With nearly 7,500 properties in 45 countries across 22 brands, you have a lot of choices with Choice Hotels. The chain is largely made up of midscale hotel brands, with locations all over the United States. Their portfolio also includes budget and extended-stay brands. If your typical travel style is 5-stars-or-bust, Choice isn’t your program.
The good news, though, is that Choice has expanded its upscale options by adding more Ascend Collection hotels and by acquiring Radisson Hotels Americas. The acquisition of Radisson Hotels Americas in particular also added greater international options in North America and South America. Choice locations are relatively sparse on other continents, however.
| Brands | Property Type |
|---|---|
| Ascend | Upscale |
| Cambria Hotels | Upscale |
| Clarion | Midscale |
| Clarion Pointe | Midscale |
| Comfort | Midscale |
| Country Inn & Suites | Midscale |
| EconoLodge | Economy |
| Everhome Suites | Extended stay |
| Park Inn | Midscale |
| Mainstay Suites | Extended stay |
| Park Plaza | Upscale |
| Quality Inn | Midscale |
| Radisson | Upscale |
| Radisson Blu | Upscale |
| Radisson Collection | Upscale |
| Radisson Individuals | Upscale |
| Radisson Inn & Suites | Midscale |
| Radisson RED | Upscale |
| Rodeway Inn | Economy |
| Sleep Inn | Midscale |
| Suburban Studios | Extended stay |
| Woodspring Suites | Extended stay |
Joining Choice Privileges is free and it only takes a few minutes. Sign up at choicehotels.com or download the Choice Hotels app and click “Join Now” if you’re not a member. If you already have a Choice Privileges number, you’ll have to use the website to set up your online account.
In order to join Choice Privileges, you’ll need to provide Choice with your personal information, including your name, email, address and phone number. You’ll also need to choose a username and password.
We peg the value of Choice Privileges points at $0.008 each, based on our research. You’ll generally get better value if you’re booking properties during peak times when prices are high.
Rather than organizing properties by tier, Choice Privileges uses a dynamic pricing model where the price of reward nights varies depending on the property and date. In general, you can expect the cost of a reward night to be higher when cash rates are higher. Reward nights start at just 8,000 points, and can get as high as 35,000 points per night, except for the Asia-Pacific region where nights can cost up to 75,000 points.
To determine the value you’re getting from your points, you’ll want to divide the total cost of the stay (including taxes) by the number of points required. If the result is around 0.8 cents per point — our average value of Choice points — then using points is probably worth it. If the value is substantially less, such as just 0.5 cent per point, you might want to save your points for a better redemption. If you know what your points are worth, you can get the most bang for your buck.
Sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months20 – enough to redeem for up to 7 reward nights at select Choice Hotels® properties. Additional fees may apply.
The biggest benefits of the Choice Privileges® Mastercard® are the automatic Gold elite status and the generous sign-up bonus. Rather than needing to stay 10 nights per year, you can enjoy the extra points and other benefits right out the gate. There also aren’t any foreign transaction fees, so you can use it at international Choice properties.
The earning rates aren’t as high as some other hotel cards without fees, but it’s worth using if you stay at Choice Hotels somewhat frequently and don’t have a premium travel card. Overall, it’s a solid no-annual-fee hotel card. You can earn points on everyday purchases, and even get cell phone protection if you pay your monthly phone bill using the card.
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The Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard® takes the benefits up a notch. It provides automatic Platinum elite status, giving you more bonus points without needing to stay at least 20 nights with the chain.
Even though the card carries a $95 annual fee, the annual bonus points easily more than offset this if you’re fully utilizing the card. Based on our Choice Points average value, the 30,000 points awarded each account anniversary is worth $240 when put toward your hotel stays. Given the card’s other benefits and excellent earning abilities at Choice properties, it’s a solid pick for the loyal Choice member.
There is no shortage of ways to earn Choice Privileges points. You can earn by staying at Choice brand hotels, making purchases with their co-branded credit cards, or transferring points at a 1:1 ratio from partners including American Express and Capital One.
As a Choice Privileges member, you’ll earn a base rate of 10 points per $1 spent at Choice Hotels properties, excluding taxes and incidental charges. If you have Choice Privileges elite status, you’ll enjoy an elevated rewards earning rate.
