While not personally one of my favorite loyalty programs, Choice Privileges is a niche program that does have some sweet spots. They often have lucrative promotions for stays, and also often sell points at a discount. Travis has explained why he thinks Choice points are worth buying.
One of the best uses of Choice Privileges points is for redemptions in Northern Europe, where hotels are otherwise quite expensive. Travis has redeemed at hotels like the Clarion Collection Hotel Folketeateret and the Clarion Collection Hotel Bastion, which cost 16,000 points per night, and include breakfast and dinner. Sometimes Choice sells points for ~0.5 cents each, in which case that’s a heck of a deal for a hotel like this.
There has been one major quirk when it comes to redeeming Choice Privileges points that has taken away a lot of the potential from the points. Specifically, Choice Privileges has only let members redeem points for stays within 30 days in the US and Canada, and for stays within 60 days at all other properties.
That window has now been increased — Choice Privileges is now letting members redeem their points to book free nights 100 days out at properties around the world. This is a fantastic development, given that many want to plan their travels further out than 1-2 months.
Note that you have to be logged into your Choice Privileges account to see this extended booking window — if you’re not logged in you’ll still see those nights as “sold out” more than 30-60 days out.
It has also been shared with me that a couple of other updates have been made to the program, including:
- Points + Cash has been relaunched, allowing members to combine money and points for hotel stays
- Starting next year, Platinum and Diamond members will have get Avis Preferred Plus status
Bottom line
Choice Privileges increasing the booking window for award stays is a huge improvement to the program. Being limited to making award bookings 30-60 days out was restrictive, so seeing that window now increased to 100 nights is great. That’s still not as good as most hotel programs, where you can book a year out, but at least it’s progress.
Does this new booking window change your interest in Choice Privileges?
Not working and I even called reservation center and they had no idea where this came from including when talking with a supervisor....Get the info correct......
Still not working. You can see the room but selecting "BOOK NOW" throws an error page up.
I agree with Carl P.
I also agree with the thought that Wyndham is much much much worse, so bad that I won’t go near it even for a free night.
Not working. I can see 100 days but only 30 days can be booked. 60-100 days will get error message for next step.
I use Choice Hotels when working around the SE US, find their hotels in some of the small town I visit. Have found that the points required for European hotels is much lower than Most US locations. Great hotel in Sorento, IT that we have used several times for 16,000 points, also good hotels in Rome for 16,000.
You could look at this a different way. If you were Diamond status you already got the 100 day window. Now everybody gets it so there is more competition for dates. So it's a Diamond status devaluation.
If it wasn't for Wyndham it would be the worst program. 60, 90, 100, 120, 200 days out. Really. Heck I book vacations often with other programs 10 to 11 months out to fit with most airline award redemption's. My basic rule is unless it's Cambria just skip this whole program.
Great to have an expanded booking window.
The points and cash option can be strange though. In the 4 cases I looked at, the points & cash price asked form more $ than the straight cash price. $105 + 6000 pts or $91? Tough choice.
This is not working. I tried two hotels that I have been waiting for the window to open in mid-June. One came up with the message that they're only taking points reservations until June 9 - 30 days as before. The other one actually came up with the "Book Now" button in a few room categories but clicking the button produces nothing more but the error message.
Headline should have read "Choice Privileges still blacking-out two-thirds of the award calendar", must be the worst of the hotel programs
Choice Privileges is great for travel to small cities in the US. In places like NYC, only passable for near JFK. If I am in Little Rock, AR or Zanesville, OH, a Comfort Inn is fine. The location might even be better than the Hilton or Marriott.