Choice Privileges - Make Your Stay Three Times As Rewarding!

Make Your Stay Three Times As Rewarding!

Earn triple points on every stay, starting with your second stay, at Comfort™, Comfort Suites®, Quality®, Sleep Inn®, Clarion®, Cambria Suites®, Ascend Collection™, MainStay Suites®, Suburban Extended Stay®, Econo Lodge® or Rodeway Inn® hotels with arrival between January 6 and April 13, 2011


Stays must be booked at choicehotels.ca or 800.4CHOICE to qualify


Elite Platinum and Elite Diamond members can book through any channel


http://www.choicehotels.ca/en/national-promotions/?cid=1883014

Nice to see that they're all in on this one. :)

But sad to see that it's not the two-stays make-up to 8,000 one. Seeing rates at < $30, which yield "bupkus" points, even if leveraged. :(

Still, if one is averaging her/his stay rate, things are good.

I was interested, but that little .ca at the end or the url made me wonder. so I clicked through.

There, hidden in the faint print:

You must maintain an address in Canada, Mexico or eligible countries in Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean to be eligible for this promotion.

Ooops.

Ohhhhh.....

But to the sages: From past experience, is it a harbinger?

I received this offer via email tonight and the domain wasn't a canadian '.ca' address.

I received this offer via email tonight and the domain wasn't a canadian '.ca' address.

Ditto. Just now.

Be aware that there is an offer for non-elites and Golds, and one for Platinums and Diamonds, and there are registration requirements, including remembering your ChoicePrivileges number. Better that you look at the page than for the offers to be reinterpreted here.

http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-US/html/SpringPromotionElite

Interestingly, this page says, "...for arrivals between 1/6/11 and 3/2/11." Different from what the OP's link here says. Something for us to chew on, and screen shots may be in order.

The way that I read it:

Everyone gets the 3x points promotion even without registering for it.

Some of us got offers for a second promotion on top of that one, for either 2x points (not platinum or diamond) or 500 pts (platinum or diamond).

Since I am dropping from platinum to gold on Jan 1, it appears that I should wait for my status to drop before registering as the non-platinum non-diamond offer is the better one.

Platinum offer for an $80 stay:
(80 * 30) + 500 = 2400 + 500 = 2900 pts

Gold or non-elite offer for $80 stay:
(80 * 30) + (80 * 20) = 4000 pts

Or am I reading this entirely wrong?

Nice to see that they're all in on this one. :)

But sad to see that it's not the two-stays make-up to 8,000 one. Seeing rates at < $30, which yield "bupkus" points, even if leveraged. :(

Still, if one is averaging her/his stay rate, things are good.

Agreed - this one is pretty darn boring/mediocre by comparison with their last promos. Its really more on par with Hilton's point multiplier promo.

I hope this isn't a sign of a lack-luster promo year.

The way that I read it:

Everyone gets the 3x points promotion even without registering for it.

Some of us got offers for a second promotion on top of that one, for either 2x points (not platinum or diamond) or 500 pts (platinum or diamond).

Since I am dropping from platinum to gold on Jan 1, it appears that I should wait for my status to drop before registering as the non-platinum non-diamond offer is the better one.

Platinum offer for an $80 stay:
(80 * 30) + 500 = 2400 + 500 = 2900 pts

Gold or non-elite offer for $80 stay:
(80 * 30) + (80 * 20) = 4000 pts

Or am I reading this entirely wrong?

I read it differently.

Everyone gets triple points, but base and Gold must book thru choice hotels to get it: Plat and Dia can use any source.

For the addl bonus (2x for base and Gold; 500 pts for Plat and Dia); Plat and Dia get the 500 pts for booking on choichotels.com, base and Gold get the 2x when booking outside of choicehotels.com ( or the 800 number).

Thus for base and Gold, the offers will not combine. I see this as 3x if booked thru choice hotels or 2x if thru some other source. But not both the 3x along with the 2x. Just one or the other.

This is what I received. I have highlighted the exclusion:



COMING SOON...
Triple Your Points. Earn Rewards Faster.
Earn triple points on every stay, starting with your second stay, at Comfort Inn®, Comfort Suites®, Quality®, Sleep Inn®, Clarion®, Cambria Suites®, Ascend Collection®, MainStay Suites®, Suburban Extended Stay®, Econo Lodge® or Rodeway Inn® hotels with arrival between January 6 and March 2, 2011
Stays must be booked at choicehotels.com or 800.4CHOICE to qualify
Elite Platinum and Elite Diamond members can book through any channel
Register now for special bonus offers
Make your stay even more rewarding with these special bonus offers available this spring:

Elite Gold or General Choice Privileges® members:

Register now to receive double points*, starting with your second stay, when booking outside of choicehotels.com or 800.4CHOICE.


