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Choice Privileges operates mostly motels in the United States, but some nicer hotels abroad like the $325-per-night Clarion Hotel in Stockholm.
Choice just launched a promotion offering a free night after two stays. This is a typical promotion among hotels that can often be worthy of a mattress run (i.e. booking two cheap one night stays you don’t need to get a free stay at an expensive property later), so I looked into it. Unfortunately this promotion is not worthy of a mattress run.
Analysis of Current Promo
Here are the details:
- After two stays
- with arrivals between March 3 and May 5, 2016
- you will get 5,000 to 8,000 bonus points.
The bonus points you get depend on the number of base points you earned on your stays. The more base points you get, the fewer bonus points you get. The idea is to make sure that after base points and bonus, you have earned at least 8,000 points from the two stays.
Eight thousand is the number of points needed for a free night at Choice Privileges’ Category 2 Hotels. There are over 1,500 hotels in Category 1 and 2. Free nights range from 6,000 to 35,000 points in most of the world and up to 75,000 points in Australasia.
The bottom line on the promotion is to register here if you expect to have upcoming Choice Privileges stays, but don’t go out of your way to make such stays.
When I Use Choice Privileges
The last few years, Daily Getaways has sold very cheap Choice Privileges points.
In fact, I have personally gotten more value out of purchasing Choice Privileges points in 2013 and 2014 than any other Daily Getaways deal.
In 2015, I used the points mostly at American motels when I was on short trips to the East Coast. (Here’s where I slept in 2015 including 14 nights in motels.) But in previous years, I used the points in Oslo, Stockholm, Rome, and Munich, saving huge money.
By the way, Daily Getaways returns April 4, 2016.
Terms & Conditions
*Free night is based on an 8,000 point Choice Privileges reward night level. Registration required at ChoiceHotels.com/earnafreenight before check-out. Members must book trips via ChoiceHotels.com, the Choice Hotels mobile app, or 800.4CHOICE at qualifying rates. Corporate travelers may book through a corporate online booking system. Choice Privileges member number must be provided upon check-in. After a second qualifying trip with arrival between 3/3/16 and 5/5/16, members will be awarded a minimum of 5,000 and maximum of 8,000 bonus points, depending on the number of base points earned from the two (2) separate qualifying trips. These bonus points will allow redemption for a free night at the 8,000 reward night level at over 1,500 hotels. A free night at most Choice Privileges locations requires more than 8,000 points. A trip is defined as a stay that is any number of consecutive nights at one hotel regardless of check-ins or check-outs. Trips at vacation rental property locations and stays booked with the SEGEN rate code do not qualify for promotional bonus points. To be eligible to earn the bonus, members must set their earning preference to Choice Privileges points in their online account. Any change made to earning preference will remain in effect after the promotion has ended. Allow 72 hours from check-out for points to post. You must maintain an address in the U.S. (including U.S. territories) or Canada to be eligible for this promotion. For Choice Privileges program details, eligible rates, eligible countries and point redemption rules, visit choiceprivileges.com. Hotels are independently owned and operated.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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Not a fan of Choice Hotels. Here are the reasons:
1. They don’t allow more than 60days booking for award travel. This is the only hotel program that does that. You can’t get hotels in good locations so close to the departure.
2. Most of their hotels all “way over-priced” for their value and compared to other chains nearby.
3. They removed lot of their “good” hotels from the award booking (Bahamas Atlantis, Nordic hotels recently).
Don’t waste your credit inquiry on this card.