Choice Privileges - Status worth paying for?

This is going off a response in the previous thread, but I figured it deserved its own...

I will finish the year with 9 stays. One more Choice stay will give me Gold status. Now, I realize it doesn't mean much, but there is a property close to me that will cost be $38.00 with AAA for a one night stay (very off peak beach property). When I think about it, $38 is having a few less drinks at the bar one night.

So, what would you do: a one night bed-run for $38 for Gold Status or don't bother?

gold point bonus is 10%, so if you think getting 10% bonus on all points for next year is worth it, $38 is pretty cheap. This all depends on how often you will use their hotels next yr.

the other benefits for gold dont seen that great

No. Don't bother. $38 worth of tequila will get you much further...

This is going off a response in the previous thread, but I figured it deserved its own...

[...]

So, what would you do: a one night bed-run for $38 for Gold Status or don't bother?

I believe you are referring to my reply, so it will come at no surprise that I vote "don't bother".

Let's say you stay 9 nights next year as well, with an average room rate of $100 (which seems high for Choice) and no stays at Econolodge and the other brands that only give 5 points per dollar. In that case you would earn 9000 base points and receive a whopping 900 bonus points for your gold status.

Now let's look at the lowest redemption level, 5000 points. I think it is fair to equal this with rates no higher than $50 a night. In that case, your $38 investment returned a whopping $9 in value. Looks like the stock market crash to me... :o

The 10% bonus is a nice (very) little sweetener. But that's all there is. As I always stay on one of the reduced rates, it nearly always lands me in a lesser room, except at the couple where I stay the most, and they know me. But the point is that getting favored treatment or the opposite has nothing to do with Gold.

You get an extra 10 days in the booking window for awards in the US/Canada (for US/Canada members), but that and the 10% points are about it.

Not worth it to me.

Choice hotels' status is not worth anything.

Choice hotels' status is not worth anything.
I think you mean the lowest tier of Choice hotels' status is not worth anything, or that for those who redeem only for transfers to airlines that all Choice status tiers are not worth much.

For those who want to redeem for hotel stays, the extra 30 to 60 days of award booking window can be worth a lot! (The difference between getting an award room and not!) But it only comes with the top two tiers.

I think you mean the lowest tier of Choice hotels' status is not worth anything, or that for those who redeem only for transfers to airlines that all Choice status tiers are not worth much.

For those who want to redeem for hotel stays, the extra 30 to 60 days of award booking window can be worth a lot! (The difference between getting an award room and not!) But it only comes with the top two tiers.

By comparison with most any other hotel program, all Choice elite levels are meaningless...

By comparison with most any other hotel program, all Choice elite levels are meaningless...
Perhaps with the upperclass ones (favored by people who stay on their employer's dime), but that's a bit apples and oranges, no?

For those us paying on our dime and having a limited budget, it's irrelevant how great an upgrade policy an expensive hotel has when we can't afford it. In the areas I stay in most often, the most affordable family that's higher up than Choice is Priority Club, and in my expeirence elite level there is pretty meaningless except for (just like Choice) some bonus points. And at a similar level as Choice, there's Best Western, where the elite level is even more meaningless, and WyndhamRewards (formerly TripRewards), which doesn't even have elite levels!

Can you please name me one hotel program with plentiful hotels at price levels anywhere near Choice's that gives so many oodles of bonus points (like stay 3 times at $50 each earn 16k points redeemable for $300++ hotels in western Norway, where half those fancy program have not a single hotel!) and yet has better elite levels?

Perhaps with the upperclass ones (favored by people who stay on their employer's dime), but that's a bit apples and oranges, no?

Not really. Something that is "worthless" does not get any more valuable because there are other things around that are just as worthless.



Can you please name me one hotel program with plentiful hotels at price levels anywhere near Choice's that gives so many oodles of bonus points (like stay 3 times at $50 each earn 16k points redeemable for $300++ hotels in western Norway, where half those fancy program have not a single hotel!) and yet has better elite levels?

I do not see Hampton Inns or Hilton Garden Inns as luxury properties, but they do participate in a "high-end" program. The upper end of Choice pretty much is in the same price range, so compare with HHonors, if you like.

