FreeHotBreakfast

It's the old "Two stays get you a $50 gift card" campaign. It starts with check-ins today, May 7th through August 19th. Bonus points can be redeemed for a gift card up to October 15th.

Everything appears to be the same as previous promos.

http://ChoiceHotels.com/GiftCard

sdsearch

[Archiving the current contents of the above link, since the above link seems to be reused every year for that year's summer promo, plus highlighting some key points in red:]

Earn enough points for a $50 gift card after 2 separate trips.*

When? Check in between May 7 and August 19
Already a Choice Privileges Member?
Here's how you can earn:

1. Register for our promotion below to get started.
2. Book on ChoiceHotels.com, our mobile app or by calling 800.4CHOICE. Corporate travelers can book in their online booking tool, GDS or with a travel agent.
3. Take your 2 separate trips then receive enough points to redeem for your choice of a $50 gift card.*

Before you book – remember that trips at Econo Lodge®, Rodeway Inn®, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel®, or MainStay Suites® hotels must be a minimum of two consecutive nights to count.

* Promotion registration required at ChoiceHotels.com/giftcard before check-out. Members must book trips via ChoiceHotels.com, the Choice Hotels mobile app, or 800.4CHOICE at qualifying rates. Corporate travelers may book through a travel agent or corporate online booking system. Choice Privileges member number must be provided upon check-in. After a second qualifying trip with arrival between 5/7/15 and 8/19/15, members will be awarded enough bonus points to reach the 8,000 point level, which can be redeemed until 10/31/15 for one (1) $50 gift card at selected retailers. Please see a list of participating retailers here: ChoiceHotels.com/giftcard. Terms and conditions apply to $50 gift card options. See card for details. For Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria hotels & suites or Ascend Hotel Collection hotels, a trip is defined as a stay that is any number of consecutive nights at one hotel regardless of check-ins or check-outs. For Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, or MainStay Suites hotels, a trip is defined as a stay that is two (2) or more consecutive nights at one hotel regardless of check-ins or check-outs. Trips at vacation rental property locations and stays booked with the SEGEN rate code do not qualify for promotional bonus points. To be eligible to earn the bonus, members must set their earning preference to Choice Privileges points in their online account. Any change made to earning preference will remain in effect after the promotion has ended. Allow 72 hours from check-out for points to post. You must maintain an address in the U.S. (including U.S. territories) or Canada to be eligible for this promotion. For Choice Privileges program details, eligible rates, eligible countries and point redemption rules, visit choiceprivileges.com. Hotels are independently owned and operated.

Dadofsix

From experience with past 'Two Stays' bonus promos, does anybody know whether or not a 2nd room at the same hotel/same night (but under a different reservation/conf. #) counts as a 2nd qualifying trip? The FAQ's and T&C's don't seem to indicate, unless I just missed it. Thx.

lougord99

No one has figured out a way to make 2 consecutive equal 2 stays. You need to hotel hop to satisfy the conditions of the promo.

And that makes sense. A work around would make the 'stay' requirement meaningless.

Dadofsix

I think my scenario is different than the one mentioned above. Mine is 2 rooms/1 night (not 1 room/2 nights) at a Comfort Inn.

The latter is explicitly addressed in the FAQ's:However, the above verbiage doesn't seem to address how multiple rooms are handled.

lwildernorva

Covered under points 3 and 4 of the "Earning Points" in the general T&Cs. A stay (a trip for the purpose of this promotion) is "any number of consecutive nights at one hotel regardless of check-ins or check-outs." In point 4, the account holder on a stay may earn "points for up to two rooms per night at the same hotel."

So you get credit for one trip and assuming two rooms earning 1000 points apiece, 2000 points for that stay. If you take another trip or stay, with one room at 1000 points, this promotion adds another 5000 to get you to the 8000 necessary to redeem for a $50 gift card. Should you take two rooms at 1000 apiece on the second trip, Choice would give you 4000.

With these promotions and absent some tweaks that may apply for elite members, there is neither a benefit to booking multiple rooms per stay or to booking overly expensive hotel rooms. You'll come out of the process with 8K either way.

sdsearch

A single reservation naming one person for two rooms would count as on one trip.

A single reservation naming one person and another reservation naming another person would count as one trip for the first and zero trip for the second, as I see it, because only stays by the person whose account is count AFAIK (and one person can't possibly stay in two different rooms simultaneously at the same hotel at the same time).

Two separate reservations naming the same person are likely to be counted as duplicates and one of the cancelled at some point! That's the worst, because you may arrive at the hotel and find that you only have room, because your second room reservation was cancelled (because they don't expect two separate reservations for the same person on the same night at the same hotel, and they didn't read the comments if you only counted on comments to explain it).

So if you legitimately need two rooms, but them on the same reservation.

If your only reason to book two rooms with separate reservations was to try to trick it into counting it as two trips, I don't expect it to work, and it may cause more trouble than it's worth.

(Gosh, I seem to recall that people have problems with one stay at one hotel and another stay at a different hotel on the same night not even posting at all, because the Choice system treated them as duplicates.)

Dadofsix

Thanks, lwildernorva and sdsearch. Got it. We have a need for 2 rooms (family of 8) over several days & cities for a summer road trip. I'm thinking about paying for 1 room and then using some of my Choice points for a 2nd room on 1 night, and then do the same at some other properties later in the trip. Although I think these would have to be done as 2 different reservations for each night. Hopefully with the 2 different rate types (1 paid and 1 points), there wouldn't be much risk of the hotel cancelling one of them?

Firewind

Just to bring "the rest of the story" here, if one chooses to redeem the points for the $50 gift card, it can be for amazon, bp, Olive Garden, Starbucks, Walmart. Pretty good leverage, IMO. ^

raj_cl

I still see the old 16,000 points level for all gift cards.

Where do you guys see the 8,000 points award level for Walmart, Olive Garden gift cards on the redeem page?

raj_cl

Another question, if I have prior Choice points, meaning not earned through this promo, can I use them for $50 gift cards for 8000 points.

The above is what I'm trying to do, and I still see 16000 points redemption for Amazon $50 gift card.

lougord99

While this is new, I am quite certain it works exactly like the 'stay twice and get $50 gas card'.

If so, then here is how it works. You will not be able to see any $50 gift cards until you actually stay twice for the promo and earn the bonus points. You will only be able to see the number of $50 gift cards that you actually earn in this promo. So, if you stay four times, you will be able to see (2) $50 gift cards. You don't have to redeem until the promo is over, but you cannot redeem until you earn it.

However, the points taken from your account to redeem will be old points. So, if you have points expiring at the end of this year, those are the points that will be used for the gift card.