Choice Privileges - Choice Privileges vs. Priority Club

Hey all,

I’ve had this travelling job for about 4 years now. 75% of my travel is in Wisconsin, and outside of the larger cities (Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Appleton) there are no Hiltons or Marriotts. My options as far as choosing a hotel chain are Priority Club, Best Western, AmericInn, and Choice Privileges. During my first two years on the job I was a member of the Priority Club, I grew frustrated with the slow accumulation of points and switched to Choice Privileges. For the last three years I’ve enjoyed some pretty cool annual California vacations (San Fran, Napa Valley, San Diego) thanks to my points. I find myself wondering if people have had the same experience and prefer CP over PC. If you prefer Priority Club, I’d love to hear some of your favorite features. Thank you.

My options as far as choosing a hotel chain are Priority Club, Best Western, AmericInn, and Choice Privileges.

I'm with you on this one. How can you beat some of the promotions when you stay 3 nights earn 16,000 points or even like their current stay 2 nights earn 8,000 points. Granted the 16,000/3 nights has not ran in some time. But for those of us who spend 100+ nights a year on the road, you can really rack up the points. I'm sitting on nearly 700,000 points and I burn them fairly regularly. My only worry is the devaluation of the points in the past few years. I normally spend a bunch of points to go to mexico to all-inclusive Preferred Resorts when Choice runs their special every other fall. They're due to run it this fall again:cool:

I go with PC over Choice any day. I only use Choice as a backup (there are very few choices at my call center in Grinnell, IA).

Why:
1. IHG has the courage to tell their properties to improve or get out. If you look around there are fair number of former Holiday Inns in the choice line up now (or worse).
2. IHG is actually better than choice at promos if you work the system. Just look at the Master Promo thread. I'm averaging about 35 cents of benefit for every dollar paid at an IHG property this year. They ran the 'biggest loser' bonus as a response to Hilton's point disaster, they continually run threshold offers and you can usually choose your level, and they consistently run little bonuses you can use as well. Top Status (Platinum) can be had for 60K points (I can get that in 15-20 nights) and that has way more upgrade potential than Choice. The only drawback is that there is a sort of 'wall' around the top end brand (Intercontinental) - you can use your points there but earnings are capped when staying there and benefits are limited to a side upgrade called "Ambassador".

I normally spend a bunch of points to go to mexico to all-inclusive Preferred Resorts when Choice runs their special every other fall. They're due to run it this fall again:cool:

Do you have any confirmation that they will be running the promotion again this fall? I am new to Choice and don't know much about this semi-annual special.

Do you have any confirmation that they will be running the promotion again this fall? I am new to Choice and don't know much about this semi-annual special.

It's not semi annual, it's been more bi-annual. I they continue on with what they have been doing, it will happen again around Thanksgiving this year. I have no information that they will run it however.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend an either-or. The promo periods are often quite different. For example, this week Priority Club has near zilch but Choice has stay 2 times earn 8000 points. But Choice's promo only runs through early November. And there's no reason, based on the past, that I would count on another Choice promo until after Christmas break. On the other hand, the stay 2 times get a free night version of the Sweet Dilemma promo over at Priority Club starts in a couple weeks but runs all the way through Dec 31. But it's capped at 5 free nights, and you earn zero points/zero miles on all your stays during that time, so there's not much point in having more than 10 Priority Club stays (unless it's for the overlapping Crack the Case promo, which is customized for each person to whom its offered, and not offered to everyone).

So you could use Choice until early November (if elite enough, earn 8000 points as many times as you want, otherwise capped), then switch to Priority Club for the rest of the year and/or until the next Choice promo and/or until you max out on the Priority Club promo.

I am not a particular expert in either program, but I do read the forums here and the PC people seem happier in general than the CP people.

This may have something to do with their travel patterns, though.

The PC "points breaks" can be incredible if you find one you can use.

I think it might be best to do both, switching for the better deals. CP "elite" does not amount to much, it seems to me.

You do have to watch the devaluation with CP. Not sure about with the hotel redemptions, but CP>Southwest (my main former interest) got whacked badly more than once, and w/o warning in at least one case.

CP "elite" does not amount to much, it seems to me.
IMHO CP Elite is now much more valuable than a year or two ago, simply because so many promos are either only available to elites, or only uncapped (or at least less capped) for elites.

As an elite, I can get 8000 points for every 2 stays for as many stay pairs as I want to pay for through early November. If I weren't elite and stayed 3 stays a week for the rest of the promo period (which is my plan), I would only earn that 8000 points on a tiny fraction of those stay pairs.

But, yes, at the hotel itself, it doesn't do much, except at some hotels it's necessary to even get a morning paper!

The nightly rate is still a factor, and for me, Choice wins in this comparison. I try to generally average price per night across all my stays, factoring the free nights into the average. Keeps the auditor happy, whether it's she or I.