Availability of properties is allways a big issue. However, everybody's mileage will vary on this one, so it is impossible to figure that in. If "Choice" is basically your only real choice, than every further discussion is moot.

And don't forget that I have no problems with Choice per se. I like Clarion hotels and I also found quite nice Quality and Comfort hotels. So I do stay there (9 times last year), but I just don't have any illusions about their "elite" levels.

Can you please name me one hotel program with plentiful hotels at price levels anywhere near Choice's that gives so many oodles of bonus points (like stay 3 times at $50 each earn 16k points redeemable for $300++ hotels in western Norway, where half those fancy program have not a single hotel!) and yet has better elite levels?

I tend to agree with you sdsearch. The during promotions, it's hard to beat Choice. We tend to get spoiled at Choice I think when they run many different promotions. I realize how slow the points add up when you have to earn them at a normal rate of 10 points/$1 spent.

Russ

I do not see Hampton Inns or Hilton Garden Inns as luxury properties, but they do participate in a "high-end" program. The upper end of Choice pretty much is in the same price range, so compare with HHonors, if you like.
Maybe someplace, but not where I stay most frequently (SNA area). There's Hotel Terrace Drive which has a Comfort Suites I routinely get for $65, $70, maybe $80, a Quality across the street which is $20ish more on average (but the price difference varies a lot and occasionally even reverses a tiny bit), a Best Western next door where I can routinely get $80, and then next door to the Best Western is a Hampton which never seem to have less than $120!

The nearest HGI is in Garden Grove, and I can just about never get it less than $105 or so any more. (I don't do advance purchase rates!) But within a few minutes walk is a Quality Inn I can often get for $60 or so, and a Comfort Inn that's more but still way less than the HGI. Next door to the HGI is a Hampton which I can sometimes (but all too rarely) get for $80 or so.

Meanwhile, these Choice properties have rich promos (5k or so per night all last summer and much of the fall, the way I work them!), while the HHonors properties have very little (right now I can get double points at that Garden Grove Hampton, but that'll mean less than 1K bonus, and unless I earn toward Southwest I get way less miles at Hampton than at Choice too!).

And, btw, for whatever reason, there's no Clarion in the area. (But there's one in the nowhereland of Carson, of all places!) I only know how upscale and good Clarions can be from award stays in Norway (for only 16K points each -- where can I get Clarion-quality hotels in Norway with HHonors? -- oh that's right I can't get anything in Norway with HHonors!).

Btw, in either of these areas (near SNA or Ahaheim/Garden Grove) I've not yet found a Choice property that has a breakfast even up to Hampton standards. (And of course, at Hampton you don't need to be elite to get the breakfast!)

By comparison with most any other hotel program, all Choice elite levels are meaningless...

Ditto, I don't stay at Choice unless forced to. Clarion's are old Radissons, Sheartons etc. I do like the new Brand Cambria Suites and will stay at what few they have (ie Boise). I am forced to stay at an Econlodge in Iowa 5-6 nights a year due to no options unless I drive 60 miles a day.
Meaningless elite deal...................

I think you should consider Radisson Goldpoints, for the value of the many promotions, lower cost of their hotels (compaired to the Hilton group, Marriot, Starwood, Hyatt brands), as well as tier levels that are better than Best Western, Holliday Inn, and Choice. At least with with Goldpoints you can use your points for lower rates (that earn points) in such hig end properties as Regent (many were Four Seasons properties) Park Inn, Park Plaza, Radisson SAS, Country Inn & Suites; thus most of Europe is covered. Some of the London properties look great! :cool:

I think you should consider Radisson Goldpoints, for the value of the many promotions, lower cost of their hotels (compaired to the Hilton group, Marriot, Starwood, Hyatt brands), as well as tier levels that are better than Best Western, Holliday Inn, and Choice. At least with with Goldpoints you can use your points for lower rates (that earn points) in such hig end properties as Regent (many were Four Seasons properties) Park Inn, Park Plaza, Radisson SAS, Country Inn & Suites; thus most of Europe is covered. Some of the London properties look great! :cool:
But they're run by Carlson!!! :eek:

The same people who made oodles of sudden no-warning (virtually retroactive) changes at Amtrak Guest Rewards in the past couple years. (Lucikily, their contract with AGR has expired as of a few months ago.)