Choice Privileges - quick and free way to get 1,000 choice points?

@:-)I'm short 1,000 choice points and need them for a hotel award booking in a month or so. I know I can purchase the points for $11, or sign up with Netflix for $8.99 (that might be too late though). Any free and quick ways to get these 1,000 points?

Moderator, this thread should be moved to the Choice Hotels forum, as it is specific to the Choice Privileges program.

asyoulike, I'm not aware of any (but that's why I'm asking for the thread to moved, because maybe someone else who only visits the Choice forum but not here might know of something, but now that you've posted it here, FT rules don't allow "double posting" of the same question elsewhere).

There are ways that are free but they are not quick, and there are ways that are quick but they are not free. (And, btw, I wouldn't necessarily assume that Netflix is quick in posting!)

Moderator, this thread should be moved to the Choice Hotels forum, as it is specific to the Choice Privileges program.

asyoulike, I'm not aware of any (but that's why I'm asking for the thread to moved, because maybe someone else who only visits the Choice forum but not here might know of something, but now that you've posted it here, FT rules don't allow "double posting" of the same question elsewhere).

There are ways that are free but they are not quick, and there are ways that are quick but they are not free. (And, btw, I wouldn't necessarily assume that Netflix is quick in posting!)

Thanks! Can you tell me some of the free but not quick ways?

Thanks! Can you tell me some of the free but not quick ways?
Registering for their credit card (if you don't already have one) will get you 8000 points on your first use (8000 more points later on your next paid stay as long as it's before June 30), but that won't appear until you get the card, use it, and then your statement cycles at least once. (That doesn't cost you anything other than the miles/points you lose from that one purchase that you might have put toward another card, because you're just "shifting" one purchase from however you'd normally make it to this card, not adding a purchase.) No annual fee. (If you already have the card, you simply need to "shift" more than just one small purchase to this card.)

Got an unpcoming car rental? You can earn 1000 choice points for each Enterprise rental, or 750 Choice Points for each 1-to-3-day Avis or Budget rental (and 500 or 750 bonus points respectively if by Jan 31 and mention coupon). This might not cost anything if you can get the same rate, and if it's a short rental you probably lose very few miles (at 50 miles/day with most airlines). I don't know how fast these post, but of course they can't post until you comnpete the rental!

There's also a Choice online shopping mall. It's similar (and similar stores) to all the airline malls. You simply need to "shift" enough purhcases (that you would have made anyway) to there. 8 points per dollar at Barnes & Noble, 6 points per dollar at Macy's, etc. As with all online malls, though, it can take months to get your points, because the merchants wait to see if you're going to return the merchandise in whatever time period they allow, before they even start the process of awarding you points. (And you have to be very careful to go through online mall link only -- rather than opening a separate window where you didn't come through mall --to not confuse the destination site about whether you came through the online mall or not.)

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

You can earn 1000 points per referral through Refer-a-Friend, and that doesn't you anything, but it only happens once the person you referred has one qualifying stay post. (They get a bonus too, of 500 points.) I don't know fast you get the referral bonus, but it can't precede them having the stay and having it post.

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

... OTOH, the only two things that post really quickly cost: Buying points, or (if you have a Diners Club card already and have at least 1000 DC points) transferring from Diners Club. The lDC transfer costs even way less than $11, but it depends if you "expedite" or not ("expedite" only gets you a few days faster). (Diners Club card itself has an annual fee, but if you don't have it already, they apparently aren't taking applications for one right now anyhow.)

Btw, what is the points cost of the stay you're considering, versus the dollar cost of paying for the stay?

Thanks so much! I'm considering a cheapo stay at the Comfort Inn Kings Cross in London. 8,000 points a night vs. about $150 if paying. What do you think?

Registering for their credit card (if you don't already have one) will get you 8000 points on your first use (8000 more points later on your next paid stay as long as it's before June 30), but that won't appear until you get the card, use it, and then your statement cycles at least once. (That doesn't cost you anything other than the miles/points you lose from that one purchase that you might have put toward another card, because you're just "shifting" one purchase from however you'd normally make it to this card, not adding a purchase.) No annual fee. (If you already have the card, you simply need to "shift" more than just one small purchase to this card.)

Got an unpcoming car rental? You can earn 1000 choice points for each Enterprise rental, or 750 Choice Points for each 1-to-3-day Avis or Budget rental (and 500 or 750 bonus points respectively if by Jan 31 and mention coupon). This might not cost anything if you can get the same rate, and if it's a short rental you probably lose very few miles (at 50 miles/day with most airlines). I don't know how fast these post, but of course they can't post until you comnpete the rental!

There's also a Choice online shopping mall. It's similar (and similar stores) to all the airline malls. You simply need to "shift" enough purhcases (that you would have made anyway) to there. 8 points per dollar at Barnes & Noble, 6 points per dollar at Macy's, etc. As with all online malls, though, it can take months to get your points, because the merchants wait to see if you're going to return the merchandise in whatever time period they allow, before they even start the process of awarding you points. (And you have to be very careful to go through online mall link only -- rather than opening a separate window where you didn't come through mall --to not confuse the destination site about whether you came through the online mall or not.)

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

You can earn 1000 points per referral through Refer-a-Friend, and that doesn't you anything, but it only happens once the person you referred has one qualifying stay post. (They get a bonus too, of 500 points.) I don't know fast you get the referral bonus, but it can't precede them having the stay and having it post.

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

... OTOH, the only two things that post really quickly cost: Buying points, or (if you have a Diners Club card already and have at least 1000 DC points) transferring from Diners Club. The lDC transfer costs even way less than $11, but it depends if you "expedite" or not ("expedite" only gets you a few days faster). (Diners Club card itself has an annual fee, but if you don't have it already, they apparently aren't taking applications for one right now anyhow.)

Btw, what is the points cost of the stay you're considering, versus the dollar cost of paying for the stay?

Thanks so much! I'm considering a cheapo stay at the Comfort Inn Kings Cross in London. 8,000 points a night vs. about $150 if paying. What do you think?
That sounds like a very good deal (comparable to the best values I got in Norway with $300++ hotels for 16k points a night, and better than some of the other values I got in Norway that I still thought were great with only $200++ hotels for 16k points a night). So if $11 is the difference between getting it and not getting it, that could well be worth it. (It could be looked at as 8k points vs about $139.)

And remember, you may be able to get a better room with points than you would have thought about paying for, because many Choice hotels seem to offer all (or at least most) of their rooms at the same price on points, even though those rooms may vary in price a lot when paying with "real money".

I looked into this thread because I wanted to mention the Enterprise 1,000 point promo, but I see sdsearch has beat me to the punch. Thing is, I booked through the web page that leads to this promo over a month ago, but the points haven't posted. I know, in context, I'm only 1/3 to 1/2 the way to the goal line as partner promos go, these days (the eight to twelve week wait).

The website said 24 hours, does not say weekends would be longer.

I made a 5000 pt purchase on Friday evening but it hasn't shown up yet.

Need the pts so I can combine it with the existing pts to book nights in Tokyo.

And remember, you may be able to get a better room with points than you would have thought about paying for, because many Choice hotels seem to offer all (or at least most) of their rooms at the same price on points, even though those rooms may vary in price a lot when paying with "real money".Right-o.

In Dublin last month, we (9 of us!) stayed at the Clarion IFSC and wound up in 1-bedroom suites with balconies, sitting area, big beds, separate tub/shower ... really a deluxe suite.

At 10,000 points/night!

All I had to do was book it when offered. And they went out of their way to make sure we got it.