Staying at a Choice Hotels property on a weekday night earns you a perk through the “Your Extras” program. Any U.S. stay that includes at least one Sunday through Thursday night will provide a choice from the following:
The Your Extras for Canada-based members differ slightly. You can’t earn the Uber trip discount or the Starbucks card, but you can earn a $5 Tim Hortons gift card or a $5 coffee gift card. All Canadian options are in Canadian dollars. At locations outside the U.S. and Canada, you can only choose between 400 Choice Privileges points or 100 airline miles.
To make a “Your Extras” selection, visit your online profile.
One of the best features of the Choice Privileges rewards program is how many bank programs partner with it. You can transfer points from four credit card rewards programs to Choice Privileges:
Having multiple bank partners means you can earn Choice Privileges points from many different credit cards.
Choice has run its “Stay Twice, Get a Free Night” promotion multiple times over the years. The promotion offers a “free night” after every two stays at participating hotels. The award is actually a total of 8,000 points, enough for a free night at the cheapest properties or a $50 gift card at a promotional rate. The exact number of points awarded varies, as Choice will account for any points you earned from those stays and make up the difference. However, the promotion will provide a minimum of 5,000 additional points. Registration is required to participate, and stays must be completed within the offer window.
Bluegreen Vacations is a time-share company that operates several dozen resort properties within the U.S. and one in Oranjestad, Aruba. You can search choicehotels.com directly to book some resort properties, which will earn you 10 points per dollar like any other Choice property.
You can also enjoy a three-night stay with Bluegreen Vacations at a subset of their destinations starting at just $249, plus earn either 50,000 Choice Privileges points or a $250 MasterCard gift card. Attendance of a two-hour Bluegreen Vacation Club sales presentation is required.
If you go to a timeshare sales presentation, or are interested in purchasing a timeshare, please read the advice from the Federal Trade Commission, read reviews of the company, and do not agree to anything quickly or under pressure.
Choice Hotels partners with 23 casino hotels in a dozen states where you can earn 10 points per dollar when you stay with any of them. You can also redeem points for casino hotel stays. You can earn a status match to your current Choice Privileges elite tier if you sign up for PENN Play rewards while staying at a Penn Casino Hotel.
Earn 5X Choice points per dollar spent on eligible cruises. Book through choiceprivilegescruises.com or call to book at (800) 596-0451. There are cruises offered by more than 20 different cruise lines, including Carnival, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean, to many destinations. You must provide your Choice Privileges number at the time of booking to earn rewards.
One of the easiest ways to maximize your Choice points is to redeem them for free nights at hotels and vacation rentals, by booking through choicehotels.com. Free stays at hotels and vacation rentals generally provide the best value. There are several other ways to redeem Choice points, but you’ll generally get 0.3 to 0.5 cents per point, a very poor value.
Savvy traveler tip:One of the only major downsides to Choice Privileges rewards is that you typically can’t book rewards reservations more than three months ahead of time.
Choice doesn’t publish an award chart and instead provides a range of award prices. The number of points required for a free night at a given property can vary throughout the year. Prices can also vary depending on the day of the week, and many properties have higher weekend rates.
Free nights start at 8,000 points or 6,000 points plus cash. To know how many points are required for a free stay, you’ll have to search for a particular destination through choicehotels.com or using the Choice mobile app.
Choice Hotels’ partnership with Bluegreen Vacations allows you to redeem points for vacation rentals within their resort portfolio. Reward stays start at 16,000 Choice Privileges points per night. In many cases, these stays can provide excellent value, as Bluegreen Vacations properties often have additional amenities and more spacious accommodations. Resorts are located in many popular destinations, including Orlando, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, Wisconsin Dells and Williamsburg.
Beyond the many Choice Hotels properties, you can also use Choice Privileges points to book over 300 Preferred Hotels & Resorts around the world. These are typically independent and unique luxury properties. Rates start at 25,000 points, but vary depending on the property — some of these luxury properties reach 87,000 points per night. From Hawaii to Hamburg, Boston to Barcelona, there are properties and great destinations around the globe in Preferred Hotels & Resorts collection.