Elite Platinum and Elite Diamond Choice Privileges members:

Register now to receive an additional 500 bonus points** for each stay booked at choicehotels.com, starting with your second stay.

Yes, I see that you are right. I do stand by my "typically confusing" statement!

So now I wonder what to do. Can I register for the 500 pts bonus this week, as a platinum, then register for the double points next week as a gold? And have both promos going at once?

I believe that the addl bonus pts are based on your status when you stay at the hotel. So even if, as a Plat now, you sign up for the 500 pts deal, you are only going to be awarded the Base/Gold deal, and then only if you sign up after your status drops on Jan 1.

You might want to consider something like booking thru hotels.com during the promo period.

Book a choicehotel property on hotels.com and still get the 2x bonus, and begin earning free nights thru the hotels.com program. Every 10 nights booked there gives you a free night at any property in the program. Stay 10 times in some cheap places and get a free night at a top end place. You only loose 1x the choice points, which, after 10 nights, in most cases will not get you enough pts for a free stay at a choice property.

You might want to consider something like booking thru hotels.com during the promo period.

Book a choicehotel property on hotels.com and still get the 2x bonus, and begin earning free nights thru the hotels.com program. Every 10 nights booked there gives you a free night at any property in the program. Stay 10 times in some cheap places and get a free night at a top end place. You only loose 1x the choice points, which, after 10 nights, in most cases will not get you enough pts for a free stay at a choice property.
I think you may be mistaken quite a bit about this, on two counts.

First, per the rules of hotels.com (http://www.hotels.com/customer_care/pillar/welcomerewards.html):

After you have booked and stayed a total of 10 nights at one or more partner hotels, you’ll automatically be awarded a free night at one of our partner properties. The maximum value of your free night is the average daily rate of your ten nights.

You can choose to use your free night for a higher rate room if you pay the difference.

So as far as I can see, you cannot stay 10 times in a cheap place and get a truly free night at a top end place.

Second, I checked a couple Choice hotels I stay at frequently, and the rate at hotels.com is awful: about $15/night higher than the SOS rate I'm able to get at choice.com (and even if I couldn't get the SOS rate, still $5 or $10 higher than the AAA rate, I'm sure). So as I see it, by booking 10 nights at hotels.com instead of with SOS at choice.com, I pay an extra $150, and that is way more than the average value of the 10 nights if booked through hotels.com (that would only get you a hotel valued at $65 to $70 a night).

Even on one of those two counts alone, I don't see any point to booking at hotels.com, but with the two combined, it seems nothing but a way to throw away tons of money.

(And that's not even counting the lesser points you earn with Choice during this promo if you book outside of choice.com without being "elite enough".)

It looks like hotels.com has changed the rules.

I've been in their "Welcome Rewards" program since Aug of 2008 and have accumulated 9 nights credit. Still trying to get one more night in to get the "free night".

When I first signed up for this, it was 10 nights anywhere got you a free night anywhere. The rate paid did not matter.

I just logged onto my account there, and now my 9 nights credit show up as they always have, but next to the stay is the avarage dollar room cost for each stay. That is a new feature since the last time I looked.

I noticed that on their terms and conditions, on the bottom, they have this note:

Terms & Conditions

Revised Effective March 9, 2010

Open to U.S. residents who are 18 or older and have a valid email address. When you book and complete 10 (ten) nights at a hotels.com Price Match Guarantee property (partner property), you'll earn one (1) free night at a hotels.com Price Match Guarantee property. The maximum value of the free night is the average daily rate of your ten (10) nights. You may pay the difference if you choose a room that costs more. Package bookings and bookings made using a coupon do not qualify toward the ten (10) nights. Subject to Terms & Conditions .


I suspect the rules have been changed with this revision to prevent doing just what I suggested, and planned to do myself.

This definitely changes the game plan for me.

As you say, usually the choicehotels.com rate is lower than the hotels.com rate for the same property. I had used hotels.com when a choice property was not available for the area I was in, with the idea of getting an upscale location somewhere down the road. Things have changed.

Thanks for pointing this out, even though I find the change a bit of a disappointment. The deal seemed too good to be true. Perhaps others did as I planned, they saw that and changed the rules. Really, getting an upscale night for 10 cheap nights was too good to be true.

FWIW, this is the "welcome rewards" program as it was originally introduced by hotels.com in 2008, copied from what they sent me back then.

I have highlighted what seems to have changed with the new rules:


At hotels.com® we’re excited to introduce welcomerewards™, a new loyalty program that offers our frequent guests remarkable benefits. There are no confusing terms, complicated restrictions or impossible requirements. It’s our mission to make the process of researching, selecting and booking a hotel an effortless experience. The same goes for welcomerewards – we’ve made it as easy as possible to enjoy the rewards.