I prefer to be make use of both. My travel normally gives me the option of choosing hotels from either chain and I like the variety. Many others have mentioned the benefits of both programs, but I would also add that there is value in not putting all of your eggs/points in one basket.

To me Choice is just a backup when no HI props are nearby. The points in Priority Club are amazing, and I believe 35cents / dollar is a reasonable estimate, but you have to play the game. I enjoy playing the game - thus joining FT, so it fits best for me. This year I have had 30 nights at PC and over 200k pts.

Priority club better hotels more locations and easier ways to get points

I am a member of both. In my opinion HI is way better than Choice. I use Choice as a backup, but will switch when they have their stay 2, get 1 free
promotion. But as soon as I get all the credit available I am back to HI.

HI double points promotion every fall beats anything Choice ever has.

Just one mans opinion - and every has one!!!

I am also a member in both programs (Priority Club and CP). Elite status means nothing in both programs (I am currently Priority Club Platinum and have yet to see a perk worth mentioning).

Both programs run nice promotions, both programs have great properties and others that are ho-hum. Personally, I would take a close look at what is available hotel-wise from both programs in your primary travel region - and base my decision on that.

I am also a member in both programs (Priority Club and CP). Elite status means nothing in both programs (I am currently Priority Club Platinum and have yet to see a perk worth mentioning).

Thanks for the info. I thought Choice used to allow earlier award night reservations the higher your elite status. Too bad they took that away! :(

Thanks for the info. I thought Choice used to allow earlier award night reservations the higher your elite status. Too bad they took that away! :(It's still in effect.

See here. (http://www.choicehotels.com/en/choice-privileges/gp/elitemembership?sid=rCjzi.FAddrgiUx.4)

CP points will expire but PC never, is this correct?

I am also a member in both programs (Priority Club and CP). Elite status means nothing in both programs (I am currently Priority Club Platinum and have yet to see a perk worth mentioning).
In CP, higher elite status helps a lot with promos (uncaps them) and redemption (allows you to redeem earlier). Helping with perks on stays, that's rather elusive though.

In PC, it depends completely on the property, and it's rare enough that you need a list of which properties give elite perks, not which properties don't. A short list: Free breakfast for a PC Plat at Holiday Inn Kansas City Airport (MCI) (but I was in hurry so didn't have time to actually try it), free breakfast buffet (including juice) at Holiday Inn Santa Ana Airport North (SNA), and free breakfast buffet (but not including juice!?!) at Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort Area (on Manchester). Holiday Inn Monitcello (Charlottesville VA) only gave me a 20% discount coupon (for dinner and/or breakfast) as a PC Plat. And plenty other Holiday Inns have given nothing. ...
I've also had some Candlewoods (including Garden Grove CA on every visit) and some Express locations give me a welcome bag (water, snacks, etc), but far from all of them.

Meanwhile, it also seems to be hotel-specific (but maybe rarer?) at Choice. Recently I stayed at Comfort Inn & Suites in Anaheim (the one on Katella, right at the I-5), and upon seeing Diamond Elite in my record as they were checking me in, they apologized for not having a suite to upgrade me to! (They did upgrade me from 2 queens, which was the cheapest to book, to 1 king, which would have cost a bit more to book.) I haven't kept close track, though, of whether I've been similarly "slightly" upgraded at other Choice properties before (I typically just book whatever type of room is cheapest and often don't remember what type I booked!).

It's price driven for me, so I stay at far more Choice properties than HI. But, at the end of the year with no promos, I will only stay at Choice hotels that give full perks for status (Diamond). Other than that, I've been finding the AIK's at Red Roofs a little rougher around the edges, but a much better value. I never eat the breakfast anyway, so it's a savings. With one exception (Mentor, OH), the HI's are always more expensive than the Choices in areas that I frequent, though.

And I also follow the "book the cheapest, ask for an upgrade" philosophy. The Comfort Inn in Bethlehem PA just lost 12 nights over three weeks from me because they had no problem charging me the $4/night to upgrade from two doubles to a queen, but they refused to give it to me as a comp. I wonder if I should let them know that?

But, at the end of the year with no promos
Actually, there is a promo, but it only works in some metro areas. And it's not necessarily all that great. It's stay 3+ nights (at the same property), get a $50 Choice gift card (an actual card, not points that you can use for a card or not). Or stay 2 consecutive nights and get a $25 gift card. The list included some Northern California metro areas but none in Southern California this time. (There was a similar promotion earlier this year with way fewer metro areas but that did include Southern California, and I don't recall that one having a 2-night version.) Through Jan 15. Here's the direct link:

http://www.choicehotels.com/en/promotions/value-added-promo

(Of course, none of the places I currently expect to be in between now and Jan 15 are on the list of participating cities, anyway.)

CP points will expire but PC never, is this correct?

Correct.