Choice Privileges - Points/Miles in South America

Hello

I made a reservation in a hotel in Sao paulo. I wanted to get the miles for the US Grand Slam promotion, but during the reservation the system told I will not earn US Airways miles in South America.
So I changed my preference to earn points after the reservation.
Is it at least possible to earn points in South America?

Thanks

http://www.choicehotels.com/en/choice-privileges/gp/earnpoints?sid=xMHFhg.e2fxOgr18i.5

Earn points for up to 2 rooms* per night for qualifying stays at over 5,000
Choice Privileges locations in:

United States
(including Hawaii) Mexico
Central America
Canada Caribbean
Europe** Australasia***
Middle East

Sounds like it's not possible...

during the reservation the system told I will not earn US Airways miles in South America.
So I changed my preference to earn points after the reservation.
Is it at least possible to earn points in South America?
First of all, what you earn is locked into your reservation. You cannot change what you earn (miles vs points, or airlines on miles) on an existing reservation (at least not online, perhaps at check-in, but there are even reports of that not working).

So to successfully change it to points, you would have to cancel the reservation and make a new reservation after changing your earning preference to points. It should then tell you, as you're making the new reservation, whether your stay is or is not eligible for points.

(And based on the answer above, it would likely then also tell you you're not elgibile to earn points.)

So either choose to redeem points there (assuming they allow that*), or else there's no big advantage toward choosing a Choice hotel there over an indie hotel!

*For years, until just a couple years ago, in most of the world (including all of Europe), you couldn't earn points or miles, you could only redeem points. It's only been in the last couple years that various "continents" have been getting added as capable of earning, one by one, but there are still holes in the system. Besides South America, there's also Scandinavia. In the case of Scadinavia, the cash rates are often high and the point rates are universally low. I don't know, though, how that balance works in South America (where depending on the country and city, hotels may be expensive or super cheap).

I don't think the ChoiceHotels sales force has made it to Argentina. It would be a good spring trip for them. There are none. I have to believe that DF Buenos Aires, at least, has many prospects. Also Chile.

(Somewhat OT - Central America isn't South America - I got to talking with a reservationist in Panama who noted the irony that, while they have a large ChoiceHotels call center there, in many ways Panama is still very American, and so there are many prospects, there are no ChoiceHotels there.)

I don't think the ChoiceHotels sales force has made it to Argentina. It would be a good spring trip for them. There are none. I have to believe that DF Buenos Aires, at least, has many prospects. Also Chile.

(Somewhat OT - Central America isn't South America - I got to talking with a reservationist in Panama who noted the irony that, while they have a large ChoiceHotels call center there, in many ways Panama is still very American, and so there are many prospects, there are no ChoiceHotels there.)

Yeah, when I'm headed to Latin America, I always look to see if their are Choice properties to use my points at but, as you know, I'm usually disappointed. As there are a lot of HIXs and even some Best Westerns and Wyndham properties, it's time for them to get moving!

BTW, I needed a night in Punta Arenas, Chile -- a fairly expensive hotel city -- and I was disappointed that the only int'l chain was a Best Western: one of the few where I have no access to award redemption.

BTW, I needed a night in Punta Arenas, Chile -- a fairly expensive hotel city -- and I was disappointed that the only int'l chain was a Best Western: one of the few where I have no access to award redemption.
There are tons of smaller cities/town all over the world where the only int'l chain is a Best Western. Another example in South America is the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls, but it's so cheap (US$57ish a night!) that I view it as a points earning, not points burning, opportunity. (On the Argentinian side is a Sheraton Resort which is actually inside the park but it it's in a higher category so many SPG points needed if you don't have SPG free night certificates.)

I also noticed several cities/towns in Argentina with only Wyndham or only BW, but Salta is another city that has only SPG. So that makes at least 3 chains you might need points in if you want to do points stays in Argentina (outside of Buenos Aires, where tons of int'l chains abound).