We designed a program that’s simple to understand and use. There are no points to collect, no complicated restrictions, no blackout dates, and stays at every property count the same – whether it’s a two-star motel in Memphis or a four-star bed & breakfast in Boston. When guests book and stay 10 nights with hotels.com, they’ll automatically earn a free night at a location of their choice – it’s that simple.

We know the same hotel – or chain – might not be right for every trip. That’s why we have created a program that gives members more options. Travelers can earn rewards at an airport hotel in Toledo, and redeem them in at an all-inclusive family resort in Orlando. Our loyalty program offers unrivaled flexibility, giving our guests a wide selection of more than 53,000 properties – from hotels and all-inclusive resorts to condos and bed & breakfasts.
We want our guests to earn rewards quickly. welcomerewards is designed to be one of the speediest plans available, requiring fewer stays than other hotel rewards programs. Guests earn a free night with every ten they book. Since every property stay counts the same, regardless of star rating, location, rate or lodging type, members can benefit from rewards very quickly.
n Book any combination of 10 total nights with hotels.com, and receive a free night’s stay
n Earn and redeem rewards at more than 53,000 hotels.com partner properties
n No blackout dates – redeem rewards wherever, whenever
n Redeem your free night for a value of up to $400
n Winner of Budget Travel magazine’s “Extra Mile Award” in 2008 for providing a “blissfully straightforward program … that actually pays off and is easy to use.”
Founded and operated by industry experts for nearly 20 years, hotels.com is the ultimate resource for lodging across the globe.
With extensive expertise, an array of booking tools and a portfolio that includes full service hotels, all-inclusive resorts, condos and bed & breakfasts, hotels.com enables travelers to find exactly the right property to meet their requirements for each and every trip they take.
And with added features like our 24-hour customer support, Price Match Guarantee and Flexible Booking, hotels.com offers its guests greater value with each stay.
Maureen Carrig, hotels.com
425.679.7511, mcarrig@hotels.com
Kristi Jutras, Edelman
206.268.2259, kristi.jutras@edelman.com
hotels.com is a registered trademark of Expedia, Inc.
Simple
Flexible
Speedy
Program Highlights
About hotels.com
Press Contacts
®



So at one time, you could get an upscale location (up to $400) for 10 nights anywhere, regardless of price. That was a good deal; too good to last.

You did have to spend at least $40/night on the 10 nights to qualify. I found this at budget travel from 2008:

Hotels.com: Launching a hotel reward program that actually pays off—and is easy to use
Hotel loyalty programs are sometimes not worth the hassle. You may need years to rack up the points required to earn a free room, and when you try to redeem them, many of the most popular dates are off-limits. In July, Hotels.com introduced a blissfully straightforward reward program, designed like a punch card: After booking 10 nights at hotels with a price-match guarantee (there are more than 35,000 of them), you get a night for free. And there are no blackout dates. "The key to the whole program is that it's easy to use and the free rooms are attainable," says Scott Booker, the company's chief hotel expert and guest advocate. "We know that every traveler has different needs and that every trip is different. People are no longer limited to a single brand's properties in any given place." To underscore that point, Hotels.com does not restrict you to a handful of options when it comes to claiming your free stay—as long as you spent at least $40 a night on each booking, you can choose any hotel from the price-match-guarantee pool that costs up to $400 a night. What could be more satisfying than scoring a night at a Bali resort after a few stays at a motel in Buffalo? —Brooke Kosofsky Glassberg

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2008/09/07/AR2008090701323.html

Really, getting an upscale night for 10 cheap nights was too good to be true.
Well, it's too good to be true at a third-party site program, which has totally different economics than a hotel-family-speciifc program.

It is not only possible to get an upscale night for 10 cheap nights, it is possible within Choice in certain cases to get an upscale night for way less than 10 cheap nights. During stay 2 get 8000, 10 cheap Choice nights will get you 80000, and even without a sale (like the one ending soon), you can get more than one night at many hotels in Choice's luxury partners (Preferred, etc). Furthermore, in some locations in Europe, there are relatively upscale Choice hotels available for as little as 16000 points a night.

(I've also earned vouchers redeemable for virtually any Hilton worldwide for just 4 stays including at relatively inexpensive Hamptons last year, and more recently up to 5 free night vouchers redeemable for virtually any Priority Club property worldwide, including Intercontinental which is their luxury brand, for 2 stays at inexpensive Holiday Inns, Expresses, and Candlewoods per such vouhcer.)

The thing is, this only works within promos (not "everyday" earning) in hotel-family-specific programs.

So another way to look it is that it was too good to be true to be able to get this with any stays done at any time and stays spread over any amount of time.

