Choice Privileges - Winter Promo 2011: Earn Points + Miles

Stays are twice as rewarding this winter when you register to earn airline miles plus Choice Privileges® points, or double Choice Privileges points on all stays starting with your first stay.



Register now to earn airline miles plus Choice Privileges points OR double Choice Privileges points when booking at ChoiceHotels.com or 800.4CHOICE for every qualifying stay with arrival between December 1, 2011 and February 29, 2012
Provide your Choice Privileges number upon check-in at any Choice Hotels® property
Elite Diamond and Elite Platinum members can book through any channel


Register Here (http://www.choicehotels.com/winterpromotion?source=winter2011qr)

I'm afraid not the most exciting promo. I believe you only get 200 miles per stay so I think I will opt for double points.

I'm afraid not the most exciting promo. I believe you only get 200 miles per stay so I think I will opt for double points.

With domestic airlines, 250 except 600 with Southwest. With a few international airlines, a varying number of miles/points. Chart here (http://www.choicehotels.com/en/choice-privileges/gp/airlinemiles?sid=xagesM.pKkJOgpKvg.13). Double Choice points still sounds more attractive to me.

OP: Thanks for the information.
Just signed up my wife's CP account and my CP account for this promo.
Got a number of stays in the next 2 weeks.

Edit: I signed up for the double miles

Of course, this is a golden opportunity for hotel-hopping, if your schedule is packed. 500 miles/night and 4 nights/week gets a tidy 2000 miles a week.

I'm not following many airline promos these days, but a couple of years ago I hit one of their promos (NW) to the tune of 11,000 miles/week, and it wasn't capped. I don't know if any airline is offering bonus miles for hotel stays, but if your schedule allows it, and you don't mind hopping, you could rack up a nice chunk of miles.

If you choose double points, I believe it wouldn't be necessary to hotel hop, so maybe that's a better option for many.

OP - thanks for posting the link....

Link aside, has anyone had any luck navigating to it while in the choice website? I can't find via seemingly "normal" channels.

Double Choice points still sounds more attractive to me.

In most cases, double points would not be better than 600 Southwest points. 600 Southwest points are worth $10. I have trouble getting $10 of value from most Choice point stays.

Of course, this is a golden opportunity for hotel-hopping, if your schedule is packed. 500 miles/night and 4 nights/week gets a tidy 2000 miles a week.

No, you have the promo wrong. You can get double hotel points. You cannot get double air points.

In most cases, double points would not be better than 600 Southwest points. 600 Southwest points are worth $10. I have trouble getting $10 of value from most Choice point stays.

Had a $62 Quality Inn stay last night--will earn roughly 1250 points from that (left 300 more on the table because I didn't have my Choice Visa with me to make the booking). Seven of those give me 8750 points.

I'm staying four nights in London in mid-December at a Choice property for 8000 points a night. The advertised rate for the room: 150 pounds or roughly $245 per night.

Not all Choice redemptions are so generous, but I'll take $35/night for this one (and still $17.50/night at the regular earnings rate).

Thank you, bestbet33, and for the link. I sure couldn't find my way to it independently.

Thank you, bestbet33, and for the link. I sure couldn't find my way to it independently.

Kills me that one can't find the link on the website (easily - I still can't!)....I normally wouldn't trust a posted link but given the OP's stats via flyertalk, I have no doubt about its trustworthiness.

Chalk another victory up for flyertalk - I can't see how non-fter's have a chance to sign up for this one at this time?

Kills me that one can't find the link on the website (easily - I still can't!)....I normally wouldn't trust a posted link but given the OP's stats via flyertalk, I have no doubt about its trustworthiness.

Chalk another victory up for flyertalk - I can't see how non-fter's have a chance to sign up for this one at this time?

Many CP promos are first announced through the snail-mail paper statement, then after some time appear in the rotation of in-house banner ads on the Choice website. At least, that's what I have found.

Had a $62 Quality Inn stay last night--will earn roughly 1250 points from that (left 300 more on the table because I didn't have my Choice Visa with me to make the booking). Seven of those give me 8750 points.

I'm staying four nights in London in mid-December at a Choice property for 8000 points a night. The advertised rate for the room: 150 pounds or roughly $245 per night.

Not all Choice redemptions are so generous, but I'll take $35/night for this one (and still $17.50/night at the regular earnings rate).
If you're actually going earn the points you use for this stay in this promo (though I think you have time to, do you?) then it could indeed be valued this way.

