the Texas Road Trip specifically to take advantage of Club Carlson's "Redeem Points. Earn Points" promotion, so I was strategic in only choosing Category 1 Club Carlson properties along the way from NJ to Texas. There were only a handful of Category 1 properties in Texas, primiarily in the metropolitan Dallas and Houston areas, so immediately I limited our stays to Dallas and Houston.

However, after sharing my trip planning with close friends and family, they all said something along the lines of, "you can't possibly drive all the way to Texas and not visit Austin". It didn't really take much twisting of my arm to add another day to itinerary; after all, it was a vacation.

Being the points/miles fanatic I am, you can bet I was looking for the "best points scenario". At first, I figured that since I've already completed one stay for the Wyndham Rewards Gift Me Promotion, then I might as well bite the bullet and go for stay number 2, getting me my 6,500 free bonus points (enough for a free night).

However the points Gods must have been on my side somehow, and during communication with Club Carlson about my trip (they were aware of my redemption strategy/planning in progress), I was ecstatic to find out that they offered to comp us in their Category 5 Radisson Hotel & Suites in Downtown Austin! Again, very generous of them, and I'm very grateful!

Now lets get to the review already, shall we? We left Dallas around 8 am and arrived in Austin right on time around 11:30. Being starved for lunch at that point, we were excited that there was a full size TGI Friday's restaurant right inside the lobby of the hotel (and a Starbucks too!). Do know that there is an onsite parking garage that costs $16 a day for hotel guests.

Upon arrival, we were impressed with the decor and comfort of the lobby. There are plenty of sitting areas, mesmerizing aquariums, and a warm fireplace to relax by. Megan at the front desk told us that our standard room was not ready yet (we arrived early), and I casually told her that I had elite status and asked for an upgrade if it was available. She told us that a lakeside view suite with one king bed would be ready in about 30 minutes, which was fine because we were going to have lunch at Friday's before going to the room anyway.

During lunch, Megan called my cell phone and told us that the room was ready when we were. We headed up to our suite (room 1039), and within minutes Megan called us and asked us if everything was OK with the room, which was a nice touch of good customer service. As far as location, the hotel was nested right in the center of town, walking distance to Austin's famous 6th Street and many restaurants (too bad it wasn't bat season in Austin, it would be been cool to see the famous bat colonies). Take a look at some of the pictures we took of our suite and the hotel below.

We were excited that there was a full size (bar included) TGI Friday's in the hotel. It was nice to grab lunch before checking into the room.

The lobby was spacious and inviting with plenty of couches, a warm fire place, and the elk chandeliers were a cool touch.

The living room area of our suite - a bit dated, but clean and spacious.

The desk was situated in the living room of the suite, and was big enough to work comfortably.

The coffee machine was located on a separate nook between the bedroom and living room area.

We were given two complimentary bottles of Dasani water.

The shower was pretty basic, but clean, and had good water pressure and plenty of hot water.

The bathroom sink area was stocked with Radisson's signature Asira product line (Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Lotion & Body Soap Bar).

We shared a very large king size bed, and the bedroom had a door to separate it from the rest of the suite for added privacy.

All Radisson rooms are equip with Sleep Number beds (not my favorite, but my sleep number is 30 if anyone cares).

After a short nap for us in the room, we decided to hit the town and walk to check out 6th Street; believe it or not, Austin seemed to be dead all around (I'm blaming it being Sunday and the Super Bowl playoffs), so we had some dinner and drinks at Manuel's (Upscale Tex-Mex, which ended up being excellent) ultimately because we got a coupon for a free loaded nachos appetizer from the front desk. After dinner, we decided to head back to the room and watch the game (not that we are football fans or anything, but we did feel a sense of obligation to support our Giants...).