Btw, in case you're not aware, the "stay 10 earn 1 similiar value" is the standard metric used for evaluating "normal" points earning across different FF programs.

[QUOTE=sdsearch;15561356]Well, it's too good to be true at a third-party site program, which has totally different economics than a hotel-family-speciifc program.

I agree with all you say.

You seem much more knowledgeable about this than I, so I have to ask why did hotels.com roll out their program as they did (10 $40 nights earns a free night at up to a $400 rate) if the economics did not justify the rewards offered?

Without a doubt, that is a way to generate business but lose money.

Perhaps as a 3rd party vendor, they didn't care about the bottom line effect upon the $400 property that gave up a free room. They collected their fee with the booking, so more bookings are good for them but not for the property giving up a free room.

Do you think that the top tier hotels complained about this, and that is why they modified the program 2 years after it was rolled out?

Choice hotels has added some higher tier property lines since I started in the program in 2004, but I have yet to stay at one. As you mention, there are some excellent points reward values in Europe for great properties.

The hotels.com rewards program does not promote any brand loyalty; it does promote booking loyalty - booking thru them. The choicepoints program does promote loyalty to the properties they offer.

Overall, I have found it to be an excellent hotel rewards program, but this is the only hotel program I have significant experience with. With 9 nights in 2+ years thru hotels.com, I don't feel like I really use their program. I was looking to one more hotels.com stay to earn a free night at the Westin in downtown SEA. Now I know, with the change, that is not going to happen.

Considering your expertise, how do you rate the choicepoints program?

how do you rate the choicepoints program?
Choice points are a great redepmtion value as long as you realize their limitations. For examle, in Europe you can't use them in Spain, or Hungary, or a bunch of other places where you can use "all the biggies". OTOH, you can use them throughout much of Norway way beyond Oslo, where most "all the biggies" are completely absent.

OTOH, in suburbs in the US, often the hotels which are cheap with money want quite a lot of points (compared to that) for award stays. So in some locations it can make little-to-no sense to use Choice points instead of paying, unless you're really broke that month and have plenty points to spare, or unless you need to use up points before they expire.

Choice points work best if do your paid stays mostly during the frequent promotions. And then they often work best if you can hotel hop. (For example, during the upcoming promotion, while it doesn't requrie hotel hopping to earn triple points, except that you want to make that first "qualifying" stay [on which you don't earn triple] as short and cheap as possible), it does require hotel hopping to max out the 500 extra points-per-stay bonuses for higher Elites.)

You don't earn much in the way of Choice points, especially on one-night stays at cheap properties, when there is no promotion going on. So in those cases, you may want to swtich to earning arilne miles/credits, if you collect those. (You can change your earning preference at any time online. As long as all your reservations are made online, the earning preference that applies to the reservation is the one that your profile had in effect at the time you first booked the reservation. Otherwise, you can request to change to earning something other than Choice points at check-in.)

In recent years, I've never had a problem with a Choice paid reseravtion I made online, nor a Choice reward reservation I made online for a US property. I did have a minor problem (was blled a couple bucks for something they shouldn't have, but it was only a couple bucks) with just one (of many that I booked) reservations for hotels in Choice Scandinavia.

Having said that, you asked only about Choice points. Choice hotels themselves, that's a whole 'nother story. :) Some are great, many are fine, but some are just a tiny step above Motel 6. In particular, too many seem to implement things like breakfast only to the most minimal interpretation of the term possible!

Hi I am after some advice please:

I have just joined Choice after being status matched to Platinum from Prioity club.

I have a stay for 14 nights starting soon which was booked through a travel agent.

What would the best strategy be for this stay with this promo? Should I sign up and register for the lower ones? Obviously booking through a travel agent may mess things up.

Help :confused:

Hi I am after some advice please:

I have just joined Choice after being status matched to Platinum from Prioity club.

I have a stay for 14 nights starting soon which was booked through a travel agent.

What would the best strategy be for this stay with this promo? Should I sign up and register for the lower ones? Obviously booking through a travel agent may mess things up.

Help :confused:
I'm not sure why you posted in this thread, which hasn't had a new posted (before yours) since early January. That's when this promo was active. It's long since over. The current promo is the one where stay 2 times and get 8000 points which you can (but don't have to) use for a $50 gas card.

Until you stay enough to get to platinum elite status, you may find that booking through a travel agent disqualifies you from at least some of the promos. In some recent promos, they had registration links where platinum and diamond elite members could book through any channel, which members with low status or no status could only book through choicehotels.com or 1-800-CHOICE to qualify for the promo.

(I always book my own stays at choicehotels.com, so I can't remember specifics about which promos have that restriction and which don't.)

Thanks for your reply.

I am Platinum in Choice after being status matched.

I was unaware that this promo is now inactive.