An Introduction to the Choice Hotels Program and Its Points

About Choice Hotels

Although Choice Privileges is often overlooked, it is a program that should not be ignored. Choice Hotels has more than 7,400 properties in more than 40 countries and territories worldwide, and it is not limited to midscale and economy hotels—it also has some higher-end properties. It is especially appealing to travelers who value practicality over luxury.

Choice Hotels has 22 different brands, divided into four categories:

• Upscale (Travel with More): Cambria Hotels, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Ascend Hotel Collection, Radisson Collection, Radisson Individuals, and Park Plaza
• Midscale (Travel and Leisure): Comfort Hotels, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Clarion Pointe, Park Inn by Radisson, and Radisson Inn & Suites
• Economy (Travel Simply): Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn
• Extended Stay (Longer Stays): Everhome Suites, WoodSpring Suites, MainStay Suites, and Suburban Studios

Three Choice Hotels brands—Ascend Hotel Collection, Radisson Collection, and Radisson Individuals—are all curated hotels and resorts. For example, through Ascend Hotel Collection you can book stays at more than 20 casino hotels and resorts, 15 Bluegreen Vacations resorts, and several all-inclusive resorts.

We’ve summarized the key points below. If you don’t want to read the full article, you can jump straight to the highlights:

Introduction to Choice Hotel Points

• Point value: The average value is about 0.6 c/p, so 100 Choice points = $0.6 (Point Values & Analysis). In other words, a hotel stay worth $60 would require about 10k Choice Hotel points.
• Redeeming for hotels: You can search for eligible hotels directly on the Choice Hotel website. There is no fixed award chart, and the number of points required fluctuates with the cash price. Awards start at just 6,000 points, usually top out at 35,000 points, and some hotels in Oceania can go as high as 75,000 points. You can also use Cash + Points, which usually costs 6,000 points plus $35–$180 in cash, but it is not always a good deal compared with booking entirely with points.
• Transfer to miles: 5,000 points can be transferred into 1,000 miles with programs including AS, UA, AA, AC, Spirit, Czech Airlines OK, AeroMexico, and more. This can be useful when you only need a small top-off for miles in a major airline program.
• Point expiration: Points expire after 8 months with no activity; if there is account activity, the expiration is automatically extended by 18 months. If your points are about to expire, you can also consider transferring in 1,000 MR points to extend their validity.
• My take: Choice Hotel points are often a good value for booking hotels in Europe or major US cities. If you have a specific stay in mind, it is worth checking whether your target hotel offers solid redemption value. Their transfer-to-miles feature also creates some interesting opportunities, especially when combined with promotions to buy Choice points cheaply and transfer bonus offers.
• Related credit cards: Wells Fargo Choice Privileges 、 Wells Fargo Choice Privileges Select
• Detailed analysis: Introduction to Choice Privilege Points

Earning Points

Choice points can be earned through stays, credit cards, and point transfers.

Stays

Choice Privileges members earn 10 points per $1 spent on most stays. So spending $100 earns 1,000 points. However, there are additional rules:

• At MainStay Suites, Suburban Studios, and Everhome Suites, stays of seven nights or more earn only 5 points per $1 spent (and you can only earn points on the first 30 nights of a stay). Stays of six nights or fewer still earn 10 points per $1 spent.
• In addition, you can only earn Choice points for stays in certain countries and regions. For example, under the Choice Privileges terms and conditions, you will not earn points when staying at Choice Hotels brands in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.
• Members with Choice Privileges elite status can earn bonus points of 10% to 50% on stays depending on their elite tier.
• To earn points from a stay, be sure to provide your Choice Privileges account information when booking. If you book online while logged in, this will be done automatically.

Credit Cards

The Choice credit cards recently moved from Barclays to Wells Fargo. If you stay often, the annual-fee card can be a good option. The 30,000 points you get each year are worth about $200.

Transfers

Choice has quite a few transfer partners, but 1:1 transfers are obviously not very attractive, since Choice points are worth only about 0.6 cents per point. A 1:2 transfer from Citi ThankYou Points or Wells Fargo can be worth considering. Of course, the best approach is to check whether the room you want is available before transferring points.

Other Ways to Earn

Here are other ways to earn Choice points. If you live outside the U.S., some of these options may not be available:

• Register for and take advantage of lucrative Choice Rewards points promotions.
• Rent with Avis and Budget (eligible rentals can earn 1,000 points).
• Refer a friend to Choice Privileges (you will earn 500 points after your friend completes their first points stay.
• Dine at participating restaurants in the Choice Privileges Eat & Earn program.
• Buy Choice points.
• Sign up for e-rewards and earn points by completing surveys.

Using Points

Basic Redemptions

Using Choice points for stays is relatively easy. To book an award stay, visit the Choice Hotels website. Enter the booking details such as destination, dates, and guests. But before clicking "Find Hotels," click the "rate" drop-down menu and select "Use Choice Privileges points instead."

• Official website

In most of the world, free night awards generally cost 8,000 to 35,000 points per night. However, Choice Privileges recently brought back RewardSave award stays, with redemptions starting at just 6,000 points. In addition, you can now book more premium rooms.

Choice Privileges does not use a standard award chart or dynamic pricing. Instead, the program sets room rates for each hotel within specific date ranges, with weekday rates differing from weekend rates.

Of course, you can still find very good redemptions when cash rates are high. For example, the redemption below works out to 1.1 cents per point, which makes transferring Citi or Wells Fargo points in quite worthwhile.

Getting a $288 hotel for 25,000 points is still a great deal.

Redeeming for Preferred Hotels & Resorts

Choice points can also be redeemed for stays at more than 300 participating Preferred Hotels & Resorts properties worldwide. These higher-end hotels tend to cost more in cash and luxury level, and awards usually run from 25,000 to 87,000 points per night. In the past, Preferred Hotels & Resorts stays could not be booked online and had to be redeemed by phone. Fortunately, that is no longer the case, since Choice now offers online redemptions.

However, there is a big hurdle when redeeming. When you search for stays on the Choice website, Preferred Hotels & Resorts properties will appear, but only if your account has enough Choice points to make the booking. One workaround is to check the Preferred Hotels & Resorts website first to see whether an award room is available, then come back and book it.

• Preferred Hotels & Resorts overview

Elite Status

Benefits

Choice’s elite benefits are pretty good. If you can reach the top-tier Diamond status, you will get breakfast for two plus room upgrades. Unfortunately, the Choice credit card only gets you up to Platinum status, but with those 20 elite nights, you only need 20 more nights to reach Diamond.

Status Match

Choice also offers status matches. If you have elite status with another hotel chain, you can send a screenshot along with your Choice member number to the appropriate email address. You should receive the matched status within 30 days.

• Status match link

However, the official site does not say which status matches to which tier. My guess is that top-tier statuses like Hilton and Marriott would definitely match to Diamond.

Conclusion

After a wave of acquisitions and the addition of its Preferred Hotels partnership, Choice Hotels has carved out a place in the upper-midscale and resort space. Its elite benefits are pretty good, with worthwhile perks like room upgrades and breakfast. And with decent transfer ratios from Wells Fargo and Citi, it can be fairly easy to move points over and put them to use. It is definitely worth knowing about.