However, given that Choice points eventually expire (just over two years for ones earned in December, just under three years for ones earned in January), if you've already earned tons of points in the "stay 2 get 8000" promos of mid-year, then it's not clear whether you'll be able to use the additional points you earn during this promo at that rate.

OTOH, Southwest RR 2.0 points don't expire, so it doesn't matter whether you can use them next year or the year after, the $10 value is likely to stay the same.

I view the double points promo as not so great because I can earn more points than I'm likley to be able to use during the stay 2 get 8000 or even if only stay 3 get 8000 promos that are likely to repeat mid-year. However, the ability to earn some points while earning the normal Southwest $10 of value per stay is not likely to repeat for a year (Choice has a history of only running miles-focused promos in the winter), so that's why I'm likely to use the miles+points version.

Having said that, given better promos elsewhere (including WyndhamRewards 22500 bonus points for 6 stays booked online), Choice is only going to get my business when I'm capped out on those other promos.

On the other hand, if you're going to do 3-night stays (because you're aiming to stack with the $50 restaurant gift card promo in 6 markets), then it might make more sense to do double points, because you only earn miles once per stay, no matter how long the stay.

If you're actually going earn the points you use for this stay in this promo (though I think you have time to, do you?) then it could indeed be valued this way.

However, given that Choice points eventually expire (just over two years for ones earned in December, just under three years for ones earned in January), if you've already earned tons of points in the "stay 2 get 8000" promos of mid-year, then it's not clear whether you'll be able to use the additional points you earn during this promo at that rate.

OTOH, Southwest RR 2.0 points don't expire, so it doesn't matter whether you can use them next year or the year after, the $10 value is likely to stay the same.

I view the double points promo as not so great because I can earn more points than I'm likley to be able to use during the stay 2 get 8000 or even if only stay 3 get 8000 promos that are likely to repeat mid-year. However, the ability to earn some points while earning the normal Southwest $10 of value per stay is not likely to repeat for a year (Choice has a history of only running miles-focused promos in the winter), so that's why I'm likely to use the miles+points version.

Having said that, given better promos elsewhere (including WyndhamRewards 22500 bonus points for 6 stays booked online), Choice is only going to get my business when I'm capped out on those other promos.

On the other hand, if you're going to do 3-night stays (because you're aiming to stack with the $50 restaurant gift card promo in 6 markets), then it might make more sense to do double points, because you only earn miles once per stay, no matter how long the stay.

I agree that this is hardly the greatest of promos (clearly not since they just did a 4X promo). Although I do not concentrate all my points/miles collections in any one program, I tend to concentrate my efforts on several programs. For me, Choice and SPG, for entirely different reasons, get most of my hotel business although I have registered and qualified for the 50K Radisson promo and will take advantage of their 9K earnings bonus on award redemptions; AA and US get much of my airline flying business (I have a large stash with BA, accumulated through Chase and Amex but will actually pay for a flight to London later this month as I now believe the value in that program is upgrades, not free flights). I have accumulated in the Southwest program at this point, but since most of my redemptions are domestic, since I generally don't redeem miles in a traditional FF program for transcon fares of less than $350 (Southwest and the revised BA program are the exceptions to this rule since a short-haul flight comes at a reduced redemption cost), and since I generally don't make flight plans at the last minute and therefore can shop for sales, Southwest has value to me but not a value sufficient to make me switch earnings to them during this promo.

I also agree with you that a major issue with the Choice program is the expiration of their points, thus making it somewhat difficult to wait for exceptional values, such as the London redemption I cited; however, at this point, I've found sufficient values to redeem that I'm not concerned about being forced to redeem at low value in order to avoid losing points.

Given how I've structured my earning/burning strategy, the Choice promo, as limited as it is this quarter, still has some value for me. Whenever I see a blanket statement about any program with which I'm familiar that might not highlight a potential benefit of a program or individual promotion, I tend to offer a counterpoint for that purpose. Nevertheless, as with so many issues in miles/points programs, YMMV.

Has anyone actually gotton points and miles? I had miles post, but no points. I sent in the form saying I did not get points and got no reply.

A fine analysis that resonates (substituting Hyatt and UA for me). ^

I agree that this is hardly the greatest of promos (clearly not since they just did a 4X promo). Although I do not concentrate all my points/miles collections in any one program, I tend to concentrate my efforts on several programs. For me, Choice and SPG, for entirely different reasons, get most of my hotel business although I have registered and qualified for the 50K Radisson promo and will take advantage of their 9K earnings bonus on award redemptions; AA and US get much of my airline flying business (I have a large stash with BA, accumulated through Chase and Amex but will actually pay for a flight to London later this month as I now believe the value in that program is upgrades, not free flights). I have accumulated in the Southwest program at this point, but since most of my redemptions are domestic, since I generally don't redeem miles in a traditional FF program for transcon fares of less than $350 (Southwest and the revised BA program are the exceptions to this rule since a short-haul flight comes at a reduced redemption cost), and since I generally don't make flight plans at the last minute and therefore can shop for sales, Southwest has value to me but not a value sufficient to make me switch earnings to them during this promo.