Choice provides the option of using a combination of both points and cash for stays. If you have at least 6,000 points, you can use the Points Plus Cash option at hotels offering this rate. Hotels are not guaranteed to have rooms available for Points Plus Cash, and the option must show up in the tabs or rate list.
Points Plus Cash can often be an excellent deal, as you won’t have to pay taxes and fees on the room itself. You are essentially spending 6,000 points per night and purchasing the remaining required points from Choice. If you cancel the reservation, the refund will be provided in the form of points.
In addition to free hotel and vacation rental stays, you have the option of transferring your Choice Privileges rewards points to a handful of airline partners.
While many airline miles are worth more than Choice Privileges points, the transfer ratio makes these redemptions a poor value. For example, we estimate the average value of United miles at 1.4 cents when booking peak economy international travel. If you trade 5,000 Choice points for 1,000 United miles, you’re giving up $40 in Choice hotel stays for $14 in United flight value. This effectively makes your Choice points worth just shy of 0.3 cents each. Redeeming for free nights is better.
If you have Choice points but the travel redemption options don’t interest you, the good news is that there are a handful of other ways to use Choice Privileges points. The bad news is that these options offer a value of just 0.3 to 0.5 cents per point. We don’t recommend redeeming points in these ways, as the value is better when booking hotel stays.
While Choice Privileges rewards their members with perks simply for signing up for the program, these can increase the more often they stay with the chain. Loyal patrons of Choice Hotels who stay a sufficient number of nights each year will earn Gold, Platinum or even Diamond elite status – the highest tier. We’ll break down how to qualify for each elite level, what benefits you can enjoy and how valuable Choice elite status is.
How to qualify: Sign up for the Choice Privileges program.
How to qualify: Stay at least 10 nights per calendar year or be a Choice Privileges® Mastercard® cardholder.
Enjoy all Basic member benefits plus:
How to qualify: Stay at least 20 nights per calendar year or be a Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard® cardholder.
Enjoy all Gold member benefits plus…
How to qualify: Stay 40+ nights per calendar year
Enjoy all Platinum member benefits plus:
Many of the extra benefits provided by Choice Privileges elite status are awarded at the Gold level. The extra value from Platinum and Diamond status comes from the added bonus points and more rollover nights, as well as free breakfast if you stay at the Radisson brands.
For the road warrior that stays frequently with Choice Hotels, the additional bonus points provide real value. However, given the lack of other benefits, there is not much incremental value above Gold. We don’t suggest going out of your way to pursue higher levels of membership. You can easily get Platinum status by having the Choice Privileges® Mastercard®, although we don’t recommend only getting the card for that reason.
You cannot transfer Choice Hotels points to another member. However, you can transfer Choice Privileges points to 11 airline loyalty programs: Air Canada (Aeroplan), Alaska (Mileage Plan), United Airlines (MileagePlus), Aeromexico (Aeromexico Rewards), Qantas (Frequent Flyer), Southwest (Rapid Rewards), Turkish Airlines (Miles & Smiles), Air France-KLM (Flying Blue), Aer Lingus (Aer Club), Iberia (Iberia Plus), and British Airways (Executive Club). You may also buy up to 180,000 points per year for another program member.
You’ll need at least 8,000 Choice Privileges points for a reward night. However, you’ll need a minimum of 16,000 points for a free night at a resort destination, or a minimum of 25,000 points for a free night at a Preferred Hotels & Resorts location.
Choice Privileges points expire after your account has been inactive for 18 months. You’ll need at least one qualifying activity to keep your account active. Qualifying activities include earning points or miles, redeeming Choice Privileges points, earning points by using your Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard®, and purchasing points.
The Choice Privileges program is free to join.
Yes, you can buy a maximum of 180,000 points at a time. Note, you can only receive a maximum of 180,000 points to your account each calendar year (whether you purchase the points for yourself or receive them as a gift).
The information related to the Choice Privileges® Mastercard® and Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard® has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.
The content above is not provided by any issuer. Any opinions expressed are those of LendingTree alone and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any issuer. The offers and/or promotions mentioned above may have changed, expired, or are no longer available. Check the issuer's website for more details.