I also agree with you that a major issue with the Choice program is the expiration of their points, thus making it somewhat difficult to wait for exceptional values, such as the London redemption I cited; however, at this point, I've found sufficient values to redeem that I'm not concerned about being forced to redeem at low value in order to avoid losing points.

Given how I've structured my earning/burning strategy, the Choice promo, as limited as it is this quarter, still has some value for me. Whenever I see a blanket statement about any program with which I'm familiar that might not highlight a potential benefit of a program or individual promotion, I tend to offer a counterpoint for that purpose. Nevertheless, as with so many issues in miles/points programs, YMMV.

And, lougord99, your comment resonates, too. I tried the promo on a "trivial" (points-wise) stay just to see how it would work. Miles, no points -- yet? Haven't submitted a form yet. As I said, this is mainly to see how it goes.

I signed up under the option of double points. I received single points and the airline miles option instead. Doesn't bother me as I really didn't care which one I got, but at least I did get full credit for the promotion.

So, I had 3 stays that posted as airline miles but did not also get Choice points. I used the 'report missing stay ' link twice with absolutely no reply from Choice other than the ' 'we will reply within 72 hours' canned response. I did it a third time and within a few hours got responses that the points had posted - Indeed all 3 stays posted on 12/27 as '2011 Winter Promo'.

I think it is ridiculous that I had to go through this much work to get what they promised.

Hoping they approve Mr. Kipper's status match request, so that he can sneak in under the, "book using any channel," and still qualify for this promo. Has anyone who is not a Plat or Diamond been able to book through any channel and still received the promo points?

I still have not had any points post on this promo without using the 'missing stay form' on the web site. Doesn't matter whether it is a couple of days or a couple of weeks after. It seems they are not going to post the points until you complain. The miles have been no problem.

I still have not had any points post on this promo without using the 'missing stay form' on the web site. Doesn't matter whether it is a couple of days or a couple of weeks after. It seems they are not going to post the points until you complain. The miles have been no problem.
Many Choice hotels used to have an issue where they could only hold one frequenty whatever account at a time. So if you were earning miles, they could see your FFP #, but they couldn't see your Choice #, and thus couldn't see your Choice status, and thus if there was anything (say, priority of getting the newspaper at your door, or whatever) that was keyed to your status, they couldn't honor it.

I wonder if there are still vestiges of this in Choice's system, making the attempt to let you earn points and miles simultaneously backfire? (It would be so like Choice to not realize such a limitation before creating such a promo for the first time in their history. Never before have the had to combine point earnings and miles earnings on the same stays.)

Most of my stays are Hilton or SPG, so, I sometimes don't think to check the threads for Choice. My bad luck. This promo started 12/1/11 and ends 2/28/12. I received snail mail from Choice on 2/8/12 alerting me to the promo. Now, what good is that when it's almost over? I guess I won't cry over spilled milk. I earned the maximum last month for the current Wyndham Rewards promo.

Most of my stays are Hilton or SPG, so, I sometimes don't think to check the threads for Choice. My bad luck. This promo started 12/1/11 and ends 2/28/12. I received snail mail from Choice on 2/8/12 alerting me to the promo. Now, what good is that when it's almost over? I guess I won't cry over spilled milk. I earned the maximum last month for the current Wyndham Rewards promo.

You can hope that after the end of the current promo, a better promo will come. Like 2 stays = 8k points.

You can hope that after the end of the current promo, a better promo will come. Like 2 stays = 8k points.Or my favorite from 2007 - 3 stays = 16K points.

<nostalgic sighs>

I was in a position where hotel-hopping was a matter of turning left or turning right, and at the end of the promo I was about 250K Choice points richer. And you better believe I got good value from them, including a couple of the Preferred promo hotels.

Them was the days, my friend. We hoped they'd never end.

Hey! I could write a song ...

After reading all of the problems people had with this promo, I was figuring that Mr. Kipper's points wouldn't post at all, or that the double points wouldn't post. Surprisingly, they posted without a problem, 2 days after his check-out date from the hotel.